Ascendant Valorant Rank Explained

Valorant fans received a lot of updates on 16th June, including a look at the newest map, Pearl, the newest skin collection titled Prelude to Chaos, and even some of the cosmetics available with the Episode 5 Act 1 battle pass. 

Another tidbit of information Valorant players were interested in finding out more about was the newest rank that will come with Episode 5 Act 1: Ascendant. It will sit between Diamond and Immortal, according to Riot Games.

Adding a new rank will have a lot of implications in terms of RR gain and MMR, so let's break it all down for you to be in the know when Valorant Episode 5 Act 1 begins on 22nd June.

Valorant Ascendant rank explained

According to Riot Games, this new rank will avoid having Platinum and Diamond overpopulated in case players from lower ranks continue to climb.

"When we were looking at rank distribution, we realized that if we were to move some of you up and out of those lower ranks, it would overpopulate Platinum and Diamond. So by adding a new rank we can better distribute you across ranks, keep the prestige of high ranks while helping better define the skill level of each rank."

Naturally, adding a new rank will have several implications for the MMR system. The Match Making Rating is essentially a way for the game to calculate your skill level, determining how many RR points you'll get per Valorant match. 

A quick example: if you have a high MMR and for some reason, you find yourself in lower ranks, each win will give you a massive amount of RR in hopes to match your actual rank with your MMR. This is why Immortal or Radiants can climb faster when a reset happens.

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A low MMR means you'll have to grind harder to get out of lower ranks as the game believes this is where you belong unless you show consistent improvement. 

For the start of this season, the MMR requirements to reach ranks below Ascendant will be lowered, in theory, making it easier to climb, at least initially. To counterbalance this, ranks above Ascendant (starting with Immortal) have tougher MMR requirements.

"To align with our expectations of what it means to be in the highest ranks of VALORANT, Immortal+ players will find it harder to climb back to their previous episode rank. This means Immortal will also have a smaller leaderboard population in all regions."

So there you have it! Hopefully, an entirely new rank is seen as an incentive to keep grinding rather than another hefty barrier players will have to break through in order to reach higher ranks.

If you want to keep up to date with Valorant tier lists, skin collections, and more, check out our dedicated section for more coverage of the ultra-popular title.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games.