The Importance of Consistency in VALORANT Rankings
Reaching the top rankings in VALORANT is a prestigious achievement. However, to maintain that top spot, players must continue playing and not simply reach their desired rank and stop.
VALORANT competitive designer EvrMoar recently confirmed that players’ Matchmaking Rating (MMR) decays over time if they remain inactive in the game.
Understanding MMR Decay in VALORANT
EvrMoar explained in his weekly Ranked Fact Friday that MMR decay is a method implemented by Riot Games to maintain competitive integrity. The longer a player stays away from competitive VALORANT, the more their MMR decays.
“Yes, we have decay, and it does two things,” stated Riot EvrMoar. “When you are gone from VALORANT for an extended period, we do lower your MMR… We also increase your ‘Variance.'”
MMR is the metric used by Riot to assess players’ performance and assign them a rank. It takes into account factors such as wins, losses, K/D ratio, and overall performance. Over time, if a player remains inactive, their MMR can decrease. However, to prevent high-ranked players from deliberately lowering their MMR to smurf, Riot introduces variance, which measures the game’s confidence in a player’s ranking.
“Variance is how confident we are in your MMR,” explained EvrMoar. “The higher your Variance, the wider range of players you may match up with, and the more MMR you can gain or lose. It indicates the range at which you play. If you have high Variance, we are probably less sure about where you belong.”
This system ensures that players are placed within an appropriate rank range and prevents intentional MMR manipulation. The best way to avoid variance and MMR decay is to consistently participate in competitive matches to increase chances of ranking up.