CS2 Team Rankings Explained: VRS, HLTV and the R1GG Rating
Quick comparison
| VRS | HLTV ranking | R1GG rating | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Valve | HLTV.org | R1GG |
| Updates | official release on the first Monday of each month | every Monday | after every completed match |
| What it counts | prize money, quality of the teams beaten, LAN wins, head-to-head | results over the past year, recent form, LAN results | series results at Tier S, A and B events, weighted by opponent strength |
| What it decides | Major invites and seeding, invites to most big events | nothing official | nothing official |
| Best for | "Will this team play the Major?" | "Who is the best team right now?" | "Who is in form before this match?" |
VRS: the ranking that decides Majors
The Valve Regional Standings (VRS) are Valve's official ranking. Every team at a Major is invited through VRS, and the same list decides which stage each team starts in. Most big tournaments also invite teams from the top of VRS.
VRS has three regional lists (Europe, Americas, Asia) and one global list. Its model is public on GitHub and combines four factors:
- Prize money won by the team.
- Quality of the teams it beat, measured by their own prize money.
- How many different teams those opponents have beaten, so a win over a team that beats everyone is worth more.
- LAN wins, with recent ones counting most.
Only recent results count, roughly the last six months, and newer results count more than older ones. After that, head-to-head results between teams adjust the final number.
VRS ranks rosters, not organizations. A team invited through VRS has to attend with at least three of the players it had when the standings were taken.
Valve's official release comes out on the first Monday of each month, and that is the version organizers must use for invites. Between releases, some sites show a live version that recalculates after each match.
HLTV ranking: the one everybody quotes
The HLTV world ranking is published by HLTV.org every Monday. It is independent: no tournament has to use it, and it does not decide Major invites. It is still the list you will see in most news, interviews and debates about who is number one.
HLTV gives each team points from three parts:
- Achievement: results over the past year, with older results worth less.
- Form: results from the last couple of months.
- LAN: results at offline events. Online wins count for little at the top.
A team keeps its points only while it keeps a core of three players. If an organization replaces most of its roster, the new lineup starts again.
Since 2024, HLTV also shows a live version of VRS next to its own ranking, so you can compare the two on one site.
R1GG rating: ours, built from results
The R1GG rating is our own rating, and it is not an official ranking. It is based on the Elo system used in chess:
- Before each series, the two teams' ratings give an expected result.
- After the series, both ratings move. An upset moves them a lot, an expected win only a little.
- Only matches at Tier S, A and B events are rated. Bigger events and longer formats count a little more: a Tier S series weighs 1.25 times a Tier B one, and a BO5 more than a BO1.
- A team appears in the table once it has 5 rated series and has played in the last 90 days.
The rating updates after every completed match, so it reacts faster than either VRS or HLTV. The arrow next to each team shows how many points it gained (▲) or lost (▼) in the last 30 days. It does not use prize money, so a team's rank depends only on who it beat and who beat it. The full method is on How the R1GG rating works.
Why the lists disagree
The same team can be top 5 on one list and outside the top 10 on another. The usual reasons:
- Prize money. VRS rewards deep runs at rich events. HLTV and the R1GG rating do not count money at all.
- Time window. HLTV looks back a full year, VRS about six months, and an Elo rating moves with every single match.
- LAN vs online. VRS and HLTV give LAN results extra weight. Online wins move a team much less.
- Level of events. The R1GG rating counts every Tier S, A and B match and weighs bigger events only a little more. A team that keeps winning Tier B events can climb faster there than on VRS or HLTV, where those events carry less weight.
- Roster changes. VRS and HLTV follow a core of three players. A rebuilt roster can drop or reset on those lists.
- Timing. A monthly VRS release, a weekly HLTV update and a rating that moves after every match will rarely line up on the same day.
None of the three is "wrong". They answer different questions.
Which ranking should you check?
| Your question | Look at |
|---|---|
| Will this team be invited to the Major? | VRS, the latest official release before the invite date |
| Where will a team start at the Major? | VRS global ranking |
| Who does the scene see as the best team? | HLTV ranking |
| Who is in better form before tonight's match? | R1GG rating, plus form and head-to-head on the match page |
Rankings and the next Major: PGL Major Singapore 2026
The next one is the PGL Major Singapore 2026, from November 25 to December 13, 2026.
All 32 teams at a Major are invited through VRS. The 16 lowest-ranked invited teams start in Stage 1, the next 8 in Stage 2, and the top 8 go straight to Stage 3. See CS2 Major Format: Swiss System Explained for how the stages work and What Is a CS2 Major? for the bigger picture.
To see where teams stand today on our rating, open the CS2 team rankings.
FAQ
What is the official CS2 team ranking?
The Valve Regional Standings (VRS). It is the only ranking Valve uses to invite teams to Majors and to decide where they start, and most big tournaments use it for invites too.
Is the HLTV ranking official?
No. HLTV.org publishes its own independent ranking. It is the list most quoted by media and fans, but it does not decide Major invites.
How often are CS2 rankings updated?
Valve publishes an official VRS update on the first Monday of each month. The HLTV ranking updates every Monday. The R1GG rating updates after every completed match.
Why is a team ranked differently on HLTV and VRS?
They count different things. VRS gives a lot of weight to prize money and to the quality of the teams a team has beaten. HLTV weighs results over the past year, recent form and LAN results. A team can be strong on one and lower on the other.
What is the R1GG rating?
Our own Elo-style rating, built only from series results at Tier S, A and B events: beating a strong team moves a team up more than beating a weak one. It updates after every match and is not an official ranking.
Related guides
Valve Regional Standings (VRS) ExplainedVRS is Valve's official CS2 team ranking that decides Major invites and seeding. What it measures, how it updates and how it differs from other rankings.
What Is a CS2 Major?A CS2 Major is the biggest event in Counter-Strike: 32 teams, $1.25M, sponsored by Valve. How Majors work, how teams qualify and every CS2 Major winner.
CS2 Major Format: Stages and the Swiss System ExplainedHow a CS2 Major works: three 16-team Swiss stages where 3 wins advance and 3 losses eliminate, Buchholz seeding, BO1 vs BO3 matches and the 8-team playoff.
Every Counter-Strike Major Winner: CS:GO and CS2 (2013 to 2026)All 24 Counter-Strike Major champions since 2013, with runners-up and final scores, plus the teams and players who have won the most Major titles.
LANLAN in CS2 esports means an offline event where both teams play on site, often in an arena.
Tier 1Tier 1 in CS2 means the top level of the scene: the best teams and the biggest events, such as Majors.- HLTV ratingThe HLTV rating sums up a CS2 player's impact in one number, where about 1.00 is average.
Sources
Reviewed by the R1GG team
