Premier is a tournament game mode in VALORANT available only on PC. Matches use the same in-game rules as Competitive, but with a focus on top-tier competition and playing together as one squad throughout a tournament structure, including additional features taken from pro play such as map pick/ban phases and timeouts. At its highest level, it will serve as a direct connection from the playerbase to the professional scene.
Premier allows players to build a full team together and join a division, where they will compete across a season made up of a mix of weekly matches and tournaments. Each season (also referred to as a Stage) lasts for most of the act it occurs in, after which the best performing teams can qualify into a playoff tournament to claim the title of Division Champion.
Gameplay[]
- See also: Competitive and Unrated
Team Creation[]
| Premier Divisions | |
|---|---|
| Division | Image |
| Invite | 
|
| Contender | 
|
| Elite | 
|
| Advanced | 
|
| Intermediate | 
|
| Open | 
|
For a player to be eligible to participate in Premier, they must verify their account through SMS verification and they must have completed the five Competitive placement games required to earn a rank at any point during their account lifetime. Their account must also be in good standing, and if they have received a game ban, Vanguard intervention, Competitive restriction, or comms restriction in the last 30 days, they will be ineligible to participate in Premier, and receiving any of these restrictions during Weekly Matches or the Playoff Tournament will also disqualify that player from participating in any further matches for the rest of the Stage. Professional players (defined as someone on an active Challengers League or International League team roster) are also unable to participate in Premier.
Premier teams must have 5-7 players. Each team is set up and managed by a team owner. The owner can invite new players, remove current team players, set the team's zone, customize the team logo, and delete the team. If the owner leaves the team, ownership will be passed to the next remaining player that's been on the team the longest. Owners are also able to select a team captain, who is able to invite and remove other team members. During team creation, there are no restrictions related to Competitive rank on who can be invited to a team so long as they are eligible to participate in Premier.
Teams will be placed in a division based on the MMR of their top 5 players. Premier has six divisions; Open, Intermediate, Advanced, Elite, Contender, and Invite. Divisions Open to Elite are divided into five tiers (some zones may have fewer tiers per division due to lower populations), with Invite currently being the highest division. From Stage E9A1 onwards, Invite was added above Contender as the final step on the Path to Pro. Teams who win in the Invite division can qualify for Challengers leagues for their respective region, with the ultimate objective of reaching the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT). For teams with players who are really far apart in skill, placement will be weighed by the best player's MMR more heavily.
Once a team participates in its first match of a Stage, its division and zone will be locked in, and only players that can be invited to join the team after this point are those who would not cause the team to change divisions.
If players participated in previous Stages, their team, match history, and Premier MMR will carry over, however the team's Premier Score will be reset with each new Stage.
Zones[]
| Zone | Servers | Challengers League | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
US East |  Ashburn Atlanta Chicago Dallas
|
North America |
|
US West | Chicago Dallas North California Oregon
| ||
|
Latin America North | Chicago Mexico City Miami
|
Latin America North | |
|
Latin America South |  Bogotá Santiago
|
Latin America South | |
|
Brazil |  São Paulo
|
Brazil | |
| Zone | Servers | Challengers League(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
IBIT |  Madrid
|
Italy Portugal Spain |
|
France |  Paris
|
France |
|
North Europe |  London Stockholm
|
North Europe |
|
DACH |  Frankfurt
|
DACH |
|
East Europe |  Warsaw
|
East Europe |
|
Türkiye |  Istanbul
|
Türkiye |
|
Middle East |  Bahrain
|
MENA |
| Zone | Servers | Challengers League(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
South Asia |  Mumbai
|
South Asia |
|
Asia |  Hong Kong Singapore
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Hong Kong/Taiwan Indonesia Malaysia/Singapore Philippines Thailand Vietnam |
|
South Korea |  Seoul
|
South Korea |
|
Japan |  Tokyo
|
Japan |
|
Oceania |  Sydney
|
Oceania |
Weekly Matches[]
The Weekly Matches phase lasts for seven weeks, with all matches within a single week being played on one predetermined map. Across the seven weeks, all seven maps in the current map rotation will be featured. For each week, teams will play up to two Bo1 matches. Any of the 5-7 players on the team can play in a match and the team owner is not required to be one of those players, with the team having one of the players be the party leader instead who is responsible for getting the team into queue. Individual players can only play in a maximum of two Premier matches per week, to prevent players from jumping in between teams within a week.
Each day, a 1-hour queue window opens in the evening for the team's local time zone for them to find a match. If a team finishes their first game for the day and has yet to play their second weekly game while the queue window is still open, they may enter queue again to potentially find another match and play their second game on the same day. Weekly matches have protection to avoid any rematches as much as possible, but rematches may still occur occasionally in cases of excessive queue times.
Premier matches use the same in-game rules as Competitive but also grant timeouts to teams. Each team receives one timeout that will refresh at the start of the second half as well as Overtime, if reached. Overtime in Premier is modified to not continue endlessly and make sure games fit within schedule, as Premier does not allow for games ending in a draw. Once Overtime is reached, the team that got their twelfth round win first will gain Overtime Priority, allowing them to choose which side they start on for each set of Overtime by having each team member cast a vote. Once a side is selected, two sets of Overtime will then be played, with standard rules for Competitive Overtime applying. If a winning team has still not been decided after these two sets have been played, a final round of Sudden Death will occur. Side selection for Sudden Death will follow whatever choice the team with Overtime Priority made at the start of Overtime. The team that wins this Sudden Death round will then win the match.
Upon completing a match, the team will receive Premier Score (PS) points based on their result. Wins award 100 PS while losses award 25 PS.
On select days during the week when the regular matchmaking queue window isn't set to be open, the queue will be replaced with a practice match queue instead that teams can play in. These matches follow the same structure as regular matches but do not affect participating teams' weekly match limit or PS.
Playoff Tournament[]
Once the Weekly Matches phase for a Stage is complete, all teams with a score of 600 PS and above will qualify for a Playoff Tournament. Teams that qualify will then be placed in a single-elimination Main tournament bracket with other qualified teams from the same division. A Main tournament bracket will have 5-8 teams in it. For the Playoff Tournament, the queue window is much shorter than the Weekly Matches window at only 15 minutes instead, after which teams will be matched at one time into evenly distributed brackets seeded by PS, giving teams with higher PS scores more favorable matchups.
Tournament matches are also Bo1s, but start with a map pick/ban system. Both teams will get to ban some of the maps from the active map rotation pool, before one team gets to pick a map, with the other team getting side selection. The team's party leader is responsible for locking in their team's choices. The same Overtime Priority system applies for tournament matches.
Teams that go on to win the Playoff Tournament and become champions will qualify for a promotion to the next highest division for the next Stage. Adding or removing players from the team before the next Stage will not cause the team to lose its promotion, however adding players with significantly higher Competitive MMR may then cause the promotion to push the team up by multiple divisions. The team must play in the following Stage to utilize the promotion, otherwise it will be annulled.
Stages[]
Current[]
| V25A3 (V25 Act 3) - May 7th — June 22nd, 2025 |
|---|
History[]
| Stage | Episode + Act | Dates (UTC) | Maps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Beta | EP 06 Act 3 | April 25th – May 21st, 2023 Enrollment: Apr 25–28 Weekly Matches: Apr 29 – May 20 Playoff Tournament: May 21 |
|
| Ignition (Beta) | EP 07 Act 1 | July 11th – August 13th, 2023 Enrollment: Jul 11–20 Weekly Matches: Jul 20 – Aug 12 Playoff Tournament: Aug 13 |
|
| Launch | EP 07 Act 2 | August 29th – October 22nd, 2023 Enrollment: Aug 29 – Sep 7 Weekly Matches: Sep 7 – Oct 21 Playoff Tournament: Oct 22 |
|
| E7A3 | EP 07 Act 3 | October 31st – December 17th, 2023 Enrollment: Oct 31 – Nov 1 Weekly Matches: Nov 1 – Dec 16 Playoff Tournament: Dec 17 |
|
| E8A1 | EP 08 Act 1 | January 9th – March 3rd, 2024 Enrollment: Jan 9–17 Weekly Matches: Jan 17 – Mar 2 Playoff Tournament: Mar 3 |
|
| E8A2 | EP 08 Act 2 | March 13th – April 28th, 2024 Weekly Matches: Mar 13 – Apr 27 Playoff Tournament: Apr 28 |
|
| E8A3 | EP 08 Act 3 | May 8th – June 23rd, 2024 Weekly Matches: May 8 – Jun 22 Playoff Tournament: Jun 23 |
|
| E9A1 | EP 09 Act 1 | June 27th – August 11th, 2024 Weekly Matches: Jun 27 - Aug 10 Playoff Tournament: Aug 11 |
|
| E9A2 | EP 09 Act 2 | September 4th – October 20th, 2024 Weekly Matches: Sep 4 - Oct 19 Playoff Tournament: Oct 20 |
|
| E9A3 | EP 09 Act 3 | October 30th – December 15th, 2024 Weekly Matches: Oct 30 - Dec 14 Playoff Tournament: Dec 15 |
|
| V25A1 | V25 Act 1 | January 15th — March 2nd, 2025 Weekly Matches: Jan 15 - Mar 1 Playoff Tournament: Mar 2 |
|
| V25A2 | V25 Act 2 | March 12th — April 27th, 2025 Weekly Matches: Mar 12 - Apr 26 Playoff Tournament: Apr 27 |
|
| V25A3 | V25 Act 3 | May 7th — June 22nd, 2025 Weekly Matches: May 7 - Jun 21 Playoff Tournament: Jun 22 |
- ↑ Split was supposedly on week 7 but was replaced with Ascent in E8A2 stage due to an exploit.
Rewards[]
- Main articles: Buddies → Premier, Player Cards → Premier and Player Titles → Premier
Players can earn player cards, player titles or buddies for participating in Premier matches in each Stage during the beta period.
Starting from Launch in Episode 07: EVOLUTION: Act 2, winning players receive a buddy and player title based on the division their team was placed in. All players who played at least one match within the Stage will receive a player card.
Update History[]
PC-only[]
Updated Premier Restrictions. Instead of a flat 30 day ineligibility, players who engage in disruptive behavior are now ineligible for Premier for a period of time based on the severity of the misconduct and the length of the active intervention.
- Fixed an issue where text sometimes did not fit in dropdowns on the Standings page.
- Fixed an issue where a player’s status in the Premier Hub roster list would sometimes overlap with the alert icon in certain queues.
- Fixed an issue where the playoff bracket would not update dynamically during the second game of a best of three matchup.
- Fixed an issue on the tournament bracket screen where match score was occasionally displayed in black.
- Fixed an issue where the tournament bracket was not properly centered on some ultrawide displays.
- Fixed an issue where long team names could overlap each other on the playoff bracket screen.
- Fixed an issue where dropdowns on the standings sometimes cut off text.
- Fixed an issue where the division name text was not always correctly aligned on the match history screen.
- Fixed an issue where there were inconsistent font sizes on the Change Zone and the Delete Team pop-up screens in Premier.
- Fixed an issue where Premier matches in match history did not show a mode tooltip when you hovered over them.
- Fixed an issue where the ineligibility warning tooltip in the lobby was very hard to trigger.
- Added a visual divider on Invite Division standings that shows the cutoff for demotion at the end of Stage E9A3. Teams below the divider after standings finalize will be demoted at the start of the next Stage.
- Added a message that notifies you if your team has qualified for playoffs. The first time you return to the Premier hub after your team has met the qualification requirements, you’ll see the message.
- Added a Contender Eligibility expiration date on the Premier tab of the Career page. Contender Eligibility for 2024 expires at the end of Stage E9A3.
- To be Contender Eligible in 2025, you and your team must perform a qualifying action in Stage E9A3 or at any point in 2025. Qualifying actions include:
- Play a Weekly or Playoff match on a team in Contender or Invite Division.
- Reach Immortal 3 or higher peak rank in Competitive.
- Play in a Playoff match in Elite 5.
- To be Contender Eligible in 2025, you and your team must perform a qualifying action in Stage E9A3 or at any point in 2025. Qualifying actions include:
- Fixed an issue where games in a best of 3 match were all listed as finals in Premier match history. Games are now correctly listed as Game 1, Game 2, or Game 3.
- Updated dropdowns on the standings tab to include Invite division in the division list for all zones. Selecting an Invite division to view will change your zone dropdown to the appropriate zone
- Fixed an issue where the Competitor Crest title was not displayed on the Premier career page after earning that Crest.
- Contender Eligibility Updates
- If you have five Contender Eligible players on your team, you are guaranteed to place into Contender Division.
- Contender Eligibility for 2024 expires at the end of Stage E9A3.
- To be Contender Eligible in 2025, you and your team must perform a qualifying action in Stage E9A3 or at any point in 2025.
- Qualifying actions include:
- Play a Weekly or Playoff match on a team in Contender or Invite Division.
- Reach Immortal 3 or higher peak rank in Competitive.
- Play in a Playoff match in Elite 5.
- Contender Eligibility for 2025 expires at the end of the last Stage in 2025.
- Fixed an issue where you would see a Competitor Crest after playing a Practice match on a brand new team, despite not having earned any points
- Updated Best of 1 playoff brackets and match history with a new visual style
- In Contender and Invite divisions, match history now groups games in a Best of 3 matchup together under one heading.
- Fixed an issue in Contender and Invite divisions where your team’s rank on your roster list would incorrectly display as 275 until you played a match.
- Fixed an issue where the schedule had overlapping text in some languages.
- Added a button to view the maps available in Playoffs. To see the Playoff map pool, click Playoffs Event in the schedule on the Premier hub, and then click the "Show Map Pool" button in the center of the hub.
- Teams now have 2 tactical timeouts that they can call at any time. Previously, teams could call 1 tactical timeout per half
- If the game goes into OT, each team is given 1 additional tactical timeout.
- Fixed an issue where the schedule would sometimes scroll inconsistently when collapsing/expanding weeks
- Playoffs in Contender and Invite Divisions have a best of 3 finals. Rounds prior to finals are best of 1.
- Map pick and ban takes place before agent select for each game in a match.
- Once a map is played, it is removed from the map pool for subsequent games in the match.
- Added playoff qualification rules in the side panel on the standings page.
- Fixed an issue where the playoff results text on the standings page was always displayed in English.
- Fixed an issue where the team page was showing the wrong background.
- Fixed an issue where changing the Stage in the dropdown on the standings page sometimes wouldn’t refresh the content.
- Teams in Contender that earned a promotion in Stage E8A3 are in the new Invite Division, where finishing the Stage at a high enough rank will earn you an opportunity to make it into a Challengers League.
- Contender and Invite Divisions play a little differently:
- Strict rematch protection in weekly matches prevents you from ever matching against the same team more than once in a Stage.
- If we can't find you an appropriate match during the queue window, you'll be given a Bye. Byes award a match win and 100 points.
- Losses award 0 points.
- Finals in playoffs are Best of 3 matchups.
- There are some extra roster restrictions for Contender and Invite Division teams.
- Teams that win Playoff Tournaments will now earn promotions into higher divisions for the next Stage
- Premier Score playoff qualification threshold decreased 675 >>> 600
- Fixed a bug where practice matches did not lock your division in.
- Fixed a bug where your status displayed in the roster list was sometimes too small to read.
- Fixed a bug where ties on the Standings were not broken correctly.
- Phone number verification now has a cooldown period between attempts.
- Team creation deadline references have been removed from the schedule.
- The queue button now shows the correct error message when a player has reached their weekly match limit
- Enrollment no longer required. Teams can be made and start playing in the Stage at any time.
- Provisional divisions are shown immediately upon team creation, update whenever the roster or Zone changes, and are locked in once your team plays your first match of the Stage.
- Teams can change their Zone anytime before they play their first match of the Stage.
- Weekly matches now have rematch protection, preventing the team from facing the same other team twice unless queue time is lengthened.
- Players can only play two matches a week
- Standings show Playoff results once Playoffs start and lock in 48 hours after Playoffs end.
- Fixed a bug where the start button wouldn’t update immediately if you’re in the lobby when an event starts.
- Fixed an issue in some regions where the Zone displayed in Standings did not match the one selected.
- Fixed a bug that was causing Premier Standings to not load your zone/division the first time you click into it.
- Fixed a bug that was causing teams to not appear on the Standings tab right after their Season Match.
- "Central & Eastern Europe" and "Western Europe" EMEA zones split over five new zones (IBIT, France, North Europe, DACH, East Europe)
- Team Captain role added
- Teams can now see their division before playing matches and view standings in other divisions and for previous Stages
- Fixed an issue in Overtime Voting where "Waiting for Opponents" message appears behind the voting team.
- Teams created before or during Enrollment will now be able to recruit members and participate at any point during the Stage
- Enrollment phase duration decreased 10 days >>> 2 days
- Professional players no longer eligible to participate in Premier
- Number of divisions for some zones reduced to make queue times quicker and matches fairer in those zones
- Matchmaking improved for Weekly Matches
- 1-hour practice queues added on select non-match days
- Teams can now call timeouts during matches
- Each team has one timeout per half, plus an additional timeout if Overtime is reached
- Premier Score playoff qualification threshold temporarily decreased for Stage E7A3 from 675 >>> 600
- Playoff Tournament queue window reduced 1 hour >>> 15 minutes
- Teams with higher Premier Scores now have more favorable seeding when progressing to the Playoff Tournament
- Fixed an issue where the Attacker team takes priority over the Defender team in the Overtime vote.
- Fixed a bug where a second timer bar would appear after the “Choose Side” vote had already ended.
- Fixed a bug where certain scenarios would cause subsequent Overtime Priority votes to occur in the following round.
- Divisions updated from 1-20 >>> Open, Intermediate, Advanced, Elite (Each with 5 tiers), and Contender
- Weekly Matches map pool increased 4 >>> 7
- All maps in the current map rotation will now be featured across the Stage
- Premier Score playoff qualification threshold increased 375 >>> 675
- Stage Division Crest rewards now granted once the next Stage begins if the player has played two weekly matches or one playoff match.
- Fixed an issue where the Weekly Matches reset timer was not displaying days left until reset.
- Team, match history, and Premier MMR will now carry over to new Stages
- Enrollment phase duration increased 4 days >>> 10 days
- Team creation and enrollment flow has been improved
- Queue schedules for Weekly Matches are now tailored to each Zone
- Playoff Tournament brackets now update progress in real time
- Playoff Tournament Consolation bracket removed
- First appearance in open beta
- First Alpha test on the Brazil shard
Gallery[]
Premier Team Icons
Crests Assets
| In rotation | Plant/Defuse Modes:
Deathmatch Modes: | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unavailable | ||||
| Others | Custom Game | |||
