Rocket League Ranks Explained: How The System Works

Rocket League is all about complicated car-football fun. Ranked play, and ranks in general, are extremely important in Psyonix's game. Rocket League ranks not only relate to things like MMR and your hours played, but are distributed in a complex and interesting way that makes your journey from pleb to Super Sonic Legend a lot more interesting than you would otherwise expect.

That's what we'll take you through today: it's not just about getting you from unranked to those upper tiers, but also about understanding the effect that this system has on the game itself. That's the thing about Rocket League ranks – they are essential to make the game challenging, fair and interesting, but they are not really the game's make-or-break system.

All of this being said, we're going to take you through everything there is to know about Rocket League ranks.

Rocket League Ranks Explained

Rocket League ranks are earned as you climb up the overall leaderboards. They are not to be mistaken with the ranked rewards awarded by interacting with the various seasonal Rocket Passes that are released in Rocket League, though they are relevant. In reality, your Rocket League rank is more of a placement within a notoriety system established through your performance in matches and your general skill-level when playing ranked matches.

The Rocket League ranks system relates to gameplay made in the game's ranked/competitive mode. In this mode, players progress their way through the ranks after completing a placement round of ten matches that will place them in a starting rank. There are 23 different ranks, with Supersonic Legend being the highest and Unranked being the lowest. You will remain in the latter until you complete the placement rounds, and then you will work your way up and down the overall leaderboard (defined by your rank tier) as you play additional matches.

Matches are played against players who are of a similar standing to you, with a combination of MMR and general ranked progression aiding you in your progress. If you lose a few rounds, your Rocket League rank may begin to drop, likewise if you win a few, it will begin to rise. As you work your way up and down, your rank will be determined by how many wins you get, but also the players that you come up against, whom are weighted differently depending on their Rocket League rank.

All Rocket League Ranks From Best to Worst

There are nine different ranks in Rocket League, each of which have three divisions (except for Unranked and Supersonic Legend). In order from best-to-worst, they are the following:

The average rank in Rocket League is somewhere between Gold II and Champion I, but this does not take into account all the unranked players that significantly skew the player base. It is very rare to find a player who is a Supersonic Legend, but enough for us to include that in calculations. Keeping all this in mind, we would determine that the average rank in Rocket League is Platinum III.

The highest rank in Rocket League is Supersonic Legend, which only accounts for a teeny tiny amount of overall ranked players. To place here, you need to have exceptional talent at Rocket League, and be a super devoted player and fan. Rocket League pros are often not even ranked this high as they do not necessarily focus on ranking up, with players like Stake even labeling Diamond players as "Toxic". If you are a Supersonic Legend player, well done!

How To Rank Up In Rocket League

Ranking up in Rocket League is relatively easy if you have the time to devote to it, as it just requires a ton of practice and a ton of victories. Using our guides from our "How to Get Better in Rocket League" article, as well as the multitude of guides that are featured on our Rocket League Tips & Tricks page, work on your skills before attempting to rank.

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Why MMR Is So Important For Ranks

MMR is your matchmaking rank in Rocket League, and determines the opponents that you will face off against in multiplayer. In regard to Rocket League ranks, though, it is a little different. We won't go into deep detail here, as we have written about Rocket League MMR extensively, but we do want to make the point that whilst MMR is important, it is a little different to what we are discussing here.

"Rocket League ranks" are different to an individual's MMR. Whilst MMR is, indeed, a rank, it works a little bit different to how your traditional ranked/competitive play ranks work.

Rocket League Rank Divisions & Disparity

Rank divisions and disparity in Rocket League are quite important, as they are a representation of the player base at any time. A player base that is more engaged will have a distribution skewed towards the higher levels, and a less engaged audience will have the opposite, for example. The disparity is important for defining the divisions themselves. Thus, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions on the topic...

• What is Rank Disparity in Rocket League?

Rank Distribution is almost identical in all the different game modes in Rocket League. The main difference, though, is that these extra modes are not competitive game modes in Rocket League. If you have played ten games of 2v2 Hoops, 3v3 Dropshot, 3v3 Snow Day or 3v3 Rumble you will, however, rank.

Rocket League Ranked Rewards: All Details

Rocket League's ranked rewards are somewhat different to the Rocket League ranks we are describing in this article. Thus, ranked rewards are important only to players who want to collect cosmetic items and level up each Season's Rocket Pass, but not to those whose focus is on Ranked Play and their specific Rocket League Rank.

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Is There A Leaving Penalty In Rocket League Ranked Play?

Yes, if you leave a ranked match in Rocket League before it is over, you will receive a five-minute matchmaking ban. If you do this twice in a single 12-hour period, you will then receive a ten-minute matchmaking ban. This is to disincentivize players from leaving ranked matches early, a practice that can really mess up the Rocket League ranking system.

Well, there you have it folks: everything that you could possibly need to know about Rocket League ranks. If you want more in-depth answers on some of the topics discussed in this article, like perhaps MMR or Rank Distribution, make sure to check out the links in this explainer article.