Valorant Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems Guide 2026: Dates, How to Play & Rewards

Champions Shanghai is the part of the VALORANT year where casual viewers and ranked grinders suddenly care about the same scoreboard. Patch 13.05 put Pick’Ems back on the calendar for that event, and the window is short enough that “I’ll do it later” is how people miss free participation rewards every year. This guide is the Pick’Ems playbook: when the board opens, how Group Stage scoring works, what Riot has (and has not) published on rewards, and how the September patch calendar fits around your picks — without turning into another Agent Gear deep dive.

Source status: Verified September 8, 2026 against Riot’s official VALORANT Patch Notes 13.05 on playvalorant.com (published September 1, 2026). Pick’Ems open/lock dates, Group Stage prediction framing, participation rewards, and the stream-sniping / instalock tool penalty rollout are taken from those notes. A complete Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems reward item list was not published in 13.05 as of this date.

When Do Valorant Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems Open in 2026?

September 10, 2026. Riot’s Patch 13.05 esports section is unambiguous: starting that day, you get Group Stage Pick’Ems access both in the client and on the web. That is the first day you can submit a real board for Champions Shanghai — not a rumor date, not a “sometime before Groups” guess.

Treat September 10 as open day, not lock day. You have a two-week runway from open to Groups kickoff on September 24. Use the early days to watch the last regional results settle, then lock a board you actually believe before the deadline — not a panic fill two minutes before first pistol.

If you only care about participation cosmetics, open the client or the official Esports site on the 10th, submit something coherent, and stop doomscrolling seed debates. If you care about points and placement bonuses, give yourself a few days after opening to stare at group draws with a clear head.

How Do Champions Shanghai Group Stage Pick’Ems Work?

Riot restored Pick’Ems for Champions Shanghai in Patch 13.05 and described the opening board in plain language:

• Predict Group Stage outcomes.
• Earn points for correct picks on advancing teams.
• Earn extra points when you nail exact placements.
• Earn rewards just for participating.
• Get those picks in before Groups kick off on September 24.

That is the whole official scoring skeleton as of early September. Exact point values per correct advance versus exact placement were not itemized in the 13.05 notes the way a full rules PDF would be — so do not invent a spreadsheet from vibes. When the UI goes live on September 10, read the in-client / web scoring tooltip for the numbers Riot attaches to this Champions cycle.

Practically, Group Stage Pick’Ems reward two skills: correctly identifying who advances, and correctly ranking how those advances shake out. Getting “Team X makes playoffs” right is good. Getting “Team X finishes exactly where you slotted them” is better. If you usually half-fill Pick’Ems and leave third/fourth as coin flips, this is the year to spend ten extra minutes on placement order — that is where the bonus points live.

Access is dual-path on purpose. Some people live in the Esports tab after ranked. Some people prefer the web board on a second monitor while VOD review is playing. Either path counts; use whichever one you will actually finish.

What Are the Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems Dates You Should Mark?

Stack the September calendar as three related clocks, not one vague “Champions soon” blob:

The Pick’Ems story is September 10 → September 24. Everything else on that table is context so you do not accidentally schedule your “I’ll submit tonight” plan on a night you are also scrambling through a progression deadline.

What Rewards Do Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems Give?

Riot confirmed participation rewards in Patch 13.05. That matters: you do not need a perfect board to get something for showing up. Correct picks and exact-placement bonuses are how you climb points; participation is how Riot still pays the people who just want to engage with Champions week.

What Riot has not fully published yet — as of September 8, 2026 — is a complete Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems reward list with every title, buddy, spray, or threshold spelled out in the 13.05 notes. Older VCT Pick’Ems cycles have used participation cosmetics plus higher-tier rewards for strong point finishes, but recycling last year’s exact items or inventing point cutoffs here would be fan-fiction. Expect the live Pick’Ems UI on September 10 to show the real prize track for this event.

Until that UI drops, the honest framing is:

• Participation rewards exist.
• Points reward correct advancing picks.
• Exact placements pay a bonus.
• Full cosmetic / title / buddy list for Shanghai is not fully published in the September 1 patch notes.

If a screenshot account posts a “leaked full list” before Riot shows it in-client, treat it as unverified until the official board confirms it. For AccountShark readers, the actionable move is still the same: open on the 10th, submit before the 24th, and claim whatever participation reward the client offers.

How Should You Make Group Stage Pick’Ems Without Overthinking It?

You do not need a spreadsheet cult. You need a repeatable process that beats “whoever won last international automatically sweeps.”

1. Separate form from pedigree. A roster that won Masters months ago is not automatically the same roster that peaks at Champions. Look at recent Stage form, map pool confidence, and whether the IGL / duelist core is still intact.

2. Rank placements, do not only circle advances. Because exact placement pays extra, fill 1 through last with intent. Soft locks for third and fourth still beat random leftovers.

3. Respect regional context without worshipping it. Champions groups mash regions together. Domestic streak length matters less than how a team travels across maps and how they handle best-of series versus one-off online nights.

4. Watch the opening days after September 10. Seed reveals, group assignments, and last-minute roster confirmation still move boards. Lock early only if your process is done — not because you fear the feature will vanish.

5. Leave yourself a buffer before September 24. Locking at kickoff is how you discover the client logged you out, the web board needs a refresh, or your “temporary” picks were never submitted. Aim to finalize at least a day early if you can.

If you bounce between accounts or share a PC with a sibling who also queues VALORANT, confirm which Riot account is logged in before you submit. Pick’Ems follow the account, not the chair.

Looking for a ready-to-queue Valorant account while Champions week eats your evenings? Browse screened Valorant listings on AccountShark with rank, region, and skin details on the card — handy if you want to watch Groups on one login and still grind on another without juggling recovery emails mid-series.

How Does Patch 13.06 and the Agent Gear Rework Fit Next to Pick’Ems?

Briefly, because this article is not the gear guide. Patch 13.05 warned that Patch 13.06 on September 22 reworks Agent Gear so unlocks tie more tightly to playing the associated agent. You keep earned gear; Kingdom Credits still matter; the grind window for rarely played agents closes when 13.06 ships.

For Pick’Ems players, that date sits two days before Groups. If you are both chasing Agent Gear completion and running a Shanghai board, finish rare-agent unlocks before September 22, then treat September 22–24 as a clean Pick’Ems finalize window. If you only care about Champions predictions, ignore the gear panic and just mark September 10 and September 24.

For the full Agent Gear rules change, thresholds (still unpublished as of early September), and grind checklist, use AccountShark’s separate Agent Gear / Patch 13.06 guide. This piece stays on Pick’Ems.

What Integrity Changes Came With Patch 13.05 Around Champions Season?

One short note, because it is in the same patch that restored Pick’Ems: Riot started rolling out penalties for detected stream sniping tools and instalock tools. Temporary game bans escalate to permanent bans with repeated use. That is not Pick’Ems-related, but it is part of the September competitive season vibe — cleaner lobbies while the biggest international of the year is on the calendar. If you somehow still have junk software in that category, remove it. Temporary ban during Champions week is a miserable way to miss your own Pick’Ems login.

Where Do You Enter Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems — Client or Web?

Both. Riot explicitly said Group Stage access lands in-client and on the web starting September 10. The Esports tab is the usual in-game path for players who already live in VALORANT menus. The web board is useful when you are watching a stream on a laptop and do not want to alt-tab through agent select on your main machine.

Whichever surface you choose, submit once, confirm the board saved, and screenshot or bookmark your placements if you like arguing with friends later. Do not assume a half-draft auto-locks at Groups kickoff — finish the submission flow.

How Does Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems Differ From Watching Groups Blind?

Watching Groups without a board is entertainment. Watching with a board is accountability. Correct advancing picks force you to notice when a “safe” second seed is actually map-pool fragile. Exact-placement bonuses punish lazy “eh, both advance somehow” fills. Participation rewards give casual fans a reason to engage even if they know they will not top a global leaderboard.

That mix is why Riot brings Pick’Ems back for Champions. It turns the first week of the tournament into something you interact with, not only something you open on Twitch while cooking. If you already follow VCT closely, use the board as a written thesis you can revise until September 24. If you barely follow the scene, still open on the 10th — participation rewards exist specifically for people who show up.

Final Verdict

Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems are back via Patch 13.05, open September 10 in-client and on the web, and lock before Groups kick off September 24. Score for correct Group Stage picks, chase bonus points on exact placements, and claim participation rewards even if your board is not perfect. Riot has not fully published the complete reward item list in the 13.05 notes as of September 8 — wait for the live UI rather than inventing buddy names. Keep September 22 (Patch 13.06 Agent Gear rework) on the calendar as neighboring context, not as the focus of this guide, and do not get banned mid-Champions week for stream-sniping or instalock tools Riot is already penalizing. Open the board on the 10th. Lock before the 24th. Argue about placements after.

Frequently Asked Questions About Valorant Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems 2026

When do Valorant Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems open in 2026?

Valorant Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems open on September 10, 2026. Patch Notes 13.05 state that Group Stage predictions become available that day both in the VALORANT client and on the web. That open date is separate from Groups kickoff on September 24, which is the lock deadline for getting picks in.

When do Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems lock for Group Stage?

Lock your Group Stage Pick’Ems before Champions Shanghai Groups kick off on September 24, 2026. Riot’s wording in Patch 13.05 is to get picks in before that kickoff. Do not wait until the first Group Stage pistol round starts — finish the board early enough that a client update or login hiccup cannot strand an unsaved draft.

How do Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems scoring and exact placements work?

You predict Group Stage outcomes for points. Correct picks on advancing teams earn points, and correctly guessing exact placements earns extra points on top. Exact point values for this Champions cycle were not fully tabulated in the 13.05 patch notes, so check the live Pick’Ems UI on September 10 for the official scoring breakdown Riot attaches to Shanghai.

What rewards do you get for Valorant Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems?

Riot confirmed that you earn rewards just for participating in Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems. Correct picks and exact-placement bonuses are how you score points beyond that baseline. As of September 8, 2026, a full published list of every cosmetic, title, or buddy for this Champions Pick’Ems cycle was not included in Patch Notes 13.05 — expect the in-client and web boards to show the complete reward track when Pick’Ems open on September 10.

Can you enter Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems in-client and on the web?

Yes. Patch 13.05 says you will have Group Stage Pick’Ems access in-client and on the web starting September 10, 2026. Use whichever surface you will actually complete. Confirm the submission saved before you close the tab or leave the Esports menu.

Did Patch 13.05 restore Pick’Ems for Champions Shanghai?

Yes. VALORANT Patch 13.05, which went live September 1, 2026, restored Pick’Ems for Champions Shanghai and announced the September 10 open window for Group Stage predictions. That is the patch that put the feature back on the competitive calendar ahead of Groups.

How does the Agent Gear rework on September 22 relate to Pick’Ems?

Only as calendar context. Patch 13.06 on September 22 reworks Agent Gear so progression ties more closely to playing each agent. That date sits two days before Groups kickoff on September 24. Finish any rare-agent gear grind before 13.06 if you care about that system, then finalize Pick’Ems before Groups. For full gear details, use the dedicated Agent Gear guide — this article stays focused on Pick’Ems.

Are there penalties for stream sniping or instalock tools during this patch window?

Yes. Alongside the Pick’Ems restore, Patch 13.05 started rolling out penalties when Riot detects stream sniping tools and instalock tools. Players caught face temporary game bans that escalate to permanent bans with repeated usage. It is not Pick’Ems content, but it is an integrity change in the same September patch notes — remove that software if you have it.

Do you need perfect Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems to get rewards?

No. Riot explicitly says you earn rewards just for participating. Perfect or high-point boards are for players chasing leaderboard-style outcomes and exact-placement bonuses. Casual fans who simply submit Group Stage predictions before September 24 still qualify for the participation reward track Riot confirmed in 13.05.

Where should you verify Champions Shanghai Pick’Ems dates and rewards?

Start with Riot’s official VALORANT Patch Notes 13.05 on playvalorant.com for the restore announcement, September 10 open, Group Stage framing, participation rewards, and September 24 Groups kickoff lock guidance. For the full reward item list once it is live, trust the in-client and official web Pick’Ems UI on or after September 10 rather than unverified third-party screenshots.