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Valorant is currently one of the most played competitive esports in the world.
The Ranking system in valorant is well-diversified with a total of 13 ranks ranging from Iron to Radiant. Recently, players are seemingly feeling that the average combat score, which tracks a player’s progression towards the next rank, isn’t fair towards supportive players.
The Average Combat Score in valorant tracks kills or damage done to opponents. However, As Valorant is a team-based game, there are ways to assist one’s team by blocking the opponent’s vision or closing off a pathway to a site. Yet, assisting the team is not counted unless it inflicts damage to an opponent.
Average Combat Score and the agent role in Valorant.
Valorant is an agent-driven competitive fps esports game. The agents in Valorant can be categorized into four playstyles - Duelists, Initiators, Sentinels, and Controllers. Even though direct conflict is a major aspect of valorant and its gunplay, above all, it’s a team-based game. As a team-based game, there are multiple ways to assist the team.
Some agents can create a way to block opponents’ vision or a barricade to prevent opponents from entering. These actions are pivotal and have the potential to drastically change the outcome of the game.
According to Ask VALORANT #7 (09/10/20), The major factor of a combat score is the number of kills, along with other factors such as damage dealt, kill streak, and first blood.
However, players are not satisfied with the combat score calculation. Support agent players have been complaining about the dead-eye focus of the average combat score.
In case of a win, the combat score only calculates the low number of kills and gives a minute push towards ranking up. And in case of a loss, the combat score looks at the low number of kill contributions and pushes the player hard towards de-ranking. Redditor u/Maxi_Mouse says:
The ranking systems seem to be heavily weighted by the average combat score. The main problem is that when you win a game with support characters, the system looks at your score and determines that you didn't contribute much, so gives you one or maybe two green arrows if you’re lucky. And then when you lose it again look at your score and if it is low it will give you three red arrows, and basically screws you over.
With the 14th Valorant agent, confirmed to be the fifth duelist, upcoming, a team could potentially 5-stack duelists. Riot Games have designed each agent's playstyle to balance each other. However, if players are not rewarded properly, they will lose interest in playing a different playstyle.
A new Valorant Ranking system in the future?
In The Ask VALORANT #7 (09/10/20), Riot Games said:
Longer-term, we are looking into ways to incorporate non-damaging assists into your combat score as well.
Rumors are already floating of a potential re-worked ranking system for Valorant to debut with Episode 2. Could non-damaging assistance be taken into the combat score account with the supposed new ranking system?
Nothing can be confirmed until official statements. However, a re-worked ranking system to validate and appreciate all types of assistance equally would be much appreciated, and would definitely contribute to Valorant becoming a more rewarding team-based gameplay experience.
