Riot Games has confirmed that Valorant will be receiving a Competitive matchmaking mode with its own ranked progression system. Better yet, Valorant’s Competitive mode will be available pre-launch as part of patch .49. It marks a big turnaround considering Riot had previously said it was considering not having a Competitive mode.
Riot Games doesn’t want to just settle for a Competitive mode that makes the same mistakes as other games, though. Riot details several areas of focus that have gone into Valorant’s Competitive design. Personal skill will be taken into account to evaluate when players are “crushing it,” and the system will drop players down if the underperform.
To start, Valorant players must complete 20 unrated matches before Competitive mode even unlocks. From there, there will be 8 different ranks, each with three tiers other than the single tier in the top rank. Valorant won’t have rank decay, but if players stop playing for 14 days, their rank will stop being displayed. Finally, Valorant Closed Beta players’ rank will not carry over to launch.
Valorant’s Closed Beta will serve its purpose with the introduction of the Competitive mode. Riot Games will be attentive to any and all feedback regarding the mode itself and the ranked progression system supporting it. All it needs now are players to try it out.
Valorant releases on PC this summer.
