Rank



Rank is a progress indicator in Splatoon and Splatoon 2 alongside level.

The higher the player's rank, the more competitive their Ranked Battles are and the higher amount of cash they can earn from said battles.

Ranks in Splatoon
Players begin at Rank C-. Winning in Ranked Battles grants Battle Points based on the player's current rank and what their odds of winning were. Getting 100 points or more in any rank promotes the player to the next one, starting them off at 30 points into the new rank. Conversely, dropping below (but not exactly to) 0 points on a rank demotes the player to the next one down. However, they only need 30 points to get back up, since they start at 70 after dropping a rank. Players cannot go below C-.

When the match ends, players receive cash. The amount they gain changes depending on how much the objective progressed, on a scale of 0 to 500p, while the victorious team earns a bonus. The higher the rank is, the bigger the cash bonus is when winning. When a team wins by knockout, the losing team earns no cash.

Normally, matches award a base amount of points per win and loss (±10 above B-). These numbers change depending on the average rank of each team in a match. A team with a higher average rank than their opponents is given a smaller reward if they win and a larger punishment if they lose and vice versa; a team with a lower average rank gets a larger reward for winning and a smaller punishment for losing. The values are ±10 ±2 or ±10 ±4 depending on the magnitude of the difference. For example, a team of four A+ players against a team of one A+ and three A- players, or four B+ players against one A+ and three B+ players, receive scores of ±10 ±2.

When a team starts with three players or fewer and loses, they will each lose only one point.

Before Version, the maximum rank was A+ with 99 points, at which point the text would change from white to yellow. The update added Rank S and S+ to the ranking system, making the maximum Rank S+ with 99 points. Rank S and S+ players cannot lose or gain points in Squad Battles. Upon getting to S+ with 99 points, the S+ turns yellow as A+ did before Version 2.0.0. The number of base points and the base penalty was adjusted in Version.

Before Version, players could battle against other rank players and get a different amount of base points per win or base penalty per loss, depending on the team's matchup. From this version onwards, however, the following ranks were not allowed to be matched together:


 * Different letter grades (such as B and C)
 * S and S+

This allows players to get much more accurate base points per win or base penalty per loss.

Ranks in Splatoon 2
Like in the original game, ranks start at C- and go to S+, and players only play against players with the same letter grade, so C- players can play with C+, but not B-. This is except for S and S+ players, who can only be matched with players of the same rank. However, each player now has four separate ranks, one for each mode of Ranked Battle - Splat Zones, Tower Control, Rainmaker, and Clam Blitz. This means that players need to rank up in each mode individually and play against players at their skill level for each mode.

S+ contains additional ranks that are numbered from 0 to 9, or 0 to 50 prior to Version.

Players can skip ranks between C- and A+ depending on their performance. In the S+ ranks, players can skip between the different numbered S+ ranks, meaning an S+0 player can skip to S+9 based on their performance.

The mechanism by which players move between ranks has been significantly rehauled. Players start with an empty meter, and as they win games, their meter fills up depending on their performance. However, as they lose games, their meter starts to get cracks in it, getting one crack for every one to three games lost, depending on various factors that may include the team's score, the enemy team's power, a player's position on their team, how many enemies they splatted, and how much turf they inked.

If a player successfully fills their meter, they rise to the next rank and the cracks are healed. The player can move up multiple ranks should they perform well in that rank.

If the player gains four cracks (equal to four to twelve games lost), their meter shatters. If the player is above the "OK" line, their meter drops by the amount needed to reach the line plus roughly a third of the amount the player had above the line. If the player is below the "OK" line, they are sent down to the previous rank, keeping the filled portion of the meter. In C- there is no line present, as it is not possible to rank down further than C-. The line's placement is the same, at approximately 40%, for ranks between C and S, while it is in the middle of the bar in the S+ ranks, requiring players to fill up 50% of the rank meter to maintain their rank. In S+2 to S+5, depending on performance, the player drops all the way down to S+0 at once for failing to reach the line before getting four cracks, while in S+6 through S+9, the player can drop up to five ranks at a time.

Before Version, in S+50, the "OK" line appeared at the end of the meter, meaning that the meter would have to be full to reach it.

Before Version, in S+, the "OK" line was placed in the same position as previous ranks, but players could drop more ranks at once for failing to reach the line before getting four cracks.

The amount of cash awarded for a victory in Ranked Battles is based on the player's rank and the team's score at the end of the round. The formula is '(P * 5) + B', where P is the team's score and B is the bonus received based on their rank and if the match was a knockout. So, for example, if an A- player wins with a score of 84, their score is multiplied by five to get 420 points, with a +2000 win bonus, for a total 2,420 cash.

Losing a ranked battle without being knocked out still awards cash based on the team's score multiplied by five, just without the significant amount awarded by the win bonus. A knocked-out team, however, is always awarded no cash.

Experience awarded depends on who won, whether it was a knockout or a timeout, and the progress the team made. The winning team always gets a 1,500 XP win bonus. In the case of a knockout, the losing side gets 100 XP per minute the match lasted, rounded down to the nearest minute, while the winning side gets a 1,000 XP knockout bonus, for a total of 2,500 XP. In the case of a timeout, both teams get a 500 XP time bonus, plus 5 XP for every percentage of progress made, so if a team brings the Rainmaker or Tower 83% to their goal, they get 83 × 5 = 415 XP.

Rank X


Player progression in Ranked Battle was enhanced with the addition of Rank X. This division was introduced in version, replacing Ranks S+10 to S+50. Players already in these ranks were automatically placed in Rank X.

Players who have ranked up to Rank X battle for X Power rather than the Rank Meter. Unlike Splatfest and League Power, the X Power takes the player's last power level, and not the highest. Players with similar X Power levels are matched together even within the same rank of X Rank. The ranking period lasts the entire month (except the first ranking period which started at the update).

As of Version, to adjust fairness in matchmaking and to prevent improper behavior, the names and levels of all players in a match are not shown on the lobby waiting screen and are replaced with question marks. Due to this, players are able to battle against people blocked in their Nintendo Switch system settings as long as they are in the top 2,000 players.

During the month, on SplatNet 2, players are able to view their X Power and weapon for each mode, as well as the top player overall and the top player with their weapon. The ranking is only displayed if the player is in the top 2,000. After each month, the X Rank Leaderboard is added for each of the four different Ranked Battle modes, where the 500 players with the highest X Power are announced. The weapon displayed is the player's most used weapon in the last 50 matches of the mode.
 * SplatNet 2

After each month, X Power resets to "Calculating" status. The calculation period, lasting ten matches, determines the player's power level going into Rank X. Starting X Power, during the calculation period, is between 2000 and 2300, depending on the previous ranking period, with an initial rating deviation of 250.
 * X Power Reset and Rank Down

During the time of the reset, players whose X Power ended up lower than a set threshold (below 2,000) rank down to S+9. However, if X Power drops low enough (by a loss after getting below 1,900), players rank down to S+9 on the spot rather than at the time of the reset. Players do not rank down during the calculation period - this may lead to players getting significantly below 1,900 upon the power being exposed and for players to rank down at the end of the month instead.

Rank X data is in a configuration file downloaded from the server, so Nintendo can update it independently of the game data. This allows them to remove cheaters or adjust the threshold of X Power for ranking down.

After each month, when players enter the Battle Lobby, they can see their results for the ranking period: their highest and last powers of each mode and their estimated position from their last match of each mode. If the player did not finish their calculation period, a "No Records" message is displayed. After the results, they can see if they rank down in one of the modes to S+9 or stay in Rank X.
 * Battle Lobby

In addition to having another division of ranking, Rank X players have the option to pose in the lobby. Pressing and  together makes the player spin around and cross their arms like an X while the letter X flashes on the Rank Meter then fills the screen. The music also fades out while a "swords clash" sound effect is played.

The estimated position for the top 2,000 players can be seen after the results of each match. Furthermore, during a match, players that their estimated position is in the top 500 gain a crown icon above their head with left and right wave arrows, this icon is shown before battle and can also be seen after getting splatted by a top 500 player. For players who got into top 500 during the rotation, the crown icon remains until the next rotation of stages and modes. The crown also remains for the next rotation if in the previous rotation the estimated position was in top 500.
 * Top 2,000 and Top 500 in battles

Data
Data mines reveal further how certain rank mechanics work.

Rank meter
The rank meter is represented internally as a number between 0 and 100. The numbers that track filling of the rank meter and those that track cracks are two separate systems; winning matches adds points to the number system that fills the rank meter while losing adds points to a different number system that contributes to cracks on the meter.

A full rank meter is represented by the "fill" number reaching 100, which causes the player to rank up. The rank meter breaks when the "crack" number reaches 100. Every 25 points are equivalent to one crack on the meter.

How the player gains points that affect these numbers depends on the probability of winning a match in Ranked Battles, as determined by the game. The number of "fill" points gained for winning a match that the game determined was a likely victory for the player's team are lower than that gained for one with a lower probability. Conversely, losing a match that the game determines the player had a high chance to win adds a high number of points to the "crack" number compared to one where the player was less likely to win.

The amount of points gained is the same for both number systems: players can earn ten to twenty points from a match in ranks below S+ and nine to twenty in S+. These numbers can differ between regions and can be changed without having to update the game, but have been kept identical since 2018-08-08.

Power and rank skipping
The power rating used in Ranked Battles is a Glicko-2 rating system. Only wins and losses are considered when measuring performance in battles, so splats, deaths, turf coverage, and other statistics do not count towards a player's power rating. Opponents' power ratings are combined into a single value and used when calculating a new value for the player.

Rank skipping relates to players' power ratings. Each rank has a target power level; if a player's power level exceeds a certain threshold while ranking up, they skip to the corresponding rank. Target power levels slightly differ across regions; as of 2018-08-08, European and North American/Oceanian regions have a lower threshold than Japan in S and S+0 ranks, meaning that it is easier to skip ranks in these regions. The reason for this threshold difference between regions is unknown.

A list of current target power levels are detailed in the following table:

For example, if a player in C+ skips to B+, this means that they had a power level of at least 1550 when ranking up. Thus, it is not required to win every match to skip a rank, but winning against a team with a higher average power level yields a greater rise in a player's rating while losing against the same team would subtract less.

Trivia

 * In preparation for the release of Rank X, the SplatoonJP Twitter and Live from Squid Research Lab Tumblr released statistical information about the rank breakdown of the players that were active in that region's Ranked Battle the previous week: