Valorant Senior Producer, Ian “Brighteyz” Fielding, has released a new blog with details on the upcoming Valorant 1.02 patch, which is expected sometime later this week and which will include the long-awaited Competitive ranked mode.
One big change from the beta ranked mode is that when 1.02 launches you’ll be able to play games with your friends during placements, even if your MMR is quite far apart. The system will only limit the largest skill gaps, say if you’re an elite player that regularly drops 30 kills, and your friend is just jumping into the game for the first time.
The patch will also include improved matchmaking across the board, with better “optimization for balanced matches, regardless of your premade size” as well as some unspecified matchmaking changes aimed specifically at the highest-ranked players, which will address the advantage players in a 5-stack have vs solo queue players.
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Riot also revealed new, more colorful icons for each of the ranks as well as more easily-distinguishable markers for the tiers within each rank (1,2,3).
The top tier rank has also been re-named from Valorant to Radiant, which is also the in-world name for Valorant Agents infused with Radiant powers (like Jett, Phoenix, Sage, Reyna, and Omen).
Riot also announced that a future patch will include an update to the Match History tab, which will track your ranked progress throughout each Act. The tracker will show stats like how you’ve climbed in rank over the Act, your number of wins, and your wins at your highest achieved rank.
You can read the full blogpost here.
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