As we jump into Valorant Act II, now is a good time to get caught up on the changes coming to the game. The competitive ranked system will continue to evolve and we get another agent added to the pool, Killjoy!
When does Valorant Act 2 begin?
You can expect the Episode 1 Act 2 (II) update on August 4th, 2020. It will likely run until around October 2020.
Competitive Updates in Act 2:
On the completion of each new act, your end of act rank will be determined by the 9 best wins of your act “season”, combined with how many wins total you’ve recieved.
Playing is the most important part of the ranking structure, so losing games and having a high difference between your highest and lowest ranks will not affect you as much. Add more weight at the top by playing more games.
Active tracking of your best wins will be considered your “proven skill” rating, so if you’ve won more games in platinum than gold or diamond, your rating reflection will be in platinum. This will be visually displayed in your rank and the border for that rank consisting of the number of competitive wins during that act in your rank.
- Top 9 wins are your badge wins.
- Total number of wins in the act are displayed in the border.
- Rank reflection is determined on best set rank games pool.
End of act new update
At the end of each act, you will be awarded a rank that will be saved and viewable in your career tab. Your new match pool for displaying your rank goes from 5 games to 3 games. Upon the completion of your 3rd game, your rank will be displayed for you and your match peers to view.
All the MMR you’ve gained from the previous act will affect your ranking and MMR in the new act, so play smart and continue the forward progress you’ve been making. Placement games do not add to act ranks.
Riot is also introducing a “conservative placement” where they take the totality of the games you’ve played and your statistical data to place you in a competitive environment that will allow you to play well and avoid being steamrolled. This is to bring a better balance to the game for people who placed high but stopped playing.
You could be ranked lower than in your previous act, but your early new act games have a bigger weight to them allowing you to climb back faster. In the event you are ranked lower, remember to play your strongest agents and have a higher teammate output mode to gain a better rating.
- Placement games (3) do not add to rank.
- First few games out of placement are weighed heavier than others.
- You will automatically be placed in a competitive rank that could be lower than previous acts as a balancing push from Riot.
Act 2's new agent: Killjoy
With the new act comes a new agent, Killjoy. She’s tech smart, witty and extremely useful on both attacking and defending with her utility.
Before we do a full character breakdown, we should cover her abilities and play style in broad brushstrokes:
- Most of her utility allows for the notification of enemy players being a specific area. Alarmbot, Turrets and her ult “Lockdown” activate on enemies being inside of the ability radius.
- Her utility does not cause serious damage, allowing you to gain information but not be as lethal as Raze.
- She is going to be a great stalling character when combined with a Cypher or Phoenix to hide placements of her utility.
Enjoy jumping in to Episode 1 Act 2 of Valorant!
Read more
- How to Rank up Faster in Valorant
- How to Change Your Name in Valorant
- How Valorant Competitive Ranking Works
- Apex Keyboard OLED Logo Images for Valorant Characters
- Valorant: Reyna Tips and Tricks
- Valorant Act 3 Competitive Changes: What We Know
Find other Valorant players in the official SteelSeries Discord!