VALORANT ranked system is “aggressively demoting” players

If you or a friend have been demoted rather quickly in VALORANT’s ranked queue, it may have been the result of a bug.

Riot announced today it is working on a fix for issues of its ranked system “aggressively demoting” players. The developer said the demotions only affect the displayed rank and that they won’t last long-term. Additionally the rank should revert to its normal one with a single win.

Popular streamer Ninja tweeted earlier today that VALORANT’s ranked system was “unbelievably toxic” after he was demoted from Diamond Two to Diamond One after losing a game against Immortal Three and Radiant players in overtime. Other players responded, saying similar demotions had happened to them.

The good news for Ninja and others is their actual ranks have not been affected, according to Riot. This should also reassure players they can continue to play ranked while not risking long-term affects regarding their individual rank.

Multiple VALORANT players said on July 15 that it had become very difficult to rank up despite numerous consecutive wins in ranked. Although Riot previously explained that individual performance and winning margin are the biggest factors to ranking up, many players say they have not ranked up even when seemingly meeting the general criteria.

Lead character designer Ryan “Morello” Scott said the developer that was working on VALORANT’s ranked system design left the company, which could be a reason why players are seeing more issues arising within the competitive queue.