Rankings are a measure of the player's performance, and act as a feedback system to encourage the player to replay levels and take better advantage of the game's systems. Ranks are obtained at each level's endscreen based on three criteria: time, kills, and style, and are given on a letter-grade basis from D to S, similarly to style ranks. A final aggregate rank is then awarded for that level, calculated using the sum of point values corresponding to the previous three ranks minus one point per restart from a checkpoint.
The highest aggregate rank achieved is recorded for each level completed, with a blue background if Major Assists were enabled at any point during the run. The blue background is removed upon achieving an equivalent or higher rank for that level without enabling Major Assists. Completing a level with cheats enabled displays a white dash with a green background in place of the aggregate rank, and no rank is saved for that run.
A "Perfect" or P rank is awarded for completing a level with S ranks in all three categories, without restarting once. P ranks cannot be achieved with Major Assists turned on. Achieving all P ranks in an act will unlock that act's Prime Sanctum.
Earning a rank for every level in a layer will display the average rank for that layer in the level select screen. Likewise, earning a rank for every level in an act, the Prelude, or (eventually) the Prime Sanctums will display those average ranks in the chapter select screen, and (eventually) earning a rank for every level on a difficulty setting will display that average rank in the difficulty select screen. Achieving a P rank in every level of a category displays a P rank as that category's average. Ranks earned using Major Assists will contribute to category averages as normal, although capped at S.
The player earns Points at each level endscreen based on the three ranks they achieved for time, kills, and style. These points are still awarded if the player enabled Major Assists or Cheats, with no penalty. No points are awarded for the aggregate rank.
| Rank | Points | Rank Points | Aggregate Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | 500P | 1 | 4 or less |
| C | 1,000P | 2 | 5-7 |
| B | 1,500P | 3 | 8-10 |
| A | 2,000P | 4 | 11-13 |
| S | 2,500P | 5 | 14; 14-15 (Major Assists ON) |
| P | N/A | N/A | 15 (Major Assists OFF) |
| - | N/A | N/A | 0 (Cheats On) |
Trivia
- Most levels begin their timer the moment the elevator door begins to open and end once the exit drop is triggered. The known exceptions are [ 0-1: INTO THE FIRE ], whose timer starts the moment the title drop disappears (or the moment it is skipped), and [ 3-2: IN THE FLESH ], [ 5-4: LEVIATHAN ], [ 6-2: AESTHETICS OF HATE ], [ P-1: SOUL SURVIVOR ] and [ P-2: WAIT OF THE WORLD ], which end their timers the moment the boss's health drops to zero.
- The level timer carries over when restarting from a checkpoint, but not when dying before the first checkpoint is reached, since restarting from the elevator counts as a fresh new run.
- S-ranking kills generally requires killing every enemy on the main path of the level. Secret encounters such as Very Cancerous Rodent and enemy spawns directly associated with Soul Orbs, while counting towards the rank, are not tallied with the rest of the enemies for the rank requirement and as such may be skipped without compromising a P rank run.