Ever wanted to know exactly how your match outcomes and K/D/A affect your Rank Rating (RR)? Here's a handy guide that breaks down how it's calculated!
Ultimately, there are four main factors that determine how much RR you earn or lose after a match:
| Match Outcome | RR movement is mostly determined by whether you win or lose. Instead of focusing solely on maintaining a high K/D/A, it’s always better to work as a team and secure the victory.
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| Round Differential | The decisiveness of a match impacts your final numbers. One-sided matches have a much higher impact on your RR than close games. For example:
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| Individual Performance | Putting on an outstanding performance (which includes total damage dealt and assists, not just kills) can slightly increase your RR gains or cushion your RR losses.
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| Rank Convergence | Your final RR value is adjusted by a convergence factor that aligns your visible rank with your hidden skill rating.
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How is Rank Convergence calculated?
In simple terms, the system compares your hidden MMR to your current visible rank to determine your ultimate RR payout. This ensures players are placed accurately on the Competitive ladder based on the following logic:
- MMR > Rank: If your skill rating is higher than your current rank, you will receive larger RR gains on wins and smaller RR losses on defeats.
- MMR = Rank: If your skill rating matches your rank, your RR gains and losses will be about the same.
- MMR < Rank: If your skill rating has fallen below your rank, you will see smaller RR gains on wins and larger RR losses on defeats.
Other factors that contribute to RR gain/loss
- Double Promotions: When you’re promoted to a new tier and your hidden MMR is significantly higher than your visible rank, the system may skip a division entirely (e.g., jumping from Gold I to Gold III) to rapidly realign your rank with your skill level.
- 5-Stack Penalties: Premade groups of five players incur an RR penalty ranging from 0% to 90%, depending on the rank disparities within the party.
One last thing: with a new Act comes a new opportunity to start over in the ranked ladder. This means that at the beginning of each Act you’ll get a rank reset where you’ll need to play your placement matches and begin your climb to the top all over again (the rank reset also includes a slight MMR adjustment based on the placements results). Give it your very best out there!
Can I still gain RR if I lose a game?
No. You cannot gain RR from a loss. However, it is possible to increase your Matchmaking Rating (MMR) during a loss if you perform exceptionally well.
Furthermore, if your MMR is higher than your current rank, the amount of RR you lose from a defeat will be reduced.
What if I lose more RR in defeat than I gain in victory?
This is usually a sign that your visible rank has advanced beyond your hidden MMR, triggering a negative convergence factor. Because your rank has surpassed your MMR, your RR gains are decreased and your RR losses are increased as the system attempts to realign your rank with your actual skill level. To improve your MMR (and boost your RR gains), you will need to win more consistently and elevate your individual performance.
Fortunately, we’ve introduced a new way to protect your hard-earned Rank Rating: the RR Refund system.
What is RR Refund?
It’s a system that protects your rating if you lose a Competitive match due to a cheater on the enemy team. Competitive integrity is at the core of VALORANT, and cheaters completely disrupt fairness, creating an unwinnable scenario for the opposing team. If you encounter a cheater in your match, the RR Refund system steps in to restore that lost RR.
So I get back my RR every time I face a cheater?
It’s a bit more nuanced than that. Like any system, specific guidelines must be met for an RR Refund to trigger:
- Detection Time: Our anti-cheat system must officially detect/penalize the cheater. This means there may be a delay between the affected match and your RR restoration
- Triggering the Refund: RR Refunds are not instantly granted on your account. To trigger the rollback and receive your refund, you must complete a ranked match. Once that match ends, you’ll receive a notification detailing your RR Refund
- Act Expiration: RR Refunds are limited to the current Act. If you face a cheater but our systems do not detect/penalize them until after the Act ends, the RR Refund is not applied
If your situation meets all of these criteria, you're all set to receive RR Refund support.
Is there a limit on how much RR I can get back?
Yes. There are strict RR caps on:
- The maximum RR you can receive from a single refund.
- The total amount of RR you can recover over the course of a single Episode/Season.
Do I always get the same amount of RR back?
Nope. RR Refunds are reduced if your rank has increased since the affected match. For example:
- If you were Gold I when you encountered the cheater, but you have climbed to Gold III by the time the refund is processed, a 50% reduction will be applied twice to the refunded amount; this means that if the match ended in a -24 RR lost, by the time you get it refunded you’d only get 6 RR back
Additionally, if an RR Refund would cause you to rank up, your RR in the new rank will cap out at 20 RR. These parameters are in place to prevent any intentional abuse of the system.
I received the RR Refund message, but I still lost RR!
Because the system requires you to finish a Competitive match to trigger the update, the RR Refund is factored directly into the results of that latest match. The final RR change you see will be the net difference between what you earned/lost in your current match and what you were refunded. For example:
If the cheater match cost you 15 RR, and you just finished a tough match where you lost 20 RR, your post-game notification will show a net result of -5 RR