FACEIT announces a soft Elo reset

FACEIT announced that when season 8 begins, on 22nd April 2026, all Counter-Strike players across the platform will start with hidden ranks, enforcing a global soft Elo reset. Every player will be required to play ten placement matches to reveal their new rank. "The goal is to keep the highest levels competitive", said FACEIT after confirming that soft Elo resets would become a regular part of upcoming seasons.

Explaining about placement matches, FACEIT points out how a player who steps away from the game for a while with high Elo could return and not posses the same skill anymore. The placement matches aim at keeping active players in their original ranks while quickly handing out corrections to inactive ones.

FACEIT made it clear that the mechanism is not a hard reset and most players will still open their ranks near their previous Elo. Here's how FACEIT mapped out their soft Elo:

Top-Tier Level 10s: Will see the most significant reset. This compresses the top of the ladder to keep the highest levels of play competitive.

• Level 10s: Will see a low to moderate adjustment depending on their end-of-season Elo.

• Levels 1-9 (Active Players): Will see a smaller reset, meaning you will likely start near the Skill Level you ended with in Season 7.

• Inactive Players: Regardless of level, players who have been inactive or played a lower number of matches in Season 7 will see a larger adjustment to ensure they don’t return to matches that are now above their current skill.

Check out FACEIT's blogpost for a detailed breakdown