‘Marvel Rivals’ Season 5: Placement Matches & Changes Coming To Ranked

The fifth season of Marvel Rivals is here introducing our latest Strategist, Remy LeBeau aka Gambit. This season introduces Placement matches which were first announced to be in the works since September during the Dev Vision Volume 9, fast forward two months and this feature is now live in the game. Today we’ll discuss how Placement Matches work and all the changes to ranked in Season 5 per the Dev Vision Volume 11.

‘Marvel Rivals’ Placement Matches Explained

Placement Matches is a new feature that allows players to find their true placement at the start of new seasons by participating in ten matches. Marvel Rivals Lead Combat Designer, Zhiyong went on to explain this alongside other changes to the mode. 

For Placement matches, players will normally be assigned an initial rank based on a conversion of their rank from the previous season. However, for Season 5 in particular, the initial rank will be determined using your highest rank in Seasons 0-3 as well as your final rank in Season 4. If you don’t have previous ranks (either by not participating in the competitive mode or being a new player) you will be assigned a starting rank for these matches. 

Once the ten matches are complete, the results of the matches combined with your initial rank will be used to calculate your rank for the season. The more wins you get, the closer you’ll be to your previous rank or even higher. You only have to complete 10 placement matches per season, if you complete them in the first half of the season you’ll keep your rank in the second half otherwise you’ll need to complete the 10 matches in the second half to qualify for ranked rewards. Once your placement matches are complete it’s onto climbing the ranks.

What Else Is New With Ranked In Season 5?

In terms of Competitive Queuing, players Grandmaster or below can queue in teams of 2, 3, 4 or 6. If you are Celestial, Eternity or Top 500, the queue will be limited to only two players. Players can queue together for placement matches but if someone hasn’t completed theirs, you can only queue up to 3 players. 

When it comes to ranked rewards, the Gold Rank rewards operate the same. Hitting Gold and playing at least 10 matches in Season 5 will grant you the first costume at the start of Season 5.5, Hitting Gold and playing at least 10 matches in Season 5.5 will grant you both ranked costumes at the start of Season 6. Nameplate Frames and Crests of Honor will no longer be split between Seasons, instead there is only one set of rewards to earn throughout the entirety of Season 5.

Marvel Rivals is developed by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games. The game is available for free on PC, PlayStation 4/5 and Xbox Series X|S. Marvel Rivals Season 5 is available now until January 16th, 2026 at 2:00 AM PST / 5:00 AM EST.

Thanks for reading our article on the changes to ranked mode which are now live in Marvel Rivals Season 5. If you enjoyed it, consider checking out our other Marvel Rivals articles and Gaming section.