These battles can last for five minutes, instead of the three-minute-long Turf Wars. The battle can be shorter or longer depending on the outcome of the game. It features several modes and is accessible once a player hits Level 10. The modes included in this category require a higher level of strategy compared to Regular Battle, and wins and losses are counted toward players' ranks which are used for matchmaking. Squad Battles in Splatoon and League Battles in Splatoon 2 are Ranked Battles with friends and a different ranking system.
Ranked Battle was released when a large amount of Splatoon players reached Level 10 on 2 June 2015. Ranks originally ranged from C- to A+. On 6 August 2015, version 2.0.0 increased the rank cap. Ranks then ranged from C- to S+.
Splatoon 2
Ranked Battles were available at launch with Splatoon 2, though players still must obtain Level 10 to play. All modes were kept from the previous games, with minor improvements made. Along with version 2.1.0 on 13 December 2017, a new mode called Clam Blitz was added. A new rank, Rank X, was added on 25 April 2018 with version 3.0.0.
Plays similarly to the King of the Hill mode from other video games. It revolves around a central "zone" or "zones", which players must attempt to cover in ink. Whoever retains the zone for a certain amount of time wins.
A player must take control of a tower located in the center of a map and ride it towards the enemy base. The first team to get the tower to their enemy's base wins.
A player must grab and take the Rainmaker weapon to a pedestal near the enemy team's spawn point. The team who carries the Rainmaker furthest towards their respective pedestal wins.
Stages rotate out every four hours along with the stages from Turf War, at 02:00, 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00, and 22:00 UTC. The change in stages is accompanied by an announcement from the Squid Sisters. This announcement also boots all players out of the lobby after they finish their current match. The mode also rotates between Splat Zones, Tower Control, and Rainmaker at the same time.
Splatoon 2
Similar to Splatoon, Splatoon 2 features stage rotation every two hours, where Off the Hook gives an announcement when the stages and mode change. Players can also view the stage schedule from their smart device using SplatNet 2 on the Nintendo Switch Online app. However, since Version 3.0.0, the stages chosen each come from a list of eight stages per Ranked Battle mode that change every month with the X Power reset.
Monthly Rotations
The rotations in the last year since the stages were revamped have been being recycled so here they are by month below:
These rotations are the rotations always would be recycled every year as show above but here are the rotations for the months when stages got rennovated or added:
Unlike in Regular Battles, the music in a Ranked Battle does not change to Now or Never! when there is one minute left.
Trivia
Once a player's rank changes after a match, a message saying "RANK CHANGED! Re-enter the lobby to pit your skills against players closer to you on rank!" appears and the player is forced to exit.
Certain stages had stopped appearing in the stage rotation pool for Ranked Battles, as well as other online modes featuring Ranked modes. However, these stages are still playable in Private Battles.
In Splatoon, data spanning from August 2015 - December 2016 shows the following stages hadn't appeared in those modes for a long period:[1]
Saltspray Rig Tower Control (October 2015 - November 2016) and Rainmaker (October 2015 - November 2015, February 2016 - December 2016)
Blackbelly Skatepark Rainmaker (October 2015 - December 2015, February 2016 - November 2016)
Piranha Pit Rainmaker (February 2016 - December 2016)
Port Mackerel Tower Control (October 2015 - November 2016)
There was a scrapped Ranked mode, 8-Ball. Much like in the Octo Expansion, teams would shoot a ball and try to get into the enemy's goal.
It also seems that extra walls and ramps were added, to prevent the ball from falling off the stage.
In Splatoon 2, a player's weapon will shine at the beginning of a Ranked Battle if they are on a winning streak.[2]
As of Splatoon 2, every ranked mode has an overtime state.
