Image: Riot Games
VALORANT is launching a new competitive system called Premier in open beta this month, and here’s how you can join in.
Riot Games announced this week that VALORANT’s upcoming team-based competitive system Premier is launching in open beta on April 25. Premier is meant to provide even more competition for players compared to rank mode, and will eventually be the path for players to move into the VCT Challenger Leagues.
Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming open beta:
What is Valorant Premier?
In case you missed it, Premier is a new team-based competitive system that lets players build a team and compete in a set of pre-scheduled matches. It basically gives you the esports tournament experience without all the muss and fuss of the real thing, with teams of 5-7 players duking it out at a similar skill level. Once your roster is built out, your team will get placed in a skill division to play weekly matches. When you win enough matches in Premier, you’ll get to participate in a Playoff Tournament for the chance to become one of the topmost teams in your division.
If you want to be the best of the best in Valorant, this is the way to go about proving yourself. It even ties back to esports: Riot plans to link Premier up to the VCT Challenger Leagues, giving top players a shot at Challengers and the chance to play against professional teams. From the Challenger Leagues, they’ll get to climb up to the International Leagues and even get into Champions, which is Valorant’s biggest esports stage available. That is, if they’re up to the task.
Details on how Premier leads into the esports scene are still being finalised on Riot’s side however, so this won’t be an immediate feature.
How do I get into the Global Open Beta?
Anyone can get into Premier’s Global Open Beta... as long as you take the time to tick a few boxes. First off: players need to have SMS verification, complete a ranked placement in any Act, and either join or form a team of 5-7 players. The owner of the team will then need to enroll everyone in Premier and select their zone, which decides their match schedules and which servers they’ll play on.
Riot will then place the team into one of 20 divisions based on the average MMR of their top five players. Players will have to play up to two matches every week, racking up a Premier score that will eventually determine whether they qualify for the playoff tournament. Tournament matches take place on the last day of the Global Open Beta, and use a map pick-and-ban system. Winners will be crowned Champions and receive unique Player Cards and Titles as rewards, while the losing teams compete for third place in a Consolation bracket.
There are rewards for simply participating: anyone who plays at least one match will get an In-Game Title and Player Card to show off. Once the open beta concludes, the ‘next phase’ of Premier will launch in July, while a full launch for this mode is planned for after VCT Champions 2023 in August.
Here are the dates you’ll need to remember if you’re taking part in the open beta:
- Enrollment period: April 25 to 28
- Weekly Matches: April 29 to May 20
- Playoff Tournament start: May 21