It's time to get your hands dirty.

Ranked Season 3 runs for the next three months, ending on the 12th of September. Now's the time to jump back into the mode Dirty Bomb was built for, with a load of improvements and brand new content.

So prime yourself for hardcore 5v5 matches with friendly fire and team collision enabled, now with the ability to party up with 1 to 4 of your friends. No one ever said life would be easy, but if you want improve your twitch skills and team tactics, there's no better place to start.

Get Ranked

To begin your competitive journey, you must be at Level 7. When you enter the new Season, you'll battle through ten placement matches to determine your starting Rank.

Your placement is affected by where you ended up in Season 2, but if you're fresh to Ranked these ten games will be the proverbial sorting hat for your starting position.

Ranked Points

Earn Ranked Points to buy exclusive Ranked Season 3 content, only available this season.

As well as earning Points for exclusive Cases, you'll get a 50% Credit Bonus that's applied to your Credit total at the end of every match.

Earn Ranked Points by:

1) Playing Ranked Matches

Earn points for every match you play. The better your team does, the more points you'll earn as you work through the season.

Team Result Win Draw Loss Points Earned 50 30 10

2) Placement

When Season 3 ends on the 12th of September, you'll earn points for the highest Rank you've achieved through the Season.

These range from 100 points for Bronze Recruit, to 4500 for Elite Operative. All possible rewards can be found in the 'Ranked' tab in your Profile.

When the Season ends, you'll have a week to spend any remaining points on Ranked Season 3 Cases. After that, any points you have left will carry over into the next season.

Exclusive Ranked Season 3 Content

You can find more unlockable content than ever before in the new Ranked Season.

Ranked Season 3 Cases

Get Limited Edition Loadout Cards by playing in Ranked Season 3.

Each Season 3 Ranked Case contains one random Loadout Card with an exclusive skin for a Merc and their weapons, available only during this season.

Want to strike fear into the hearts of the unwashed masses in pubs? They're not easy to get, but these skins are all about prestige.

Finally, luck could shine upon you. Every time a case drops at the end of a Ranked match, there's a 2% chance it could be a Ranked Case.

Aura Obsidians

For this season only, you can find two Aura Obsidian Loadout Cards in the Store, reflecting the most-played Aura card in Ranked Season 2 and Casual play.

Battle Hardened Trinket (Releases June 23)

Do you burn through Ranked Points like they were going out of style? Introducing the Battle Hardened Trinket, a shiny reminder of your Ranked Dedication, hitting the Ranked Store on June 23.

This Trinket bursts apart with a glowing rage when you inspect it, and highlights your kills in the killfeed for other players.

Ranked Season 3 Trinkets

On top of that, you'll be rewarded an exclusive Season 3 Trinket for the highest Rank you attain during the Season when it wraps up. Moving down a Rank won't cost you the higher Rank Trinket, so don't be afraid to fight your way back to the top!

What Else Has Changed?

After carefully monitoring Ranked Season 2 and listening to your feedback, we've made a bunch of changes to improve the overall experience of Ranked Mode. We're tackling the biggest complaints of not being able to party up as 3 and 4-player teams, lengthy queue times, and players leaving mid-match.

General Ranked Changes

Unrestricted Party Sizes – We've made the changes necessary to now allow 3 and 4 player groups to matchmake with other players for a full 5-player team, after restricting teams to 2 and 5-players due to match-balance issues. We'll be keeping a close eye on game balance and making further tweaks to our matchmaking algorithms once the season is live.

– We've made the changes necessary to now allow 3 and 4 player groups to matchmake with other players for a full 5-player team, after restricting teams to 2 and 5-players due to match-balance issues. We'll be keeping a close eye on game balance and making further tweaks to our matchmaking algorithms once the season is live. Map Veto System – To decrease queue times, we've changed the way map selection works. You will now be restricted to deselecting three maps when matchmaking, letting you avoid certain maps while increasing the pool of potential matches.

– To decrease queue times, we've changed the way map selection works. You will now be restricted to deselecting three maps when matchmaking, letting you avoid certain maps while increasing the pool of potential matches. Unranked Party Limitations – To prevent high-skilled players artificially boosting other players, Unranked players will be prevented from partying up with Gold, Cobalt or Elite Operative level players. Once you've completed your 10 placement matches, you'll be able to party up with anyone.

– To prevent high-skilled players artificially boosting other players, Unranked players will be prevented from partying up with Gold, Cobalt or Elite Operative level players. Once you've completed your 10 placement matches, you'll be able to party up with anyone. Increased Leaver Penalties – Players leaving matches was frustrating for many in the last season. In Season 3, we've increased the Major Penalty for leaving mid-game so that it now caps out at a 7-day ban from Ranked. We've also increased the penalty for leaving a Lobby so that it now caps out at a 5 hour ban for repeat offenders.

– Players leaving matches was frustrating for many in the last season. In Season 3, we've increased the Major Penalty for leaving mid-game so that it now caps out at a 7-day ban from Ranked. We've also increased the penalty for leaving a Lobby so that it now caps out at a 5 hour ban for repeat offenders. Wider Rank Spread After Placement Matches – In Ranked Season 3, players will be spread out more across the Ranks after their ten Placement matches.

– In Ranked Season 3, players will be spread out more across the Ranks after their ten Placement matches. Automatic Pause Votes on Disconnect – When a player disconnects from a Ranked match, their team will be prompted to Vote to Pause the game.

Ranked UI Improvements

Improved Post Game Review – Added several elements to the Post Game Review screen to better accommodate Ranked matches, including a Ranked Progress Bar and Ranked Icons for all players.

– Added several elements to the Post Game Review screen to better accommodate Ranked matches, including a Ranked Progress Bar and Ranked Icons for all players. More Accurate Searching Times – Estimated searching times have been updated to give you a clearer idea of when you're likely to find a match.

– Estimated searching times have been updated to give you a clearer idea of when you're likely to find a match. Reduced Lobby Time – To get you into matches more quickly, the maximum time to accept a matchmade game has been reduced from 50s to 40s.

– To get you into matches more quickly, the maximum time to accept a matchmade game has been reduced from 50s to 40s. 'Queue Dodging' Prevention – To stop players from leaving lobbies when coming up against high skilled opponents they recognize, enemy teams are now anonymous in the Lobby.

Ranked Bug Fixes

Fixed various bugs that could lead to penalties not being given to some players

Fixed bug where Major and Minor penalties could not stack correctly for repeat offenses

Fixed bug where it took longer than intended for players to receive a major penalty when leaving Ranked games

Fixed various bugs that could lead to players being put into a broken party

Fixed bug where debug text appeared instead of the name of the Bronze Master Trinket

Fixed bug where recent matches could display the wrong time and date

Fixed bug where headshots weren't factored in to overall accuracy stats in the post game review

Fixed bug where the Ranked Points tool-tip Store button could not be pressed in the main menu

Fixed bug where killing enemies by destroying enemy Proximity Mines in Ranked would result in a team kill for the Proxy that placed it

Balance

Thunder

To make the blinding effect from Thunder's Concussion Grenade a little easier to avoid, we've narrowed the field-of-view check to 140 degrees, down from 180 degrees.

Other Changes

Notable Bug Fixes – Maps

Fixed bug in Dockyard where it took too long to repair the EV when it had been disabled by the enemy

Fixed bug where destroyed Objectives would sometimes not reset properly during the mid game cinematic in Stopwatch Mode

Fixed bug where the Healing Station’s visual effect would not properly display in some areas

Fixed bug where gas damage in a map would not finish off incapacitated players

Fixed bug where debug text displayed during Overtime on Dockyard

Fixed bug where subtitles on Dome would incorrectly show Defenders as failing when they had won

Notable Bug Fixes – General

Fixed bug where AFK Vote kicks and Automatic kicks would take longer than intended to be called

Fixed bug where AFK kick votes would appear to be called by idle players themselves

Fixed bug where XP would show as doubled during the mid game cinematic on Stopwatch Mode

Fixed bug where teammates could block players attempting to revive other incapacitated teammates

Fixed bug where melee weapons could hit players through walls

Fixed bug where some players could crash when returning to menu after a match

Fixed bug where players could still change Merc and Loadout Card after the Lock-in timer had elapsed

Fixed bug where the Carryable Objective's return timer would sometimes not reset properly when the player carrying it was killed

Fixed bug where Artillery and Airstrikes could destroy deployables well away from the point of impact

Fixed bug where Kira’s laser could get stuck in certain areas

Fixed bug where Kira’s laser could appear in another part of the map when targeting unreachable areas

Fixed bug where Kira’s laser would incorrectly spawn blast decals when aimed at certain materials

Fixed bug where Defibs would struggle to hit players in confined spaces or near walls when using them to melee attack

Fixed bug where players could Revive themselves with their own Defibs under certain conditions

Fixed bug where Phoenix's Healing Pulse would grant players additional 'Restored' XP when they heal, rather than revive, other players

Fixed bug where players could get Punished for killing teammates with C4 with friendly fire enabled

Fixed bug where shots made in the warm up counted towards total accuracy

Fixed bug where certain abilities (including Health/Ammo Stations and the SNITCH) would function through walls

Fixed bug where some players were not always finding matches via Quick Join even when servers were available

Fixed bug where the muzzle flash effect would continue even when the weapon was no longer shooting

Fixed bug where recently restarted servers would display the same map three times when voting for the next map

Fixed bug where the Cancel button was sometimes not able to be clicked during Quick Join

Fixed bug where killing a teammate with friendly fire enabled would cause an enemy kill notification to appear

Fixed bug where players could go invisible when incapacitated

Fixed various bugs related to XP being awarded incorrectly for some minor actions

Fixed bug where the Founder’s unique outfit was not visible in third person

Fixed bug where Badge progression would reset between rounds in Execution Mode

Fixed bug where text would overlap on Execution Loading Screens

Known Issues

Changes made in pre-game lobbies will currently not save. All changes (region, maps etc.) need to be made before the lobby is created.

Purchasing more than one Aura Obsidian Loadout Card is currently possible in the Store.

What do you think of these changes? Let us know in the Official Forums.