Riot tweaks VALORANT rank indicators on a loss to provide “more transparency” in Patch 1.05

It can be frustrating to lose in VALORANT and not know how badly it affected your MMR. But today’s changes should help a bit.

VALORANT Patch 1.05 is introducing some tweaks to the competitive system, making rank indicators more transparent. The increased clarity should give players a better sense of how close they are to being promoted or demoted.

“Previously we showed very little info around how much rank you lost on a loss to limit the already painful experience of a loss,” Riot said. “However, this was leading to issues where a player may have had a really rough game (think decisively lost the game and played poorly) and then would win several games and not rank up.”

After losing a match, players will now receive one of three different rank indicators. One down arrow means your rating “decreased slightly,” two down arrows mean your “rating decreased,” and the devastating three down arrows suggest your “rating greatly decreased.”

Winning a match shows one, two, or three arrows pointing upward, giving you some sense of your performance and chances of being promoted. But losing a match only showed one down arrow, regardless of whether you got stomped or lost in overtime. Today’s tweaks may help players understand when they need to pick up their performance to avoid dropping down.

The tactical shooter’s ranked system definitely isn’t perfect. VALORANT players have reported extreme difficulty climbing the competitive ladder even after consecutive wins. While this is liable to still occur, the increased clarity might help players cope a bit. And the developers are promising to give “additional transparency around rank changes in future patches.”