Street Fighter 6’s online ranking system, explained

With modernized online features, plenty of ways to play, and the introduction of the Battle Hub, Capcom has really stepped into the ring with Street Fighter 6. All the content thrown into the mix will keep casual and competitive players returning for more—especially with the revamped ranking system to keep things nice and sweaty. 

Whether you are playing from the Battle Hub or simply going online in the Fighting Grounds, you can customize your SF6 experience to play against people who fit your style. That means you can enable ranked, focus on casual games, or even get some extreme rounds in if you feel spicy. 

Ranked is where most players will spend their time after drilling themselves on SF6’s controls and working to master the Drive Gauge with all of its systems. It also helps that Capcom has seriously cut down on filler, streamlining the mode and making it more accessible to newcomers.

How does Street Fighter 6’s online ranking system work? 

Capcom has reworked online ranked in Street Fighter 6 compared to its predecessor, cutting the number of ranks down to a core eight ranging from Rookie to Master. Each of those ranks is referred to as a “league,” with five internal ranks that players will progress through by playing matches. 

In addition to cutting down the number of ranks by splitting them into eight leagues, Capcom has also changed it to where League Points—the metric used to dictate a player’s strength based on results and performance—-is now locked to each character rather than a player profile. 

Related: All playable characters in Street Fighter 6

There are also several intricate details tied to some of the leagues that change depending on where you sit in the rankings. 

All online ranks in Street Fighter 6, explained

In total, there are eight leagues that make up Street Fighter 6’s ranked experience, each with five numbered ranks that denote where players sit and how far they are from reaching the next league. 

• Rookie
• Iron
• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Diamond
• Platinum
• Master

Rookie is almost exclusively reserved for entirely new players as a way to get them used to the ranked experience. 

As soon as you boot up the game’s online mode, it will ask you your experience level in fighting games, ranging from Beginner to Advanced. Selecting Beginner seems to place the player into the Rookie league automatically without going through placement matches—otherwise, you will need to select a character and queue up Ranked to play 10 matches before you get assigned to your first league. 

How do you rank up in Street Fighter 6? 

Once you get assigned to a league in Street Fighter 6, your main goal is to grind and improve enough so you are winning more matches than you lose while playing. Winning games will reward you with League Points with the character you are playing with, while losing will deduct those points. 

Depending on which league and rank you are in, there is a chance you won’t be demoted to a lower standing if you lose enough times, get one-time protection on rank drops, or even get bonus points for going on a winstreak. Here is a full list of how each league handles those different options. 

• Rookie League
  • Winstreak bonus: Yes
  • League Point loss on defeat: No (This rank is only for beginners getting used to the systems, so there is no penalty for losing.)
• Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold Leagues
  • Winstreak bonus: Yes
  • League demotion: No (You can’t be demoted from any of these leagues once you are in them.)
  • One-time Rank down protection: Yes (Once per Rank, if you would be dropped to a lower Rank you will be protected.)
• Platinum and Diamon Leagues
  • Winstreak bonus: No
  • League demotion: Yes (You can be demoted from these leagues once you are in them, up to dropping back to Gold.)
  • One-time Rank down protection: Yes 
• Master League
  • Winstreak bonus: No
  • League demotion: No

Once you reach Master League with a character, you will keep that rank up until a potential ranked reset happens in the future. This puts you on par with Master characters like Ryu and Luke in Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode who teach you different moves, which you can also use in the Battle Hub with Avatar Battles.