Riot introduced a matchmaking change in VALORANT Patch 1.05 that would group similarly-sized premade groups together. But it wasn’t “properly” toggled until now.
Solo and duo players will now have a higher chance of matching against parties of similar size at the expense of slightly higher queue times, according to the VALORANT Twitter. The regions affected by the late change are NA, BR, LATAM, EU, TR, and CIS.
Many VALORANT players complained that they were still being put in games with five stacks despite soloing, even after the patch. Pro FPS player Mendo claimed the patch “made literally no difference” after it was deployed.
The changes should make hitting the ranked grind more balanced. Squads that run a full five will ideally be placed against another five stack, while those who jump into a game alone will be matched up with other solos.
Regardless of premade sizes, Riot claims match balance is “sitting fairly close to 50/50 for which team wins.”
Act II, along with a new ranked season, kicked off earlier this week. Players were introduced to the German engineer, Killjoy, a new battle pass, and some balance changes to Raze.