Unlock Your Potential: A Guide on How to Reach Silver Rank in Valorant

Are you a Valorant player looking to level up your game and climb the ranks?

We explore the different ranks in Valorant, focusing on the transition from Bronze to Silver.

Understand the requirements for ranking up and get valuable tips for improvement to make the leap in your gameplay.

If you’re ready to elevate your skills and reach new heights in Valorant, keep reading for expert advice and strategies.

What is Valorant?

Valorant is a free-to-play, 5v5 first-person tactical shooter online multiplayer PC game. It is operated and developed by US video game development company Riot Games. The game was announced with the codename Project A in October 2019 but revealed officially in March 2020 with the Valorant name.

The game is a tactical game with hero shooter elements. One team takes on the attacking side and plants the Spike, while the other team is the defending side and defuses the Spike. Players have the opportunity to purchase weapons, armor, and abilities at the beginning of each round. Communicative and strategic skill level in the game is high as rounds can be won or lost quickly, and coordination amongst the character’s abilities is vital. The digital nature of the game means that the tactics for Bronze players work along with others.

What Are the Different Ranks in Valorant?

The different ranks in Valorant are:

1. Radiant
2. Immortal
3. Diamond
4. Platinum
5. Gold
6. Silver
7. Bronze
8. Iron

Each rank from Iron through Radiant represents the tier system for Valorant’s competitive rank. As of 2021, Competitive Mode only lets players know what their skill is relative to players but does not do matchmaking using these ranks.

The tier system is broken down into smaller groups using different lettered ranks, which includes the letter “s” category and represents small groups within one tier. Players in Valorant generally use the word “silver” to discuss the skill group in the game. Radiant gets 0 to 100, which makes a total of twenty ranks representing 1000 MMR ranks, or 50 MMR ranks per tier.

What is the Bronze Rank?

The Bronze rank in Valorant is a mid-level rank, sitting between the low-level Iron rank and the other mid-level Silver rank. Bronze features much of the same rough play and disorganization of Iron, but with somewhat higher aiming abilities amongst the player base. Valo.GG shows the Bronze rank as representing the top 32% to 12% of players. If you are currently within the Bronze rank and having difficulty advancing to Silver, you may have have other, non-skills-related, factors involved. Play more and see if it is just an unlucky streak that is keeping you in Bronze.

What is the Silver Rank?

The silver rank is a mid-tier skill group in Valorant which originates around Bronze 3 and extends to Silver 3, where you find intermediate skilled Valorant players. Silver rank is an important stage to achieve as it is a major milestone which indicates you have improved your skills significantly. To go from bronze to silver in Valorant, you should practice areas that include map knowledge, crosshair placement, and reducing aiming tilt.

What Are the Requirements to Rank Up from Bronze to Silver?

The requirements to rank up from bronze to silver in Valorant are determined by each player accumulating a total 168 skill-tiers. While Riot does not release their exact criteria, multiples of wins and losses in competitive play are clearly a requirement in solo/duo queues. Though the below isn’t official, here are some of the general expectations that both should be met and exceeded from Bronze 3 at 0 SR to Silver 1 with a rating of 9 points.

1. Five wins are needed in Bronze 3 to combat poor initial ranking.
2. Three match wins to then get to Bronze 3 with 60 points.
3. Seven additional wins to earn a spot in Silver 1.

Total Ranked Wins Needed from Bronze 3, 0 SR to Silver 1, 9 RR: 15 wins

1. Two more wins.
2. Two additional wins.

Leaving after victory is highly recommended if the goal is to rank up as quickly as possible, according to Riot. Given the largest gaps for expected wins are at the top and bottom of the ranking tier, a win early can result in far fewer games needed to be played. And leaving before a loss on the edge of the ranking tier can result in still playing fewer games even if you need a bit of extra margin as was the case at bronze 3 with 0 RR required an additional win and leaving too early only to lose the next game would be counterproductive as you would then still have to play that extra match.

Improve Your Aim

The most fundamental area in which to train in order to increase player ability in Valorant is aiming, specifically precision aiming. This skill consists of the player having a very high degree of control over their crosshair and being able to make adjustments in nanosecond timing with pin-point accuracy. It is quite rare in bronze level players of Valorant. Players can improve this skill using a number of training exercises.

Learn the Maps and Callouts

To progress from Bronze rank to Silver rank, it is important to learn the maps and callouts. Improving positioning, game sense, reducing vulnerabilities, and making strategic moves to increase efficacy all rely on knowledge of the maps in Valorant. They allow you to predict enemy movements and behavior while being able to make informed strategic decisions of your own.

New players should make a concerted effort to learn many of the maps called locations and terms as this is one of the most effective tools for communicating with their team. Valorant maps change all the time and the community also influences the callouts. Other players are usually quite happy to provide this information in-game, making it easier for new players to improve.

Understand Agent Abilities

The most important part of moving from Bronze to Silver or any higher rank is Understanding Agent Abilities. A lot of newer players in Valorant do not appreciate the true advantages of using an agent who can essentially make a 5v5 engagement become a 5v1 engagement with proper ability usage. Any competitive game revolves around using as many resources as possible to consistently gain advantages to position you in favorable circumstances. Different agents have unique abilities, and as a player climbs the ranks, there is a shift from gunplay to teamwork and strategy-based play. Knowing agent abilities is just one of the many aspects of agent selection when entering higher tiers of competition.

Communicate Effectively with Your Team

Once you know how to rotate properly and spread out, the next step is to communicate this information with your team to get them to rotate or space out alongside you according to the situation. Rotating too early or too late, or bunched up with team mates can give the enemy team an opening for an easy situation or for a double entry.

Simply letting your team know what you and especially the rest of their allies are doing, as well as their sight or location of the enemies can boost a team’s cohesion to at least some coordination. Communication is most effective when everybody is listening and taking part. Do not be afraid to make calls or share information with your team. Just try not to clutter the comms with bad information and speak all of your callouts in the most clear and brief way possible. Work to enforce this among your team to have a better chance of achieving victory.

What Are Some Tips for Ranking Up from Bronze to Silver?

Some tips for ranking up from Bronze to Silver in Valorant include playing as one with a few specific agents that can carry a less than ideal team or be impactful in a low-communication environment. For instance, any of Astra, Killjoy, or Viper can be helpful to play in Bronze. Keep the crosshair at head level to increase the chances of landing an instant headshot, and practice shooting in the practice mode under the Spike Defuse challenge using the Operator. After a week or so, there will be a noticeable improvement when you play with ARs and be easier to improve the kill-death ratio.

Another key to improving the kill-death ratio is practice. Killjoy is an excellent option in Bronze to give you a breather and the opportunity to win the battle when the battle conditions are equal, even if the other opponents are tactically stronger. According to YouTube channel Valuetictips, Jet and Phoenix are heroes that perform well in low-elo Bronze games if you play them with a very aggressive playstyle. This can work well particularly on offense. All these are other aspects of the game that can be trained to help move up the ranks. Thinking of maps with proper planning.

Focus on Your Own Performance

Individual performance is key to winning matches in Valorant, so a Bronze player looking to get into Silver should prioritize their in-game performance and mechanics.

Combat Score is a good heuristic to approximate individual performance. Players increase their combat score (average and higher on each subsequent round). This involves getting kills, assists, clutching rounds, and damage dealing (which contributes toward kills for teammates or subsequent rounds). A player who is consistently generating a combat score higher than their teammates is an indication they are contributing to winning, even if they ultimately lose the match.

Improving combat score hinges on a number of factors and some of the most important include good aim, understanding and exercising game mechanics (movement, recoil control, map knowledge), and the ability to work well with teammates. Bronze and Silver players should watch their performance statistics, like combat score, and attempt to improve in areas that seem low compared to teammates, especially across matches. If combat score is higher than teammates’ scores on wins, it is likely because individual play is contributing to the win.

Play with a Consistent Team

Having a consistent team can help you consistently improve as everyone grows more familiar with one another and the roles each player should fulfill. Games become more natural and mechanical as reaction times and communication work smoothly having played together regularly. Everyone plays worse individually to some degree when paired with brand new players. A team where you constantly have to adjust and adapt to one anothers’ changing tactics is less conducive to improvements in aim and map presence as each member of the team is regularly in flux.

In general, a consistent team allows for more focus on personal technique improvements and new skills. Consistency with one’s team can have both benefits and drawbacks but overall it is believed to be good for a player’s growth if one is Playing with the same core players on a consistent basis, adjusting and adding regularly, and tracking improvements together. Bringing up dives scores as an entire squad is easier when a team consistently plays together.

This advice is seldom easy to follow, particularly in online gaming where team eco-systems can change rapidly due to player availability and skill changes.

Watch and Learn from Higher Ranked Players

The best way to learn advanced techniques to improve one’s game in Valorant is to watch and learn from those who are already at those higher ranks. Watching Crown gaming academy, TenZ, wtcN, and other high-ranked player’s streams on Twitch or YouTube could help you master their game sense, movement mechanics, agent selection, tactical usage, and so on, to optimize your rotations or learn angles and tricks on maps. The table below shows some of the best Valorant streamers from Twitch and YouTube, along with their average concurrent viewers.

Streamer Company GameSense uses its platform to help learners improve their understanding of the game by allowing them to frequently break down their games and discuss specific tactics or techniques. Combining the top-down strategic approach of Game Sense with copying techniques from high-level streamers who are in the Silver and higher ranks, is a perfect match for improving quickly.

Stay Positive and Don’t Give Up

Staying positive and not giving up is an important part of getting from bronze to silver in Valorant. Progress from bronze takes time, and it is easy to give up if you aren’t playing as hoped. Staying positive helps to not get demoted because losing sometimes happens, and seeing it as a learning opportunity, not punishment, is important.

According to a study conducted by the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences on the prevalence and predictors of sport dropout among youth athletes, the main reason athletes drop out of sports is the perceived skill level of the players. Players staying positive can prevent this and encourage teammates to continue to play even if they think they are losing more often than winning.

How Long Does it Typically Take to Rank Up from Bronze to Silver?

It typically takes any amount of time from 3 days to several months or even a year to rank up from Bronze to Silver. The average likely lies 1-4 weeks.

According to Riot Jessica who works on the ranked system for Valorant, players who are much better than their current rank will evaluate much quicker and thus rank up faster. Whoever claims that ranking up takes a certain average amount of time or number of matches is just speculating.

Minimum Time: There are a total of 80 rounds in a 10-round match, and a player with a minimum MMR increase of 1 point per round would earn a maximum of 80 MMR points per match. In Bronze 1 you need 221 MMR to reach the Silver 1 tier (220 for the bottom tier). the minimum time to rank up with ¹/₈₀ of the MMR earned in a match (assuming all wins) would be less than 3 days.

Maximum Time: Riot Blumigan, another member of the Valorant team estimated that the average player playing 2-3 hours per day should rank up every 1-2 weeks. Based on how well players typically do, a player who can only find time to play 2-3 hours per week should rank up every few months to less than a year.

Factors That Can Affect Ranking Up Time

The most important factors that can affect ranking up time from Bronze to Silver in Valorant are the following.

1. Win/Loss Rate: As previously mentioned, your win and loss rate can have the biggest effect on ranking up time. If you are consistently winning games, you are more likely to rank up.
2. Individual Performance: Doing everything in your power to focus on top kills is good for your individual rating even if Moral Support or Sacrificial decisions are equally as good. However, understand that this is not a guarantee, it’s simply another factor that is taken into consideration.
3. Team Performance: If you play games where your team member had a rating higher than silver, you will be expected to play at that standard too next time.

Other factors that influence your ranking up time but are not always in your control include opponents’ skill, who you are playing with (more skilled and coordinated teammates equal more wins), and faulty ranking algorithms. The reason opponents’ skill matters is because Riot Games adjusts your MMR based on the tier of the team you lose or win to. The system generally tends to reward more MMR points at lower tiers and punish more at higher tiers.

What Are Some Common Mistakes to Avoid in Valorant?

Some common mistakes to avoid if you are trying to go from bronze to silver in Valorant include the following:

1. Neglecting the minimap.
2. Standing out in the open during aim training.
3. Being over-reliant on Aim Duel scenarios.
4. Not finding training schedules that include all primary skills.
5. Failing to control recoil during practice.
6. Spam Update your Agent during active Firefight situations.
7. Staring at the gun muzzle rather than the target when shooting.
8. forgetting to change crosshair settings on enemy sending or borrowing friend’s best valorant crosshair settings.

In general, pick a single primary mechanical aspect of shooting gameplay and stick with it. For example, choose a weapon that you will rely on whether it is a Ghost Pistol, SMG, Shorty Shotgun, or Vandal. Then take on this training exercise for an hour a day for two weeks adjusting your sensitivity level. After that delay time and stick with it for an additional two weeks. Then switch to aiming for the head if you were previously a body shot player.

IrishFOG Academy produced a useful video on the most common mistakes that are made in VALORANT by beginners and intermediates, which is aimed at players in the lower-ranked Iron 1 to Bronze 3 range. While the focus of the video is mostly on gunplay missteps such as crouching while firing, moving and jumping while shooting, and reloading when in disadvantageous positions, it gives suggestions on the best ways to stop making these errors.

Not Communicating with Your Team

Without communication, your team members will not know where the enemy is. It is important to open your mic or use the ping system to let your team know when you hear an enemy, if your team is pushing onto a site, or let your team know where you are on the map. Non-verbal communication is important in every rank. Having `mute` on will not affect your team’s overall gameplay, but it may be detrimental at times.

How to go from Bronze to Silver and Beyond

There are two major elements you need to improve in order to progress through the ranks faster. Those two elements are aim and game sense, but they are connected to other important aspects that can smooth your path to becoming a better player. You should always be looking to improve all aspects that contribute to your ability as a player. Always be willing to learn and better yourself as an individual and player. The goal of achieving a higher rank in Valorant is an achievable one, but it requires commitment and practice.

If your team continually backseat the game, spam the voice channel with idle conversation or are toxic, you can mute your team, but this is a majority-rare and final solution. If you mute your team, there is a good chance that a player earlier on who was giving good and important information and instruction will be unable to communicate. The lack of communication might be enough to lose a game that would have initially gone in your team’s favor if you had left communications open.

If you find your team to be toxic mostly because you didn’t perform well enough, you may best keep your own emotions in check by muting your team. It is important to focus on block out and focus on the important elements in the game when confronted with these situations like strategy and communicating with your team. Remember, always be polite! Don’t participate in arguments, let them know you are muting because the toxicity does not help your gameplay, and set a good example by playing calm and polite even when the rest of your team are not. Positivity pays.

Not Understanding Agent Roles and Abilities

Another part of Valorant gameplay that Bronze players struggle with is not understanding agent roles and abilities. When agents have roles such as Initiator, Sentinel, Controller, Duelist, many Bronze players do not have a good grasp of what each agent’s role and abilities are. Players do not pick the agents that best complement their own team, nor do they try to play the agents in a way that complements their team’s composition. Usage of agent abilities is largely random and not strategic.

Not Adapting to Different Playstyles

Your playstyle is likely to occasionally change when initiating new or more intense ranked play in higher tiers. Too often, newer or lower-tier players keep playing the same game that got them to a higher tier but which is no longer effective.

Equipment such as utility as well as operator and agent playstyle should have full contact. For instance, playstyles should adapt to shorter maps if using the Marshal and longer distance maps where the Bulldog which is more effective at longer ranges can be most effective. Be conscientious about adapting your playstyle according to rank and maps to improve effectiveness and versatility.

Playstyles in Bronze to Silver ELO or skill levels should vary and should be conducive to utilizing weapons in a way that gives you a rate of fire advantage.

If you find your team is frequently losing important rounds because teammates are buying the wrong equipment, adapting to be a better support player with cheaper weapons or different agents may be the answer. Learning to play a secondary role can be a vital new skill that is mandatory for transitioning from bronze to silver.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I go from Bronze to Silver in Valorant?

To go from Bronze to Silver in Valorant, you will need to improve your gameplay skills and rank up by winning matches.

What are some tips to help me climb from Bronze to Silver in Valorant?

Some tips to help you climb from Bronze to Silver in Valorant include practicing your aim, learning map strategies, and communicating effectively with your team.

Is it necessary to have a high kill count to rank up from Bronze to Silver in Valorant?

While having a high kill count can certainly help in ranking up, it is not the only factor. In Valorant, winning matches and consistently performing well in all aspects of the game also contribute to your rank.

Should I solo queue or play with a team when trying to go from Bronze to Silver in Valorant?

It is generally recommended to play with a team when trying to rank up in Valorant. This allows for better coordination and communication, which can greatly improve your chances of winning matches.

How long does it typically take to go from Bronze to Silver in Valorant?

The time it takes to go from Bronze to Silver in Valorant can vary depending on individual skill level and consistency in winning matches. However, with dedicated practice and improvement, it is possible to rank up within a few weeks.

What should I do if I’m stuck in Bronze and can’t seem to rank up to Silver in Valorant?

If you find yourself stuck in Bronze, it may be helpful to analyze your gameplay and identify areas where you can improve. Additionally, seeking guidance from higher ranked players and practicing regularly can also aid in your journey to Silver in Valorant.