The new Valorant patch adds League of Legends’ best feature to the leaderboard

It’s not easy playing a game at a competitive level – take it from someone who’s currently fighting their way through the League of Legends ranks. Sometimes you jump up and play like an absolute demon, but you still lose due to better scaling, miraculous enemy comebacks, or – of course – because your teammates are bad. What starts as an epic rise can quickly turn into a losing streak, but in League of Legends, buffer games where you don’t actually lose points will save you from immediate relegation. It’s a system that many of us are certainly grateful for, and Riot is now adding it Valorant with patch 10.1.

The LoL ranking system works like this: A demotion occurs when you are at the lowest tier of your rank with 0 LP. For example, if you are in Platinum IV but have lost a bunch of games and now have 0 LP, you will be downgraded to Gold I. However, Riot offers level loss prevention, which means you can play some games with 0 LP and avoid being demoted if you win again.

This isn’t a system we’ve seen in Valorant that immediately demotes you when your RR hits zero – brutal, sure, but it certainly encourages “one more game.” However, with the FPS game’s latest patch, Valorant’s ranked experience will be more like League, albeit with a much cooler name.

Out with “tier loss prevention” and in with Ranked Shields, Valorant’s equivalent to the buffer games mentioned above. They are available in all ranks except Radiant (similar to LoL’s Apex ranks) and trigger when you are in the bottom division (and only the bottom division) of your rankings and sitting at 0RR. However, there is a catch: there are only two of them.

If you lose a game, you shatter a ranked shield and only have one left. Another defeat will destroy this last protective shield, and if the series of unfortunate events continues, you will be demoted. TLDR: You have three games to get it together or you’ll drop a rank.

It should be clarified that regaining 5RR does not reset the shield. Once you use up this level’s shields, they are gone. If you get promoted back to rank one, your supply will be replenished, and if you are demoted to the first division in another rank, your shields will be reset.

Personally, I love the Animal Loss Prevention System. It forces you to play a little harder to avoid relegation and gives you a bit of a safety net if something goes wrong. There’s nothing more crushing than tearing your heart out only to find yourself back at square one after a few duds.

Valorant Patch 10.1 goes live today, Tuesday, January 21st. So why not try Ranked?

If so, check out our Valorant tier list to make sure you find the right agent for the job, as well as our guide to the best Valorant crosshairs to help you channel your inner Paper Rex.

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