What Ranks Can Play Together In Valorant? Comprehensive Guide

by  Ievgen Dubravin Last update: March 26, 2024

Valorant is a tactical first-person shooter developed by Riot Games, in which not only the skill of the players is important, but also the strategy. One of its key competitive advantages is the ranking system – a structured hierarchy that categorizes players depending on their skill and many other game parameters. This system puts players against players of roughly the same level, making each match a test of strategy, player accuracy, and teamwork. So, what ranks can play together in Valorant? In this article, I will share more details about ranks and answer the most painful question – why some ranks cannot play together?

What Are The Ranks In Valorant?

Rank is a parameter that serves as a measure of your level and involvement in the game. When processing the Valorant ranked queue, the game takes into account your rank and hidden MMR. Thus, it determines which players in the lobby to match you with to ensure fairness and improve the overall gaming experience.

The rank system in Valorant consists of nine main ranks, starting with Iron and ending with Radiant. Each rank up to Ascendant is divided into three levels, reflecting the progression and development of players’ skills. The ranks are as follows:

• Iron 1 – 3
• Bronze 1 – 3
• Silver 1 – 3
• Gold 1 – 3
• Platinum 1 – 3
• Diamond 1 – 3
• Ascendant 1 – 3
• Immortal 1 – 3
• Radiant – the highest rank goes to the top 500 players in the region.

To open the competitive mode and complete the initial calibration, you need to reach account level 20. After this, you will need to play five matches for the game to determine your starting rank and skill level.

What’s The Difference Between Rank And Act Rank?

While your rank is a general (and accurate) reflection of your skills and abilities, you also gain a separate act rank as you progress through each act. An act is the competitive period in the episode. In turn, an episode is the size of an event consisting of three acts. Your act rank is officially your highest win, which Riot likes to call “proven mastery“.

There is a hollow triangular token that you fill during the act, and miniature colored triangles appear in it as you play. Every time you win a competitive match, you will receive a triangle representing your rank. For example, brown is for Bronze rank, and silver is for Silver rank. No matter how many different colors of ranks fill the token, only the topmost triangle, your highest-ranked victory, will determine your act rank. It also determines the reward you will receive at the end of the act. Suppose you spent most of the in-game time with a Gold rank, but if you have a Diamond 1 victory, you would receive a Diamond rank reward. 

Why Some Ranks Can’t Play Together In Valorant

In Valorant, the ranking system has some limitations when it comes to queuing with friends at different ranks. If you have a too big Valorant rank disparity, you will not be able to play ranked games together. This is such injustice, yes, I know.

What Ranks Can Play Together In Valorant?

Many Valorant players play solo and focus on improving their individual skills, but in order to climb the ranks and have better matches, you need to team up with somebody.

However, there are certain Valorant rank restrictions on players’ ability to team up across different ranks. If your ranks differ too much, you will not be able to play ranked games with your friends. Riot Games did this to ensure a balanced gameplay and to pick players with a similar skill level.

Five Stack

Let’s start with the exploration of what ranks can play Valorant together if they already have a full stack. In a party of 5, all ranks of Valorant can play, even if one member is Iron and the other is Immortal. However, there are some restrictions depending on how big the difference in ranks is. The first disadvantage is that you can expect longer Valorant rank queue times as the game tries to find players similar to your party. The second limitation is the lower rating growth. You cannot expect the same rank rating (RR) if you are boosted by players with the Immortal or Radiant ranks.

Four Stack

If you want to know what ranks can queue together in Valorant with a four-stack, I have to disappoint you. Four stacks are no longer allowed in ranked matches since solo players will have a poor gaming experience. Riot Games explained this as problems with communication between the solo player and the four people who already know each other. Actually, I could argue with this since, in other games, I have joined a group of 4 people I met on GameTree and had absolutely no complaints about communication. However, Riot sets its own rules here, so we have no other choice than to follow them.

Three Or Two Stack

Iron and Bronze players won’t have any Valorant ranked queue restrictions with players up to Silver rank, meaning Iron 1 players can play with Silver 3 players as long as the Silver player is the highest-ranked player in the lobby. Gold players can play with players up to Platinum. Platinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Immortal, and Radiant players can play with teammates exactly one level higher. Players with an Immortal rank and above can only play alone, in pairs, or with a 5-stack party, and not in a three-person party. Here’s a full table on what ranks can play together in Valorant in duos or trios.

Can Unranked Players Play With Ranked Players In Valorant?

Yes, according to my gaming experience, any unranked player who has not completed their five calibration games can play with any account with Iron, Bronze, Silver, or Gold ranks.

Why You Can’t Play Ranked Games With Friends In Valorant

If you cannot play with friends in ranked mode, there may be several reasons. The simplest and most common is that you and your friends have too big Valorant rank disparity. Or, one of you has not yet completed the calibration games, while the other has Platinum or higher. There is also another option: one of you might have received a ban from ranked games for insulting other players or AFK. Hope this is not your case.

Looking For Gamers To Play Valorant? Try GameTree

As you can see from my guide, in order to enjoy playing Valorant with your friends, you need them to be around your rank. What do you do if you don’t have such friends or if your team is not on the list of the ranks that can play Valorant together? I recommend that you install the GameTree app and find fellow Valorant players there.

GameTree is a popular matchmaking app for co-op games. Thanks to a unique AI algorithm, our application finds players who match your rank in a matter of seconds. Thus, you may gather a full party of cool folks of similar rank and play together when you have spare time. Meet Valorant fans around the world, go to voice chat, discuss the game, strategy, and your victories, and play with those who really love video games.

Final Thoughts

Riot Games actively fights not only against cheaters and all kinds of dishonest players but also pays great attention to ensuring that players can get the best gaming experience and compete with equal gamers. Despite some problems, they generally cope well with this task. I hope that in this article, I was able to explain in a little more detail how matchmaking works for different ranks and what ranks can play together in Valorant.