Overwatch Emerald Rank & Soft Rank Reset Explained

Overwatch is changing its Competitive ladder with a new Emerald rank and a soft rank reset. If you are wondering where Emerald fits, whether your old rank still matters, or what the reset means for your next Competitive games, this guide covers the important changes.

Emerald becomes a new step between Platinum and Diamond, while the rank reset gives Blizzard a chance to recalibrate players around the updated ladder. Here is how the new Overwatch rank system works and what you should expect from the change.

What Is Emerald Rank in Overwatch?

Emerald is a new Overwatch Competitive rank positioned between Platinum and Diamond. It becomes part of the regular Competitive ladder starting with Season 4.

That means players progressing out of Platinum will now need to move through Emerald before reaching Diamond. Emerald is not a limited-time Season 4 rank or an event reward. It is a new part of the standard Overwatch ranking system.

Before Emerald was added, the path around this part of the ladder looked like this:

Gold → Platinum → Diamond → Master

It now becomes:

Gold → Platinum → Emerald → Diamond → Master

This gives Overwatch another skill tier in one of the busiest parts of the Competitive ladder.

Where Does Emerald Fit in the Overwatch Ranks?

Emerald sits directly above Platinum and below Diamond. With Emerald included, the standard Overwatch Competitive ranks are ordered from lowest to highest as follows.

For players around Platinum and Diamond, Emerald is a major change because there is now an entire additional rank to progress through.

Why Add Another Rank Between Platinum and Diamond?

Blizzard has announced Emerald, but adding an extra rank to a competitive game is not a new idea. Other major ranked games such as Valorant and League of Legends have added tiers for one important reason: more ranks give the system more room to separate players by skill.

It does not automatically tell us Blizzard's exact reason for adding Emerald. However, League of Legends and Valorant give us useful examples of why developers make this type of change.

League of Legends Added Emerald for Rank Distribution

Riot Games added Emerald to League of Legends between Platinum and Diamond in 2023.

At the time, Riot explained that the League ranked population was too concentrated in the lower tiers. More than 60% of ranked players were typically sitting in Bronze and Silver, even though many Silver players were already above the average skill level.

Riot wanted to spread players across the ladder more evenly. The problem was that simply pushing everyone upward could also put too many players into Platinum and Diamond.

Emerald gave League another place to distribute those players while keeping Diamond and the higher ranks difficult to reach.

• Lower ranks could contain fewer players.
• Players could be spread across more skill tiers.
• Emerald created another step before Diamond.
• Diamond could remain a more exclusive rank.

Riot expected League's new Emerald tier to contain roughly the same percentage of players that Platinum contained before the change.

Valorant Used Ascendant for a Similar Reason

Valorant made a very similar change when Riot introduced Ascendant between Diamond and Immortal.

Riot said Bronze and Silver contained too many players. Moving more players upward without creating another rank would have overcrowded Platinum and Diamond.

Adding Ascendant gave the ranked system another skill bracket. Riot could move parts of the player base upward while protecting the prestige of Immortal and Radiant.

What Another Rank Could Do for Overwatch

Adding Emerald gives Overwatch another tier that can be used when distributing Competitive players. Instead of fitting everyone into Platinum or Diamond, the system now has an additional visible skill bracket between them.

That becomes especially relevant when Emerald launches alongside a Competitive rank reset. Blizzard can recalibrate the ladder while also introducing the new rank structure at the same time.

What Is a Soft Rank Reset in Overwatch?

A soft rank reset recalibrates Competitive ranks without treating every player as completely new.

This is very different from taking every account in the game and giving it the exact same matchmaking rating. A Bronze player and a Grandmaster player do not suddenly become equal just because a new Competitive season begins.

A soft reset can therefore affect your visible rank while still using information from your previous Competitive history.

• Your previous skill level still matters.
• Your visible rank can change.
• The ladder can be redistributed.
• Rank thresholds can be adjusted.
• Players can establish a new rank after the reset.

How the Overwatch Season 4 Rank Reset Works

Season 4 introduces a Competitive rank reset alongside the new Emerald tier. The purpose of a soft reset is not to erase all previous skill information, but to give the ranking system room to recalibrate players around the updated ladder.

Overwatch has used this approach before. During previous soft resets, Blizzard has adjusted player ratings toward the middle of the rank distribution instead of starting every player from the same point.

What Happens to Your Previous Overwatch Rank?

Your previous rank should not be viewed as meaningless after a soft reset. It remains part of the information the Competitive system has about your skill level.

However, your new visible rank does not have to match your old one exactly. The reset gives Blizzard room to recalibrate the ladder, while Emerald creates another possible destination for players who were previously around the Platinum and Diamond range.

For example, you should not assume that every player will automatically lose one full rank or a fixed number of divisions.

The reset is not a simple formula such as:

Diamond 4 before reset = Emerald 4 after reset

Different players can move differently because their Competitive histories, matchmaking ratings and results are not identical.

Is Old Diamond Now Emerald?

No, Emerald should not be treated as a simple replacement for the old Diamond rank.

It is easy to look at the old ladder:

Platinum → Diamond → Master

and compare it with the new ladder:

Platinum → Emerald → Diamond → Master

From that alone, you might assume old Diamond players are simply becoming Emerald players. Ranked systems do not have to work that way.

Blizzard can change the rating thresholds that separate one rank from another when the ladder is recalibrated. The addition of Emerald gives the system another tier to work with rather than simply renaming Diamond.

Some players who previously competed around Diamond may find themselves in Emerald after the reset. Others may remain in Diamond or reach it again quickly.

The important point is that there is no universal old-rank-to-new-rank conversion that applies to every account.

How Placement Matches Work After the Soft Reset

Placement matches allow the Competitive system to establish or confirm where an account belongs after a reset or when a player does not currently have an active rank.

A common mistake is thinking placement matches only count wins and losses. Your previous Competitive information still matters during a soft reset, which is why two players can finish placements with similar records and still receive different ranks.

Your placement process can be influenced by factors such as:

• Your previous Competitive rating.
• Your existing matchmaking information.
• Your results during the placement period.
• The opponents and teammates being matched into your games.
• The new rank thresholds used after the reset.

Will the Soft Rank Reset Lower Your Rank?

It can, but a soft reset does not mean every Overwatch player automatically drops by the same amount.

Some players may finish below the rank they held before the reset. Others may return close to their previous position or eventually climb higher.

The addition of Emerald also makes direct comparisons harder. A player whose visible rank changes from Diamond to Emerald has moved down in terms of the rank name, but the actual change in their position within the overall Competitive population may be smaller than it first appears.

That is why claims such as "everyone loses five divisions" or "all Diamond players become Emerald" should be treated carefully unless Blizzard specifically defines the reset that way.

A soft reset is designed to recalibrate the ladder, not apply one identical rank penalty to every account.

How Emerald Changes the Overwatch Competitive Ladder

Emerald does more than add another icon to Competitive. It changes how the middle and upper parts of the ranked ladder are divided.

More Separation Between Platinum and Diamond

Before Season 4, Platinum players moved directly into Diamond. Emerald creates an entire additional tier between those two ranks.

That gives Overwatch more room to distinguish players who may previously have been placed within a relatively wide Platinum-to-Diamond skill range.

More Granular Rank Distribution

Every additional rank gives a matchmaking system another visible bucket for grouping player skill.

This does not automatically improve matchmaking by itself. However, it allows Blizzard to define the visible Competitive ladder with more detail and distribute players across more tiers.

This is the same basic advantage Riot described when adding Emerald to League of Legends and Ascendant to Valorant.

Diamond Becomes a Later Milestone

Diamond is now one step farther away from Platinum.

Players who previously needed to progress through Platinum before reaching Diamond now have to pass through Platinum and Emerald. This makes Diamond a later milestone in the visible Competitive progression.

Whether Diamond also becomes more exclusive will depend on how Blizzard distributes the player population after the reset.

Overwatch Emerald Rank FAQ

What is Emerald rank in Overwatch?

Emerald is a new Competitive rank added to Overwatch. It sits between Platinum and Diamond in the standard Competitive ladder.

Where does Emerald rank fit in Overwatch?

Emerald is higher than Platinum and lower than Diamond. The relevant part of the ladder is now Platinum → Emerald → Diamond → Master.

Is Emerald higher than Platinum?

Yes. Players climbing out of Platinum now progress into Emerald before they can reach Diamond.

Is Emerald lower than Diamond?

Yes. Diamond remains above Emerald, followed by Master, Grandmaster and Champion.

Why did Overwatch add Emerald rank?

Blizzard has not provided a detailed explanation that confirms the exact reason behind Emerald. However, adding another rank gives a Competitive system more room to separate and distribute players across different skill levels.

Other competitive games have made similar changes. Riot added Emerald to League of Legends and Ascendant to Valorant partly to improve rank distribution without overcrowding existing higher ranks.

What is a soft rank reset in Overwatch?

A soft rank reset recalibrates the Competitive ladder while still keeping previous skill information relevant. It does not treat every player as if they have exactly the same matchmaking rating.

Does an Overwatch soft rank reset erase your MMR?

No. The purpose of a soft reset is to adjust and recalibrate existing ratings rather than completely erase the system's previous information about every player's skill.

Do you need placement matches after the rank reset?

Placement requirements can depend on how Blizzard implements a specific Competitive reset. When placements are required, they help establish your visible rank after the recalibration while your previous Competitive information can still influence where you are placed.

Is old Diamond now Emerald?

No. Emerald is a new rank below Diamond, not simply a new name for the old Diamond tier. Some former Diamond players may end up in Emerald after recalibration, but there is no universal conversion that turns every old Diamond rank into Emerald.

Will the Overwatch rank reset lower my rank?

It can, but there is no fixed amount that every player automatically loses. Your previous skill information, the recalibrated rank thresholds and your Competitive results can all affect where you end up after the reset.