- This page is about the currently used League system. For the previous system, see Elo rating system.
League of Legends has a ranking system called the League system, matching players of a similar skill level to play with and against each other. It comprises nine tiers which indicate the skill level of players. Players within each division are ranked using a system of points called League Points (LP).
Players can monitor their league standings in their profile.
Splits
A season lasts almost a year, but is divided into three splits lasting three months. Players earn points for the split by winning games, which credit towards rewards at the end of the split. Due to the mechanics of Draft Pick in the Ranked queue, there are different amounts rewarded:
- +20 SP when playing primary and secondary role
- +25 SP when drafting Fill
- +30 SP when autofilled
Rewards:
- 150 SP - Unique Split Icon
- 250 SP - Split Ranked Regalia upgrade
- 500 SP - Split Emote that adjusts based on tier until locking in at end of split
- 750 SP - Eternals Capsule
Tiers and Divisions
Each tier from Iron to Diamond is divided into four divisions, depicted by a roman numeral starting from IV (4 being the lowest) to I (1 being the highest). Each division features a base armor, which then gets upgraded based on splits, resulting in a lot of different combinations. The armors shown below are in order: division 4 base; division 3 split 1; division 2 split 2; division 1 split 3.
Master tier and higher do not have divisions, they are instead exclusively reliant on LP and the population of players within these rank tiers. Any ranked armor features are obtained by staying within these tiers for each split of the season.
Each tier from Bronze to Diamond is divided into five divisions, depicted by a roman numeral between V (5 being the lowest) and I (1 being the highest).
Tier Trims
Under the profile banner there's a trim that highlights the tier a person was the previous season.
League Points
Players earn League Points (LP) when they win ranked games and lose them when they lose ranked games. The amount earned or lost depends on the player's hidden Match Making Rating (MMR). The higher the MMR, the more LP earned per win and the less LP lost per loss.
League Points inactivity decay
Diamond and above are subject to LP decay. Diamond players lose 50 LP if they don't play ranked games after 28 days, which then repeats every 7 days until they play a ranked game.
Master and above tiers decay work differently with a game banking system. Playing games adds towards the player's "banked games", up to a maximum of 10 games. 1 game is removed from the bank per day, and when the bank reaches 0, the player loses 250 LP per day until they bank more games.
Falling at 0 LP due to decay will automatically demote the player.
Notes:
- Inactive players cannot be seen by others in the ladder view.
- The LP decay does not affect MMR.
Division Promotion and Demotion
This information applies to all tiers that contain multiple divisions.
Promotion
Players who reach 100 LP in their division automatically start a set of games called promotion series. When promoting within a tier, these games are a best of three; When promoting to a new tier, these games are a best of five. Winning the series will advance the player's division with LP reset to 0, while failing the promotion results in a setback of LP based on the net amount gained during the promotion. Leaving a match either during champion selection or during the game itself forfeits a loss in the promotion series.
- Match losses caused by server problems don't count for promotion series.
- Promo Helper: Failed promotions lower than Gold I grant a free win for the next time the player enters promotion. This does not apply in the case of forfeited series.
- The second failed promotion from one tier to another while lower than Gold, will instead grant two free wins for the next time the player enters the tier promotion.
- Division promotions from Platinum onwards are time limited 28 days, tier promotions are instead limited 5 days (including promotion to Platinum).
In very rare occasions, players are promoted twice when they win a promotion series. This happens with players whose MMR is unusually high for their current division. For instance, the MMR of a Gold IV player who plays duo queue often with his friend in Platinum III might be unusually high because he's matched often against higher level players. As a result, his MMR can be 1 or 2 divisions higher than the average in his current division. Another reason for unusually high MMRs is queue dodging. Queue dodging carries a penalty of 3 LP for the first dodge of the day and 10 LP for further dodging, but does not decrease a player's MMR.
Since patch V4.1 it is possible, however rare, to skip promotional series. This happens with players whose MMR is one tier higher than their current placement. For example, a Gold IV player whose MMR is Platinum IV or higher is instantly promoted upon reaching 100 LP. It is possible to skip both divisions and promotional series. Series skipping is possible up to Platinum I.
Demotion
Players are demoted when they lose matches at 0 LP or through inactivity decay. Demoted players move to the next lower division and their LP is reset to 75.
Players who promote to a higher division enter a demotion immunity period that lasts for several games. The purpose of the immunity period is to prevent players from being demoted due to bad luck. However, Masters players demote after playing at least 3 games and then losing with 0 LP.
Since Season 4 it is possible to be demoted from a tier. Players in the division IV of a tier whose MMR drops an entire tier are warned about possible demotion. For example, a player in Gold IV will receive a warning upon reaching Silver IV MMR.
Provisionals
Entry into a ranked ladder comprises a provisional period that determines their rank on through the end of the period. During this time, there is no loss of LP nor promotion series, and the player's rank is private. The current provisional period is 10 matches.
Apex Tiers
| Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger tiers each comprise a single division of the most skilled and competitive League of Legends players. There is no LP limit, but players must overtake each other's points to gain standing. Every 24 hours, players calculated within a percentile of the top players will be sorted into the appropriate tier.[1]
If a player reaches Challenger tier in solo/duo queue, even if they don't have a ranked team, they are likely to be spotted and possibly recruited by a professional team. |
|
Skill Levels
Patch changes are influenced by player performance in different skill levels.[2]
- Average
- Iron IV – Gold I
- (0–90 percentile)
- Skilled
- Platinum IV – Diamond II
- (90–99.5 percentile)
- Elite
- Diamond III – Challenger
- (99.5–100 percentile)
- Pro
- Top 4 Pro Regions
- (LPL, LCK, LEC, LCS, LMS)
History
This information is no longer relevant, and exists here for historic purposes.
Division Promotion and Demotion
Removed in V10.23.
This information applies to all tiers that contain multiple divisions.
Promotion
Players who reach 100 LP in their division automatically start a set of games called promotion series. When promoting within a tier, these games are a best of three; When promoting to a new tier, these games are a best of five. Winning the series will advance the player's division with LP reset to 0, while failing the promotion results in a setback of LP based on the net amount gained during the promotion. Leaving a match either during champion selection or during the game itself forfeits a loss in the promotion series.
- Match losses caused by server problems don't count for promotion series.
- Promo Helper: Failed promotions lower than Gold I grant a free win for the next time the player enters promotion. This does not apply in the case of forfeited series.
- The second failed promotion from one tier to another while lower than Gold, will instead grant two free wins for the next time the player enters the tier promotion.
- Division promotions from Platinum onwards are time limited 28 days, tier promotions are instead limited 5 days (including promotion to Platinum).
In very rare occasions, players are promoted twice when they win a promotion series. This happens with players whose MMR is unusually high for their current division. For instance, the MMR of a Gold IV player who plays duo queue often with his friend in Platinum III might be unusually high because he's matched often against higher level players. As a result, his MMR can be 1 or 2 divisions higher than the average in his current division. Another reason for unusually high MMRs is queue dodging. Queue dodging carries a penalty of 3 LP for the first dodge of the day and 10 LP for further dodging, but does not decrease a player's MMR.
Since patch V4.1 it is possible, however rare, to skip promotional series. This happens with players whose MMR is one tier higher than their current placement. For example, a Gold IV player whose MMR is Platinum IV or higher is instantly promoted upon reaching 100 LP. It is possible to skip both divisions and promotional series. Series skipping is possible up to Platinum I.
Demotion
Players are demoted when they lose matches at 0 LP or through inactivity decay. Demoted players move to the next lower division and their LP is reset to 75.
Players who promote to a higher division enter a demotion immunity period that lasts for several games. The purpose of the immunity period is to prevent players from being demoted due to bad luck. However, Masters players demote after playing at least 3 games and then losing with 0 LP.
Since Season 4 it is possible to be demoted from a tier. Players in the division IV of a tier whose MMR drops an entire tier are warned about possible demotion. For example, a player in Gold IV will receive a warning upon reaching Silver IV MMR.Trivia
- In Season One and Season Two, the system used a single ladder with ranking determined by an Elo rating system.
- Season Three introduced the multiple-tier league system, with each tier having 5 divisions (except for Challenger).
- Season Four introduced the
Master tier (with only one division). - Season Nine introduced the Iron tier and the Grandmaster tier, as well as reducing the number of divisions from 5 to 4.
- The different ranked emblems are represented by the regions of Runeterra.
- Bilgewater represents the Iron rank.
- Zaun represents the Bronze rank.
- Piltover represents the Silver rank.
- Shurima represents the Gold rank.
- Ionia represents the Platinum rank.
- Mount Targon represents the Diamond rank.
- The Void represents the Master rank.
- Noxus represents the Grandmaster rank.
- Demacia represents the Challenger rank.
Master tier (with only one division).
Iron tier and the 
Grandmaster tier, as well as reducing the number of divisions from 5 to 4.
Bronze rank.
Silver rank.
Gold rank.
Platinum rank.
Diamond rank.
Master rank.
Challenger rank.
Season 3 FAQ
- Why are we creating a new league system?
We decided to move to the new league system for a few reasons. For starters, having a single ladder with all ranked players doesn't provide a lot of incentive for advancement. When you're ranked 290,000 and have 289,999 opponents left to pass on the way up, that process can seem meaningless and interminable. Tiers and divisions also provide milestones and manageable goals you can strive to achieve at your skill level. Through leagues we can move away from focusing on a single number as the core indicator of a player's skill, and instead move toward something more compelling: competition on a small ladder with a relatable number of opponents.
- What happens if I lose a ranked match in the league system?
Losing a ranked game in the league system will cost some of your League Points. If you're already at the bottom of your division, this may mean falling back to the previous division . Once you've earned a skill tier, however, you can never be demoted to the previous tier unless you stop playing for a prolonged period of time. In other words, losing can never cause you to fall below 0 League Points in the lowest division of your league.
- Once I'm placed in a league, what happens to my Elo?
Our matchmaking system still matches you by skill level, but this “rating” is no longer visible and does not have any bearing on your seasonal rewards or ladder standing. Your standing in your league is now determined by your tier, division and League Points, not your matchmaking rating.
- How does my ranked Elo determine my league placement?
If you've played at least five ranked team games or 10 solo/duo games in the preseason, a combination of your current and top Elo rating will determine the tier of the league you initially earn.
- How will I be placed into a league if I didn't play ranked during the preseason?
If you haven't played enough ranked matches in the preseason, you'll first complete a series of placement matches before being sorted into a league. How you perform in these matches will determine the tier of the league you initially earn.
- Will I only be matched against opponents in my league?
No. Matchmaking isn't affected by your league, and you'll still be competing against all opponents of your skill level in the League of Legends community. Your league measures your progress against a set of opponents of similar skill level, but doesn't restrict competition solely to those players.
- What if I want to see how I measure up against my friends?
The league system will always try to place you in a league with summoners on your friends list first, provided they're in the same skill tier you are. If you want to check your ranking against a friend in another league, you can compare your tier, division, and league points to get a general idea of who's closer to the top.
- Do I have to duo queue with summoners from my League?
No. In ranked solo/duo you can still queue with any summoner you choose, regardless of the tier, division, or league in which they're placed.
- Will I have the opportunity to go pro if I reach the top of the ranked 3v3 or solo/duo Challenger tier?
Although there are no League of Legends Championship Series events for 3v3 or solo/duo competitors, reaching the challenger tier in these rankings will help you find other top notch summoners to play with. If you're interested in making a run at the Championship Series, try messaging some fellow Challenger tier competitors who aren't attached to a current 5v5 ranked team. You'll probably find you have plenty of potential comrades to help you pursue your dream.
- Can you walk me though an example of how the league system works?
Sure. For the sake of illustration, let's take the hypothetical (and non-existent) player Steve McQueen. Steve completes his placement matches and falls into division three of the Silver tier. He's then placed into a league with up to 250 other Silver tier players. Based on their skill level, these players are evenly distributed across the five Silver tier divisions, so Steve's league contains around 50 players in each division. When Steve acquires 100 League Points by winning ranked games, he'll have the opportunity to play a Division Series to move up. If he were already in division one, he'd get to play a Promotion Series to break into a new league in the Gold tier.
- I'm wondering what happens if you lose your division or promotion series best of three or best of five. Do you lose all your current league points and start over, or is it a relatively quick process to try again?
It's not a big deal if you lose a division or promotion series. You'll simply end up back in the ladder rankings with say, 60-90 LP (depending on how the series went) and there's nothing preventing you from qualifying for another series quickly.
- What if no one in your "league" is on at 4am... That mean you cant play ranked?
You can still be matched against anyone else who's playing ranked at that time, even if they're in a different league, division, or tier. So you shouldn't have any trouble finding matches at 4 AM.
- If you cannot drop tiers does that mean you will continue to be matched with the people at the bottom of your tier no matter how many times you lose afterwards? And if so do you have a system implemented in order to resolve elo boosting and/or getting lucky in your placement matches and then continually underperforming in a tier you don't belong in?
Matchmaking will continue to match you based on a hidden MMR (matchmaking rating) that's tracked behind the scenes. If you are continually losing matches at the bottom of Gold tier, you'll start to play against Silver players even though you're in a Gold league.
There are a lot of checks and balances that must be passed before you can move up a tier, so we don't think that it will be common for players to be in this situation (with the exception of something like Elo boosting, which we'll be continuing to address).
- Will our elo be resetting then?
We won't be resetting ratings, no. Players and teams will be seeded into a league based on a combination of their current and top ratings from the preseason. If you didn't play enough games in the preseason, then you'll be placed into a league when you finish your tenth game (or fifth game for a team).
- When you upgrade divisions will you start with 0 league points or like 50 or something?
You start with 0 LP, yes, but there's a grace period where it's impossible to be demoted for the first few games in the new division, so losing won't really cost you anything. You can look at it as a time to relax for a bit after successfully getting through a division series.
- Seems like you can game the system by throwing a ton of games after each time you go up a skill tier, and then proceed to pubstomp your way to the next skill tier. Please tell me this has been considered already.
If your hidden matchmaking rating (MMR) is far below where it should be for your current division, you will gain LP much more slowly. Similarly, if for some reason your MMR is far above where it should be for your current division, you will gain LP more quickly. Throwing games will not help you out in this system. It's always better to win the game you're playing, regardless of if it's part of a division series, or if you've just been promoted, or if it's just a typical game in the middle of the division standings.
- It could also mean that I'll be matched AGAINST my friends if they're in the same league, which is not exactly a nice experience imo. Unless the matchmaking tries to pair us together if we're playing at the same time or something.
Leagues don't affect matchmaking. You can still be matched against anyone in the entire system, so being in the same division as a friend just allows for some friendly banter and competition. It doesn't mean you will play with or against them more often (unless of course, you duo queue).
- Can the promotion/division series be done with other people (random or from league) doing such series?
It would be nice to have a shared goal, and maybe force players to work together a lil more. It won't work this way at launch but it's high on our list of possible post-launch improvements. We agree that it could be pretty awesome to only match people who are in a series together so that everyone has the same stake in the match outcome. It'd be difficult to do this in Diamond without slowing down matchmaking significantly, but it should be very doable for the other tiers.
For now, we won't be telling anyone else that you're participating in a series, so it's up to you if you want to let people know or not. We look at it as being similar to starting a game at 1490 Elo in the previous system, where you know that you'll get to Gold if you win, and other players in the match aren't necessarily in the same boat.
- Would duo q'ing with someone of a higher tier give you more League Points than Solo Q?
No, duo queuing with someone who's in a higher tier wouldn't give you more LP. It's based on the expected win percentage of your team in the matchup, and the fact that you're in a lower tier than your opponents would be offset by the fact that you have a higher tier player on your team as well.
- What's the main difference between this new system and the SC2 system?
There are certainly similarities, but in designing this system we focused on certain goals we felt were under served in in SC2 and in LoL seasons 1 and 2.
- Clear short, mid, and long term goals
- The ability to understand how promotion works and when it happens
- Exciting series matches similar to the playoff games you see in LoL pro play
- Communities of players competing to rise in the ranks
- If there's only one league at the top, to qualify to move into it, do you have to knock someone out of it? Or is it adaptive and expands in size?
If you move up into Challenger Tier then you knock someone else out. Once you've reached that level of badassery, you've got to fight to keep it. This is the only League where that will be the case.
- What is the difference between League, Ranked and Normal games in these new system?
- How do they work together?
- Ranked and League will be two different queues?
League and Ranked are the same thing. The old ladder structure (the singular ranked list of everyone that plays ranked LoL, sorted by Elo) is now going to be replaced by Leagues of similarly skilled players.
Normal games will continue to be exactly the same as before.
- Are the division and promotion matches consecutive? Or can you just play one, go eat dinner and watch a movie, come back a few hours later and play another match in the best-of-three/best-of-five (like ELO placement matches)? Or is it like competitive play where you play games until there is a majority winner? (This might mean 3-4 hours of consecutive play).
You aren't required to finish them right away; you will have a very generous window of time to complete your series (multiple weeks), before you are no longer eligible to be promoted. Though we want to bring you the intense feeling of a tournament game, we know people have things to do, dinners to eat, and swimming pool fires to put out.
- If someone is in a promotion series what prevents them from repeatedly dodging until they enter a game they have a high chance of winning?
If you queue dodge during a Division or Promotion Series then the series will immediately be canceled and you'll have to re-qualify for the series by winning another game. It might sound harsh, but queue dodge rates in ranked are honestly too high right now, and we're not interested in having some players carefully micromanaging their series matchups at the expense of everyone else's queue times and failed lobbies.
- What are the penalties if I dodge a ranked game?
A time penalty preventing you from searching a new game for a certain amount of time. This time starts at 5 minutes and is increased by 30 more minutes to a 1 hour cap for every following queue dodge that day.
A League Points penalty is applied to the player who dodges, 3 points for the first time and 10 for the second time before the timer reset.
Season 4 FAQ
- How do ranked leagues work?
There are five divisions (V through I, with I being the highest) and six tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Challenger).
After you play your initial placement matches*, the system will place you in a specific tier and division based on your results. From there, you'll have to climb the ladder by winning matches and improving. Win ranked games and you'll gain League Points (LP), while losing in ranked loses you LP. If you're already at the bottom of your division, this may mean dropping to the previous division.
- If your match is protected by Loss Forgiveness, the outcome of the match will not be counted toward your placement. However, it will take up a placement match. If you play 10 placement matches and one of them is protected by Loss Forgiveness, you will be placed based on the outcome of the other 9 matches.
Each time you hit 100 LP within your division, you'll qualify for a promotion series best-of-three. Beat that and you'll promote yourself to the next division. If you hit a promotion series when you're in division I, then you'll qualify for a larger promotion series best-of-five. Beat that series and you'll move on to the next tier!
You're briefly protected from falling to a lower tier after your promotion, but you can still fall back down into lower tiers if your MMR falls significantly after this period of protection.
- What changes have you made to ranked leagues in 2014?
- Temporary shields will stop players from dropping into a lower tier immediately. Last season, you couldn't be demoted to a lower tier unless you didn't play ranked games for a long time. This season, we're giving players who are promoted into division V a temporary shield that stops them from dropping into a lower tier for 10 games. If their MMR falls more than a full tier below their current tier once those 10 games are over, they'll get a warning on their profile. For example, a Gold V player with a Silver V MMR would get a warning. Continuing to lose games at 0 LP gets them demoted to division I of the next lowest tier – in our example, Silver I.
- LP gains are now more consistent through all divisions and tiers except for in Diamond I. Small LP gains are necessary in Diamond I to ensure that Challenger represents only the most elite players and is always highly accurate.
- We've also increased the solo/duo queue Challenger pool from 50 to 200. The skill gap between players at 0 LP and 100 LP in Diamond I is super wide, so there's a jam of extremely skilled players vying for Challenger at the top of Diamond I. We want to ease some of that pressure and recognize more players by increasing the number of spots in Challenger tier.
- Can you walk me through an example of how the league system works?
Sure. A player completes his placement matches and is placed into Silver III. He's then placed into the Katarina's Assassins league with up to 250 other Silver tier players because he's already got three friends who are competing there. Based on their skill level, these 250 players are evenly distributed across the five Silver tier divisions, so his league contains around 50 players in each division. When he acquires 100 LP through ranked wins, he gets to play a division series to move up to Silver II. If he were already in Silver I, he'd be entered into a promotion series to break into Gold V.
- How does my preseason ranking determine my initial seeding?
Our system will determine your 2014 season starting tier and league through a combination of your preseason ranking and your placement matches (five ranked team games or 10 solo/duo games).
- Will I only be matched against opponents in my league?
Nope. Matchmaking isn't affected by your league, so you'll compete against opponents of various skill levels. Your league indicates your progress against a set of opponents who're similar to you in skill level, but it doesn't restrict competition solely to those in your league.
- What if I want to see how I measure up against my friends?
The league system will always try to place you in a league with players on your friends list as long as they're in the same skill tier (e.g., Silver). If you want to check your ranking against a friend in another league, you can compare your tier, division and LP to get a general idea of who's closer to the top.
- What determines how many league points I gain from winning a match?
There are numerous factors, but if your competitors are generally ranked higher than you, you'll gain more LP for victories (and lose less from losses) and trend upwards even with a 50/50 record. If matchmaking favors your opponent, you'll gain more LP than normal if you pull off the upset. The opposite is also true.
This is generally true up until you hit Diamond I because we want to ensure that Challenger standing is highly accurate and represents only the very best players. At Diamond I, you may notice significantly slower LP gains so the system can match your MMR to the MMR of Challenger players. This means that even with 99 or 100 LP, you won't necessarily hit your promo series, but they will trigger once your MMR reaches Challenger levels.
- What happens to my accumulated league points if I'm defeated in a division or promotion series?
You'll lose LP relative to how you performed in the series, so you'll lose more LP if you tanked your promotion series pretty hard. You'll generally find yourself somewhere between 60-90 points following an unsuccessful series.
- What happens if I transfer my account to another region?
You'll need to play one placement match to be reseeded into a new league. Keep in mind that your new league could be different from the one you were in before, as it will be based on the MMR distribution on the new server. Hit up our Account Transfer FAQ for more info.
- What happens if I stop playing ranked for a while?
After 28 days of inactivity in a particular ranked queue, a couple things will happen. First, you'll be hidden from the standings in your League. You may also lose LP depending on your current tier. Every seven days thereafter, you'll lose LP until you play a match in that queue.
The number of LP lost following each period of decay is as follows:
- Diamond: 50
- Platinum: 35
- Gold: 25
- Silver: 10
- Bronze: 0
If you fall below zero LP as a result of decay, you'll be placed into the next lowest division. If you're already in division V of your league, you'll fall into a new league in the next tier down (for example, Gold V to Silver I).
tl;dr: don't take a break from ranked for too long :)
- How do Demotions work?
When you lose a match with 0 LP, there's a chance that you may be demoted down to the next lowest division (for example Division IV to Division V), or even drop down a tier (for example from Silver to Bronze). Whether or not this happens depends on your hidden MMR, which is compared against the lowest average MMR rating of your division and tier.
When you reach a new division, you are protected from demotion for three games before you're in danger of demotion. When you reach Division 5 of any tier, you are protected from demotion for ten games.
We have implemented a warning system to indicate when you are close to dropping a tier. You will receive a soft warning when your MMR falls below your tier's lowest MMR value, and a sterner warning when the gap increases.
Further losses beyond this point will result in a tier demotion to division 1 of the next lowest tier with either 25 or 75 LP, depending on your MMR at the time of demotion.
- How do I make sure no one steals my team name?
Your team name isn't locked down until your team finishes five placement matches and gets officially seeded. If you don't want anyone to snipe your awesome team name, please finish the placement matches.
- I just hit my promo series. How long do I have to complete it?
You have 28 days from the day you hit your promotion series to complete the entire series. This time limit doesn't refresh every time you play another game in the series; you've gotta finish all three (or five) matches within 28 days. For promotion from Diamond I to Challenger, you've only got five days total!
- What's the penalty for queue dodging in ranked under the league system, and why's there a penalty?
The first time you queue dodge in ranked solo/duo, you'll lose three LP and receive a six-minute matchmaking ban. If you've already queue dodged recently, successive dodges will cost you 10 LP and a 30-minute ban from matchmaking. For teams, the penalty is always 10 LP and a one-minute matchmaking ban.
Why? We want to penalize chronic queue-dodgers without affecting the matchmaking ecosystem. The three LP penalty is intentionally light so players who dodge to escape a potentially toxic situation aren't punished as severely. However, the subsequent 10 LP penalties are targeted at players who queue dodge to game the system by only playing when they have a favorable match-up. Because queue dodging wastes a lot of time and frustrates players more than failed flashes, we want to discourage people from dodging except in extreme circumstances.
- How are leagues named, and how do I get a new league name?
League names are purely cosmetic and are created by randomly pairing a champion's name with an appropriately epic plural noun. Some examples include Katarina's Assassins, Twisted Fate's Shadows and Vi's Brawlers. You can't change your league name or switch to another league; however you may change leagues when you move up or down into a new tier (e.g., Silver to Gold). If you happen to drop a division, you will go back to the League you were in earlier rather than a random one.
We'd like to assure you that no champion, living or undead, human or yordle (except The Great Warlord Teemo), receives special treatment on the basis of race, gender, species, political allegiance or extra-dimensional origins. Riot Games is an equally opportunity league-namer.
- What are emblems and how can I get one?
Emblems call out certain players and teams in the League standings. There are currently three you can earn:
- Recruit: you joined this League within the last 14 days
- Veteran: you've played over 100 games in this League
- Hot Streak: you've won three or more games in a row in this queue
You'll earn an emblem immediately after you meet the criteria and lose it as soon as it's no longer relevant. While there aren't any gameplay benefits to picking one up, they're fun and they call out significant accomplishments to make you feel special. You'll find your emblems displayed by your summoner name in your league standings.
- How does the Challenger tier work?
Only the most elite players and teams in a region will make it into the Challenger tier. Membership in this tier is more strenuously regulated and competition works a little differently:
- Challenger has no divisions. There's just a single league with all the Challenger tier competitors.
- Once the Challenger tier is full and a new competitor is promoted to Challenger, the Challenger player with the lowest LP (or team, in the case of 5v5 and 3v3 queues) will be demoted to Diamond I to make room for the new competitor.
- Challenger tier competitors will be flagged as inactive after only seven days. Inactive players and teams will be the first to be demoted if another player or team is promoted to Challenger.
- There's no upper limit on LP. Players and teams that continue winning will keep earning LP and increase their lead in the standings.
- The top 5v5 teams can participate in the 2014 Coke Zero Challenger Series.
- When a player or team enters Challenger Tier, they cannot be removed from Challenger Tier for seven days. Once this seven-day grace period has ended, normal Challenger rules apply and the player(s) must fight to maintain their spot in the tier.
- Can I go pro if I reach the top of the ranked team or solo/duo queue Challenger tier?
Maybe! Stomping the competition in ranked solo/duo queue won't qualify you for the LCS, but it's a recruitment tool for pro teams. Your 5v5 ranked team has a shot at the Coke Zero Challenger Series if your team reigns among the top 20 in Challenger tier.
Season 9 Ask Riot
- How are positional ranks going?
We've had a crazy week since position ranks launched, but overall we feel cautiously optimistic. Queue times, position assignment rates, and game quality overall are the same or better than last season, and we've seen positive feedback from players who appreciate being able to branch out and play something they aren't as good at yet. We've also seen plenty of constructive feedback. Based on that, here are the three biggest topics on our minds right now:
- Swapping — Last week we patched a bug that let players take advantage of position swapping at high MMR. Going forward, we need to continue watching for potential abuse cases like this to ensure the systems we built to mitigate bad behavior are working properly.
- Incentives — LP splashing is intended to be an incentive in two ways. First, you earn bonus LP for your main position when you win autofill games, which should feel good since it's still less punishing if you lose. Second, if you're throwing matches or it looks like you're not bringing your A-game, negative splashing—which affects your main position—should quickly get larger and raise the stakes. We're looking at how we can improve the effectiveness of those incentives.
- The Grind — We're keeping a close eye on players who play a lot of different positions to determine whether we need to adjust splashing or rewards. We're already planning some changes to promotion series that should help Fill players as well.
- How does decaying work with the new position ranks? Will you decay for positions you haven't played recently, or are your ranks safe as long as you are playing one position?
Decay hasn't changed too much for position ranks. Here are the rules:
- Decay now starts at Diamond IV rather than Platinum IV
- Each position that is eligible for decay has its own decay timer
- When you play a position, we reset the timer for that position and every position with a lower rank
Decay rules for Master+ are unchanged from last season:
- Each game you play in Master, Grandmaster and Challenger tier is stored as a “banked game,” up to a maximum of 10
- Each day, 1 banked game is removed from your reserves
- When your banked games reach 0, you'll lose 100 LP per day until you bank more games
- Wins and losses both count toward banked games; all that matters is that you play
- Why is the position ranks queue only in 2 regions?
With position ranks, we're interested in how satisfying off-position games are, how effectively splashing deters bad behavior, and whether players value having a more accurate view of their skill. We can't get a clear read on most of those without players getting hands-on experience during the season.
At its core, position ranks is a pretty huge change. We're taking steps—like tracking both position ranks and current ranks in all regions—to ensure players don't lose progress if we have any issues, technical or otherwise, but we still believe it's responsible to roll out the feature carefully so we can react to feedback before getting it in everyone's hands.
- Why can't we choose a role we don't want to play?
Over the years, we've experimented with a couple of alternative position select systems, including one where you could “veto” a position. Essentially, it ended up sucking because everyone chose to veto Support, which lowered matchmaking quality and increased queue times dramatically.
Autofill was introduced as a last resort way of ensuring people don't sit in queue for a ridiculously long time. We try to avoid autofilling you if we can, but the design challenge here is striking a balance between you getting to pick your position, not having infinite queue times, and getting fair matches. Currently, the only way autofill wouldn't be necessary is if each position had an equal amount of demand—20% of players—literally all the time. This is a tricky thing to get right, but we're going to continue looking for ways to get you the position you want and make every game feel winnable.
- Have you ever thought about letting people hide their ranks so others can't see them on their profile?
We get requests like this from time to time, but the answer is: Probably not.
Ranked is meant to be a public, head-to-head competition where players are measured against each other. It's a mode that players use as a way to know how good they and their friends are at the game. Making rankings and matches public for anyone to see is an important part of reinforcing that.
- How does the provisional system work? Because I won more games than my friends in placements and got placed in bronze 1, and they all got placed in silver. But I used to be in silver last season.
During placements, we consider a few pieces of information: your past rank, your MMR, and your win-loss record.
When you play your first game of the season, we give you a provisional rank based on where you ended last season—you should expect it to be about a tier lower. Then, during the rest of your placement games, your LP gains and losses will largely depend on your MMR and your record against the teams you face.
Any or all of those variables could be different from one player to the next, and if they are, that could explain why you got a different result. You've got this though; good luck on your climb—I'm sure you'll be Gold in no time!
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