Patch 0.49, an upcoming patch Riot Games' tactical shooter VALORANT, will bring the Competitive game mode to the Closed Beta for the first time. On the morning of Friday, April 24, Riot released a guide to the VALORANT's Competitive mode so players can understand how the game's ranking system will work upon its update. 

Patching a Closed Beta is an unusual approach, but thus far, it's helped the VALORANT development team flag exploits as well as early balance issues before the game is released this summer.

In the post on the official website for the VALORANT beta, Senior Producer Ian "Brighteyz" Fielding and Senior Designer Sean "Drevarius" Szopinski break down Competitive mode through its ranking system, competitive integrity matchmaking, and how the flow of progression functions. Players can queue up as anywhere between 1-5 players, as long as any groups are within two rankings of one another.

VALORANT's Competitive ladder will span eight ranks, and shares many traits with Riot Games' Multiplayer Online Battle Arena smash hit League of Legends. The bottom of the ladder features Bronze as the first division, and if players want to reach the top rank of VALORANT, they will first have to transcend the Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Immortal tiers. VALORANT's Competitive mode will be available to any players who have completed at least 20 unrated matches.

For more content on VALORANT, Riot Games' highly-anticipated tactical shooter set for release this year, head over to our dedicated VALORANT section!