Valorant Episode 6 Act 1 Competitive changes and map rotation

If you are a competitive Valorant player, then you will probably jump into Episode 6, Act 1 right away, which was released on Tuesday, 10 January 2023. The new Act features a brand-new battle pass filled with goodies, a new map called Lotus, the Araxys skinline and more.

For competitive players, there’s some important information they need to know about. This includes changes to the map rotation, and changes to Ranked Rating gains and losses.

Valorant Episode 6 Act 1 Map Rotation

The new map, Lotus, will only be playable in Swiftplay mode for a week and will then move into both the Competitive and Unrated map rotation with Valorant patch 6.1. Furthermore, Split (with some changes) makes its way back into the map rotation for Valorant Episode 6 Act 1.

INSERThttps://twitter.com/PlayVALORANT/status/1611362465169739778

Breeze and Bind have now been removed from competitive and Unrated map rotation. These maps are still playable in all other modes.

Competitive Ranked Rating Changes

Riot Games has outlined the Ranked Rating changes for Competitive Valorant. This is to make “gains and losses feel more consistent, and reduce the effect stomps have on your RR”. Check out the changes and important details below.

• Episode reset reminder: A new Episode means a ranked reset! Expect your placement rank to be lower than at the end of Episode 5, and good luck on your climb!
  • Context: Remember we reset each episode to kick off the start of a new ranked ladder. This is a chance for players to show off their skill in the new season, as well as reset players in the ladder who may no longer be active.
• For all players: Ranked Rating gains/losses will depend slightly more on Win/Loss, and slightly less on the exact round differential of the match.
  • Context: Players experience too wide of RR gains/losses from match to match based on the round differential (one win could give 12RR, and the next win could give 20RR). We’re making this change to reduce that swing of RR in gains and losses.
  • Winning is still the most important way to climb!
• For players whose ranks are far away from their MMR: RR gains will depend more on individual performance, instead of round differential. You should also see your rank and MMR converge faster.
  • Context: We received feedback that players felt like they would not be rewarded for a good game, or punished too harshly for a bad game during their ranked climb.
  • If a player’s rank is below their actual MMR, they will be rewarded more for a good game. If a player’s rank is above their MMR, they will not be harshly penalized if they lose, but perform well in that match.

If you want to learn more about the Valornat Episode 6 Act 1 fixes and minor changes, then check out the official patch notes.

Header image via Riot Games.