Six stars, one number
Every hunter carries a hidden rating that moves each time they kill, or are killed by, another hunter. The game shows it as stars. Here is where each star begins, read from the game's own star widget.
Where each star begins
| Stars | Rating | Team steps |
|---|---|---|
| 1–1,000 | ½ · 1 | |
| 1,001–1,500 | 1½ · 2 | |
| 1,501–1,800 | 2½ · 3 | |
| 1,801–2,000 | 3½ · 4 | |
| 2,001–2,500 | 4½ · 5 | |
| above 2,500 | 5½ · 6 |
These ranges are the defaults in the star widget, mmr_stars, and the star-drawing rule comes from its own code. Nothing else in the game files lists MMR ranges. The server could still hand the widget different numbers at runtime.
One loose end: the game's help text says one star covers 0–500. On the team bar that range is half a star.
Three hunters, one rating
Team MMR is a score used for team Matchmaking. Team MMR takes each team member's individual MMR and uses it to calculate a team MMR score. This value - your Team MMR - is then used to find a fitting match. Additional modifiers can be applied on top to help place smaller or random teams in fairer matches.
In order to display a Team MMR in more detail, it is shown in half star increments. Player's individual MMR is displayed in full star increments.
Individual ratings show in whole stars and team ratings in half stars. Two teams showing the same stars can still sit at different numbers inside the same step.
Modifiers
Team MMR includes calculations known as modifiers that help compensate for handicaps.
Strength labels are the game's own. The actual multipliers (one number each for solo, random duo, invited duo, random trio and invited trio) come from the server when you queue.
What the team details screen says
After a mission, the team details screen compares each hunter you met with you. The game doesn't print the gap in points. It sorts the gap into five words, using margins of 250 and 500 rating points either side of even.
The star bands aren't evenly sized. 500 points is half of the one-star band, but more than the whole four-star band (1,801–2,000). So near the top of the ladder, a gap of one star can earn the strongest verdict, and at the bottom it barely registers.
The game lists the margins, not how it rounds between them. The dial shows the nearest one.
What the game tells you
Your MMR score will be unlocked when you leave Trainee Mode at Rank 11.
Until then the game shows one star and forces Skill-Based matchmaking on.
Only fights with other hunters move it — kills and deaths.
Your Matchmaking Rating (MMR) is an individual score based on your PvP rating (an ELO-like calculation that updates every time you kill or are killed by another Hunter) and other modifiers.
KDA, rank, prestige, play time and AI kills do not.
The game says so in its own matchmaking tutorial.
Take a break and the score is recalculated when you return.
The profile record carries a decay value alongside the rating.
When you are playing with a random group, Skill-Based Matchmaking is always automatically enabled.
When you are invited to play with a group, Matchmaking settings are determined by the group's host.
Matchmaking hint: when you are playing as duo, the highest ranked player of the group determines the rank group you will be matched against.
Skill-Based Matchmaking is disabled by default in Soul Survivor.
When enabled, solo Hunters and teams of two may encounter teams of three during a round of Hunt. Though this puts the smaller team at a disadvantage, anyone who manages to succeed in spite of the odds against them will get an Underdog Bonus on every Bounty Token they get out of the game.
Killing a hunter pays 450 XP whatever their stars.
There is one reward entry per star tier — all six pay the same.
The four numbers you can't see
The rating formula's inputs don't ship with the game. The server sends them with every match, inside the mission description: a starting rating, a single coefficient, a rank threshold, and a table of rating caps by games played. The client reads them and passes them on. The game binary even spells one of them intialRating.
What the files do show is the shape. The rating the game displays is a finer skill score × 100, stored with a variance (a second number for how sure the system is). A separate pair tracks Bounty Clash, and a decay value covers time away. A rating with a variance is how Glicko- and TrueSkill-style systems work. The game itself calls it “ELO-like”.
Our reading, not data: each kill is one rated result between killer and victim. The coefficient does the job of Elo's K, setting how far a surprising result moves both ratings. The games-played caps stop a new account from shooting up the ladder before it has played enough. Below the rank threshold you're a trainee showing one star.
initial_ratingWhere a new bloodline starts, before its first rated fight.
magic_coefficientOne number that sets how far a single kill or death moves the rating — the K in an Elo-style update.
rank_thresholdThe bloodline rank below which you're a trainee: one star on show, Skill-Based matchmaking forced on. The game's text puts it at rank 11.
max_rating_rulesA table of rating ceilings by games played — rows of (games from, games to, highest rating allowed) — so a fresh account can't jump the ladder.
Sources: ui.pak — libs/ui/components/mmr_stars.xml (ranges) and libs/ui/assets/mmr_stars.gfx (star-drawing code); livedata.pak — gamesettings/objectiveflow.xml (skill margins), gamesettings/ui.xml (verdict labels), gamesettings/meta.xml (kill rewards); the game's recovered network schema (Mission.proto, MatchMaking.proto, MetaCommon.proto); English UI text. Build 2.9.0.41.