VALORANT added competitive 5-stack queues for any rank going forward in the latest VALORANT patch 3.10. The developers cited their efforts to reduce smurfing as the reasoning behind their decision to add 5-stacks to competitive for the first time.

"In an effort to reduce smurfing, we are removing all ranked restrictions from 5-stack parties in Competitive Queue," the devs explained in the patch notes. "Our data has shown that the most common reason that players smurf, is because they want to play with their friends outside the bounds of their current ranked restrictions. Removing these boundaries for 5-stacks specifically means that you can play with your friends regardless of the restrictions that exist for smaller party sizes in Competitive Queue."

How 5-stacking in comp will work in VALORANT

There will still be numerous restrictions on 5-stacks to prevent players from abusing the system to boost their friends to higher ranks. The ranking point restrictions will work differently based on the MMR of your group.

If everyone in your group is Diamond 2 or lower they will only match you against other 5-stacks with a similar MMR rating. This will likely result in longer queue times, so be aware of that.

Additionally, the rating gains for 5-stacks will be adjusted based on the disparity within your group. The developers offered the example of, if you are playing in a five stack and the lowest member is silver and the highest is platinum, your team will receive a 50% reduction in your rating gains, but if you switch out the silver with a bronze, your team will receive a 75% reduction in gains.

Groups that feature members that are Diamond 3 and above will face slightly different limitations. The queue times for these 5-stacks could vary "dramatically" according to Riot. At a minimum, these groups will receive a minimum 50% reduction in the RR gain for each member, which can go as high as 90% based on rank disparity within the group.

If a Radiant player is part of your group, you can expect some very long queue times based on how much disparity there is in your group, and there will be a minimum of 75% RR reduction for all 5-stacks with a Radiant member. Playing with anyone lower than Radiant will immediately cut your RR gains by 90%. 

VALORANT removes 4-stacks from competitive

In addition to adding 5-stacks to competitive modes, they will be removing 4-stacks. The developers explained in the patch notes that they are removing 4-stacks because many solo-queue players who queue in with 4-stacks end up having poor play experiences, and they believe that removing the 4-stack will reduce overall toxicity reports.

They also will be monitoring the new changes actively moving forward.

VALORANT Creative Producer, Matthew Le explained: "We are excited about these changes and the potential improvements they’ll bring, but are also acutely aware of the potential risks of changes like these. We’ll monitor the Competitive queue very closely in the coming weeks, and will quickly move to make adjustments if needed."

All of these changes are live now, so go find four friends and try them out!