Valorant: huge ranked changes coming in Episode 2

Valorant developers Riot Games revealed that players can expect to see another overhaul of Valorant's competitive ranked play.

The new set of changes will come in January alongside Valorant Episode 2, expected to launch on 12th January.

This has been revealed in the latest "Ask Valorant" article, as an answer to a concerned player who thinks that the current ranking system "feels harsh".

And it seems that the developers agree that the system is currently unforgiving and that they should have implemented more protection against rank demotion.

(Picture: Riot Games)

Ian Fielding, Valorant's Senior Producer, explains that they have already started making some changes in this regard with Valorant Patch 1.14 and that we can expect to see "more substantive changes" with the launch of Episode 2.

"With patch 2.0, we’re going to add increased protection for rank demotions, while giving you some initial buffer room after you gain ranks," he explains. "There are also going to be a TON more changes to the rank system with Episode 2, and we’ll have more info on that to come in early January next year."

Ranked leaderboard (Picture: Riot Games)

Earlier this month, reputable dataminers "ValorLeaks" and "Shiick" shared a leak about "the number rating system" in Valorant, which indicates that players will have ranked points used to promote or demote players.

Remember the preview of Leaderboards? Well, The Number rating system seems to be heading to the game after new strings were added to the game. Points will possibly be taking the place of the ranked system in Episode 2. (Thanks to @Shiick for finding the strings) #VALORANTpic.twitter.com/ju6ApbX5OW

— Valorant Leaks (@ValorLeaks) December 12, 2020

While it seems that this leak is connected with the ranked changes coming in Episode 2, this is not an official source and it should be taken with a grain of salt.

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One thing is for sure, Valorant will get some significant ranked changes, but for now, developers haven't revealed more details about these new changes.

More information will probably follow sometime in early January.