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Riot Reveals Valorant Competitive Mode Coming Soon

By Andrew Lin

Valorant's competitive mode is almost here.
Valorant's competitive mode is almost here. / Photo by Riot Games

Valorant is Riot Games's latest project, an ultra-competitive five-on-five shooter. As the game's closed beta becomes more accessible, players are wondering how the game's competitive mode will work.

In a post on the official Valorant website, Senior Production Manager Ian Fielding outlines how Valorant's competitive mode will be conducted, as well as a release window.

Riot Reveals Valorant Competitive Mode Coming Soon

Competitive mode will be playable with update 0.49 for North America and Europe. Fielding says the mode is still in an early stage, with plans to evolve over time.

Riot will be improving on the competitive experience that is lacking in other games, taking into consideration your personal skill.

"Our system aims to solve some of the common pain points we've seen players experience with competitive modes and ranked systems. We're taking your personal skill into account so we can recognize when you're crushing it, combat smurfing, reduce players with ‘boosted’ ranks, and ensure that for most of your matches, you and your teammates are placed into a fair fight," Fielding says.

There will be eight ranks, with three tiers in each: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Immortal and VALORANT.

The eight ranks of Valorant.
The eight ranks of Valorant. / Photo by Riot Games

In early ranks, winning is important, but not as much a factor as personal performance. This seems to be one of the measure to prevent players boosting, gaining competitive ranks above their skill level outside of intended gameplay. Boosting is a serious problem to competitive integrity, and is a huge issue in Riot's flagship League of Legends.

Once you get to the highest ranks, wins and how decisively those wins are obtained will be the only metric calculated, as they will assume you've earned your place going through the system.

Fielding provides a summary of competitive mode features:

  • Complete 20 Unrated matches to unlock Competitive mode
  • 8 ranks, 3 tiers each, except the top rank, VALORANT
  • Queue with up to 5-player parties, must be within 2 ranks
  • Rank isn’t displayed if competitive matches aren’t played within 14 days, but your rank doesn’t decay behind the scenes.
  • Closed beta rank does not carry over to launch