When should i start with Rated games?

I came back to for honor with the season 4 start after i droped the game right before they released cent/shinobi and now im kinda lost. I relearned the game pretty fast and even picked up aramusha (I was only playing berserker up to rep 10 untill now, sure i tried out the others but they all felt cheap or boring, and aramusha with another infinite chain and soft feints just felt right).

I know theres a rank mode in the game, and i guess it would be the tournament mode. What i wanted to ask is if that is the only way to play games influencing your rank? And what should i prepare myself for, im one to enjoy most games rank modes but because of that i always wait untill i feel confident enough in my skills before participating in them. Now my problem with for honor is that i have no idea where i stand, the only stat giving me any kind of indicator is my duel winratio of ~ 77% but thats for duels where often enough you end up facing someone who seems to have no idea how to play the game .

Would it be dumb to just jump into tournaments (if they are the only for of ranked games) and see where i land? I know from other games that your first few ranked games will be placement games, is it the same here? and is it strict? im not as confident as i was when i stoped playing and i dont want to end up having to grind hours to make up for jumping into rank to early.