Valorant Premier Official Release: Everything You Need To Know

The wait is over as Valorant Premier Mode is all set for global launch with the release of Valorant Episode 7 Act 2 and will officially serve as a path to enter the VCT circuit from within the game. Valorant Premier will bring a new set of changes with its official release different from what we saw in the Ignition stage, and you can find everything that you need to know about it below.

Valorant Premier Tournament Mode Global Release Date

Riot has officially announced that after a successful testing stage, Premier will be available officially in Valorant on August 29 with the release of Episode 7 Act 2. However, one thing that you need to keep in mind is that after Ignition, your team, Premier MMR, and match history will be transferred to the global Premier; however, your Premier Score, Division Score, and enrollment will not be carried over.

Join VALORANT Game Director Andy Ho and Global Head of VALORANT Esports Leo Faria for some exciting updates coming to Premier during its official launch and in 2024.

We’re playing for real now. You in? pic.twitter.com/giUws6u6qQ

— VALORANT (@VALORANT) August 25, 2023

Discussing the goals of Premier, Jon Walker, a designer on the VALORANT Competitive team, stated, "We want to present an even higher goal beyond Radiant that provides the most competition-hungry players with a rewarding challenge beyond ranked."

Valorant Premier Tournament Mode Official Launch Changes

Multiple changes have been made to the Premier format, career tracking etc., and you can have a look at them below:

Weekly Format

• Weekly matches will feature the full competitive map pool across seven weeks. Each week will still have one dedicated map and a maximum of two matches on said map.

Playoff Tournament

• Teams will now need a Premier Score of 675 to qualify for Playoffs.

Career Tracking

• Performance will now be tracked from Stage to Stage. Participants will receive a Division crest at the end of each Stage.  

New Divisions

• Divisions will be split into five tiers: Open, Intermediate, Advanced, Elite, or Contender.

New Rewards

• You’ll receive a Player Card if you play one Premier match and a Division Gun Buddy and title if you win Playoffs.

Premier Tournament Mode Eligibility

If you want to participate with your team in Premier, you need to follow the following requirements:

• Verify your account via SMS verification by going into the Premier Hub.
• Establish your MMR by playing ranked matches.
• Click on "CREATE A TEAM" in the Premier section and complete all the mentioned steps.
• Your account should not have been currently banned within the last 30 days.
• You should not have ranked queue restrictions during the enrollment or play period.
• If your account receives a Comms Restriction, Game Ban, or Vanguard Intervention during Premier, you will be disqualified for the rest of the stage.
• Professional Valorant players who are on an active Challengers League and International League team roster can no longer participate from October 30 onward. 

Premier Tournament Mode: Divisions & Enrollment Zones

While registering, the best enrollment zone with less average ping will be suggested to you and you can pick one of them. Once you have created a team, based on your top 5 players, you will be placed in one of the following divisions listed in highest to lowest order:

• Contender
• Elite 1-5
• Advanced 1-5
• Intermediate 1-5
• Open 1-5

You will get to know about your Division after the enrollment is over and your team will not be able to switch it. 

Valorant Premier Team Hub and Scoring System

In Premier Team Hub, you will be able to check out your standings, qualification details, and other information about your squad. The standings will be based on your scores, and if there is a tie, the team who have won more matches will be put above. If there is a tie on that as well, it will be broken based on the number of rounds won. 

Teams will earn 100 points for winning a weekly match and 25 points will be deducted for losing. Tournament matches however will not award points.

Premier Queues, Matchmaking System and More

When the queue is open, you will be able to queue with your team by clicking on the Play button in the Premier Hub. You will be able to see the complete schedule as per your zone although most weekly matches will be held between 7 PM to 9 PM local time.

You will be able to play two weekly matches in a week, and the reset will happen every Tuesday. You will only be playing against the players having similar MMR and against the teams in your division.

Premier Tournament Rules and Playoffs Qualification

All of the Premier tournament rules are the same as that of standard competitive except the overtime rules. They are as follows:

• The first team to win 12 rounds gains Overtime Priority
• Team with Overtime Priority chooses Starting Side for Overtime by voting, using a simple majority of the 5 players
• Teams must win by 2. Every round, teams swap sides.
• If 3 sets of Overtime have been played, play one final round of Sudden Death
• Sudden Death side choice is whatever the team with Overtime Priority chose during Overtime Starting Side Choice Phase

In addition to this, keep in mind that all weekly matches will be best of 1. Each team should have at least 675 points in order to qualify for playoffs and in playoffs, the ties will be broken based on your Premier score. The total number of Division teams qualifying for the tournament will range from 5 to 8. 

You will not be able to take a timeout during the matches and will not be able to substitute players for the whole stage after queuing up for the first time. Apart from this, your team will have to play all Tournament matches consecutively with five-minute breaks until your team is eliminated or reaches the Final. 

Map Pick-And-Ban System

Map picks and bans will only be available in Tournament matched. Both teams will take turns, and all the team members will cast their vote on which map to ban. The party leader will then lock the choice, and the team that did not choose the map will choose the side i.e. attack or defense. 

Valorant Premier Rewards

The rewards will be distributed to participating teams along with winning teams on October 23, a day after the Launch Stage ends. These rewards include a unique Gun Buddy and Title for winning, and a Player Card for playing at least one match.