How Rank Skips Actually Work. (EXPLAINED)

[※Zachary]

Splatoon 2 include some interesting features, and with many new players out there after Christmas, I find it necessary for a competitive squid to explain this.

Rank Skips occur only during a rank up and require some interesting parameters.

The highest possible rank to skip to is A+ and can only be achieved after holding one rank in both B and C-. This skip requires that every game be won by knockout, and that you have a significant amount of splats at the end of each match. Rank Skipping re introduces itself in S+ allowing the best of the best to reach S+50 faster.


C- to B- Requirements.
One to two losses permitted. Games must be won by knockout with exception for a few. Requires decent amount of splats.

C- to B Requirements.
One loss permitted. All games must be won by knockout and almost highest amount of splats at the end of each game.

B- to B+ Requirements.
Few losses permitted. Requires little knockouts to achieve. Decent amount of splats still required.

B- to A- Requirements.
One to two losses permitted. Requires mostly knockouts. High amount of splats required.

B- to A Requirements.
One loss permitted. All knockouts required. High amount of splats required.

B- to A+ Requirements.
Highest possible Rank Skip Achievable. Requires All Wins/No Losses. 15+ splats required almost every game. Must be on top of team board at end of match with few exceptions. S+ skill level required.

S+# to S+# Requirements.
Requires mostly knockouts with one to two losses. Requires high amount of splats. S+ skill level required. (duh)

---------------------------------------------------------------

This took a lot of time to figure out. I did most of this based on personal experience. I also consulted my competitive team for their experience as well. (I reset my Nintendo Switch enough to kill a horse. I lost my S+ rank to figure this out. lol)

A+ rank is achievable by level 12.

Rank Running Requires that you are a skilled squid to do.

(To get to A+ by level 12 requires a lot of splats as mentioned before.)


I hope this answers your questions squiddos.

 

[※Cole]

Nice! Thanks for the information, very useful!

 

[Wallflowercat]

Omg you reset the game a few times to figure all this out? Dedication lol. Thanks for the info!

 

[Dessgeega]

Can you show your work? Did you write down match results and keep a track of match data as you played? How many resets, exactly, did you do? Sorry, but this sounds like anecdotal evidence to me if you can't get specific, "personal experience" isn't enough. You're no doubt a very skilled player but being able to rampage to the top of ranked isn't sufficient to explain how this nonsensical game functions.

 

[※Zachary]

Can you show your work? Did you write down match results and keep a track of match data as you played? How many resets, exactly, did you do? Sorry, but this sounds like anecdotal evidence to me if you can't get specific, "personal experience" isn't enough. You're no doubt a very skilled player but being able to rampage to the top of ranked isn't sufficient to explain how this nonsensical game functions.

Sure! I will go back and edit the post later but here is the information now:


Each game was played in handheld mode connected to 50 megabit down internet with a 5 megabit upload. Splatoon 2 requires a 5 megabit bandwidth to maintain stability. I was seated approximately 15-20 feet from my Wi-Fi router. (This was done to prevent lag that would result in giving me an unfair advantage.)

The way a rank bar fills up is based on how you win the game and your in game performance. It also varies based on what rank you are currently in. (It's slower in S+ but follows the majority of the same principles.)

Link for Rank Fill Percents:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wUA0dGQxT8fj9jorTDbCRMIzAgI__OX2PI12ES20Ff0/edit?usp=sharing

I reset my Nintendo Switch and restarted Splatoon 2 to rank skip 6 times. Each of the describe skips I had preformed. And through researching other forums, the skips are consistent.

 

[Dessgeega]

Your google doc isn't viewable without permission, and you need to resize that image as it is way too large. Also, no one cares about your internet connection, that is in no way relevant. This is looking more self-aggrandizing than anything currently.

 

[※Zachary]

Fixed the link. My sincerest apologies in the image size.

I am in no way trying to assert any power of any sort. I included the data about the internet to show that this is based on skill, not a falsified ability to play the game through lag.

 

[※Zachary]

Your google doc isn't viewable without permission, and you need to resize that image as it is way too large. Also, no one cares about your internet connection, that is in no way relevant. This is looking more self-aggrandizing than anything currently.

Fixed the image.

 

[Dessgeega]

Why would anyone be concerned about your connection? If you were to falsify this, doing so via a method that's just as likely to make you lose via disconnect is not the way. That said, I'm still not convinced. A table of percentages you gained from wins is meaningless without match data and external sources. Posting pictures of you leaping ranks doesn't help. Ultimately, you still haven't shown your work.

Also, you're entirely too focused on splats. Getting 31 splats in a C- game means you either failed to push the objective or intentionally ran out the clock to get more splats. And how does "a high number of splats" factor in if you win by knockout? In Zones and Rainmaker in particular it's possible to win in under a minute with skilled play and still have the bar fill by a good amount. Have you tested winning with minimal splats, or seemingly only going for maximum as you seem to indicated?

I could ask questions all day, there are innumerable holes in this theory that you've presented as fact.

 

[※Zachary]

Why would anyone be concerned about your connection? If you were to falsify this, doing so via a method that's just as likely to make you lose via disconnect is not the way. That said, I'm still not convinced. A table of percentages you gained from wins is meaningless without match data and external sources. Posting pictures of you leaping ranks doesn't help. Ultimately, you still haven't shown your work.

Also, you're entirely too focused on splats. Getting 31 splats in a C- game means you either failed to push the objective or intentionally ran out the clock to get more splats. And how does "a high number of splats" factor in if you win by knockout? In Zones and Rainmaker in particular it's possible to win in under a minute with skilled play and still have the bar fill by a good amount. Have you tested winning with minimal splats, or seemingly only going for maximum as you seem to indicated?

I could ask questions all day, there are innumerable holes in this theory that you've presented as fact.

Lol dude, if you wanted me to explain it more you could have just asked. You didn't need to pull out your dinner party jargon to try to sound impressive. I have tested all of this, and holy balls did it take a long time. I'm focused on splats because they affect how well the game thinks you are. (Before you pull out more of your dinner party jargon, I did in fact test that.)

 

[MeTaGross]

I don't remember when or where I saw it, but I remember reading that the rank skip was not based on splats alone, but rather "other factors." You have obviously done this a lot, so your other factors could be what the game likes. Also, there should never be a moment in C- that your team needs to get 50+ splats to get a knockout.

TLDR; Nintendo likely wouldn't promote excessive splatting.

 

[Mr.HawK]

Afaik, kills aren't taken into consideration in terms of the meter you see after a match is won or lost, However I do believe you are on the right track in terms of how many wins or losses are needed.

Coincidentally, I was having a conversation with people today from the Inkademy discord about the way the game calculates your rating and people have found that it actually uses the Glicko rating system (Glicko2) to rate you after you've won or lost a specific amount of games. Unfortunately it seems to only just be based on wins and losses but there's probably other information to say other wise. However in terms of rank skipping im not exactly sure what the procedure is.

Great work either way, glad to see it!

you can read about the rating system here: link

 

[Dessgeega]

Lol dude, if you wanted me to explain it more you could have just asked. You didn't need to pull out your dinner party jargon to try to sound impressive. I have tested all of this, and holy balls did it take a long time. I'm focused on splats because they affect how well the game thinks you are. (Before you pull out more of your dinner party jargon, I did in fact test that.)

Okay, then show your data. Saying you tested something ultimately means nothing, since anyone can walk in and refute you (much like the above posters have).

 

[Mr.HawK]

Okay, then show your data. Saying you tested something ultimately means nothing, since anyone can walk in and refute you (much like the above posters have).

Testing a hypothesis and reporting findings is ok to do, there will be flaws that's the whole point of constructive feedback/criticism. At the same time this type of research is much harder to do considering most of the information is harder to find if you aren't directly datamining the game. All things considered, this a pretty good take on a feature we dont exactly fully understand.

So let's not fight about this, it's just a theoretical analysis.

 

[Dessgeega]

Testing a hypothesis and reporting findings is ok to do, there will be flaws that's the whole point of constructive feedback/criticism. At the same time this type of research is much harder to do considering most of the information is harder to find if you aren't directly datamining the game. All things considered, this a pretty good take on a feature we dont exactly fully understand.

So let's not fight about this, it's just a theoretical analysis.

I would be inclined to agree with you if this WERE presented as a hypothesis or analysis, but it isn't. Lines like "I find it necessary for a competitive squid to explain this." and "I hope this answers your questions squiddos." aren't something you'd associate with a mere analysis, more of an outright answer. You're right, this kind of research is hard to do, which is why hard data is required, and Zachary has NONE. Literally any skilled player could make the claims he's making under these conditions. Knowledge is only valid when it stands up to being challenged, and as it stands there's nothing here that would survive rigorous debate.

I'll leave it at that and stay out of this thread, but don't call this something that it most definitely is not.

 

[※Zachary]

I would be inclined to agree with you if this WERE presented as a hypothesis or analysis, but it isn't. Lines like "I find it necessary for a competitive squid to explain this." and "I hope this answers your questions squiddos." aren't something you'd associate with a mere analysis, more of an outright answer. You're right, this kind of research is hard to do, which is why hard data is required, and Zachary has NONE. Literally any skilled player could make the claims he's making under these conditions. Knowledge is only valid when it stands up to being challenged, and as it stands there's nothing here that would survive rigorous debate.

I'll leave it at that and stay out of this thread, but don't call this something that it most definitely is not.

I am going to add more "evidence." Such as how many times I have done this, along with a chart that netted each result. The results were indeed consistent. It's hard to obtain what you refer to as "hard evidence." This is because of the same claim made by @Mr.HawK . Hard data would literally require me to obtain and dig through the game's code.
I have preformed this "Rank Running" multiple times to figure out it's quirks. The data I have acquired has proven accurate each time. I apologize for not placing it in the post when I created it. I will be adding it shortly.

Thanks @Mr.HawK for your feedback. Much obliged. You're very correct, this is hard to do. :P

 

[Mr. Squiggly Squid]

Glad a mod came in, this was getting ridiculous...

 

[Mr.HawK]

I am going to add more "evidence." Such as how many times I have done this, along with a chart that netted each result. The results were indeed consistent. It's hard to obtain what you refer to as "hard evidence." This is because of the same claim made by @Mr.HawK . Hard data would literally require me to obtain and dig through the game's code.
I have preformed this "Rank Running" multiple times to figure out it's quirks. The data I have acquired has proven accurate each time. I apologize for not placing it in the post when I created it. I will be adding it shortly.

Thanks @Mr.HawK for your feedback. Much obliged. You're very correct, this is hard to do. :p

no problem, in the future tho i would make sure to be careful when wording certain things that may imply something is absolute or definitive. Because this is a difficult topic to tackle it would be best to ride on the theoretical side so that we can discuss and debate it before coming to a conclusion.

Also I wanted to add before, I've asked someone who might be able to figure out how the system works via datamining, so i'll make sure to report back when that happens.

 

[J'Wiz]

I made a thread regarding my thoughts on this. I personally think rank skipping occurs when your rank power is a fair amount above that rank's threshold.

Let's say you're an A rank player, and can hold your own fairly well in A rank, but not dominate. Your performance should show your rank power being in the A range, and you should rank skip C. They'll likely still make you go through the B ranks, since you're not too far above that threshold.

If you're a S+ rank player, and can hold your own in S+, then your performance should show a S+ rank power, then you'll likely skip through the C's, B's, and A's.

I don't know what determines your rank power. Is it k/d, matches won, a combination of both, or maybe there's a developer watching your matches to tell what your rank power is!

 

[※Zachary]

I made a thread regarding my thoughts on this. I personally think rank skipping occurs when your rank power is a fair amount above that rank's threshold.

Let's say you're an A rank player, and can hold your own fairly well in A rank, but not dominate. Your performance should show your rank power being in the A range, and you should rank skip C. They'll likely still make you go through the B ranks, since you're not too far above that threshold.

If you're a S+ rank player, and can hold your own in S+, then your performance should show a S+ rank power, then you'll likely skip through the C's, B's, and A's.

I don't know what determines your rank power. Is it k/d, matches won, a combination of both, or maybe there's a developer watching your matches to tell what your rank power is!

From my testing I've found that it is based on a mixture of splats and wins. You're very correct about the game knowing your skill level/power. As your splats and wins affect this and make it higher.


:P