Rocket League Ranks Explained: How to Rank Up in Rocket League

Rocket League is simple on its face, but it can be an incredibly difficult game with an insane skill ceiling.

Most players who first step onto the pitch have no idea what’s possible at the top level of the game, making it an incredibly rewarding experience for those who take it seriously.

• Also read: All Rocket League ranks explained

As is the case with all competitive games, there’s a ranked mode in Rocket League where players can climb the ladder and earn ranked rewards for hitting the highest peaks.

Ahead, we’ll review the ranking system in Rocket League, explain how it works, and give you some information you can use to reach your goal this Rocket League season.

A Split Ranking System in Rocket League

One of the features of the rank system in Rocket League is that it’s split into different categories based on the game mode you play. If you’re solo, you can rank up in Duel. If you have a friend, you can duo-queue in Duos. If you play as a trio, you can play the Standard mode.

Each rank for these modes is separate, so if you’re on a losing streak in Standard, you can take a break and play Duel to get your confidence back and confirm that it was your teammates holding you back.

• Also read: The best Rocket League Goalkeeper cars

The slight downside to this system is that you’ll need to complete placement matches for each ranked game mode in Rocket League. That means you’ll need to finish 30 unranked matches if you want a rank in each of the three primary competitive modes.

There are other ranked modes for the offshoot games like Hoops, Rumble, Snow Day, and Dropshot, which bring the total to a whopping 70 placement matches to start your ranked journey.

Of course, these non-standard ranked modes don’t attract as many players as the standard three do, so we won’t be focusing on them much. As is the case with the three standard games, each of these four has its own MMR attached to it.

Placement Matches in Rocket League

Before being assigned a Rocket League rank, you need to complete your ten placement matches for the system to understand where you sit among the competition.

The more that you win these placement matches, the higher your initial rank will be. The more you lose, the lower you’ll be.

If this is your first time entering the Rocket League ranked system, you’ll likely notice some stark fluctuations in your placement matches from game to game.

If you win your first three in blowout fashion, your next two might be significantly more difficult.

This is the ranking system trying to accurately place you compared to other players and helps prevent smurfs from ruining the experience of lower-ranked players.

Those who show exceptional skill in their placement matches will likely skip the early, metal ranks. If you perform poorly, you’ll need to grind your way up from the bottom.

Rocket League Ranks

There are eight ranks in Rocket League, with a total of 22 tiers split within each rank. Before the highest rank of Supersonic Legend, each of the ranks has three tiers within them.

The Rocket League ranks are as follows:

• Bronze (I-III)
• Silver (I-III)
• Gold (I-III)
• Platinum (I-III)
• Diamond (I-III)
• Champion (I-III)
• Grand Champion (I-III)
• Supersonic Legend

Those who start in Bronze will earn more for wins than they’ll lose for losses, experience more boosts for win streaks, and climb the ranks relatively easily. Once you reach the higher ranks, you’ll experience tougher competition, benefit less from win streaks, and need to maintain a winning record to continue to climb.

Rank Resets

All competitive games need the occasional rank reset to prevent players from boosting themselves too high into the ranks based on playtime alone. The ranking system in Rocket League uses a soft reset format.

At the end of every season, your rank will be slightly lowered to start. You’ll need to complete your 10 placement matches to get your new rank when the new season begins.

If you were a Diamond or Champion player in the previous season, you don’t have to worry about going on a ten-game losing streak in your placements and starting the new season in Bronze.

The hidden MMR system is still in play and seems to remember where the soft reset placed you after last season.

Such a situation would be more like losing 10 games from the initial starting point of the soft reset rather than assessing your rank from 0.

After all, you’ll be playing against players of similar skill during those placements, so it wouldn’t make sense for the ranking system in Rocket League to punish you for losing too harshly.

Rank Decay in Rocket League

Unlike some other competitive games, Rocket League doesn’t feature rank decay. In other words, you won’t lose your Rocket League rank for inactivity. You can sit on whichever high rank you reach for as long as you want - within reason.

Although there isn’t technically rank decay in Rocket League, players may experience a bit of a soft decay over time.

If you haven’t played ranked Rocket League in years, then multiple seasons have passed with multiple soft resets. Your rank won’t be on the floor when you come back, but at least a couple of these soft resets will have affected where you start.

If you were a Diamond player two years ago, don’t expect to complete your 10 placements and reach Diamond automatically again. At the same time, you won’t be starting from the lowest depths of Bronze, either.

Start Your Ranked Journey Today

Don’t worry about whether or not you’ll achieve a high rank before starting. There’s plenty of fun to be had at lower ranks and even more to learn.

If you’re alone, we recommend sticking to the Duel playlist. This will offer you an opportunity to learn more about the game without relying on random teammates.

Once you convince some friends to play with you, you can try out the other modes while protecting your original rank - one of the benefits of the Rocket League ranked system.

Most importantly, have fun and try not to tilt.