What ranks can play together in VALORANT?

Written By Eddie Lemon Writer
Last UpdatedJuly 3, 2023 at 02:46PM
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In VALORANT, ranks that can play together are usually of a similar skill level, meaning that you can’t queue as an Iron and Ascendant in a Rated game!

This is to keep the matchmaking fair for everyone involved in a game of VALORANT, but it does leave us wondering, in VALORANT what ranks can play together?

What ranks can play with each other VALORANT?

The first question is can you play with any rank in VALORANT? The short answer is yes, but not in Rated games. You can play as much Swiftplay, Unrated, the new [Team Deathmatch]https://www.thespike.gg/news/ascendant-rank-in-valorant/3149) and more as you’d like to, but not Rated games.

This means that as an Ascendant, you can stomp on enemies in Deathmatch all the time if you queue with an Iron, but chances are the Iron player will not have a great time. This is due to the ranks balancing themselves out with the skill level of the enemies and the rest of the players in the lobby that both of you joined.

So what VALORANT ranks can play together in Rated games?

Rank disparity in VALORANT. Credit: Riot Games
Rank disparity in VALORANT. Credit: Riot Games

Iron and Bronze players can play with anyone in Silver, whilst hardstuck players in Silver can play with anyone in Gold. This means Silver players have the most amount of spread across the ranks, being able to play with four different ranks, being Iron, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Gold players can then play with Platinum players.

After Platinum it gets more interesting, however. This is because in Platinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Immortal and Radiant, you can play with anyone exactly that is one tier higher than your current rank.

This means that a Platinum 3 player can play with any rank up to Diamond 3, or a player in Ascendant 2 can queue up with someone in Immortal 2, but not Immortal 3.

The short version of this all is that if you are in one of these ranks, you can end up playing with someone three ranks lower than you, or three ranks higher than you!

5-stack premade groups

However, there is one big exception to the rules above. If you have a five-stack of players of different ranks, you can still play VALORANT ranked together. This comes at a cost of 25% Rank Rating (RR), meaning that you will get less RR when you win, and lose less RR when you lose compared to a "normal" match that applies the rank rules mentioned before. This means that in theory a Silver player can play ranked with an Ascendant, as long as they have a team of 5 players. This is a great option when you have a group of five friends!

Can Unranked players play with Ranked players in VALORANT?

Yes they can! Any unranked account that hasn’t finished their five placement games can play with any account that is ranked Iron, Bronze, Silver or Gold! This means if your friends grinded their placements late last night, but you haven’t gotten round to it, you can still play ranked with them in VALORANT.

Why you can’t play ranked with friends in VALORANT

If you can’t play ranked with your friends in VALORANT it is likely because of three reasons:

  • You and your friend are too far apart with your ranks. As we mentioned earlier, if you and your friend two ranks apart above Silver, you cannot play with that friend in ranked.
  • One of you hasn’t finished your placement games, whilst the other is in Platinum or above! This is very common for newer players being enticed into VALORANT by their high level Jett and Reyna one-trick friends!
  • Either of you might have a competitive ranked game ban. These are normally for leaving too many games AFK, being reported too many times, or having been verbally abusive to players in previous games!

Hi, my name is Eddie, I am a full-time writer and short-form video editor, with a degree in Esports! My main games are VALORANT and League of Legends, so you could say that I am at the beck and call of Riot Games! I have worked previously for a few different websites, doing various roles, such as writing, editing, and even voiceovers, but here at THESPIKE, I am an out-and-out article writer, so I can really get as much content out as I can! I graduated with my Esports degree with a 2:1, and a desire to keep going, so this was a perfect step for me, but I still can't get enough of League of Legends when I'm free.

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