What Are CS2 VRS Ranking Points?

Tennis has ATP and ETA rankings. Football has FIFA World Rankings. Chess has the FIDE Rating System. And Counter Strike 2 has the Valve Regional Standings – a ranking system that ranks teams according to their performance in recognised events.

The rankings, which are updated weekly, are used to determine which teams are invited to events, how they are seeded, and which teams avoid open qualifiers.

VRS rankings are weighted to benefit teams with recent victories over other top teams. And they are designed, in Valve’s words, so “they are accurate, not easily gamed, and have a transparent process.”

VRS Introduction

Valve introduced the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) in 2023. They replaced the previous Regional Major Rankings (RMR) system. The RMR system saw teams compete in RMR tournaments, which determined who would qualify for major tournaments. It was exciting, but it basically meant a bad week could see the best teams miss out on the biggest tournaments. Which is something Valve and most fans wanted to avoid.

When launching VRS ranking points, Valve said: “Teams play meaningful matches in third-party events throughout the year.

To reduce the burden on Major participants and streamline the Major qualification process, we’re going to leverage those match results to identify teams that should be invited to later qualification stages.”

Although the system isn’t perfect, the standings are generally considered fairer than RMRs. And Valve continues to improve the system and rankings.

Ranking Metrics

The VRS ranking system uses four key metrics:

• Bounty Offered – Teams are assigned a bounty value, which is basically how much prize money the team has recently won. The more a team has won, the more VRS points they receive.
• Bounty Collected – Bounty collected is a measurement of the quality of opposition beaten. Beating high-ranked teams awards more VRS points than lower ranked teams. Very lowly ranked teams may not reward any VRS points.
• Opponent Network – Another measure of the quality of beaten opponents. In this case, it considers the quality of teams beaten by an opponent. It gives greater points to teams that consistently beat high-quality opponents.
• LAN Factor – This modifier evaluates recent wins and gives greater weight to LAN events. Online events carry less weight.

VRS points and standings are updated weekly. You can view the rankings and other VRS details on the Valve Github page. But, honestly, HLTV’s VRS table is much easier to follow.  

How VRS Ranking Points Are Used

VRS has three regional rankings tables – Europe, Americas, and Asia-Pacific. The higher-ranked regions receive more invitations to major events, but regional rankings ensure that weaker regions receive some invitations. This not only aims to promote fairness, but also to encourage grassroots development in all areas.

Global standing, though, is commonly used by event organisers to determine which teams get invitations to major events. The global rankings are also used to determine seeding in those events.

While it sounds confusing, the VRS system means that teams that have consistently performed well over six months are more likely to feature in major events. While this seems unfair to smaller teams, it helps attract viewers and encourages greater participation.

Generally, it is considered a better alternative to the old RMR system, although it certainly isn’t perfect.