LOL Ranking System Explained [Latest Patch]

LOL Ranking System, LOL Ranking System explained

Updated:

23 Dec 2020

1. How many ranks are there?

There are 9 ranks in total in the following order:

Iron
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
Master
Grandmaster
Challenger

2. How do I rank up?

You gain League Points for each game that you win. Currently, there are four divisions within each tier. As an example, in the Gold tier, you can be placed in Gold IV, Gold III, Gold II, and Gold I. To go from one division to another, you must accumulate 100 LP before playing a best-of-three promotion matches to advance into the next division.

The number of League Points (LP) that you receive depends on your Matchmaking Rating (MMR). The higher it is, the more LP that you will gain for a victory and the less LP you will lose for a defeat. Your MMR is a hidden number based on algorithms in Riot Games’ system that calculates your relative skill level compared to every other player in the game.

You will need to win the majority of your games to reach 100 LP in any division. As mentioned before, when promoting from one division to the next, you will play a best-of-three to promote. For promotion between tiers, such as from Platinum to Diamond, you will play a best-of-five. The more wins you have, the higher your chances of promoting to the next rank.

You may also find that your LP gains will increase if you win multiple games in a row or increase your win rate above 60%. This all ties back to the truth that the more games you win, the more your MMR increases, and the more LP you will gain. The converse is also true.

3. What happens if I drop to 0 LP?

If you have just entered a division or promoted to the next tier, Riot Games grants you a grace period of a few games you can lose before demoting you, but the number of games in the grace period depends on your MMR.

For example, let’s say you just promoted from Silver IV to Silver III. With a high MMR, you may be able to lose 2 or 3 games at 0 LP before demoting. One thing to note, however, is that if you gain LP at any point, the next loss at 0 LP will automatically demote you to the previous division at 75 LP.

This process is very much the same when promoting between tiers, the only difference being the longer grace period. So if you’ve just promoted into Platinum IV from Gold 1, it will take a significant number of losses in a row at 0 LP to demote to the lower tier even after you’ve gained some LP. The grace period extends from 2-3 games to about 5-6 games, but again, this number is dependent on MMR. The lower your MMR, the fewer grace period games, and the higher your MMR, the more games you get.

4. Why do I gain X amount of LP?

This ties down to your MMR. If your MMR is unusually high based on the Normal games that you played, the game will accelerate your LP gains to bring you up to the proper level. The opposite is also true. If your MMR is relatively low compared to other players of your current rank, you will lose more LP per loss and gain less LP per win.

Win rate is also a big factor since it ties directly into your MMR. If you have a win rate significantly above 50% (~60% and up), you’ll notice that your LP gains are much higher than before while you lose very little LP. The reverse is also true if you have a win rate significantly lower than 50% (~45% and down).

The long story short is if you win more games than you lose, your LP gains will reflect that win record.

5. How do I start playing ranked?

To be eligible to play ranked in LoL, you must be at least level 30 and own at least 20 champions.

The reason being is that League of Legends is a very high skill-cap game. There are tons and tons of information to absorb and get used to (League of Legends has over 150 champions and new ones are released every year). Throwing a bunch of newcomers into a ranked game where there are millions of players with years of experience would never make for a fair game. So Riot Games mandates you play at least around 150 Normal games to get to level 30 and own 20 champions so you can fill more than one role comfortably.

6. Why did I promote from Silver IV to Silver II?

Again, this comes down to your MMR. Players who jump divisions in their promotions have a high MMR, which is based on their winrate and MMR taken from their Normal games. Smurfs (players of high MMR who play on low-ranking accounts) see this happen very often. They win many, many games and their win rate could look something like 17-3 or 53 - 12. This is when Riot Games notices that this player’s skill level is much higher than the current rank they are sitting at. In cases like these, it is clear you have an extremely high MMR for your rank so the game will bump you up to two divisions instead of one to get you closer to your true approximated rank quickly.

7. Will I lose LP for dodging or ragequitting a game?

Yes, you will lose about 3 LP with a 5-minute ban from queueing up for ranked play. Continued and repetitive dodging or ragequitting will increase these punishments little by little. If you miss too many Ready Checks even, your next dodge could cost you up to 10 LP and a 20-minute ban from queueing up for ranked play.

8. Will I lose LP for not playing?

LP decay is only active in Diamond and up. If you haven’t played a game in 28 days, you will slowly start to decay. These 28 days are called your Banked Days. At the end of each day, Riot Games knocks down your quota of Banked Days by one. If you don’t have any left, you will lose 50 LP for each subsequent day instead until you either play a game or you decay to Platinum I.

Playing a game will give you back 7 Banked Days up to a maximum of 28 Banked Days. So if you are one day from starting your LP decay, you only need to play four games to bring your quota back up.

These numbers are only applicable to players in the Diamond tier. Any tier up from Diamond, the numbers shift significantly. The total number of Banked Days for players in Masters+ is 10 and the amount of LP lost per day is 250. Each game you play will only give you back 1 Banked Day, which makes sense for the highest ranks in the game as even a week of not playing League can deteriorate your skills.