Ranked
Information on this page has been updated on 2026/10/20 for the Catalyst update.
RANKED REQUIREMENTS
To play ranked defuse, you need to:
- Reach player level 10.
- Have at least 500 kills in featured game modes, excluding PvE.
- Have a linked Critical Ops account.
- Have an account that is at least 48 hours old.
- Have a ping lower than 200 ms to at least one game server.
All members of your party must meet these requirements.
NEW PLAYERS
- New players start without a rank, but with a matchmaking rating between 1170 and 1270.
- New players must complete 5 placement matches to receive an official rank.
| RANK | STARTING RATING | PLACEMENT MATCHES |
|---|---|---|
CALIBRATING |
1170 - 1270 | 5 |
HOW TO RANK UP
- A player’s rank is always calculated based on the results achieved during the placement matches.
- If you have played ranked before, your previous seasons also impact your starting rating.
- After completing placement matches, players can continue playing ranked matchmaking to try to improve their rank.
- By improving their rank, players can unlock new exclusive seasonal rewards.
- The matchmaking system always looks for opponents based on your current rank.
RANKS RATING
CALIBRATING RANK
At the start of a new season, everyone’s rank status is recalibrated. Results from previous seasons impact the starting rating. Calibrating players can appear in matches at any rank.
| RANK | PLACEMENT MATCHES |
|---|---|
| CALIBRATING |
5 |
SEASON START RATING TABLE
Your new season starting rating is based on your rating at the end of the previous season, limited to the range shown in this table. Most players start the new season slightly below the rating they finished the previous season with.
| STARTING RATING | RATING |
|---|---|
| LOWEST | 1150 IRON 3  |
| HIGHEST | 1650 DIAMOND 3  |
RATING TABLE
This table contains information about matchmaking rating requirements to reach a specific rank or rank division.
| RANK | RATING RANGE | DIVISION 1 | DIVISION 2 | DIVISION 3 | DIVISION 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IRON |
0-1199 | 0+ | 1125+ | 1150+ | 1175+ |
BRONZE |
1200-1299 | 1200+ | 1225+ | 1250+ | 1275+ |
SILVER |
1300-1399 | 1300+ | 1325+ | 1350+ | 1375+ |
GOLD |
1400-1499 | 1400+ | 1425+ | 1450+ | 1475+ |
PLATINUM |
1500-1599 | 1500+ | 1525+ | 1550+ | 1575+ |
| DIAMOND |
1600-1699 | 1600+ | 1625+ | 1650+ | 1675+ |
MASTER |
1700-1799 | 1700+ | 1725+ | 1750+ | 1775+ |
SPEC OPS |
1800+ | - | - | - | - |
ELITE OPS |
1950+ Top 250 players |
- | - | - | - |
RATING SEARCH RANGE TABLE
This table contains information about ranks that you can match with depending on your own rank.
| RANK | LOWEST SEARCH BOUND | HIGHEST SEARCH BOUND |
|---|---|---|
| IRON |
IRON 1 |
SILVER 4 |
| BRONZE |
IRON 1 |
SILVER 4 |
| SILVER |
IRON 1 |
GOLD 4 |
| GOLD |
SILVER 1 |
PLATINUM 4 |
| PLATINUM |
GOLD 1 |
DIAMOND 4 |
| DIAMOND |
PLATINUM 1 |
MASTER 4 |
| MASTER |
DIAMOND 1 |
ELITE OPS |
| SPEC OPS |
MASTER 1 |
ELITE OPS |
| ELITE OPS |
MASTER 1 |
ELITE OPS |
RATING DECAY TABLE
This table contains information about the rating decay: rating required for the rules to apply, time passed since the last finished ranked match, how frequently the rating will be reduced and by how much.
| RATING | RANKED INACTIVITY | FREQUENCY | DECAY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900+ | 7 days | Every day | 1% of total rating |
RANKED REWARDS
- Each ranked season comes with its own rewards, only attainable during the season.
- These rewards are exclusive and can only be earned by playing ranked matchmaking. There is no way to buy these rewards.
- To claim a reward, you need to reach the rank required for that reward and win enough matches at that rank or higher.
SEASON 18 REWARDS
| RANK | WINS REQUIRED | REWARD |
|---|---|---|
| CALIBRATING |
1 win | MR 96 - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
3 wins | Flashbang - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
5 wins | Emblem - Season 18 Entrant
|
| IRON |
7 wins | M1887 - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
10 wins | Incendiary Grenade - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
15 wins | AR-15 - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
20 wins | Frag - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
25 wins | P90 - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
30 wins | Smoke Grenade - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| IRON |
35 wins | TRG22 - Season 18 Bullet Storm
|
| PLATINUM |
20 wins | Emblem - Season 18 Aspirant
|
| MASTER |
150 wins | DEAGLE - Gold Plated
|
| ELITE OPS |
40 wins | Emblem - Season 18 Ascendant
|
- Unclaimed rewards are claimed automatically after the season ends.
RANKED PENALTY
- Leaving ranked games will result in a ranked penalty.
- We suggest only playing ranked on a stable connection and when you have time to finish the ranked match you started!
- Inflicting too much team damage will result in a ranked penalty.
- Reaching the team damage offense limit results in an immediate kick from the match.
- Players kicked for team damage gain no rating if their team wins and lose rating as normal if their team loses.
- Not joining a found match before the warmup ends will result in a ranked penalty.
| PENALTY | DURATION |
|---|---|
| #1 | 30 minutes |
| #2 | 1 hour |
| #3 | 1 day |
| #4 | 3 days |
DISCONNECTED PLAYERS
Ranked matches have special rules for players who disconnect during the match:
- If a player disconnects for 5 seconds during a live round, their character is killed.
- If a player disconnects during freezetime and does not reconnect by the time the round goes live, their character is killed. The enemy team does not receive the suicide reward in this case.
- An automatic 90-second timeout begins if a team has a disconnected player at the start or end of freezetime. Each team has 1 disconnect timeout per match.
- Players respawn if they reconnect during freezetime or a timeout.
- If every player on a team is disconnected for 3 minutes, that team surrenders by absence. If every player on a team has left the match, that team surrenders immediately.
- If both teams are fully disconnected for 3 minutes, the match ends in a draw with no rating changes.
- Players who did not have a character when the round went live do not receive any round rewards for that round.
DISADVANTAGE PAYOUT
- If a team has fewer players than the enemy team, its members can be eligible for a disadvantage payout at the start of freezetime.
- Disadvantage payout is only given to players who had a character when the previous round went live.
- Neither team is eligible for disadvantage payouts if both teams have an equal number of active players, such as 4v4 or 3v3.
| DISADVANTAGE PAYOUT | PAYOUT STARTS AFTER | NO PAYOUTS IN |
|---|---|---|
| $800 | 2 rounds at a disadvantage | First 2 rounds of each half |
IMPORTANT
- You can limit matchmaking search to REGIONAL in the settings.
- REGIONAL means found matches are played on any of the servers in the region selected by the party leader.
- Without regional matchmaking enabled, matches are played on the best server for all players in the match, not just your party. This can result in matches being played on any server of any region.
WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW
- Playing solo or partying up with friends has the same matchmaking rank search limitations.
- You can only enter ranked defuse if all members of your party are within your rating search range.