Premier

Overview

Welcome to your hub for all things VALORANT Premier, where we’ve collected every shred of Premier tournament content for your convenience.

Here you’ll find things like…

• What VALORANT’s Premier mode is all about.
• Premier schedule, dates, info, and updates.
• Enrollment how-tos and sign-up info.
• Premier Beta and Ignition history.

“I was told you are all the best. That is why I'm here.” Alexander (Sasha) “Sova” Novikov

What exactly is VALO Premier?

Premier is VALORANT’s latest competitive tournament game mode – a bridge between the game and the sport, and a replacement for the open qualifier system used for the 2020-2023 VCT circuit’s Challengers Leagues.

Similar to an in-game amateur league, Premier mode is a nail-biting team tournament that gives casual players a taste of turning pro – an absolute must for anyone seriously considering an esports career.

Test your talents, win prizes, gain professional competitive experience, and enter the highest echelons of VCT. If you’ve played League of Legends Clash before, VALORANT Premier will feel comfortably familiar.

How Premier works

In VALORANT’s Premier league mode, you join or assemble your own team and go head-to-head against other teams from your region and division.

Teams are made up of five to seven players, with a customizable team name, logo, tag, and color scheme.

To enroll in Premier, you must:

• Not be currently banned or restricted.
• Not have been banned or restricted in the last 30 days.
• Have completed at least one ranked placement in any Act.
• Verify your account via SMS authentication.
• Only be part of one team per account.
• Create or join a team.

Once your roster is full, the team captain enrolls your team and chooses which zone you’ll compete in.

This determines which servers you’ll play in and affects your match schedule, so it’s crucial that all team members are available for their scheduled Premier matches.

Matches are held around 7 pm local time, though you’ll find your exact match schedule in your Premier dashboard in-game.

Once enrolled, your team is seeded into one of 20 divisions within your zone, based on the average MMR of your team’s top five players.

Your team then plays two maps per week – you’ll see your match schedule and map rotation from the Premier hub.

From there, it’s simple: win matches, earn points, climb to the top of your division.

Teams that score at least 375 points in each division qualify for the Playoffs – an elimination tournament that follows a similar format to the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT).

Like in the VCT, matches use the pick-and-ban system:

• Teams take turns banning maps.
• Each team member can vote on a map to ban.
• The team leader locks in the team’s final decision.

The Premier tournament also echoes the VCT through its single elimination bracket and real-time match updates.

Check out Riot’s full Premier FAQs here.

What do Premier winners get?

Everyone who competes in Premier Ignition will receive a reward, as long as they participate in at least one match.

Champions who win all their matches win a unique player card, a gun buddy, and a title card.

How to sign up for Premier

You can only sign up for VALORANT’s Premier mode during the enrollment period – a week-long window before the tournament begins.

Expect the enrollment deadline time to be the day of or the day before the first Premier matches.

The first part of enrolling in Premier is to verify and link your phone number. Here’s how:

1. Launch VALORANT.

2. Open the Premier section.

3. Click Verify.

4. Select your country code, then enter your phone number.

5. You’ll receive a code via SMS – enter that code in VALO when prompted.

Congrats – you’re signed up for Premier! Next, either join or create a team.

Here’s how to create a team from the in-game Premier tab:

1. Click the “Create team” button.
2. Enter your team name and tag.
3. Customize your team logo.
4. Invite teammates.

Error sending team invite

You’ll receive this error message if the player you’re inviting to your Premier team hasn’t verified their phone number (see above, first part of enrolling in Premier).

Other causes of this error include if the invitee doesn’t have 2-factor authentication turned on, or if they don’t have a verified email address on their account.

You can fix both of these through Riot directly.

1. Visit Riot’s website.
2. Check that your email address is valid.
3. Click the 2FA button.
4. Check your email for confirmation.

Any of these methods should resolve the error message and allow you to send your team invite.

Test 1: Beta

Being an experiment in in-game amateur league competition, Riot tested Premier’s functionality in the only way that counts – with an open beta phase.

VALORANT’s wildly popular Premier Beta began on April 29 and concluded on May 21, 2023.

Key Beta dates were…

• Enrollment window: April 25 - April 28
• Weekly matches: April 29 - May 20
• Test tournament: May 3
• Playoff tournament: May 21

Riot scheduled the test tournament as a purely technical test in prep for the Playoff. Matches in this test had no impact on the final ranking of participating teams and awarded no prizes to winners.

Teams that earned enough points during the Beta matches made it to the Playoffs in their skill division.

The full four-week match schedule for the Premier beta was:

Across the globe, players competed in the Premier Beta, getting a taste of next-level competitive matches beyond the typical Ranked mode.

To some, the rush of the Premier Beta was experiencing what it feels like to compete as a real team. For others, it was a gateway to a professional grassroots career.

But for all involved, it was a no-holds-barred thrill ride that demanded repeating…

!VALORANT Premier Igntion promotional image of Fade

Test 2: Premier Ignition

VALORANT’s dev team took the community feedback from the beta to the grindstone and came back with a second test before the full launch: Premier Ignition, the final stage of system test before Stage 1, the official launch of Premier.

The goal of this final test is the same as with the Beta: monitor any kinks in the Premier competitive mode, eliminate any issues, and create the best competitive mode from the community feedback.

After VCT 2023 ends on August 26, Premier will officially launch as part of Episode 7, Act 2.

Changes from beta

As you’d expect from the final stage of testing before the new tournament mode’s official launch, Ignition presented some changes from the open Beta test.

Ignition dates and schedule

Those changes were:
• Improved team creation and enrollment.
• An extended week-long enrollment window.
• Match queue schedules specific to each region/zone, accommodating different time zones across global servers.
• Tournament bracket progress updated in real-time.
• No more consolation bracket.

VALORANT’s Premier Ignition stage began on July 20 and concluded on August 13, 2023.

Key Premier Ignition dates were…
• Enrollment window: July 11 - July 20
• Weekly matches: Jul 20 - Aug 12
• Playoff tournament: Aug 13

The full four-week match schedule for Premier Ignition was:

Premier Ignition structure

Tournament-wise, Premier Ignition largely followed the same format as the Beta, with enrolled teams competing in two weekly matches to earn points.

• 100 points for a win.
• 25 points for a loss.
• Zero points for not playing.

All teams with at least 375 points after the fourth week qualified for the Playoffs on August 13.

Every team could queue for a max of two weekly matches, and could choose to play both matches on a single day. Those who played both their Premier Ignition matches on one day had to wait until the following week to compete again.

Riot confirmed that certain play stats would be carried over from VALORANT’s Premier Ignition to Premier Stage 1 once the mode officially launches. Those stats are:

• Teams.
• Match history.
• Premier MMR.

Premier Ignition rewards include a player card for those who compete in at least one match, a gun buddy, and a title for winning, with rewards distributed the day after the Playoff tournament ends.

Lead Producer Laura La Vito’s tell-all update tweet for Ignition