How to Get a Rank Buddy in VALORANT

How do you qualify for a VALORANT rank buddy?

1. Unlock Competitive. New accounts must first meet Riot's current Competitive access requirement. Our separate guide explains how account level 20 works.
2. Receive a rank in the current Act. Complete the placement requirement shown in your client.
3. Earn an Act Rank. Riot's published system requires nine Competitive wins to fill the Act Rank badge. A placement alone is not the same as a completed Act Rank.
4. Set your highest legitimate rank. The reward tier follows the highest qualifying rank Riot records for the applicable window.
5. Wait for the delivery patch. Riot adds the buddy to eligible inventories after the reward window ends. You do not need to purchase or manually redeem it.

Do not share an account, pay someone to play on it, or manipulate matches for a cosmetic. Riot's July 2026 competitive-integrity update describes boosting as a higher-skilled player using someone else's account or playing in manipulated conditions to move a rank. Read the current account-sharing rules before giving anyone access.

Is the buddy based on peak rank or final rank?

Riot's latest explicit patch-note wording says the ranked buddy is based on the highest rank achieved across the relevant three Acts. That makes a late derank different from losing eligibility: falling after a legitimate peak does not automatically replace that peak with the lower rank.

There is still an eligibility condition. Riot's Patch 11.11 described the second 2025 buddy as available to players who had earned an Act Rank in the last three Acts. Riot's detailed Act Rank explanation defines a filled badge as nine wins. A single rank-up screen without a completed Act Rank should not be treated as guaranteed reward qualification.

The exact badge shown in Career is the best account-specific evidence available to you. If a boundary case is not covered in Riot's public wording, ask Support rather than relying on an old community rule.

What is the current 2026 rank-buddy window?

Patch 13.00 started V26 Act 4 on June 23, 2026, and Patch 13.04 started V26 Act 5 on August 18. Patch 13.05 was live when this page was verified. Riot's most recent fully documented model split a six-Act season into an Acts 1–3 reward and an Acts 4–6 reward. Under that unchanged model, the current climb contributes to the second V26 window.

That final sentence is an inference from Riot's documented 2025 cadence, not a substitute for a 2026 rewards announcement. Riot can change reward timing, eligibility, or labels. Check the Competitive screen and current VALORANT patch notes before Act 6 closes.

If your goal is the Radiant tier, understand the difference between a cosmetic milestone and the live leaderboard conditions in our current Radiant guide. A buddy does not preserve your present rank or guarantee future placement.

Which rank gun buddies can you earn?

Riot has rank-themed buddies for every current Competitive tier from Iron through Radiant:

1. Iron
2. Bronze
3. Silver
4. Gold
5. Platinum
6. Diamond
7. Ascendant
8. Immortal
9. Radiant

The charm records a past reward result. It does not prove the owner's current rank, exact RR, current leaderboard position, or skill on a different platform. If the same Riot account has PC and console Competitive histories, rely on the reward label and account inventory rather than assuming two platforms use an identical peak calculation.

How to equip a rank buddy

1. Open Collection.
2. Select a gun. Melee weapons do not use gun buddies.
3. Open the Buddies selector for that weapon.
4. Search or scroll for the season-and-rank label you earned.
5. Select it, confirm the preview, and equip it to that weapon.

A buddy is equipped per weapon loadout, not globally to every gun in one step. If both available copies are already attached elsewhere, remove one before assigning it to another weapon. Client labels can move during Collection redesigns, so follow the visible weapon preview rather than an old screenshot.

What should you do if your rank buddy is missing?

1. Confirm the reward window actually ended. An Act ending does not always mean that a multi-Act reward window has closed.
2. Check eligibility. Open Career and confirm that you earned an Act Rank, not only a placement.
3. Update and restart the client. A delivery tied to a new patch may not appear in an old session.
4. Inspect a gun's Buddy collection. The reward may be present without a prominent claim screen.
5. Read current patch notes and known issues. Riot has previously documented delayed or incorrectly named ranked buddies.
6. Wait for the stated rollout window. Do not repeatedly reinstall the game when Riot is still deploying account rewards.
7. Contact VALORANT Support. Include your Riot ID, region, platform, reward window, and a screenshot of the relevant Act Rank. Send account evidence only through the official ticket flow.

Do not give a “helper” your password, session cookie, multifactor code, recovery code, or remote access. No third party can force Riot to add an account entitlement.

A rank buddy is not the Riot Gun Buddy

The red Riot fist charm and Competitive rank charms are different rewards. Riot Support says the Riot Gun Buddy can only be given by a Riot employee who sees good sportsmanship in a match. You cannot request it from Support, buy it from Riot staff, or exchange a rank buddy for one.

Anyone selling a “Riot Buddy code,” asking you to harass employees for a charm, or requesting account access is not following Riot's published process. The same principle applies to old rank buddies: an account listing is not an official transfer method.

VALORANT rank buddy FAQ

Do you need nine wins for a rank buddy?

Riot's published Act Rank system requires nine Competitive wins to complete the badge, and recent reward wording requires an earned Act Rank. Unless Riot announces a replacement rule, nine wins is the safe qualification target.

Does your ending rank decide the buddy?

Not by itself. Riot's latest explicit reward example used the highest rank achieved in the applicable three-Act window. A later derank does not automatically make the final-day rank the reward tier.

Do you get a rank buddy after every Act?

No. Riot's documented 2025 model delivered after three-Act windows, not after every individual Act. Check current patch notes because Riot can change the cadence.

Can you buy an old rank buddy?

There is no official store purchase for a past Competitive rank buddy. Do not buy or borrow an account for its charm; Riot prohibits account purchasing and sharing.

Does hiding your Act Rank remove the buddy?

No published Riot rule says the display preference deletes an earned inventory item. Hiding presentation and reward eligibility are different systems. Our guide to Act Rank visibility explains the display controls.

Does a rank buddy improve aim or weapon stats?

No. It is cosmetic and does not change accuracy, recoil, damage, movement, matchmaking, or RR.

Sources and update log

• Riot Games: Competitive Changes 2.02 and What's Next — nine-win Act Rank and highest-triangle reward rule.
• Riot Games: VALORANT Patch Notes 11.00 — ranked buddy based on the highest rank across the first three Acts of Season 2025.
• Riot Games: VALORANT Patch Notes 11.11 — V25A3 naming issue and last-three-Acts V25A6 eligibility wording.
• Riot Games: VALORANT Patch Notes 13.00 — V26 Act 4 start date.
• Riot Games: VALORANT Patch Notes 13.04 — V26 Act 5 start and current map rotation.
• Riot Games: Playing Fair — current boosting and rank-manipulation boundary.
• Riot Support: How to Get a Riot Gun Buddy — distinction from Competitive rank buddies.

September 3, 2026: Replaced the obsolete placement-only instructions, removed boosting promotion, documented the nine-win Act Rank requirement and multi-Act reward evidence, corrected Collection steps, and added a safe missing-reward workflow.