Complete Guide to the Crucible Valor Ranks

The Crucible’s reputation system went through an overhaul recently that completely changed how Guardians earn Valor points and are rewarded for their time in the Crucible. While it’s a polarizing game mode, the Crucible is a major part of Destiny 2 where players got to complete Seasonal Challenges, earn ritual weapons like the Ascendancy, and farm the coveted Masterwork materials. If you’re looking to earn all of the rewards that are offered each season, then you need to learn about how the Valor ranks work.

This Crucible Valor guide will cover everything to do with the reputation system including the Crucible Valor ranks, rewards, and how to farm Valor fast.

Quick Links

• Crucible Valor Ranks
• Valor Rank Rewards
• How to Earn Valor
• Fastest Way to Get Valor
• Resetting Your Valor Rank

Other Reputation Guides

• Gambit Infamy Guide
• Trials of Osiris Ranks (TBD)
• Vanguard Reptuation Guide (TBD)

Crucible Valor Ranks

If you’re planning on resetting your Valor in a single season, you need to know what you’re getting into. There are 16 total Crucible ranks that are split into 6 divisions with 3 sub-ranks a piece.

One of the major changes to the Crucible’s reputation system is that Bungie significantly reduced how many points Guardians need in order to max out and reset their Valor ranks. However, they also tweaked the rate that Guardians can farm Valor so it’ll take roughly the same amount of time to max out as it did before. Starting in season 15 you’ll need to earn 10,000 Valor points to reach rank 16 and to be able to reset your rank before the season ends.

Rank	Division	Point Range	Points to Rank Up
1	Guardian I	0 – 49	50
2	Guardian II	50 – 124	75
3	Guardian III	125 – 249	125
4	Brave I	250 – 499	250
5	Brave II	500 – 949	450
6	Brave III	950 – 1,549	600
7	Heroic I	1,550 – 1,924	375
8	Heroic II	1,925 – 2,524	600
9	Heroic III	2,525 – 3,349	825
10	Fabled I	3,350 – 3,874	525
11	Fabled II	3,875 – 4,649	775
12	Fabled III	4,650 – 5,699	1,050
13	Mythic I	5,700 – 6,449	7,50
14	Mythic II	6,450 – 7,524	1,075
15	Mythic III	7,525 – 8,999	1,475
16	Legend	9,000 – 10,000	N/A

The great thing about the Valor system is that you can only gain Valor points. The only time that your Crucible reputation will go down is when you reset it. Valor is awarded at the end of every match (win or lose) in the non-competitive Crucible playlists (Control, Mayhem, Momentum Control, etc.) and the number of points you get depends on a couple of factors. We’ll cover that in greater detail in the farming valor section.

Valor Rank Rewards

Earning enough Valor to increase your rank with Lord Shaxx will give you access to a wide range of rewards. The full list of Valor rank rewards is below, as well as what you can expect after resetting your Valor.

Reward	Item	Item After First Reset
Rank 4	3x Upgrade Modules	Same
Rank 7	Rosescale Shader	3x Enhancement Cores
Rank 10	2x Enhancement Prisms	Same
Rank 13	One-Horned Ghost Projection	2x Enhancement Prisms
Rank 16	Ascendancy Rocket Launcher	Crucible themed ornament
Rank 16 Maxed	1x Ascendant Shard	1x Exotic Engram
Valor Rank Up	1x Legendary Engram	Same
Division Rank Up	1x Prime Engram (+1 Power Level)	None after first Valor reset

Maxing out your Valor ranks isn’t terribly difficult, but it can take a lot of time to do. Bungie built out Lord Shaxx’s rewards to make the time you spend in the Crucible worth your while. The most important part of these rewards is that Guardians the enjoy PvP can now earn Masterwork materials while they play their favorite playlist.

* Quick note: I’m on my third reset in the image above so this is what Shaxx’s inventory looks like once you’ve collected your golf ball and Ascendancy rocket launcher.

How to Earn Valor

As we said before, Valor can only be earned by competing in the non-competitive Crucible playlists. Guardians were able to farm additional reputation points by completing Shaxx’s daily bounties, but those have been changed to only award Experience and Bright Dust. So, if you want to rank up your Valor, you’ll have to complete matches in the playlists below. You will receive zero valor points if you leave a match early so don’t rage quit!

What playlists award Valor points?

• Control
• Elimination
• Rumble
• Mayhem
• Team Scorched
• Momentum Control
• Showdown
• Iron Banner
• Trials of Osiris

The amount of valor you earn after completing a match completely depends on your Activity streak and the outcome of that match. Players are given bonus Valor points for winning Crucible matches and if you’re worried about losing points if you lose a match, don’t. Losses will never cause you to lose Valor points. This reputation can only go up, never down.

Amount of Valor Earned per Match

Activity Streak	Win	Loss
1	???	???
2	151	76
3	???	???
4	177	???
5	???	115

* Note: This chart is currently incomplete, but will be updated when I remember to not go straight to orbit after the match is over!!!

Fastest Way to Get Valor

It can still take a lot of time to earn all of the Valor rewards and reset your rank even though the total valor you need has been reduced. Knowing how the Valor rank system works and how you earn valor is only part of the puzzle. If you’re looking to farm Valor quickly, you’ll want to keep these tips in mind when you queue up for the Crucible.

Go on Activity Streaks

The Crucible Playlist used to have a win streak mechanic that would give you bonus honor based on the number of consecutive wins you had. Bungie changed this over to the Activity Streak and this new mechanic makes it so that wins and losses are now irrelevant. All that matters is that you complete multiple Crucible matches in a row.

The more matches you play back to back, the higher your streak bonus will be and the larger the amount of Valor you’ll get at the end of the match.

The best times to make these streaks happen are during Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris. Both of these limited-time playlists have some of the most powerful weapons in the game so you’re most likely going to farm them anyways. Just be sure to remember that you’re on an activity streak because it can be broken if you aren’t careful.

Things that break activity streaks:

• Visiting non-Tower / H.E.L.M. destinations
• Playing non-Crucible playlist activities
• Leaving a match that’s currently in progress

It doesn’t matter if you pop down to the EDZ or Nessus to grab that exotic you need from Xur or if you go to the Tangled Shore to refill your glimmer so you can keep grabbing repeatable bounties. Doing anything that isn’t A) the valor playlists or B) going to the Tower / the H.E.L.M. will break your streak and you’ll have to start back at square one.

Play on Double Valor Weeks

Farming Valor can be rather slow and it can be even slower if you don’t have the time to get and maintain a 5x activity streak bonus. However, completing matches when the Double Valor week buff is active will more than make up for that. When the buff is active, you’ll receive twice as many valor points for both the match completion bonus and your activity streak bonus too.

But you won’t find these events on any content calendar. Bungie typically pairs the Double Valor week with the same week that Iron Banner is active so you’ll have the entire week to take advantage of this catch-up mechanic.

Guardians will normally see an update after they log in on Thursday or Friday that tells them what all is coming to Destiny 2 in the following week. This typically covers things like what the Nightfall will be, hints at what the next step in the season’s story is, and whether Iron Banner or Trials of Osiris will be active.

Bungie’s Community Managers also make it a point to mention when Iron Banner and Double Valor weeks are going to be hitting the Tower. Be sure to follow @A_dmg04 and @cozmo23 on Twitter to get the latest news straight from the tap.

Queue as a Fireteam

The easiest way to win in the Crucible is to play with a fireteam. Communication and coordination are invaluable tools to have in the Crucible. Games are won and lost by a single call out. Knowing where the enemy team is and where your team needs help can literally turn the tide of a match, especially if you’re playing against a group of solo players.

Teaming up with clan members or teaming up with some Guardians you found on DestinyLFG, r/Fireteams, or the100.io is a great way to build out your friend list with people that like to PvP. And don’t forget, you can always send an invite to players you meet in public lobbies too!

Play to Your Strengths

You might feel pressured to use a certain weapon or subclass or play a specific way because of what a streamer or the Destiny PvP community says. Let me tell you right now, none of that matters. You should be using the weapons, subclasses, and playstyles that you do the best with regardless of what the community agrees on being “meta”.

You don’t need to use what the community says to if you’re terrible with that thing.

If you have trouble getting final blows with hand cannons, don’t use them. If you struggle with aggressive play, hold down lanes and play passively instead. If you’re having an off game and can’t get kills, only play the objective instead.

The same goes in the opposite direction. Don’t ignore weapons and subclasses because they’re viewed as overpowered or broken.

If you have Vex Mythoclast, use it. If you have Felwinter’s Lie or a max range Fractethyst, use it. If you’re a skilled Stasis Hunter, Shatterdive all the things. Go full-on toxic aimbot and use No Time to Explain and Arc Buddies.

How you play the Crucible doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you use whatever gives you the best odds of winning.

Use whatever. Don’t apologize.

Resetting Your Valor Rank

Once you’ve gotten to Rank 16 and maxed out your Valor, you can reset your Valor ranks by visiting Lord Shaxx in the Tower. Doing this will get you either an Ascendant Shard that you can use to Masterwork a piece of armor or an Exotic Engram for a free piece of exotic armor.

To reset your valor rank:

• Reach and max out Rank 16 (10,000 valor points)
• Open the Director and go to the Tower
• Go over and talk to Lord Shaxx
• Collect the exotic engram at the end of the rank rewards bank

Also, be sure that you collect any other rank rewards before resetting your valor. Players have reported that they do not receive those items in their Postmaster or inventory once it’s been reset. You’ll have to drop a support ticket and wait for Bungie to retrieve them for you.

Once you’ve reset your reputation with Lord Shaxx, his inventory will reset and you can keep farming valor for the new batch of rewards. Which you’ll need to do if you’re going to unlock the Crucible-themed skin for The Ascendancy, which is also one of the seasonal challenges for Season of the Lost.