Season 8 begins on April 22. Every player will start the season with a soft reset and 10 placement matches to determine their starting Elo. This structure establishes the baseline format for upcoming FACEIT Seasons to maintain competitive distribution at the highest levels and align your Elo with your current performance.
How it works
When Season 8 launches on April 22, your Elo value is temporarily hidden while you complete 10 placement matches. Once you finish all 10 matches, your starting skill level for the season is revealed.
A seasonal soft reset is applied to the database before these placement matches begin. This recalibration applies across all active and inactive accounts simultaneously to adjust the system baseline.
Why placement matches are active
Over time, matchmaking pools experience two distinct structural shifts:
Account Inactivity: Players who become inactive retain their historical skill level on the platform. Upon returning, their actual performance may no longer align with that tier, which impacts match balance for the remaining players in the server. Placement matches accelerate rank corrections for returning players.
Level 10 Inflation: Level 10 is mathematically uncapped. As the highest-rated players accumulate Elo, the distribution inside Level 10 expands. The seasonal soft reset compresses this inflation to maintain the competitive standard of the highest skill bracket.
This is not a hard reset
Season 8 uses a tiered adjustment model based on your final Season 7 status:
Top-Tier Level 10 Players: Accounts at the top of the leaderboard receive the most significant mathematical compression to reduce long-term Elo inflation.
Level 10 Players: Accounts receive a low-to-moderate Elo adjustment based on their exact end-of-season rating.
Active Levels 1–9 Players: Accounts with consistent match volume in Season 7 receive minimal adjustments, meaning you will likely start your placements near your concluding Level from the previous season.
Inactive Players: Regardless of your specific skill level, accounts with low match volume during Season 7 receive a larger downward adjustment to prevent them from entering matches above their current form.
What the soft reset actually does
Before placement matches begin, your Elo is adjusted slightly to bring the overall distribution back into alignment. The highest Elo values are compressed closer to the rest of the pool to adjust the skill delta at the top of the ladder. Inactive accounts receive a larger curve adjustment based on their time away from active queues, while the majority of players below Level 10 experience minimal initial changes.
What to expect during your placement matches
Your first 10 games determine your starting position for the season. If you do not play your placement matches, your Elo remains hidden until you do. You can continue to queue with friends during this calibration phase.
In Premium and Super Matches, standard party Elo restrictions remain enforced even while values are hidden. For example, a Level 10 player cannot queue with a Level 3 player. If a party composition was eligible to queue together prior to the seasonal reset, those accounts can continue to queue together during placements.
Because the entire platform pool is recalibrating simultaneously, match variance may be higher during the initial days of the season as the system re-sorts the ladder. Placement matches alter your Elo balance at a higher weight than standard matches, but they do not cause artificial shifts of hundreds of Elo points per game.
Can you place higher than before?
For the majority of players, yes. If you perform above your previous baseline and win the majority of your placement matches, you can land at a higher skill level than your Season 7 finish. For high-Elo Level 10 players, your starting placement will generally be lower than your concluding Season 7 value due to the top-tier compression rules.
Why this matters long term
This format establishes a predictable competitive cycle. Each season functions as a distinct window where the ecosystem recalibrates, requiring players to validate their skill level through live matches to prevent ranking stagnation over time.