What is 'Valorant' Premier? Everything You Need to Know About the Competitive Game Mode

If you thought Valorant’s Competitive Mode wasn’t competitive enough, you’ll be happy to hear that a new mode — Premier — is arriving in August. Valorant Premier is billed as a “team-based competitive system” with a unique tournament structure driving the action.

But how exactly will that look for the average player, and when is Valorant Premier launching? Here’s a look at everything Riot has explained about Valorant Premier mode so far.

Valorant Premier offers a competitive tournament system for teams to compete in on a weekly basis. Teams will earn 100 points for a weekly match win and 25 points for a loss, and earning enough during the season will make you eligible for the playoff tournament at the end of Open Beta.

Premier hasn’t officially launched yet (it’s expected to arrive in August), so expect a few tweaks to be made to the format. In general, however, Riot Games seems to have figured out a solid formula for competitive, tournament-based play. Here’s a look at how things work right now:

• Premier Ignition is now live. Weekly matches run until August 12, with the Playoff Tournament beginning on August 13.
• Teams with the best scores following the Weekly Matches will be invited to compete in the Tournament.

• Your Premier MMR will carry over to Stage 1. In other words, your performance in Premier Ignition will follow you into the official launch in August.
• To quality for Premier Ignition, you need to verify your account via SMS verification and establish your MMR by finishing your Ranked placement.
• You’ll then be able to create or join a team for Premier.

To queue for a Valorant Premier match, you can simply click the “Play” button below the Premier Hub. Once you’re whole party is ready and logged in, you can all jump into the queue. However, you can only queue for a Premier match when your window is active. Players can queue anytime during the one hour window, and the game will try to find the best match for you based on your MMR.

Finding a Premier match might take a bit longer than usual, with Riot saying it could take up to eight minutes to find a suitable opponent. Tournament brackets will take even longer, with a 20 minute wait entirely possible.

Also, keep in mind that Premier matches cannot be paused and players cannot be substituted during the tournament. In other words, you’ll want to make sure you put together a team that has enough free time to play through the entire event from beginning to end.

Expect to see a few modifications to this overall format when Premier officially launches in August. And while the enrollment phase has ended for Premier Ignition, you’ll be able to dive right in when Stage 1 arrives in the coming weeks. In the meantime, be sure to verify your account and establish your MMR — otherwise you won’t be able to sign up for the highly competitive event.