Here are all the badges and rank names in Valorant

Riot Games has updated the different ranks you earn in Valorant, and added some extra detail about competitive matches. Since Valorant was announced, Riot has emphasised the game's competitive features, stressing the strengths of its anti-cheat software and netcode. So if you want to show off your skills and want to know know how you can progress in Valorant, here are all the ranks in the game.

All Valorant ranks

Thanks to a new official breakdown, we now know the eight different ranks through which you can grind. When the beta first began, Valorant's ranks had titles like "soldier" and "hero" but they've since switched to a more common rare metals naming system that's probably easier for most folks to remember the order of anyhow.

In ascending order, the Valorant ranks are:

• Iron
• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Diamond
• Immortal
• Valorant

Each rank has three different levels within it: Iron 1, then 2 and 3, then Bronze 1, and so on except for the top rank "Valorant" which has no tiers. You will have to play a few games unranked before you're given your first badge. It's not surprising that a game from the company behind League of Legends has a familiar progression system, but it looks like there will be more tiers to Valorant's top ranks than its MOBA.

There's no rank decay

In Riot says you won't face rank decay for being inactive. If you don't play a match for 14 days, your rank will be hidden in Competitive mode but you won't actually lose any tiers. Your rank will be displayed again as soon as you play a new match.

What about rank resets?

Riot has confirmed that your closed beta rank will not carry over to launch. After that, we don't know if or how often ranks will be reset.

Here's how Valorant's Competitive mode works

For starters, you'll need to play 20 matches of Unrated play to unlock Competitive mode. Once there, you can queue with a party of up to five members but you'll all have to be within 2 ranks (or three tiers) or one another. Competitive matchmaking takes pre-made party size into account, attempting to match you with teams that are composed similarly.

Riot says that when you first start out, your personal performance will have a greater impact on your rank change than just wins or losses. As the system gets a general measure of your personal skill, personal performance will take a backseat to wins. 

In competitive mode, you'll also be judged by how decisively you win matches, whether it's a close call or a landslide. At Valorant rank, wins and decisiveness of those wins are the only factors measured. Riot figures if you've made it there you've proven your individual skill level enough.

It doesn't take very much to get me interested in progression in a shooter. I never get anywhere impressive, but I still try. Anyway, pursuing that gold, sparkling Immortal badge is at least enough to make me feel bad languishing in the sad, grey Iron bracket.

If you're still on the fence about the game, the Valorant beta is happening now. Morgan reckons the addition of hero powers makes it more than just a simple CS:GO clone.