Valorant MMR: Everything you need to know

Valorant, much like any other popular multiplayer game, has a competitive ranked ladder where you can challenge yourself to prove that you’re a top-notch Valorant player.

However, the game’s ranked system is much more nuanced when you peek behind the curtains, with a numerical system that’s a true representation of one’s Valorant rank.

In order to climb the ranks more effectively and reach the highest ranks on the ladder, you first must understand the main driving force behind Riot’s ranked system, the infamous MMR.

Valorant MMR - the basics

What is MMR in Valorant?

Matchmaking rating, commonly referred to as MMR, serves as the cornerstone of many multiplayer matchmaking systems, acting as the primary engine behind competitive ranked systems.

In Valorant, it’s a numerical value assigned to each player within the system that assesses their skill level and true position on the ranked ladder.

Essentially, it facilitates a massive ladder in which players climb and get pushed down by other players who take their spot.

Ideally, the MMR system’s main duty is to create evenly matched games with opponents of comparable skill levels (matchmaking ratings), which is supposed to create balanced and competitive matches.

Difference between rank, and MMR

The main difference between your rank and MMR is the fact that your rank is public and your MMR is not. Your matchmaking rating is not just hidden from the public eye, it’s hidden from you as well.

It’s because visible rank (eg. Silver, Gold) and RR are much easier for players to understand and follow than complex equations that go behind calculating matchmaking ratings and their impact on the public ranked ladder.

Unlike Rank, your MMR doesn’t reset with every Episode. While your rank might fully reset and require you to play a new set of placement games, your matchmaking rating remains consistent across different Episodes in Valorant.

This is because MMR is necessary as a guideline that determines your initial rank or your returning rank after an Episode reset.

Difference between RR and MMR

As far as MMR and RR go, the difference is in their functions within Valorant’s competitive structure.

Whereas matchmaking rating determines your position on the ranked ladder, your RR is used to represent your advancement within your visible rank tier.

In practice, acquiring enough RR will promote you to the next rank regardless of your MMR while slightly increasing it in the process.

Similarly, demoting from a certain ranked tier might seem like a big deal, when in reality it doesn’t massively impact your MMR behind the scenes.

What impacts my Valorant MMR?

Initial placement and rank progression

When you initially begin your ranked journey in Valorant, you have to play 5 placement games before you get a definitive visible rank on the ladder.

Your performance and the outcome of these games are the pillars of your initial matchmaking rating in Valorant as they determine its initial value along with the MMR gathered from the games that you’ve played while levelling up to level 20.

As you continue to play and accumulate wins or losses, your rank evolves accordingly, reflecting your skill level and progression within Valorant's competitive system.

Win rate

Your win rate is the biggest factor that determines your Valorant MMR as your matchmaking rating naturally increases with every win and decreases with every loss.

In order to climb the Valorant ladder, you must push out the players who are above you. Mathematically speaking, if you win more games than you lose, your MMR will gradually rise and allow you to overtake the players who are rated above you.

For this reason, If you have an overwhelmingly positive win rate, the game will try to push you to the higher ranks by rewarding you with more RR after each win.

On the other hand, if your rank doesn’t match your MMR and you constantly keep losing, you’ll lose more RR with each loss to even out the balance.

In-game performance and round differential

Both RR gains and MMR gains can be positively affected by consistently performing well in your ranked matches.

You will win more RR after the match ends if you end up having a larger KDA ratio and overall damage than an average player in your ranked tier.

Additionally, the round differential after the game ends impacts your RR and MMR gains as well.

Essentially, a wider round differential margin during victories (such as winning 13-1 rather than 13-10) or a narrower one during defeats (losing 11-13 instead of 2-13) can also affect your MMR and match outcome.

Win streaks and loss streaks

MMR can sometimes be a volatile metric for determining the ladder rank, especially when win streaks and loss streaks get involved.

Generally, the matchmaking rating is supposed to be a stable figure that reliably represents one’s place on the ladder. However, the rating itself loses its stability when a player starts winning or losing an unnatural number of games.

When it comes to win streaks in which you win multiple matches in a row, MMR gains are massively accelerated as the system interprets these wins as a signal of improved performance.

On the other hand, loss streaks which are characterized by consecutive losses and demotions negatively affect your MMR and RR gains, as the system attempts to re-configure your position on the ladder.

Loss streaks are notoriously detrimental to matchmaking rating and they’re often only repairable if you go on a massive win streak and aggressively improve your MMR.

How to find out my Valorant MMR?

Observe rank disparities

One of the most accurate methods of evaluating your MMR is by consistently observing the players you’re playing with and against.

Given that the system always tries to match you with players that have similar matchmaking ratings, the average rank in your Valorant lobby is a good indicator of where your MMR currently stands.

For example, even if you’re a Gold I player, if you have a Gold III MMR, you’re going to be placed in games where the average rank is Gold III.

This is because the game’s ranked system evaluates your skill as a Gold III player and tries to naturally place you in the lower bracket of ranked play.

Analyze your RR gains and losses

Conducting an analysis of your RR gains and losses can be one of the most consistent and trustworthy methods of finding out your MMR.

You can get a good idea of your MMR’s current state based on RR gains and losses given that you naturally gain more RR when your MMR is above average and lose more RR when your MMR is subpar.

This is what your RR gains and losses mean when it comes to assessing your MMR:

• + 15 RR on a win / -25 RR on a loss - this means that your MMR is lower than your average rank and the game is trying to push you down the ladder
• + 20 RR on a win / -20 RR on a loss - your MMR is average for your current visible rank which is why you’re getting stable RR gains and losses
• + 25 or more RR on a win / less than -15 RR on a loss - your MMR is higher than your current rank which is why you’re getting high RR gains. If your MMR is much higher than your ranked tier, you can rank up twice when you get promoted (eg. Silver III to Silver I).

Use third-party community tools

Even though Riot keeps MMR fully hidden from the prying eyes of the community, several third-party tools have been developed with the goal of making this information public.

These tools use metrics such as your win rate, RR gains/losses, and performance to give you a rough estimate of your ranked MMR and whether it’s higher or lower than the average rating of your ranked tier.