Valorant Episode 5 Act I comes with a seasonal hard reset in your competitive rank, which means you’ll have to spend more time climbing back to your previous rank.
However, players who do well in ranked may encounter double rank ups, which means that they jump two ranks in a single win.
This isn’t a matter of luck or even a fluke. In fact, there is a very specific set of criteria in play for this to happen, said Riot Games’ Senior Competitive Designer Jonathan “EvrMoar” Walker on Twitter.
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Why you might double rank up in Valorant ranked
There’s more to your Valorant rank than just the rank you see in game. Riot’s shooter also uses a hidden MMR system, which plays a big role in determining how much RR you gain or lose after every match. In fact, the difficulty of the opponents you face does not affect your RR point gains at all.
Your MMR range can also grow or shrink as you play more games, but it can only fluctuate within a limited range from your rank. The highest it can go is three ranks above your current rank, said EvrMoar, so this means you will be guaranteed to get a double rank up if you ever get to four ranks away from your MMR.
Ultimately, double rank ups come from your rank being “out of range” of your MMR, according to EvrMoar.
Double rank ups may also be more common in this particular Act, because of the introduction of the new Ascendant rank. All ranks below Ascendant saw their MMR targets move downward, which means that a player whose MMR was not previously at the level of Diamond might finally find themselves in Diamond this Act.
Riot’s goal is always to ensure that your rank converges with your MMR. But everyone is on their own journey up the ranked ladder, said EvrMoar. This is why you may still gain less RR than teammates in the same lobby, despite topping the scoreboard.
Your rank could simply be a more accurate reflection of your MMR, while the system might still be trying to close the gap between your teammate’s rank and their MMR.
Episode 5 Act I went live on June 22. Players will have to play five competitive matches to reveal their rank because of the new episode, instead of the usual one.
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