How does the matchmaking and rank system work in Rocket League?
How do I rank up in Competitive Rocket League?
As you win Competitive Matches, you will be promoted to higher Divisions and Ranks. Losing more matches than you win will demote you to lower Divisions and Ranks.
The Competitive Rank system is designed to increase match quality. Specifically, it addresses “unintentional smurfing,” which is when a player is at a rank below their actual skill level simply because they haven’t played a specific playlist in a while.
Players' Competitive Rank is evaluated when they have completed their placement matches and may be adjusted upwards if the new system recognizes that their starting rank is too low. A player’s predicted rank is based on their rank in other Competitive Playlists.
To see the list of competitive ranks, you can check this article: What are Rocket League Competitive Ranks?
For more details, you can check out our official web post: Changes to Rocket League's Competitive Rank System for Better Matches (Opens in a new tab)
How does Party matchmaking work in Rocket League?
Matchmaking pairs players with others around the same skill level. You can do the following to ensure a good matchmaking experience:
- Play with friends
- Use the Party Up feature to continue playing with players from your previous match
If you are playing with a party, Party Skill uses a Weighted Average instead of only using the highest-ranked player at the party, which blends the average skill of all players.
Example:
- A party of similarly ranked players will have a Party Skill close to their average rating.
- A party that’s farther apart in Rank will match against players closer to their highest-Ranked player.
This system rewards lower-Ranked friends to catch up in Competitive matches. Lower-ranked players will earn more for beating higher-Ranked players. The system also penalizes losses less when playing against higher-Ranked players and vice versa. Note that since a Weighted Average s used, the amount of MMR lost/gained will change depending on each match.
Example:
- The higher-Ranked player will receive less MMR points for beating opponents who are ranked lower.
- The lower-Ranked player will receive more MMR points for beating opponents who are ranked higher.
- The higher-Ranked player will lose more MMR points for losing to opponents who are ranked lower.
- The lower-Ranked player will lose fewer MMR points for losing to opponents who are ranked higher.
A Few Important Notes
- The average for players in Champion Rank and higher is weighted more towards the highest-ranked player.
- Casual parties will match slightly closer to their average than they would in Competitive matches.
Ready to Party Up? For more info, check out: How do I Party Up after a match in Rocket League?
Are there any rank restrictions for parties in Rocket League?
Yes, rank Restrictions help players in undersized parties find similarly Ranked players to queue with. Undersized parties are parties of two players in a 3v3 Standard Match or 3v3 Standard Tournament. This feature does not affect parties of two attempting to queue in 2v2 or Extra Mode Playlists.
Players need to be within 3 Ranks of each other. This is so a 3rd teammate will be able to join a similarly Ranked team.
Example: If two party members are Platinum 2 and Diamond 3 (a gap of 4 Ranks), they will not be able to queue in 3v3 Standard. Alternatively, if they are Platinum 3 and Diamond 3 (a gap of 3 Ranks), they can queue.
How many games does it take to rank up?
There is no fixed number of games that you need to rank up. Ranking up depends not only on wins and losses, but also on the difficulty of the matches.
Why was my Rank affected after my teammate left?
A loss will be counted regardless of the context. We take unsportsmanlike conduct very seriously and are constantly striving to improve the Matchmaking system.
We understand that leaving early is not fair to teammates. The player who leaves will receive a Matchmaking Ban. The first player on a team to leave a match early will have a more substantial MMR loss.