What are the ranks in Rocket League?

Want to know more about Rocket League ranks? Rocket League can be the perfect game to unwind with after a long day of work, but it can also become your go-to for competitive multiplayer. Ranks have been present almost since the beginning, and while the ranking system has not progressed without a few tweaks during seasons, it’s never too late to jump in and see how far you can climb up the ladder.

Competitive matches exist across all game modes. Racing through them rewards you with 20 different ranks depending on your skills, alongside the score that you, your teammates and the opposite players achieve. Each of these modes are called 'Playlists'.

In this Rocket League ranks guide, I’ll cover the basics of each playlist, how many matches you’re gonna need to climb up the ranks, and tips to make the whole progress less of a headache.

Playlists for ranked matches

There’s a total of eight different playlists to embark on, divided into five groups. You’re free to choose them in whichever order you like, but keep in mind that each playlist has its own progression independent of the rest.

These are as follows:

Standard: 3 vs 3 matches. The classic of the bunch and probably the quickest to get a game on during matchmaking.

Doubles: 2 vs 2 matches. Still crowded, but requires more coordination. Playing with a friend is highly recommended for this one.

Solo Duel: 1 vs 1 matches.

Solo Standard: It’s basically Standard, but you cannot join with friends or members of your club.

Extra Modes: This one includes Rumble, Dropshot, Hoops, and Snow Day.

All Rocket League ranks

Although there’s a lot to choose from, I advise you to stick to one playlist as soon as the season starts. This will grant you a higher time margin for the future, but will also save you from the hassle of grinding placement matches in multiple playlists.

Similar to Overwatch, Rocket League has placement matches for each of its competitive playlists. This means that you’ll have to play ten unranked games to gain a rank based on your experience, then start going upwards or downwards from there. 

Unlike Blizzard’s multiplayer game, these placements tend to be far more benevolent even if you don’t win most matches. Again, while winning is important, the obtained score based on your performance and highlights is key to succeeding.

20 ranks await you, which are the following:

• Unranked
• Bronze 1-3
• Silver 1-3
• Gold 1-3
• Platinum 1-3
• Diamond 1-3
• Champion 1-3
• Grand Champion

It seems simple enough at first, but each rank (called Tiers in Rocket League) has four divisions, jumping from Division I to Division IV. This gives you more ground to cover in case you get a few rough matches. But as you can probably imagine, falling from a Division I Tier will make you drop one Tier level.

One more thing. Once you start ranking, you’ll notice a new bar that displays yet another 10 matches under the name 'Season Reward Level'. This is strictly for the items you’ll get at the end of a season, and yes, they’re attached to a Tier level as well. Keep in mind they will only start counting if you win a match, since that’s the only requirement they have and you don’t have to worry about losing levels either.

Competitive tips

It isn't an easy journey, but there are some tips that can help you to rank faster by playing more efficiently. Before we get onto those, you should keep an eye on Rocket League Tracker, an unofficial tool that provides thorough stats of your overall performance in competitive modes. 

Don’t worry about having to log in with Steam, though. Instead, go to your personal profile, right-click on the background, select 'Copy URL' and paste it onto the search bar. Your info should be ready in seconds.

Communication is key, even in Rocket League

Decent communication with your teammates in multiplayer games can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Rocket League is no exception. Voice chat is optional, but it's much more efficient than text, as you don’t need to stop everything to type and tell someone to stay behind defending.

Rocket League has many in-game text prompts that are automatically assigned to the D-Pad on a controller. If you go to settings, you can even select new ones and customize the groups (four words/phrases in each) at your convenience. One mere “Defending…” or “I got it!” can make a difference, and many of these are displayed to your group alone, so the opposite team won’t know about your strategies most of the time.

Be the goalkeeper from time to time

I know, it isn't as thrilling as charging around at full speed, dodging cars and scoring goals in mid-air. But as well as being helpful for your team, playing defensively can grant you a different perspective of the match by overlooking everything from afar.

If you see the ball getting closer, approach it and bump it right back. With enough practice and a good communication, maintaining that defense will help you immensely. Plus, you’ll gain points for every successful shot you deflect, so you will be making progress regardless of your role.

Training is vital

Once you begin to level up Tier levels, skilled players are bound to show up, and it can be demoralizing to see someone performing aerial manoeuvres with ease. But aside from practicing in real matches, the training sessions in Rocket League are really helpful, letting you focus on improving your skills without anyone else getting in the way. Make sure to choose the difficulty level that best suits you, too, and you’ll be mastering everything in no time.