Here's how to quickly rank up in the new Valorant Episode 4

Fariha Bhatti Published 17/01/2022

Not satisfied with the rank you unlocked in the new Valorant episode? Try these tips to get your old rank back.

Valorant Episode 4 has just started, and it brought a brand new face to the agent protocol. While new agent Neon is a welcome addition, players have also been hit with a rank reset. Each Valorant episode renews your rank based on your current skill level evaluated after five ranked games. However, some players seem to be placing lower than expected. These tips might help you climb back up quickly.

How to rank up in new Valorant episode?

These tips may help you get back into your appropriate MMR quicker in the new Valorant episode.

1- Play in stacks

Queuing in five or triple-stacks always increases your odds of winning. Playing with random players isn’t always a bad experience, but it’s a huge risk. There are tons of trolls in Valorant who might purposefully ruin the game for you. Try to have at least a few friends to play with just to be safe. Better communication and a comfortable playing environment will heavily impact your individual performance and, ultimately, the game’s outcome.

Make sure all players you queue up with are within your act rank’s ELO. Otherwise, Riot will cut a percentage of your RR in each game for the rank disparity.

2- Stay on top of the scoreboard

The trick to winning is bagging more kills, and losing a game doesn’t mean you should just start throwing. According to Valorant developers, your personal kill-to-death ratio directly impacts how much rank rating (RR) get when you win or lose. Try to stay on top of the scoreboard even if you’re losing to minimize the damage to your MMR. The less RR you lose, the better it is for your ranked grind. Your performance in each game amounts to your final MMR, which ultimately decides what rank you place in.

Top fragging should be your primary concern while playing placement games. Exceptionally good players often get double rank-ups if they do better than their average performance. For example, if you start at Gold 2 and drop a 30-bomb in ranked play, Riot may promote you to Platinum 1. You can also achieve double rank-ups twice if you continue to outplay yourself. So top fragging is crucial to quickly ranking up in Valorant Episode 4.

3- Pick the right agent for ranked

The key to top fragging in ranked games is picking the right agent. A passive agent won’t always help you bag those needed kills, so you may want to find a duelist that suits your playstyle. Run Reyna in competitive games for quick wins.

If duelists aren’t up your alley, try Breach to take down your opponents. The newest agent, Neon, may also help you to rank up quicker as her learning curve is comparatively low, and she’s hard for enemy players to catch.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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