Ranked

Ranked is the competitive side of the Arena: you join the queue, matchmaking finds opponents of similar strength, and you win or lose LP at the end of the match. Each mode has its own league, LP and leaderboard — you can be Diamond in 1v1 and Gold in 5v5. Leagues and LP are covered in detail on Leagues & LP.

Modes

1v1

• One-on-one duel
• Solo queue only

3v3

• 3 players per team
• Solo or with a group of 2–3
• At most 2 leagues apart in a team

5v5

• 5 players per team
• Solo or with a group of 2–5
• LP is softened in teams with a big league gap

Queue requirements

• You must be level 15 or higher.
• You must be in a safe zone: your own base or a portal on your own map. The same rule applies to the ready check.
• You must be on one of the main maps (Sector Y and Pyro included). You can’t join from SECTOR X, NYX or a raid.
• Your ship must not be destroyed. Some ships can’t be used in Ranked; if you’re in one, the queue tells you.
• You must not have used up today’s daily match limit for that mode, and you must not have a queue ban.
• You can’t queue while in a Custom lobby; leave the lobby first.
• Only one character per account can be in the arena at a time.

Solo or with a group

• 1v1 has no group queue; you always join solo.
• You can join 3v3 and 5v5 solo or with your group. Only the group leader can queue the group, and the group can’t be larger than the team. Matchmaking fills any empty slots.
• Everyone in the group must meet the requirements (level, safe zone, daily limit, bans). If someone doesn’t, the game tells you who can’t join and why.
• In 3v3, players in one team can be at most 2 leagues apart — this includes group members and players added by matchmaking.
• A group joins as one unit and is never split. If the group changes while queued, the entry is cancelled.
• 5v5 needs 10 players, so the wait can be long; joining with your group is recommended.

While you wait

You can keep playing while queued. Entering a raid, NYX or SECTOR X removes you from the queue. You can leave the queue at any time without penalty. If no match is found within a certain time, you are also removed without penalty; the maximum wait is shown on the queue screen.

How matchmaking works

In every mode, each player has a hidden rating that is separate from LP and not visible. It is updated by match results and estimates your real strength. Matchmaking builds teams that are as balanced as possible by this rating:

• At first it looks for opponents very close to your strength.
• The longer you wait, the more the search range gradually widens, so you don’t wait forever.
• Groups are never split; groups and solo players can end up in the same match.
• Matchmaking tries not to put the same opponents in front of you again and again.

Ready check

When a match is found, a “Match found” window opens. You must choose Accept or Decline within a short time; the timer is shown in the window.

• You must be in a safe zone to accept. If you’re in combat, jumping between maps or your ship is destroyed, your accept is retried automatically until time runs out.
• Once everyone accepts, the match is set up and you’re moved into the arena. After the match you return to where you were.
• If someone doesn’t accept, the match is cancelled. The other players who accepted go back to the queue keeping their place. If someone in a group doesn’t accept, the whole group drops out; group members who accepted are not penalised.
• Declining, or seeing the window and letting the timer run out, brings a penalty — see Penalties.
• A match that is cancelled before it starts doesn’t use up your daily match limit.

Daily match limit

You have a separate daily ranked match limit for each mode. The number can change with the season settings; the Arena window shows it as “Today n/max matches”.

• The limit is per account: characters on the same account share it.
• It resets every day at UTC 00:00 (the game shows the time converted to your local time).
• Counts: every ranked match that started — whether you win, lose or leave. Cancelled matches where everyone left, both teams had a mass disconnection, or the maximum duration was exceeded also count.
• Doesn’t count: matches cancelled before they started (including those that fell through at the ready check), and cancellations caused by the server or the team (maintenance, server problems, season end, staff intervention) — in that case the match is given back.
• Once the limit is reached you can’t queue for that mode; you can still queue for modes where you have matches left. Custom lobbies don’t count toward the limit.

Team situations

If you disconnect: the match waits for you for a short time; if you come back within that time, you continue where you left off. If you don’t, you count as having left the match.

If you leave the match (“Forfeit match”, or disconnecting and not coming back): you lose that match — even if your team wins. The promotion shield and the 0 LP buffer don’t protect you from the LP loss; you get no match reward and the match doesn’t count for arena quests. While penalties are active you also lose extra LP and get a queue ban (see Penalties).

If a teammate leaves: the match goes on and the rest play short-handed. If the remaining players lose, their LP loss is reduced. Exception: if you queued in the same group as the player who left, this reduction doesn’t apply to you. If you win, you get normal LP.

If a whole team leaves: that team forfeits and the other team wins the match.

If both teams are completely empty: the match is cancelled. LP doesn’t change and no rewards are given; the match counts toward your daily limit and spent resources aren’t refunded.

Mass disconnection: if many players lose their connection at the same time because of a server problem, those players aren’t penalised (the match still counts as a loss for them). If a mass disconnection hits both teams, the match is cancelled and LP doesn’t change.

Meeting the same opponents often

If you’ve played ranked matches against the same opponents very often lately, the LP you win and lose in those matches gets smaller and smaller — the more it repeats, the smaller it gets. Your hidden rating changes less in the same way.

• 1v1: playing your single opponent often is enough.
• 3v3: it applies if you’ve played most of the enemy team (at least 2 of 3) often.
• 5v5: it applies if you’ve played most of the enemy team (at least 3 of 5) often.

This isn’t a penalty but an automatic adjustment: it stops the leaderboard from being inflated by arranged matches. As you play different opponents, LP changes return to normal on their own.

Note: Values such as the daily match limit, the ready check timer and the maximum queue time can change with the season settings; you can see their current values in the Arena window.