A few years ago, nobody knew anything about Valorant. The beta came out in 2020 and it surged to popularity thanks to several coronavirus lockdowns. Fast forward to now and it’s comfortably the most popular FPS game on PC – and it’s even had a recent release for consoles.
As with all good FPS games, Valorant runs a ranked system where players desperately try to climb to the top. The ranks in this game are:
- Iron
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Diamond
- Ascendant
- Immortal
- Radiant
Each rank has three levels to it – for instance, you start in Iron 1 and make your way through Iron 2 and Iron 3. You rank up by gaining “RR” when playing your ranked games. Winning the game guaranteed a positive RR increase and the better you perform, the more you’ll get. Most players achieve anywhere between 8-20 RR on average per game won.
But here’s the kicker – if you lose or draw your match, you could lose RR to go with it. This makes winning essential if you want to rank up (you need 100 RR in each level to move up) and many Valorant players end up hard stuck with nowhere to go. If this sounds like you, then we’re here to help you out with six simple tips to help you breeze through the ranks!
#1 Learn an agent in each category
Plenty of Valorant players switched to the game after spending years on CS:GO. The two are eerily similar in terms of the aim style and general gist of matches, but one significant difference lies in Valorant’s agent system. Unlike CS, you must choose a specific agent before each game – and each agent has a set of abilities you can use to help your team. What’s more, these agents are split into the following categories:
- Duelists – Usually the agents who make space for teammates and focus on getting kills and breaking onto the bombsites
- Controllers – Agents responsible for providing the team with covering smokes and other supportive utilities to make getting onto sites (or defending them) easier.
- Sentinels – Generally the most “defensive” class with abilities focused on delaying site pushes and gathering information for the team.
- Initiators – Designed to help “initiate” attacks or defensive pushes by using flashes, recon darts, etc.
IGN has a wonderful guide to the agent classes in this game that you should read to understand how each of them works and the style of play they suit. The common mistake new Valorant players make is picking one agent and sticking with them. This will only take you so far as the time will come when someone else picks your agent and you’re stuck not knowing what to do.
The best way to rank up is by picking at least one agent from each category and learning how to play them. This means you’ll always have someone to pick and can ensure your team has a balanced composition. You’ll also have a deeper understanding of the game’s fundamentals when you play agents from different classes as they force you to adapt your style of play.
#2 Work on your aim
It’s highly possible to get up to Gold without having amazing aim in Valorant. Learning how to aim isn’t as difficult as it is in Counter-Strike, but this means the skill ceiling for aimers is usually much lower. People in Gold or Platinum often have aim on par with those in Ascendant or low Immortal ranks.
With that in mind, if you don’t have good aim by the time you get to Gold, you need to start working on it! Practice in the Range before matches or que a Team Deathmatch to understand the game mechanics and how aiming works. Practice makes perfect and a lot of players will naturally improve the more games they play.
However, you’ll reach a point where you need to work on specific aspects of your aim – like tracking or flicking to multiple targets. AimLabs has some wonderful Valorant aim routines you can use to practice away from the game. Keep at it and work on your aim every day to see consistent progress.
#3 Watch the professionals to develop game sense
Yes, your aim is highly important – particularly at the lower ranks as it can carry you to victories on its own. When you get into Diamond+, you need to have a broader set of skills to continue ranking up.
More specifically, you must understand how the game works and what good game sense looks like.
This means you know where to position yourself during rounds, how to place good smokes, where to flash for teammates and so on. Learning all of this stuff is the hardest part of playing Valorant but you can supercharge your studies by watching the professionals. You’ll pick up loads of great pointers and see how the game should be played by watching the esports scene.
It’s generally free to watch across streaming platforms, but if they’re blocked in your country you can always find European casinos that accept UK players with live streams available in their esports sections. We strongly recommend watching a few matches and then applying what you see in your ranked games. It’s amazing how much value you can get out of something as simple as copying a pro player’s lurk during a round or learning how to do a one-way smoke.
#4 Avoid solo-queuing as much as possible
Valorant ranked can be a terrible place at times. People will flame you or be general idiots – especially if you’re queuing on your own. Our advice is to avoid solo-queuing as much as possible if you’re serious about ranking up in Valorant. Don’t five-stack either – this limits how much RR you win – but try to play with a friend or two.
Playing with friends gives you more control over the outcome of a ranked match. When three of your team are on the same Discord call and know one another, you don’t have to depend on random people as much. Even if the two other players are terrible and keep flaming you, the three of you can easily work together to win.
Solo-queuing is a recipe for disaster and you should only do it if you’re desperate to play and none of your friends are around. Here’s a good tip if you don’t have friends playing Valorant: join the official Valorant Discord server and you’re bound to find people looking for someone to queue with!
#5 Communicate with your teammates
Communication is key in Valorant. You need to synergise with your teammates so everyone knows their jobs and what you’re doing each round. It stops people from going off on their own and ruining the match. Plus, communication helps teammates understand where enemies are, how badly damaged they are, etc.
Use your microphone if you can – but if you’re nervous, make good use of the text communication and pinging system. Again, this is why playing with friends is so useful; your communication will be much better. We’d go as far as to say that a team of 3 friends communicating well will always beat a team of 5 randoms who aren’t talking to one another.
#6 Stop leaving your ranked games
Last but not least, stop rage-quitting your ranked games. We know Valorant gets frustrating at times, but if you quit the game or go AFK, Riot hits you with an RR penalty. You’ll lose vital points, regardless of the match outcome.
The same is true if you accidentally leave the game after it’s finished. Always wait until you’re back in the lobby and gain your RR!
Ranking up in Valorant is hard, but these tips will make it somewhat easier. Be patient and don’t expect changes overnight – the best piece of advice is to play with a group of friends if you can. We can’t overstate how much this helps with both your mental attitude and the probability of winning games.
