Competitive games are the quintessential Valorant experience, pitting two teams of equal skill levels against each other in a bid to climb the ranked ladder. There are eight different ranks in Valorant, each with its own three sub-tiers, with the exception of the very highest, Radiant. Here we’re explaining all Valorant ranks in the game, and how both distribution and the rank reset work as of Patch 6.0.
All Valorant Ranks
There are nine ranks in Valorant, which has increased by one since the game first launched after Ascendant was added to the game last year. Of course, within each rank, there are three sub-ranks — except in the case of Radiant, Valorant’s highest rank. All ranks are as follows:
- Iron 1-3
- Bronze 1-3
- Silver 1-3
- Gold 1-3
- Platinum 1-3
- Diamond 1-3
- Ascendant 1-3
- Immortal 1-3
- Radiant
Valorant Rank Distribution Patch 6.0 Explained
As you can see in the above image, the most populous rank in Valorant as of Patch 6.0 is Silver 1, followed closely by Bronze 1. These stats are by way of Esports Tales, which utilizes a program based on Riot Games’ officially released API to track stats and in-game data.
Generally speaking, the majority of players are clustered between Iron 3 and Gold 1, with an ever-descending number of players in every rank beyond Silver 1. This has actually increased somewhat over the past 12 months after Ascendant was added to the game, and presumably, too, as players have improved over time collectively.
If you’re Silver 1, you’re playing with roughly 10% of the game’s total player base and can consider yourself an averagely-skilled player — at least, according to your RR. Always remember that because Valorant is a team game and you are only awarded RR for winning games, your rank is entirely dependent on your team’s performance. Therefore, it is only a rough estimation of skill; it’s totally conceivable that a player might go on a rather unlucky run and drop well below the skill levels of the players they really should be against, and the same can be said of players luckily winning due to being “carried” and fast-tracking beyond where they should be.
As for how many Valorant players there are and where you and your rank stand in the grand scheme of things, Riot Games last year announced that there were 14 million active Valorant accounts playing the game. Of course, not all of those would necessarily be playing ranked. The only measure we have for certain is that there are roughly 20,000 Immortal + players on the European leaderboard (the largest) at the conclusion of each Valorant Episode, 500 of which are Radiant.
Still, what we can tell you is that if you are, say, Platinum, then you are roughly in the top 30% playing with 12.5% of the game’s competitive queue. Immortal players, by comparison, are roughly in the top 0.5%.
Valorant Ranked Changes Patch 6.0
The graph you see above paints a fairly balanced picture of Valorant’s rank distribution, but this hasn’t always been the case. Riot Games completely revamped the system in 2021 after it discovered a disproportionate number of players in Silver 1, and there have been numerous tweaks and balance adjustments to ensure that the spread of players is as even as is illustrated above. As mentioned already, the addition of Ascendant balanced the distribution much more evenly. Patch 6.0 also brought its own new changes to how RR is gained and lost. The patch notes explain:
For all players: Ranked Rating gains/losses will depend slightly more on Win/Loss, and slightly less on the exact round differential of the match.
- Context: Players experience too wide of RR gains/losses from match to match based on the round differential (one win could give 12RR, and the next win could give 20RR). We’re making this change to reduce that swing of RR in gains and losses.
- Winning is still the most important way to climb!
For players whose ranks are far away from their MMR: RR gains will depend more on individual performance, instead of round differential. You should also see your rank and MMR converge faster.
- Context: We received feedback that players felt like they would not be rewarded for a good game, or punished too harshly for a bad game during their ranked climb.
- If a player’s rank is below their actual MMR, they will be rewarded more for a good game. If a player’s rank is above their MMR, they will not be harshly penalized if they lose, but perform well in that match.
How Valorant Rank Resets Work
At the conclusion of each Act, Valorant’s leaderboard (the top 10-2000 players depending on the region) resets, whereas everyone below that stays exactly where they were previously. Only a single game is required to reveal your new rank (which, again, continues on from the previous). New Valorant Episodes are a different story; this is a full reset that completely wipes the leaderboard and requires all players to complete five placement games for a new rank.
Here’s the official overview from Riot:
- Every episode, the highest you can place is Ascendant 1, and we will squish all ranks downward. You can expect to drop (usually) 2-5 ranks from where you were last episode. Higher ranks get dropped harder due to leaderboard ranking, boosting concerns, skill atrophy, etc.
- Every Act we only reset the leaderboard, dropping all players to 10% of their current RR (if on the leaderboard). Everyone else is only required to play one placement and will earn their previous rank back from the prior Act.
Hopefully, this article gives you a solid overview of all Valorants ranks and how both rank distribution and reset work. We’ll be sure to keep this updated if Riot Games makes any substantial changes to how its Competitive system works. Until then, for more Valorant coverage, search Twinfinite.
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