League of Legends Ranking System Explained 2022

League of Legends, one of the most popular and competitive games of all time, increases the passion of the game even more thanks to its ranking system. There are many modes in the game, but undoubtedly the most difficult and most serious one; Ranked mode.

If you want to stand out with your play in League of Legends, prove your skills and play games with players of your level, let us direct you to Ranked games. Here you will compete with your opponents in a tier that suits your skills and performance.

If you’re bored with Normal games and are ready for a little more serious gameplay, let’s introduce you to the League of Legends ranking system. It might sound a little confusing at first if you are a newcomer. Because it requires more focus and attention.

The following questions may come to your mind: “How many ranks are there, what are their names and how can I reach them, how should I start and progress…” No problem! In this article, we’ll answer every question you’ve had and get you ready for the Ranked environment of League.

How Does League of Legends Ranked Work?

League of Legends has a nine-tiered ranking system, each divided into four divisions, with four being the lowest and one being the highest. 

You earn LP for every game you win with your team. LP stands for League Points, but in-game everyone says LP. By earning LP, you advance through divisions. When you earn 100 LP in your division, you move up one division. The exact amount of LP you earn is determined by your Matchmaking Rating (MMR). We’ll talk about this in more detail later.

You can also lose LP if you don’t win a game or if you leave the game. The amount of LP you lose is also determined by your and your opponent’s MMR. In this way, you either rank up or you fall. You may keep climbing the ranked leaderboard and increasing your MMR to assure you earn the most LP for each win if you keep winning games.

If players want to rise themselves in Ranked matches, they must play regularly and master a role they choose. This may sound like a Normal match, but there is a lot of difference between them. Players in Ranked matches don’t hesitate to give their best performances to win. That way the games will also be more competitive.

You can also earn rewards and achievements at the end of each season. Depending on the rank you completed in, the number and quality of awards you receive will increase. While most players don’t play Ranked for prizes, sometimes there are some stunning prizes. Your tier and division will be locked in as your official rank for the season at the end of each season.

What Are the Ranks in League of Legends Called?

The ranks (tiers) in League of Legends from lowest to highest are as follows:

• Iron
• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Diamond
• Master
• Grandmaster
• Challenger

League of Legends has an excellent player-base with 8 million players every day. And most of these players want to compete with players of their own level. Therefore, the League of Legends ranking system creates the appropriate environment for players to find players of their own level and place them in that rank.

From Iron to Challenger, there are nine tiers in ranked League of Legends. Each contains four divisions, with four being the lowest and one being the highest. When you reach 100 LP in your tier’s division one, you’ll be offered the opportunity to advance to division four in the tier above by winning the majority of your games in a short promotion series.

You used to play these promotion series to move up in divisions within the tier, but now you only play to move up to a higher tier. For example, you have reached Silver 1- 100 LP and you have been given a chance to play your promotion matches, if you win most of the matches you will be promoted to Gold 4. If you lose most of them, you will lose LP as if you had lost a regular Ranked match.

So to rank up from Silver 2 to Silver 1, you just need to have 100 LP. According to each tier and division you rise, your opponents will become stronger or weaker. But when you rank up, it shouldn’t be a problem as you prove to be a good player.

League of Legends Ranking Distribution

Seasons of League of Legends occur once a year, generally from January through November or December the following year. League of Legends publishes the ranking distribution of the various tiers prior to the start of each Ranked season.

Challenger is of course at the top, as it is the most difficult rank to reach. Grandmaster and Master follows. After that, it’s pretty complicated. We see that there are mostly Silver ranked players in the game. Although most players see the Bronze rank as “elo hell” as a classic, players seem to be stuck in the Silver rank the most. This is because players in Silver rank make no effort to improve themselves.

Every season, almost all League players aspire to improve their rank, but only a handful succeed in ending a ranked season in a higher tier. Because the top and lowest ends of the range are inhabited by fewer people, the rank of League players is far from being evenly distributed.

Using Riot’s own estimate of eight million daily users, we may estimate that only around 1,500 people worldwide are talented enough to play in the top tier. Also, to mention, starting with Platinum, players who have inactive ranked accounts lose LP over time, so you’ll need to keep playing to preserve your high rating.

League of Legends Divisions

Within each tier, there are divisions numbered from four (IV) to one (I), with one being the top, and your gameplay decides which division you’ll be assigned to. Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger are the final three ranks, and they have no divisions.

• Iron to Diamond IV (4) The lowest division
• Iron to Diamond III (3)
• Iron to Diamond II (2)
• Iron to Diamond I (1) The highest division

You can jump from one division to the next in sequence when you reach 100 LP. If you get a tight win-streak and you lose a minimum of games, the game will do you a favor and you’ll have a chance to advance through 2 divisions.

So let’s say you lose very little in the Gold IV division and reach 100 LP and you will increase to the next division. The game ranks you up to Gold II instead of Gold III. This is a great opportunity for you to rank up quickly. But remember, the key here is to be able to move up to the next without wasting too much time in that division.

When you reach the highest division I, you will be asked to play your promotion matches. If you can win most of the matches, you will advance to a higher tier and start that tier in the IV division, the lowest one.

What Does Placement Matches Mean in LoL?

Remember that you must have reached a minimum of level 30 before you can start playing Ranked. And, you must at least own 20 different champions in your account.

When you first start playing Ranked, you don’t start directly in Iron IV, the lowest rank in the game. Instead, each player must complete temporary ranked games, commonly known as placement matches, in order to determine their official LoL rating.

When a player initially begins playing ranked, they will be placed in one of ten placement games to establish their starting rank, just as they are at the start of each new ranked season. The more games you win throughout your placements, the more likely you are to begin in a Silver rank.

Fear not, when you first start out, you’ll be matched with people like you who just started playing Ranked so you can rank fairly. There is even a high probability that you will be matched with other people playing placement matches. The League of Legends ranking system makes it so easy for players to be matched equally.

After playing all your placement matches, you are placed in a certain rank according to the number of games you have won and lost. So what will you do now? Although this rank is low, you can easily climb up, so if you play the game regularly and strategically, you will reach the rank you want quickly.

Solo/Duo and Flex Ranked Games

If you have tried to play a Ranked game, you must have seen two options; Solo/Duo and Flex. These are two separate Ranked modes. In the past, only Solo/Duo was played, but now Flex mode is also playable.

• Solo/Duo: Solo/Duo, as the name suggests, is a Ranked mode that you can play alone or with a partner. This mode is the most preferred mode because it was active when the Ranked system was first introduced. In addition, your job is more difficult because you are with people you do not know, so the competition is quite high. You cannot play this mode with more than 2 people. If you enter as a single person, the remaining 4 people will be distributed randomly, if you enter 2 people, the remaining 3 people will be distributed randomly.

• Flex: This mode is a Ranked mode where you can play with one, two, three or five people. The ranking system in Flex mode in League of Legends is the same as in Solo/Duo mode. The only difference is that you can play with more than one friend. This is a great practice for better communication and coordination. But you can’t play as 4 players because that seems not fair to the last 1 player. If you enter as 3 people, the remaining 2 people will be given randomly.

What is Matchmaking Rank (MMR) in LoL?

Riot gives each player a Matchmaking Rank (MMR) depending of their skill level, which impacts how much LP they earn or lose in each game. The higher a player’s MMR, the more LP they can earn in a win game and the fewer they can lose in a loss game.

MMR is determined by the win and lose streaks you make. So the more games in a row you win, the higher your MMR will be, which helps you earn more LP. But keep in mind that as your MMR goes up, you’ll be matched with opponents with higher MMR so the games may be more challenging for you.

In other words, even if you are in the Gold II rank, if you have a high MMR, the opponents you will encounter may even be Plat III. It all depends on your success and ability. But if you lose too many games, the game offers you a chance to win and pairs you with opponents with low MMR.

The only downside of this situation is that if you’re playing Solo/Duo, your teammates will also have a lower MMR, so you’ll be playing with people who lost so many games. If you or your duo believe you can carry the game, you can increase your MMR and rank up by winning the games in a streak.

What Does Elo Mean?

Well, the question everyone is wondering: “What is Elo?”. Elo refers to the elo ranking system that existed prior to the implementation of the current League of Legends system. This system is no longer used because a lot has changed in the League of Legends rankings since then.

The term “elo” is now often used to refer to your League of Legends rank. When someone asks you what ‘elo’ you are, they’re talking about your League of Legends rank.

What is LP Decay?

If you have spent your time and reached a certain rank, you may think that you have secured things. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in the League of Legends ranking system. There are still some comments you need to make.

If you have reached the Platinum rank, you can rest and relax for a certain period of time. But for rank Platinum and above, if you don’t play Ranked for a certain period of time, you will automatically drop to Gold slowly.

If you don’t play Ranked for 28 days, you’ll start losing LP, which is called LP decay. If you play at least one game at 28-day intervals, you won’t lose LP. If you don’t play, don’t be surprised if you find yourself in Gold I 75 LP.

Going AFK in Ranked Matches

Going AFK or leaving the game in Ranked matches can have very bad consequences for you. League of Legends is a game played 5v5 and each role has its own sharp responsibilities, if even one person is missing, a huge difference will be observed in the game.

That’s why being AFK in LoL, especially Ranked matches, is subject to huge penalties. There are also serious penalties for dodge games, i.e. leaving a game while on champion selection. This is a big problem for queues, which makes you wait for a long time, especially at high ranks.

Riot designed numerous tiers with varied punishments to prevent inactivity in-game. Tier 0 is for individuals who have never AFKed before, while Tier 7 is the most extreme tier, which means players will be locked out the queue — meaning they will be unable to get into a que in LoL and will face a 15-minute queue delay for the five games.

Players that demonstrate excellent attitude will be rewarded, and they will be able to show that they have learned their lesson. This means that if a player has been placed in one of the lower levels for being AFK, they will be able to work hard to go up. If players do not change, they will remain in their tier, and a single AFK match will result in them receiving the punishments associated with their tier once more.

Ranked Seasons and Rewards

More than one season has come and gone in League of Legends. In total, 11 seasons have been completed and the 12th season will come in 2022. Each season, fundamental changes are made to the game. Usually there are big changes related to dragons, items or champions.

Players’ rank is reset at the beginning of each season, and they re-play their placement matches to move into a new rank. This implies that each player starts with 0 LP and 0 MMR at the start of each season, which is generally in January, and works their way back up the ranked journey.

But placement matches are again related to your previous rank. So for example, if you completed the previous season as a Master, when you finish your placement matches, you won’t be able to be placed anywhere below Gold – which they will generally be placed in Diamond.

This makes the job of high elo players much easier. So they don’t get a chance to play at all with low-level players. Consider a Challenger playing in Bronze elo. It’s like a Youtube title! Usually this never happens because Challenger players don’t get placed in a rank below Diamond.

Riot Games gives out rewards to players at the end of each season. Players who reach the Gold tier or higher will receive a victorious skin and chromas depending on their best achieved rank. Those trapped in silver and lower will have to make do with eternal crystal of the winner champion chosen by Riot.

In addition, you will also get a special icon and totem skin for the rank you have completed. At the end of Season 11, players who finished above Gold were awarded the Victorius Blitzcrank skin. It all depends on the champion Riot chooses.

How to Rank Up Easily in League of Legends?

• Choose a role for yourself

Although there are different roles and lanes in LoL, it is very important to find the one that works best for you. If you master that role, your job will be easier and it will help you practice. For example, if you are an ADC main who plays Vayne all the time, you will memorize all the mechanics of that champion after a while and you have certain tactics. But remember that there is a ban system in League of Legends ranking and the champion you play the most can be banned. So don’t forget to play other champions in your main role.

• Know all the LoL champions

This is very important because no matter which lane you play in, if you do not know the skills and mechanics of the champion in front of you, your job will be very difficult. Just because you don’t play a champion doesn’t mean you don’t have to know about it. For example, if you’re a mid-laner, you might find yourself dead suddenly if you can’t figure out when Ahri will do her combo.

• Watch professional LoL players

If you are going to grind Ranked, we strongly recommend that you apply this recommendation. Most of the meta elements such as which champion can be stronger than once and can be played in a different role, new combos are often determined by professional players in League of Legends esports. The moves made in professional stages of League of Legends, such as MSI, LCS and of course the World Championship, and the selected picks are often reflected in Ranked matches. For example, Ziggs first appeared as an ADC, at LCK Summer 2021 and has since been played in that role, though unrelated. We can say that it carries! You can follow world-class players such as Faker, Perkz, Rekkles, Rookie to learn meta news like this and more critical information.

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