The ranked grind in VALORANT has been simplified to kick off Episode Six and essentially the game’s 2023 campaign, following some recent changes to ranked rating gains and losses in Patch 6.0.
Starting today, day one of Episode Six, Act One, all players will see their ranked rating (RR) gains and losses be slightly more dependent on wins and losses as a whole and less dependent on the round differential of the match.
Players were experiencing “too wide of RR gains/losses from match to match based on the round differential,” according to the patch notes for Patch 6.0. These results saw players getting huge swings in RR that would result in them rapidly getting promoted or demoted based on the results. This should reduce drastic RR changes that arise from one-sided blowout victories or defeats.
As stated directly by the developers in the patch notes, “winning is still the most important way to climb” the ranked ladder.
Changes to RR gains for players “whose ranks are far away from their MMR” have also been made, and these players should expect to see their RR gains more dependent on individual performances than on round differential. Players should also see their rank and MMR converge faster, by earning more RR for a good game if ranked below their MMR, and not being “harshly penalized” for performing well if playing above their MMR.
Related: VALORANT’s ranked system explained
The VALORANT team at Riot said they have received feedback from players who felt they weren’t getting enough reward for playing well in a close game and felt that the RR losses from losing a game were too steep.
All these changes will coincide with a rank reset that will kick off Episode Six. All players, after playing their placement matches, should expect to start Episode Six slightly below the rank they ended Episode Five at.
