When is Valorant Rated mode going live? Return date, ranks, more

Valorant’s full launch is finally here, but one key feature is missing from the closed beta. The Rated queue is still disabled, meaning ranked play is out of the question for now. But when is it making its return?

If you were looking at continuing your grind to the top echelons of Valorant, you might have to put on the brakes. Valorant’s Rated queue wasn’t shipped with the full launch of the game, closing down competitive ranked play.

It won’t be gone forever ⁠— the competitive playlist will be back soon. How soon though? You might have to wait a few weeks…

What is Valorant Rated mode?

If you need a quick refresher, or have no idea what it is, Valorant’s Rated queue is for ranked play. Players can queue up for a competitive game, with their hard-earned rank on the line. It plays out just like an Unrated game, but obviously there’s some extra incentive to winning. Playing in Rated queue won’t give you extra XP (unlike other games), but that may change in the future.

• Read more: How to unlock Valorant Agents fast

You can queue up for Rated with as many friends as you like. The game will try and balance teams based on the amount of pre-made squads, their size, and the collective ranks of everyone in a game.

What are the ranks in Valorant?

Valorant’s ranking system is similar to League of Legends. There are eight overall ranks:

• Iron
• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Diamond
• Immortal
• Valorant (set to be renamed)

In each tier, there’s three divisions, except for the top rank — aptly named, Valorant. Unlike League of Legends, you don’t have to play a promotion series to go between divisions and ranks ⁠— instead you just go up and down as your matchmaking rating (MMR) changes.

When is Rated mode coming to Valorant?

Valorant’s Rated queue didn’t launch with the live servers, but it’s coming soon. While there’s no confirmed date yet, Riot has let players in on a potential release window for Rated queue.

“We’re not going to be launching with ranked, probably turning it on in a few weeks once everything’s stable,” Valorant communications lead ‘Pwyff’ said prior to the game’s full release.

• Read more: Ultimate Valorant Beginner’s Guide

On June 15, Riot Game’s Joe Ziegler informed fans that Valorant’s rated competitive mode would be returning “sometime next week” which means we could see it anytime from June 22 – 26, so the theories that had it arriving at the end of this month seemed to be pretty close to the money.

If you were wondering about your progress transferring from the closed beta, there’ll be some conditions. While everyone’s ranks will be reset, and you’ll be tossed back into playing your placements, you’ll still have a hidden MMR similar to your closed beta one.

• Read more: How to use the Phantom: Valorant weapon guide

This means if you finished in Diamond or above, you won’t be starting out in Iron, but maybe Gold or Platinum instead.

If you are a ranked warrior, don’t stress. There’s still plenty of reasons to jump into Valorant, despite Rated queues not being up. You can brush up on your skills in Unrated, and make sure you can start your ranked grind off on the right foot.