How to Climb Ranked in NextBall: MMR, Fair Matches and 8 Tips

Classic, Futsal, Real Match, Sniper, Headball, Pool, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis and Table Tennis each have their own rank and leaderboard. A futsal specialist climbs the Futsal ladder, a pool player climbs the Pool ladder, and neither has to be good at everything. Chaos and Mini Golf are played for fun and have no rank.

Every room you create is Rated unless you switch it to Casual, and the lobby always tells you whether the next match will count.

An even match is worth about 30 MMR either way. Beating stronger opponents gives more than that, losing to weaker opponents costs more. Your MMR counts from your first rated match, so your rank appears on the leaderboard right away.

Each tier below Legend has three divisions, so you see progress long before you reach the next colour.

A rated match counts when both teams have the same number of players, nobody is a bot or a guest, the line-up stays the same for the whole match and the match ends normally. Leaving a rated match counts as a loss for you; the players who stay keep their result.

To keep ranks honest, playing the exact same line-up again on the same day counts a little less each time (and less again between friends). One different player makes it a fresh match. Opponents on the same network or device do not count, and a player can gain at most 200 MMR per mode per day.

Rooms run in the host player's browser, so every player's browser confirms the score and the server replays the whole match from everyone's inputs before the result is saved. A result cannot be faked, and suspicious results are reviewed.

At the end of each season every rated player is paid by the best rank they reached in any mode, from 50 coins in Bronze up to 2,000 coins for a Legend. The top three of every mode win extra coins, and the Classic top three receive exclusive season titles and banners. The next season moves every rank halfway back towards 1000 MMR, so everyone has something to climb.

Rated wins also pay three times the coins of a casual win and 25% more XP, and on Rated Night (Fridays from 20:00 Turkey time) rated coins are doubled.

1. Defend first. At low ranks most goals come from giveaways. Stay between the ball and your goal before you think about attacking.
2. Curve every shot. A straight shot is easy to save. Tap Z or C and bend it towards the far post.
3. Chip the rush. When a defender or keeper charges, a lob (Q) over him is the easiest way past.
4. Pass more than you dribble. In team modes a quick pass beats a defender faster than a dribble does.
5. Talk to your team. Agree who stays back before kick-off. One player always staying home stops most counter-attacks.
6. Warm up. Ten minutes of training mode before a rated session sharpens your timing.
7. Rotate opponents. Matches against new line-ups count in full.
8. Stop after two losses in a row. Tilted players lose more. Take a break, then come back.

Training mode sends passes, crosses and curling balls to you when you are alone in a room. Bot Match lets you play against Easy, Medium or Hard bots; the Hard bots (Legends) simulate the real physics before every move, curve their shots and hit first-time finishes, which makes them a good test before a rated session. See the training guide and the rank guide for the details.