A PVP Beginner’s Guide to The War Within PVP Rating System

By Soundscape Updated: 2025/08/16

Understanding the Behind-the-Scenes Functions of Rated PVPDisclaimerFor the sake of this article please know that I will be generalizing a lot. The numbers used in CR/MMR gain/loss examples will not reflect actual amounts that you will gain or lose. They are intended to illustrate the general workings of the point system so that players can better understand it.Last updated: 08/16/2025Prerequisite Knowledge/TermsRated PVP Rating

CR (Current Rating): The rating that you, as an individual player, are currently at.

Each rated PVP bracket has it’s own CR: Solo Shuffle, 2v2, 3v3, and Rated Battlegrounds.
All players start the season at 0, and the only way to increase their rating is to win a rated PVP match.
MMR (Matchmaking Rating): The rating that your team is averaged at, for the purpose of matching you against other teams.
This rating is a bit more difficult to explain so I will use examples to help illustrate how it works:
There is individual MMR and Team MMR.
Individual MMR is hidden, but Team MMR is shown on the scoreboard screen, within a rated game, as the average of the individual MMRs of the players on that team.

average Individual MMRsTeam MMRMatchmaking/Pairing of Teams

The game will do what it can to pair you against another team that is exactly at your MMR. When it can’t, it will pair you against the next closest rated team. The enemy team could have a higher, or lower, MMR than your team.

The game, also, will not wait for another team that matches your MMR exactly. This is because that typically leads to long queue times. So, if you get queued against a 1700 team while being 1500, it likely means that were the closest rated team to yours, out of the teams that were queuing at the time and not already in a game.

There are exceptions to this. It is possible for a 1500 rated team to be paired against a 2400 rated team. The chances of this happening are low, but not impossible.

Earning and Losing Pointsteams averaged MMRindividual CRThings to know:

If you win a match: you gain CR and gain MMR. If you lose a match you lose CR and lose MMR. This happens per individual.

The game takes a couple things into account when awarding points to the team that won and deducting points from the team that lost.

To show this we are going to use two teams of two, where all four players are fresh max level characters who have never played a rated 2v2 game. Each player’s CR will be 0 and each players MMR will be 1500 (reference the disclaimer at the start of this article).
Team A:

Player 1: 0 CR, 1500 MMR

Player 2: 0 CR, 1500 MMR

Team X averaged MMR: 1500

Team B:

Player 3: 0 CR, 1500 MMR

Player 4: 0 CR, 1500 MMR

Team Y averaged MMR: 1500

If Team A beats Team B, the game will award points to team A and will deduct points from Team B. In this scenario (with new players with the above stats) the game will award 192 CR to each player on the winning team, and also award 15 MMR to each player on the winning team. This happens individually per player (If you find yourself disagreeing with this: reference the disclaimer). The losing team would lose 0 CR (You cannot go negative), and deduct 15 MMR from each player.
Team A:

Player 1: 192 CR, 1515 MMR

Player 2: 192 CR, 1515 MMR

Team X averaged MMR: 1515

Team B:

Player 3: 0 CR, 1485 MMR

Player 4: 0 CR, 1485 MMR

Team Y averaged MMR: 1485

Are you still with me?

Photo Credit: original creator, not me.

Ok, great! Now... prepare...

To determine how many points are awarded/deducted from the end of a match the game takes into account the following (not limited to, and not in a particular order):

The game tries to do what it can to match your CR to your MMR. This is likely the most impactful determinant to point gains/losses.

Winning a match:
If your CR is higher than your MMR, and you win a match, you will earn a smaller amount of CR.

If your CR is lower than your MMR, and you win a match, you will earn a larger amount of CR.

Losing a match:
If your CR is higher than your MMR, and you lose a match, you will lose a larger amount of CR.

If your CR is lower than your MMR, and you lose a match, you will lose a smaller amount of CR.

You might notice that these examples are inversely true. This is because: the game does what it can to match your CR to your MMR.

The difference in rating between your CR and your team’s MMR.
Individual CR gains and losses will likely never be identical. Unless both players on a team have only ever played with each other and/or are exactly the same rating, most people play with many different partners.

The difference in rating between your team’s MMR and the enemy teams MMR.
If your team beats an enemy team with an identical MMR to your team’s MMR: you and your partner(s) will each gain 15 MMR. The individual CR gains are calculated as shown in the point above.

If your team beats an enemy team with a higher MMR than your team’s MMR: you and your partners will each gain more than 15 MMR. This amount is calculated based on how large the difference in the MMR of both teams was.
Example:
If your team has a 1500 MMR, and you beat a team with a 2100 MMR, there is a good chance that your team will gain 30+ MMR (the individual CR gains are calculated as shown in point above).

The game rewards you for beating higher rated teams with a surplus of additional CR and MMR.

If your team beats an enemy team with a lower MMR than your team’s MMR: you and your partner(s) will each gain less than 15 points. This amount is calculated based on how large the difference in the MMR of both teams.
Example:
If your team has a 1500 MMR, and you lose to a team with a 1100 MMR, there is a good chance that your team will lose 30+ MMR (the individual CR gains are calculated as shown in point above).

The game rewards you for beating higher rated teams with a surplus of additional CR and MMR.

The inverse of all of this is also true. Meaning, if you lose, you can reverse those scenarios:
If your team loses to a team with identical MMR to yours: you will lose 15 CR and 15 MMR (again, Disclaimer).
If your team loses to a higher rated team: you will lose less than 15 CR and MMR.
If your team loses to a lower rated team: you will lose more than 15 CR and MMR.

In a nutshell: Beating players who are at your rating will earn you an average number of CR/MMR. Beating players who are higher rated will earn you a larger amount of CR/MMR. Beating players who are lower rated will earn a smaller amount of CR/MMR. Inverse this for losses.

Win Streaks/Loss Streaks
The more matches that you win in a row the larger the amount of MMR you will win, exponentially, starting with the 4th win*.
What does this mean? If you win 4 in a row you will get a large “extra chunk” of MMR which will result in you getting “paired up” (so to speak).

The more matches that you lose in a row the larger the amount of MMR you will lose, exponentially, starting with the 4th loss*.
What does this mean? If you lose 4 in a row you will lose a large “extra chunk” of MMR which will result in you getting “paired down” (so to speak).

Under ConstructionAbout the AuthorEye of Sulfuras

Comments

Comment by Stricker0190

Wow Fantastic description! Didn't think there was this much to it.

Comment by Zornwow

Really good article! Great for even veteran players to trully understand the system! Big congrats!

Comment by Valdermort

Awesome guide for the Rated PVP set up! Appreciate the tips.

Comment by Soundscape

Updated for TWW, and patch 11.0.7

Comment by Drdree

My pvp master! finally found you... Big fans!

Comment by wildragonite

I am clueless about anything pvp but I now have a better understanding of the matchmaking and how I can use that to my advantage!

A PVP Beginner’s Guide to The War Within PVP Rating System

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