CSGO Ranks List Guide

There are 18 skill groups in CSGO, and we can split them into six tiers. The first tier is Silver, and it includes six total ranks. It starts from Silver 1 to Silver 4 and then two more called the Silver Elite and the Silver Elite Master, with Silver 1 being the lowest skill group in CSGO.

The tier you'll rank up to after Silver Elite Master is Gold Nova, which includes Gold Nova 1, 2, 3, and the Gold Nova Master skill group. After that, we have the Guardian tier, which has four, and then the Eagle tier, which includes two ranks.

The final two ranks in CSGO are the Supreme Master First Class and the Global Elite. As you might have already figured out, the Global Elite is the highest achievable rank in CSGO. To make things simpler, here is a list of all the ranks in CSGO in order from the lowest to the highest:

Understanding The CSGO Ranking System

Unlike what most people believe, CSGO does not use an Elo ranking system. Instead, CSGO uses a customized version of the Glicko-2 rating system. Valve has been very quiet about the ranking system CSGO uses. We only know about the Glicko-2 system because it got revealed by a Valve employee on Reddit about nine years ago.

We won't bore you with the working of the Glicko-2 system. You only need to know two things. Firstly, because of how the CSGO ranking system works, it can not give a single number to represent your MMR, which is why your MMR never gets displayed in CSGO. Secondly, the CSGO ranking system also considers how much you play. Consistent gameplay maintains skill groups, while long breaks increase ranking volatility.

Factors That Determine Your Rank In CSGO

Unfortunately, since the Reddit Glicko-2 reveal, Valve has neither released clear information on their ranking system nor all the factors determining your skill group. However, with the information we have, we can make quite a few reliable assumptions. Here are the main factors that determine your rank in CSGO:

Individual performance in a match, including kills, assists, damage, plants, and defuses. All that positively impacts rank.
Personal performance gets weighed more if your teammates have a similar performance in a match as you.
Your performance won't get weighed as much if your teammates are in a lower rank.
Playing against higher-ranked opponents increases the chances of ranking up upon winning.
Consistent ranked CSGO play reduces the likelihood of de-ranking after a loss.

CSGO Rank Distribution

There are tens of millions of players in CSGO. To explain what percent of the total CSGO player base is in what skill group, we need to look at a rank distribution chart. Fortunately, we have made one based on data from a reputable platform.

Depending on when you are reading this, the distribution may differ. However, it won't vary by a massive amount since the rank distribution of CSGO hasn't changed a lot for a long time.

For example, you can see in the CSGO rank distribution chart above that most of the CSGO player base is in the higher Silver ranks, Gold Nova ranks, or the lower Guardian ranks. On the other hand, there aren't a lot of players in the lower Silver skill groups.

Finally, there are very few numbers of players in the skill group above Distinguished Master Guardian, especially in the Global Elite rank. This type of distribution will stay roughly the same, and the CSGO rank distribution chart will always have a bell curve similar to the one shown above.

With that said, you might be wondering right now what being in a particular skill group means. To explain that, we split all the skill groups into five categories, which start from low ranks up to Global Elite.

Low Ranks (Silver I - Silver IV): If you are anywhere between Silver I and Silver IV, you are probably a new player in CSGO. Being in one of these ranks means you are among the lower-skilled players, which make up about 18% to 20% of the total CSGO player base.
Mid Ranks (Silver Elite - Gold Nova Master): This category includes a wide range of players, in terms of skill level. Overall, being in any of these ranks suggests that you are an average CSGO player, which includes about 48% to 50% of the total CSGO player base.
High Ranks (Master Guardian I - Distinguished Master Guardian): You will eventually reach one of the high ranks as you start clocking in more hours in CSGO and get better at the game. Only about 23% of the CSGO player base is in these skill groups, making them better than 65% to 70% of all the players that play CSGO ranked.
Elite Ranks (Legendary Eagle - Supreme Master First Class): Reaching these ranks is not easy. Only about 10% of players get to these ranks. Being in one of these skill groups means you are better than slightly over 90% of all CSGO players. You'll have to play each competitive match with maximum alertness and have no room for mistakes to get an elite rank.
Global Elite: Being a global elite means that you are the best of the best and are better than 99% of the CSGO player base. Less than 1% of players, around 0.7%, make it to the Global Elite rank.

Conclusion

The CSGO ranking system uses a modified Glicko-2 system to represent the skill level of CSGO players. Each player that unlocks a competitive rank gets placed in one of the 18 skill groups.