Deadlock ranks explained: every rank in order

All 11 Deadlock ranks in order, Initiate to Eternus, plus subranks, Rank Points, loss protection and how the top ranks work in Ranked Season 1.

All Deadlock ranks in order

From lowest to highest, the 11 ranks are Initiate, Seeker, Acolyte, Sentinel, Mystic, Ritualist, Emissary, Oracle, Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus. Before your first placement games you sit in Obscurus, the uncalibrated badge, which isn't a rank you can fall back into.

This is current as of Ranked Season 1, which started with the Matchmaking Update on July 30, 2026. Your badge and rank history are in the Ranked Hub in the hideout.

Placements can't put you higher than Oracle VI, so Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus have to be climbed into.

Subranks: I to VI

Every rank has six subranks, I to VI, with VI the highest. Mystic I is the bottom of Mystic; Mystic VI is one step from Ritualist I. Counting subranks, that's 66 subranks from Initiate I to Eternus VI.

How many Rank Points to rank up

Each subrank takes 1,000 Rank Points, shown on a progress bar after every Ranked game. The last step of a rank, from VI into the next rank's I (Mystic VI to Ritualist I, say), takes 2,000.

At launch Valve put an average win or loss at about 250 points. On August 2, 2026 that went up 20% to about 300 per game. It isn't fixed: it shifts a little with what the matchmaker expected from the game, and it goes up on a win streak.

So a full rank is 5 × 1,000 plus 2,000, or 7,000 points. At roughly 300 a game, getting from one rank's I to the next rank's I takes about 23 more wins than losses, and a subrank is three or four net wins.

Win streaks and what moves your points

Win streaks pay bonus points on top of a normal win. The same 2 August change raised the biggest streak bonus from +75 to +90, reached at five wins in a row.

The matchmaker's expectation moves your number too. Valve hasn't published the formula, but it works like most ranked games: beating a team you were expected to lose to pays a bit more, and losing a game you were favoured in costs a bit more. Over a season it evens out, so don't try to game it.

Rank loss protection

Hitting zero doesn't drop you straight away. At 0 Rank Points on a subrank boundary you get two games of loss protection before you fall to the subrank below; on a full rank boundary you get five.

Valve's example: at Mystic I with 0 points, you keep the Mystic badge until you lose five games, then drop to Sentinel. At Mystic III with 0 points, two more losses take you to Mystic II.

1. 01Protection is a warning, not a cushion. If you're burning through it, stop for the day.
2. 02A win at 0 points puts you back on the bar, so one good game clears the danger.

Placement games and where you start

Each season starts with 8 calibration games, played solo; you can't party up until they're done. Your previous rank gets a soft reset, so the game keeps some of your history to seed you, and the eight games decide where you land.

However well they go, you finish placements no higher than Oracle VI. Anyone who belongs in Phantom or above plays their way up from there. Valve hasn't said exactly how a first-time Ranked player is seeded.

Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus: the top ranks

Up to Eternus I the rules are the same as everywhere else: points per game, 1,000 per subrank, 2,000 into a new rank. From Eternus I on there's no fixed number. The thresholds between Eternus subranks are recalculated every day on a percentile basis, so Eternus VI means the top slice of Eternus players that day, and you can slip a subrank without losing a game if others climb past you.

Party rules get tighter too. Duo partners normally have to be within one rank of each other, but an Eternus player can only duo with another Eternus within three subranks.

Above the ranks are leaderboards. The global leaderboard has listed the top 1,000 players per region since 2024, and as of Season 1 you need 75 games in the last 30 days to appear on it. Hero leaderboards need 30 games on that hero in the last 30 days and at least 100 lifetime wins with them.

What happens when a season ends

The highest rank you reached is saved permanently in your rank history, and you get a hideout item for that season's best rank. The next season starts with a soft reset and another 8 calibration games.

Ranked Season 1 was due to end on October 7, 2026. Valve pushed it back to November 5, 2026 at 2pm Pacific time (22:00 UTC), with Season 2 starting straight after. Valve has also said later seasons will likely run longer, with splits (breaks inside a season where ranks get adjusted) and recency requirements on the heroes you play, so expect parts of this page to change.

Old rank names: Alchemist, Arcanist and Archon

If you played before July 2026 you'll remember a different ladder. Under the old Skill Rating system the ranks were Initiate, Seeker, Alchemist, Arcanist, Ritualist, Emissary, Archon, Oracle, Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus.

The Matchmaking Update replaced Alchemist, Arcanist and Archon with Acolyte, Sentinel and Mystic, which reshuffled the middle of the ladder. Valve didn't publish a conversion table, so don't read an old Archon badge as a modern Emissary or Oracle.