Rocket League Ranks Explained: How Does The System Work?

Rocket League is a complicated piece of car-football fun. Well, parts of it are complicated. It's general concept isn't: it's football, but you're a car. Now, this simplified version of football is expanded upon by a number of different features that take Rocket League and its competitive scene to the next level. Ranked play, and ranks in general, are extremely important in Psyonix's classic car-football 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 whole lot more interesting than you would otherwise expect.

That's what we're here today to take you through: 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. In an interview with Stake (an elite Rocket League pro who plays for Karmine Corp) last year, he revealed to us that not only is MMR not that important, but it's actually not something he's too bothered about. That's the thing about Rocket League ranks – they are important 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, and hopefully, entertain you whilst doing so...

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What Are Rocket League Ranks?

Rocket League ranks are earned as you climb up the overall leaderboards. They are not to be mistaken with the ranked rewards awarded through 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.

Whilst we will get into exactly how this works, and the specific systems that guide the back-end of the Rocket League rankings, it is important to note that this is only a preliminary guide and that we will link to more specific guides throughout this article.

How Does The Rank System Work In Rocket League?

The Rocket League ranks system relates to gameplay made in the game's ranked/competitive mode. In this mode, players build 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, you 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.

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What Is Rocket League MMR?

MMR is your matchmaking rank in Rocket League, and determines the opponents that you will face off against in multiplayer. In regards 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.

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How Do Hours Played Affect Rocket League Ranks?

Hours played do not affect your Rocket League rank directly, but seeing as it takes a very long time to rank up, if you have played more hours, you are likely to be at a higher rank. Obviously, this depends also on your skill level. Even the best player in the world cannot reach Supersonic Legend if they don't put the time in. Similarly, if someone absolutely sucks at Rocket League, then they are not guaranteed a high rank by just playing an absurd amount of the game. You need consistency and skill to rank up, and this comes with time, but time alone will not get you to where you want to be.

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, as we have explained in our dedicated article, 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?

What Is The Average Rank In Rocket League?

The average rank in Rocket League is somewhere between Gold II and Champion I. We explain this in more detail later on, but this does not take into account unranked players, whom 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.

What Is The Highest Rank in Rocket League?

The highest rank in Rocket League is Supersonic Legend, which only accounts for about 0.04% 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!

What Percentage Of Players Are Champion In Rocket League?

The percentage of Champion players does vary in Rocket League ranks, with 1v1 Champions making up only 3.48 percent, 2v2's being 23.13 percent and 3v3 players making up 12.6 percent. This is a huge variation, with the numbers all being taken from our break down of Rocket League's Rank Distribution. We are not sure why this huge variation is the case, but we are pretty sure that it is due to the difference in difficulty for players who want to compete in a team and alone.

Is Diamond A Good Rank In Rocket League?

Whether or not Diamond is a good rank is entirely up to you, friends. Quantitatively, it is quite good, and sits above the described average, but in terms of the culture surrounding it, that is entirely up to your opinion. Stake, for example, thought that Diamond players were pretty toxic.

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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:

How Do Rocket League Ranked Rewards Work?

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 who's focus is on Ranked Play and their specific Rocket League Rank.

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Rocket League Season 6 Ranks

There are two separate sets of ranks and ranked rewards in Rocket League Season 6. The standard is a selection of a little more than twenty rewards that are available for non-premium Rocket Pass holders. Ultimately, though, the true selection of ranks and rewards are those found in the Premium Rocket Pass. We have presented them below, but you can get a much better break down of seasonal ranked rewards in our dedicated article.

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.

What Is Competitive Play?

Competitive Play is just another word for ranked. This game mode can be found in the game's Play menu.

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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 disinsentivize players from leaving ranked matches early, a practice that can really mess up the Rocket League ranking system.

How Are Rocket League Ranks Distributed?

Look, we have an entire article on Rocket League Rank Distribution that you should check out. We actually go super deep into the data and take a look at not just the averages, but also the median rankings and the percentage of players who are placed in each category. Rocket League's Rank Distribution will obviously also change from season to season, so we will of course update this article as these things change.

Rocket League Rank Distribution By Game Mode

Rank Distribution is almost identical against all 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. Extra modes are distributed much the same, but you will find that they have a much smaller player base (for bleedingly obvious reasons). These game modes still require a lot of skill to master, though, so a well-ranked player in Hoops is not necessarily worse in standard Rocket League.

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 scattered amongst this explainer article. Rocket League is a great game, with a great learning curve, so don't worry if you're not ranking well right now. Keep working on yourself and you will, for sure, become the Rocket League god you've always dreamt of being...

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