New way to rank teams
Riot Games unveiled the Global Power Rankings (GPR) on Friday, September 5, developed in partnership with AWS, to rank all active teams in the VALORANT Champions Tour. Spanning from first to 48th place, the leaderboard considers a wide range of factors, including regional strength on the international stage and the results of individual matches. Riot had already introduced a similar system for League of Legends in September 2024.
At the top of the brand-new GPR stands G2 Esports, currently leading during VALORANT Champions Paris 2025. Having dominated all three VCT Americas splits, the organization enters the world championship as one of the clear favorites. Right behind them is Paper Rex, who secured the VCT Pacific Stage 2 title as well as the Masters Toronto trophy, earning second place in the rankings. Closing out the initial podium is Rex Regum Qeon, runners-up in the most recent split and winners of Stage 1. With T1 also present in the Top 10, the Pacific league claims the strongest overall representation among the highest-ranked teams.
VCT Global Power Rankings - before Champions Paris
How the VALORANT Global Power Rankings work
The system is built on a hybrid Elo model, weighted 80 percent toward individual team performances and 20 percent toward regional strength, allowing for an objective comparison of regions where most matches remain primarily domestic. Updated on a daily basis, the GPR reflects the current form of teams, placing greater value on recent results, international performances, and playoff matchups.

Beyond simple wins and losses, a wide range of refined parameters influence the score. These include map differential (for example, a 13–0 sweep compared to a narrow 13–11), efficiency on attack and defense in unusual contexts, and the ability to secure rounds while playing with an economic disadvantage. Victories against higher-ranked opponents yield greater rewards, while losses to lower-ranked teams result in heavier point deductions. This structure creates a dynamic leaderboard that more accurately represents the competitive landscape on a global scale.
The GPR is also designed as an evolving tool. Starting in 2026, Riot plans to integrate deeper economic metrics as well as individual player rankings, which will contribute to a team’s overall score. In the long term, the ambition is to establish a transparent and reliable benchmark for tracking the global VALORANT hierarchy and to provide a central reference point for the ongoing debates about which team truly stands at the top.
Header Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
- Corentin Phalip -
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