Modern Warfare 3 Ranked Play: Skill divisions, ranks, maps & modes explained

Modern Warfare 3‘s Ranked Play continues in Season 3. Here’s everything you need to know about ranking up, all of the skill divisions, and what maps & modes will be played.

Over the years, a functional Ranked Play has become imperative for any competitive video game, as players want to face off against those on their skill level and work their way up the ladder.

Call of Duty is no different, and Ranked has become an important feature in the game each year.

So whether you’re completely oblivious to the competitive scene or a die-hard Call of Duty League fan, Ranked Play allows you to play like the pros. Here’s how.

MW3 Ranked skill divisions

It’s worth noting that rank and Skill Divisions are two separate things in this year’s iteration of Ranked Play. Your rank represents your Ranked career, and everybody starts from Rank 1. Win matches to earn stars and rank up. It’s worth noting that rank is permanent and persists across seasons.

Skill Divisions, however, are the more interesting part, separating players based on skill from anywhere between Bronze and Iridescent.

The system won’t be new to those who played Modern Warfare 2 ranked, but here’s each division:

• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Diamond
• Crimson
• Iridescent
• Top 250

You will start in Bronze 1 and earn Skill Rating (SR) for each win you get, based on personal and team performance. This will allow you to climb the Skill Divisions, but be aware that losing matches will result in losing SR, as will being inactive, disconnecting from matches, and engaging in repeated friendly fire.

At the end of the season, your ending Skill Division will determine where you start the following season. Per the CoD blog post:

• Bronze through Crimson 1 players are set back three Tiers below where they finished in the previous season (i.e. ending the season in Gold 3 will see you back in Silver 2)
• Crimson 2 players and above will start in Diamond 1

There will also be rewards based on where you finish each season and your achievements in Ranked Play, you can read more about that in our MW3 Ranked Play rewards explainer.

MW3 Ranked maps & modes

Once again this year, the competitive circuit will be playing Hardpoint, Search & Destroy, and Control, and this is reflected in Ranked Play.

That said, there may be some slight adjustments to each mode, altering it from public matches:

• CDL Search & Destroy: No respawning; 1.5-minute round timer; Friendly Fire enabled.
• CDL Hardpoint: 5-minute time limit; 250 score limit; 60-second objective rotation; Friendly Fire enabled.
• CDL Control: 30 lives per team; 1.5-minute time limit; 3-round win limit; Friendly Fire enabled.

They will be played on the following maps:

Hardpoint	Search & Destroy	Control
Vista	Highrise	Highrise
Karachi	Invasion	Invasion
Sub Base	Karachi	Karachi
6 Star	Rio
Rio	6 Star

That’s all there is to know about Ranked Play in Modern Warfare 3. Subsequent seasons will see new restrictions and additions added to the mode as the CDL ruleset changes, so be sure to keep this page in your back pocket as changes develop.