Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play | Release Date, Competitive Settings & Map Pool

In case you weren't aware, Call of Duty games also have a ranked mode. In this mode they basically enforce the ruleset of the CDL (4-person teams, limited weapons, and only Hardpoint, SnD, and Control), but in addition to the competitive ruleset, they also have an ELO system by which players can ascend and descend the ranks. Simple, right? Just like most games.

Except Call of Duty's ranked mode is usually riddled with bugs and often delayed. The franchise is focused on a casual audience, so it's completely reasonable that this mode isn't a priority, but even so it's often neglected to an insulting degree. Well, no longer, as they seem to be giving it more focus year by year, and in MW2 it's expected to arrive sooner than expect. Here's everything we know about Modern Warfare 2's ranked mode.

• Best Modern Warfare 2 Loadouts For Ranked & CDL Moshpit

Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play: Release Date

Modern Warfare 2's Ranked playlist will be released with the launch of Season 2 on February 15. By that point the playlist will have its own competitive settings, a map pool for each mode, and a basic ELO system with ranks.

How Is Call of Duty's Ranked Mode Different From Normal Modes?

In Call of Duty's ranked mode they have to use competitive settings, which basically bring the team sizes down to 4, and restricts all the nonsense that can make CoD so unbearable. We now have the competitive settings for 2023, and so we can confirm that this much has been banned:

• Players must have reached level 16 before they can play Ranked Play
• Players have access to all weapons and attachments in Ranked Play
• LMGs, Battle Rifles, Marksman Rifles, Shotguns and Riot Shields are banned
• The M4, Kastov-74u, Kastov 762, STB 556, ISO Hemlock and Fennec 45 are also banned
• All launchers are banned
• P890, .50 GS, Basilisk and X13 Auto handguns are banned
• All silencers, lasers, thermal & night vision optics as well as ammunition attachments are banned
• The only killstreaks allowed are the Cruise Missile, Precision Airstrike and S.A.E
• Almost all Lethals, Tacticals and Field Upgrades are banned except for Stuns, Frag Grenades, Semtex, Dead Silence and Trophy Systems
• All Base perks except for Battle Hardened, Double Time, and Bomb Squad are banned
• All Ultimate perks are banned
• Weapon tuning is banned

It might sound awfully restrictive, but it makes Call of Duty a fundamentally more competitive game to remove the one-shot weapons and anything that can give free info or easy kills. There are also a few smaller changes to the modes, for instance in SnD the defuse time is 7.5 seconds and not 5, but otherwise the modes are much the same as they are normally.

If you've been waiting for ranked to pick up MW2, here's a link to buy Modern Warfare 2 .

What Maps Will Be Played In MW2's Ranked Mode?

Call of Duty's ranked play has to follow the competitive ruleset, and so as well as everything mentioned above, the three core modes (Hardpoint, Control, and SnD) are only played on each of their own map pools. We usually get between four and six maps for Hardpoint and SnD, and three for Control (we had only two when Vanguard launched, and if you meet a player who was playing ranked that year please be sensitive to their PTSD and don't ask about Gavutu Control...)

Here's the map pool for the 2023 Season :

• Hardpoint: Embassy, Fortress, Hotel, Mercado, Hydroelectric
• Search and Destroy: El Asilo, Fortress, Hotel, Embassy, Mercado
• Control: El Asilo, Fortress, Hotel

If you're new to competitive CoD, you can probably already see the huge benefits to playing ranked; no more Taraq or Border Crossing (which is the worst CoD map of all time, and rightly at the bottom of our tier-list).

Modern Warfare 2: Ranked Play Skill Divisions & Ranks

By completing matches in Ranked Play, you earn Skill Rating (SR). Depending on your Skill Rating, you will then be placed in one of these eight Skill Divisions:

Skill Divisions require the following skill rating:

The skill rating is mainly based on the result of your matches. Every win you gain SR, every loss you lose some SR. Your personal performance and that of your team during the match determines how much SR you gain or lose. The higher your skill division, the more emphasis will be put on the team's performance.

To get into the highest skill division, you need to be among the top 250 players with more than 10,000 skill rating. Also, your SR and division determines who you can play with:

• Bronze through Platinum players can party up with no restrictions.
• Diamond and Crimson players can only form parties with and play against other players within two Skill Divisions.
• Iridescent and Top 250 Players can only form parties with and play against other players within one Skill Division.

In addition to the skill divisions, there are also ranks in which you can advance through victories.

Ranks show your overall Ranked Play progress. Victories grant you stars, and with enough stars you advance through the ranks until you reach rank 50. Every five ranks you get a new rank symbol, which is displayed in the color of your skill division.

How Is Competitive Call of Duty Played?

We can't reasonably explain the strategy and meta of competitive CoD in a single paragraph, but here's a brief overview for newcomers. Competitive CoD is played as a 4-person game, and each person on the team has a distinct role:

• Entry Sub: This is usually a role for the fastest, and often the youngest player in the team. You need to have great reaction times if you want to do this for your team. The entry sub is responsible for being the "first man through the door", and as the name suggests they always use an SMG. They need to head directly into the action, and they're usually responsible for doing the OBJ work (getting on the hardpoint or planting the bomb). You should expect these players to have a low K/D, and that's fine, they're doing the "dirty work". For a good example of an entry sub look at LRR's Nastie.
• Slayer Sub: The slayer sub is also going to use an SMG (except on rare occasions, where they might need to play the third AR). But the slayer sub doesn't have to do the dirty work, they're typically given the freedom to hit long routes and flank, and their main responsibility is to get kills. Surge's Pred is probably the best Slayer Sub in the world right now, and we've already seen him do impressive work in MW2.
• Flex: The flex will use an AR on most maps but sometimes an SMG if the map requires it. This isn't always the case, but on many teams the Flex player will be doing a lot "gap-filling" and helping out the team wherever they're needed. On some teams the flex will have more of a direct role in supporting the entry sub, either by trading them out or working the OBJ. The best CoD player in the world right now is, in fact, a flex player, Cellium.
• Main AR: This role requires the slowest and most patient play, but the best Main ARs are also some of the straightest shooters. And because they're carrying an AR this player will hold the back line, and cover lanes. This is usually a role for the IGL, because they can stay alive and direct the flow of the game from the back more easily. For a good example of a Main AR, Dashy is pretty godlike.

Those are the roles, and for weapons, SMGs will use the Vaznev-9K and ARs will use the TAQ-56. Explaining how each mode is played is simply going to take too long, but if you're interested in ranked play, and curious about high-level Call of Duty, then we highly advise tuning into the CDL and watching some games.

And there you have it folks, a brief overview of what ranked is in Call of Duty, how it's different to regular play, and when you can expect it to drop. We hope that was helpful or interesting.

Will you be playing ranked when it's released? Or are you committed to the pubs grind until you have the final mastery camos?