VALORANT Premier Global Open Beta: release date, features, how to play

VALORANT Premier is a team-based competitive system that will allow players to compete in a series of matches throughout the week, and if you manage to climb up on your designated rank, you will be crowned as one of the top teams in your division. In this article we will cover the VALORANT Premier release date, how to participate, rewards, and how does VALORANT Premier work.

VALORANT Premier public beta release date

VALORANT Premier was first showcased and Alpha tested in Brazil back in 2022; based on the feedback from the players, VALORANT Premier has changed a lot since then and will be available for a public beta on April 25, 2023. Premier will be available as a new game mode and can be accessed from the home page navigation. And will be available until May 21, 2023. Here are all the important dates for VALORANT Premier global open beta:

• Enrollment period: 25th-28th April
• Weekly Matches: 29th April to 20th May
• Playoff Tournament start: 21st May

During the enrollment period, you can make as many roster changes as you want, but once it ends you have to stick with the same team throughout the Premier Beta. You can unroll your team if the Enroll button is changed to Unenroll.

Since this is a beta test build, players can expect bugs in the system. Also, the team and match history will not transfer to the full Premier release. On the launch day of the Premier beta, there will be a fullscreen takeover, and you will go through a quick introduction to how this works. You will also find Premier second in the list under Play.

How to be eligible for VALORANT Premier

Riot Games has ensured that any player can compete in Premier; therefore, the eligibility criteria are quite simple.

• Firstly, you need to verify your identity and account through SMS verification.
• Secondly, you need to have an MMR by finishing any placement throughout the lifetime of the account.

Once these two criteria are fulfilled, you will be able to create your own team. Also, you can only join one team per account. Additionally, there will not be any rank disparity to teaming up with friends, meaning if your friends are Iron and you are on Gold, you can still form a team. The system will try to find teams with the same MMR on your Division.

There will also be a Test Tournament, which is scheduled on May 3, 2023. You can have a look at your Premier schedule in-game for the exact timings. This Test Tournament will be played to make sure all the systems are working properly.

Not only can the players create teams of their own and compete against players of the same skill level, but participating in the open beta test will make you eligible for different rewards as well.

VALORANT Premier global open beta rewards

Participating in VALORANT Premier global beta will make you eligible for rewards. Once you compete in a Premier match, you will unlock the Beta participation banner and title, which will be available on the next day.

If your team manages to win the Playoffs Tournament, then you will unlock the Premier Beta Champions banner and title, which will be available on the next day. Both of these rewards can be equipped from the Collection tab in the game.

How to create a Team in VALORANT Premier

As mentioned earlier, once you have completed the eligibility criteria, you will be able to create your own and assign yourself as the Team Owner, or if one of your friends has already created a team, they will be able to send you an invite to join the team.

Currently, you need at least five players to complete a team, and a maximum of seven players can be enrolled. Once the weekly matches start, you cannot change your roster unless the player you are adding is in the same division. If there is any disparity in the Division, you won’t be able to join the queue to compete in the weekly matches.

Also, the Team Owner and Party Leader can be two different players. The Team Owner will have all the access to invite players, customize the team logo, promote another player to the owner, and/or delete the team entirely. If they decide to leave the team, they can do so; then the Ownership will be transferred to the player who has been on the team the longest.

The Party Leader will be responsible for queueing during the matches and picking and banning maps during the playoffs, and it is not compulsory for the Team Owner to be present during the Premier matches.

Once your team is finalized, the Team Owner needs to lock the zone you want your team to play from. Selecting the zone will decide the server you will be playing on and also the match schedule.

Team Hub and Matches in VALORANT Premier

The Premier Hub and Team Tab will show your team’s status. There will be a Standings tab which will be like the Leadership tab, where instead of player names, you can see teams in every Division. The standing and points will be updated after the Premier matches.

You can see your premier match history on the Match History tab only; it will showcase your Team Level match history as well as your Individual Match history. Unfortunately, you cannot choose the maps you want to play; it will be predetermined by the system. However, you will be notified early enough to have time to practice with the team.

During the tournament matches, teams will have a proper map pick and ban system, where each player of the team can vote to pick or ban a map, and the party leader can then lock the team’s choice. This process will alternate between the teams until a map is chosen. The team who did choose the map will choose if they'd like to attack or defend.

To queue the matches, you need to go to the Premier Hub, where you need to be in a party with all your registered teammates. Once the queue window is open, you will be able to queue into the game. It is highly recommended to queue as early as possible during the weekly matches, as queuing late may result in not finding a match.

The queues during the weekly matches are expected to have a maximum eight-minute waiting period. If you end up waiting longer, don’t leave the queue, as it can result in a longer waiting period. Whereas the Tournament bracket is expected to have a maximum of 20 minutes of the waiting period, it is advised not to leave the queue, which may result in a longer waiting time.

The match rules will be a little bit different compared to the standard competition. If a game reaches overtime, then:

• The first team to reach 12 rounds will get an Overtime priority.
• The team with overtime priority will have the advantage of choosing starting side for Overtime by voting, using a simple 5-player majority system.
• The team must win by two rounds, and in each round, the side will be swapped.
• After two sets of overtime are played, there will be a Sudden Death round, and the Side Choice during Sudden Death will be based on the side the overtime priority chose during the first overtime.

VALORANT Premier Scoring System and How to Qualify for Playoffs

For each match you will play during the weekly qualifiers, you will be able to earn points. Try to earn as many points as you can to qualify for the Playoff Tournament. Each weekly match win will get you 100 points, and losing a match will result in 25 point loss.

Winning tournament matches won’t score you any points. If your team manages to score 375 points, you will qualify for the tournament. In a Tournament bracket, there can be up to eight teams and a minimum of five teams. If you lose in a tournament match, you will be able to compete for the third spot in the Consolation bracket.

Unfortunately, you cannot pause or take strategic timeouts during the premier matches in the beta. But you can expect this feature on the official build.