Interested in learning about Valorant ranks and how the rank system works? As with all competitive FPS games, Riot's Valorant features an ascending title ladder that allows you to sort your player base by ability. Whether you start out as a humble Iron or maintain your dominance as a mighty Immortal, if you play Valorant competitively, your life is governed by a ranking system.
In Valorant, there are several ways to measure the progress in the ranking and the overall ranking of players against each other. Each player has a common Valorous Rank, but there is a special "act rank" for each act. On top of that, there is the concept of "rank rating" associated with MMR. Here's everything you need to know about Valorant's ranks, current rank distribution, and competitive play.
All Valorant ranks in order
Here is the full list of Valorant ranks:
- Iron 1
- Iron 2
- Iron 3
- Bronze 1
- Bronze 2
- Bronze 3
- Silver 1
- Silver 2
- Silver 3
- Gold 1
- Gold 2
- Gold 3
- 1 Platinum
- 2 Platinum
- 3 Platinum
- Diamond 1
- Diamond 2
- Diamond 3
- Rising 1
- Rising 2
- Rising 3
- Immortal 1
- Immortal 2
- Immortal 3
- Shining
Act of Valor Rank
While your rank is a general (and accurate) reflection of your skills and abilities, you also gain a separate act rank as you progress through each individual act. Your Act rank is officially your highest ranked win, which Riot likes to refer to as your "proven skill".
There is a hollow triangular icon that you fill in during the action, and miniature colored triangles are inserted during the game. No matter how many different rank colors an icon fills, only the topmost triangle—your highest ranked win—will determine your Act rank.
This also determines the reward you will receive at the end of the Act - even if you spent most of your time in Gold, if you win in Diamond 1, you will receive Diamond rewards. Your act rank resets between ranks, but your previous MMR counts when you play matches for a spot for subsequent acts.
Valorant rank distribution in September 2022
Rank distribution is important in any competitive shooter, and Valorant is no exception. Riot himself shared information about this back in Episode 3 Act 1, where the studio stated that it was concerned that there were too many people on the lower levels and not enough people making it to the higher levels. Fast forward to today and the picture looks much better, with a lower percentage of hardware stuck, though overall the stats esportstales.com suggests that almost 50% of players are still playing in iron, bronze and silver.
Here is the Valorant rank distribution as of September 2022:
- Iron: 6,3%
- Bronze: 17,5%
- Silver: 22,9%
- Gold: 21,1%
- Platinum: 16,2%
- Diamond: 10,1%
- Ascending: 4,3%
- Immortal: 0,9%
- Radiance: 0,03%
Valorant Rank Placement and Restrictions
Starting from Episode 4 Act 1, in order to earn ranks in Valorant Competitive Mode, you need to have an account level of at least 20. Once you reach this threshold, you will be able to participate in ranked play. At the beginning of each episode, you need to play five qualifying matches, but for each act 2 and 3 in an episode, you only need to play one qualifying match - your rank resets at the start of each act.
Valorant is a game that tries to promote competitive play between teams, although Riot has also tried to be generous by letting friends play each other even if there is a rank difference. When it comes to playing with friends, there are some rules to keep in mind:
- Groups of four are not allowed to prevent single players from being attacked.
- Groups of two or three must remain within the rank mismatch requirements.
- Groups of five have no limits, although depending on what ranks a stack of five has, this will affect your ranking ranking.
Regarding the rank mismatch, there are only restrictions for groups of two or three players. If the shortest person on the team is Iron or Bronze, then the tallest person cannot be higher than Silver (any level). If the lowest level is Silver, then the highest level cannot be higher than Gold (any level). If Gold is the lowest, then Platinum is the highest - again, any level.
If the lowest rank on a team is Platinum, Ascendant, Immortal, or Radiant, then the highest player can only be one level higher - so if the lowest rank is Platinum 2, then the highest can only be Diamond 2. Games with five stacks, ignore mismatch restrictions, although depending on how big the mismatch can be, there can be significant rating penalties. you can go to official Valorant competition FAQ for more details on this.
