Valorant ranks: how RR works, where players sit and what Radiant takes

The short answer

Valorant has 9 ranks, and each rank from Iron to Immortal has 3 divisions. Radiant has none. A division runs from 0 to 100 RR, and you restart at 10 RR at minimum when you move up. A win earns about 5 to 50 RR, a loss costs about 0 to 30 RR.

RR follows the match result first. The round differential, your performance and your hidden MMR adjust the gain. Your rank does not drop if you stop playing.

Radiant asks for two things at once: your region's RR threshold, from 200 to 500 RR, and a place in that region's top 500. In the 8 September 2026 snapshot, 0.05% of players are there.

Radianite points, the skin currency, have nothing to do with the Radiant rank.

How RR goes up and down

RR (Rank Rating) measures your progress inside a rank. Each division runs from 0 to 100 RR. At 100 RR you move up and restart at 10 RR at minimum. Immortal and Radiant do not stop at 100 RR.

Four factors decide your gain or loss.

• The result. Winning or losing makes most of the movement.
• The round differential. A crushing win pays far more than a narrow one. A one-sided loss also costs more than a close one.
• Your performance. Damage and assists count, not only kills. The effect stays smaller than the result.
• Convergence. It compares your rank to your MMR.

MMR is a hidden rating of your real skill. If your MMR is above your rank, your wins pay more and your losses cost less. If it is below, the opposite happens. A fast climber therefore gains a lot of RR per game, then the curve flattens once the rank catches up with the level.

At the top, gains are smaller and losses heavier. Draws earn up to 20 RR, from Iron to Ascendant only, and never lower your rank.

A worked example, not a real record: you win by a wide margin with MMR above your rank. Both factors push your gain toward the top of the 5 to 50 RR range. You lose by a wide margin with MMR below your rank: the loss leans toward the top of the 0 to 30 RR range.

Penalties exist. Dodging the queue after selection costs 6 RR at first. Going AFK for 3 or more rounds costs 8 to 12 RR on top of the loss, and 12 RR from 6 rounds, even if your team wins.

Demotion, placements and decay

Rank shields. At 0 RR in a division 1, you get 2 shields. You only risk demotion after a loss at 0 RR. Three losses at 0 RR drop you to division 3 of the rank below, at 70 RR minimum. Shields only come back when you return to division 2.

No decay. Riot writes it in its FAQ of 17 May 2026: no rank decay. You can take a break without fearing a drop.

Placements. At the start of a new episode, everyone plays 5 placement matches, Immortal and Radiant included. The highest starting rank is Ascendant 1. In Act 2 or 3, one placement match is enough: your leaderboard position stays, but Immortal and Radiant RR drops by 90%, and every Radiant player returns to Immortal.

Riot's official wiki still lists older figures, such as a placement cap at Ascendant 3. We follow the 2026 Riot support articles, which are more recent.

Immortal and Radiant: thresholds by region

At the top, your rank depends on your RR and your region. The Riot support article of March 2026 gives these thresholds.

Hitting the threshold is not enough. You must also be in your region's top 500: both conditions are required. Otherwise you stay below Radiant.

In these two ranks, the result weighs almost everything: Riot describes performance as near zero, and two support pages word it differently. A Radiant player drops if they lose more RR than the lowest Radiant player or fall under their region's threshold. Immortal 1 drops after a loss at 0 RR.

So when you aim for Radiant, look at your region first. The same RR does not take you to the same place in LATAM and in EU.

Where players sit

Riot does not publish a distribution table on the pages we read. The figures come from third-party sites that compile the game's API, and they change from one snapshot to the next. Here is the most recent one, from 8 September 2026 (Esports Tales, V26 Act 5), with ranks summed over their three divisions.

Cumulatively, calculated on this snapshot: 36.85% of players are Platinum or higher, and 19.29% are Diamond or higher. Another snapshot, from 9 August 2026 (vstats.gg), gives 17.23% Diamond or higher. Keep a range: Diamond or higher sits between 17 and 19%, depending on the date and the sample. Immortal or higher stays around 1 to 1.5%.

The useful reading: Silver and Gold alone hold 42.78% of players. If you are Gold, you are in the middle of the distribution, not behind. Your plateau has a specific cause, and you can find it on the hardstuck Gold page.

Playing in a group

Allowed gaps depend on the lowest rank in the group, for a duo or trio.

• Iron or Bronze: up to Silver.
• Silver: up to Gold.
• Gold: up to Platinum.
• From Platinum: 1 tier of gap at most (Platinum 2 with a player up to Diamond 2).

Groups of 4 are not allowed at any rank. From Immortal 1, it is solo, duo or 5-stack only (no trio). A 5-stack has no gap limit, but its RR is cut by 25% if a member is outside the normal ranges or an Immortal is present, by 75% with a Radiant, by 90% as soon as a player in the group is below Radiant. It only meets other 5-stacks. Competitive also requires Account Level 20, unless you had already played a ranked match before Episode 4.

What separates each tier

These priorities come from a ProSettings guide dated 13 May 2025. It is a blog opinion, not a Riot rule. Check it against your own play.

Iron and Bronze. Learn the gunplay, the maps and the agents. Stop crouch-spraying, limit run-and-gunning and keep your crosshair at head level. The second point is covered in crosshair placement. The maps have their callouts in the map guides.

Silver and Gold. Aim for the head with patient shots, and master the lineups of a few agents. In Gold, play smarter: Gold players are predictable. Use your utility and understand the economy. The economy has its own guide: buy, save or force.

Platinum and Diamond. Play patiently: aggressive play is easy to read. Communicate, then work on map control, fakes and rotations. In Diamond, combine utility, trade your teammates and play to win the round, not for the scoreboard. Start an aim routine, because aim is strong at this level.

Ascendant and Immortal. Fix your bad habits and review your games to find gaps in game sense. Work out your role. In Immortal, the article sums it up: identify your weaknesses and fix them, and the key to Radiant is pure grind.

Common mistakes

• Watching only your kills. RR follows the result first. A Diamond player should play to win the round, not for the scoreboard.
• Thinking a break lowers your rank. There is no decay.
• Aiming for Radiant without checking your region. The threshold runs from 200 to 500 RR, and the top 500 is still required.
• Trusting an old figure. The wiki and older articles list outdated thresholds.
• Queuing as a 5-stack without counting the cost. Outside the ranges, RR is cut by 25% or more.

How to train it

One measurable goal: over 10 ranked games, note for each one whether you played for the round result, not for your kills. Aim for 8 games out of 10 on that criterion, and compare your RR over a longer series, not one evening.

Consistency over many games weighs more than one good night: RR mostly follows results. For Radiant, the ProSettings article talks about grind.

On the aim side, Road2Radiant measures what can be measured. The benchmark places you across 3 levels and 8 aim subcategories, with its own scale of 90 points per rank, which is not your Valorant rank. Road2Radiant does not measure your game sense and promises no rank. It is free, with a Google account. Details: the benchmark.