Good morning, alchemists!
This post is simply to let you know that following yesterday's maintenance (February 12, 2026), a small change has been implemented in the ELO system.
Remember that until now, the ELO rating is only updated when a player is killed in a game marked as "competitive." Removing their contingency and talismans is NOT enough.
You also gain ELO when you win and there are still players alive, with the greatest impact on those with the lowest threat rating.
The ELO system only considers the ELO rating of the player you killed and your own, awarding you more ELO the greater the difference between the two (more if the other player has a higher rating than you).
BEFORE:
- When a player surrenders, their ELO is distributed among all remaining players, benefiting those with the highest threat rating (since they are considered to have exerted the most pressure to force the player to surrender).
- The player who surrenders loses significantly more ELO than if they had allowed themselves to be killed, but the player who kills gains significantly less ELO than if they had managed to eliminate the victim. This creates an unfair situation for the player who managed to eliminate the contingency of the surrendering player.
Previously, it was NOT kept who removed the contingency from whom.
NOW:
- It is kept who removed the contingency from whom. In upcoming statistics posts, there will be a new section with the ranking of "who has removed the most contingencies from whom." We might call it "pursuer," "prey," or something similar.
- When a player surrenders, it is first checked if any other player has removed their contingency.
- If a player has removed the contingency from the surrendering player, the surrendering player gives ELO to the player who removed the last contingency, just as if they had killed them. There is NO turn limit. This was a somewhat controversial decision, but setting a turn limit could lead to toxic behavior, like players running away until those N turns are up, only to surrender and not benefit the pursuer.
- If no player has removed the contingency from that player, the usual algorithm is executed: it ranks players by threat and distributes ELO points to all of them, favoring those who are performing better.
That's all, alchemists!
I hope everything is clear. What do you think of the change? Do you like it? What would you change about the current ranking system? Remember that you can express your opinion in the comments box below or contact us on our Discord server or WhatsApp channel.
See you in Cladia
