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Valorant developers from Riot Games have finally given us some indication on when to expect the highly sought after competitive mode. In the newest blog entry, the developers discuss the ranks and how exactly players can rank up or down. The mode will arrive “soon after patch 0.49,” with Europe (EU) and North America (NA) receiving it first.

Ranks confirmed

The ranks had already leaked, and now Riot has now confirmed the leak’s legitimacy. The game will have a total of eight ranks, with three tiers at each rank apart from the highest one, Valorant. These start from Iron and go all the way to Valorant. Only the most elite players will likely manage to reach this point.

Additionally, as suspected, players will have to first play 20 Unrated matches in order to receive a rank. The Riot devs call this period “a necessary warmup before the sweat starts”.

Most important factors in ranking up or down

The blog post also specifies how one’s Valorant rank changes. Much like many other titles, winning games is the most important factor in ranking up. Losing will, of course, make you more likely to rank down. However, Valorant will also take into account how badly you lose. Basically, it is more beneficial to lose 13-10 than 13-1. This should help ensure that everyone does their best throughout the match, rather than rage and quit prematurely.

In addition, after playing the first couple of matches, your individual performance is taken into account to a higher degree. That decays over time, though. When one’s skill is gauged later, winning games will be a more decisive factor than individual performance.

Other details

Riot also discussed a few other noteworthy details. You can see more details on them in the blog post, but here’s the summary:

  • A player’s rank becomes hidden after 14 days of inactivity. However, it does not decay in that period.
  • Your closed beta rank will not carry over to Valorant‘s full release.
  • 5-player parties must have members be within two ranks of one another.
  • Competitive matchmaking takes into account party-size and tries to optimize a match in such a way as to place similarly queued parties with one another.
  • No set release date for competitive play has been established.

What do you think of Valorant‘s competitive mode details? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments. As always, remember to follow us at Daily Esports for all your latest news in Valorant as well as other major esports out there.