League of Legends MMR

League of Legends is the most popular game in the world. Over the past decade, it tried different things when it comes to the competitive ladder. In the end, League settled on a Tier type Ranked system in Season 3 that has been tweaked several times since. Other games soon followed their practice and it’s now widely spread.

But it was not always like that. In seasons 1 and 2, players were competing to reach the highest ELO. It was a number that represented their skill in comparison to other players. In the other words, they were ranked based on their LoL MMR. Although we can’t see it anymore, the concept of MMR is still in the game nowadays. It’s the foundation of Leagues and the divisions that we know and controls all aspects of the competitive gameplay.

What is LoL MMR?

MMR or Elo has been invented as a method of ranking Chess players. Since then, it has been also used in video games, basketball, American Football, and even scrabble. It is a fundamental part of the League of Legends ranking system. It’s used for placing players of similar skills in the same games. Furthermore, it determines how much LP you will gain after a win, or lose after a defeat. It doesn’t take into account kill participation and farming. Instead, MMR cares only about wins and losses, so make sure to try your best in every game and get those wins.

Additionally, MMR is not only important for ranked game modes such as SoloQ. Instead, it also exists for normal games and even ARAM. If it wasn’t there, games would be imbalanced and much more frustrating.

The difference between MMR and your League Rank

Every League of Legends account has MMR associated with it. Depending on how well you perform in different modes it can be higher or lower.  It is the most important part of your ranking-up process as it determines your LP gains and losses. While the league system that was introduced in Season 3 shows your rank publicly, the only Riot knows your true MMR.

While it is highly unlikely, your MMR can be different from your league rank. Big win or loss streaks, as well as decays, could cause irregularities between your MMR and your public rank.

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Why is MMR important?

While the current League system divided in tiers shows your rank publicly, it is not the force that keeps the game running. Instead, MMR is used to make sure games are balanced and fair. If you are just starting playing a certain mode you will have the starting MMR. After several games, it will start balancing out depending on your skill.

The reason we care so much about MMR is that it controls our LP gains. If you go on a winning streak, your MMR will rise much faster than your League rank due to the restrictions put in place, for example, promo matches. This would lead to your MMR being higher than your League rank, allowing you to start gaining more LP per win. Likewise, the same thing would happen if you were on a losing streak.

Average MMR – If you are gaining and losing between 16-22 LP per game, you have an average MMR for your division.

Higher MMR than your current Rank – If you are gaining more than 26 LP per win, your MMR is higher than your current Rank. Furthermore, there is a big chance you are going to dodge a division upon your next promotion.

Lower MMR than your current Rank – If you are gaining less than 16 LP per win, and losing more than 20, your MMR is lower than your current rank. You can fix it by going on a winning streak!

Is MMR shared between different Modes?

Your account has a different MMR across different League of Legends game modes. Meaning, your SoloQ rank does not affect your FlexQ rank and vice versa. The same is true for the normal game modes as well, such as ARAM. Although you cannot publicly see your normal game rank, it is determined by MMR. If two people played 100 ARAM games each, but person A won 40 games, while person B won 60 games, Riot will match person B with stronger players.

Do Normal games affect SoloQ MMR?

While Normal Queue is perfect for practicing new champions and off-meta builds, there is a myth that Normal games affect ranked LoL MMR as well as LP gains. Up until this season, we could just simply say no it’s not true, but Riot made a certain adjustment to the system. Accounts that haven’t been ranked yet can have their future SoloQ rank affected by normal games. On the other hand, the accounts that already have, or had had a SoloQ rank in the past won’t have their normal games affect their SoloQ MMR. Instead, they’ll be increasing or decreasing their normal game MMR.

To ensure fair play in lower levels of competition, they are taking into account normal game MMR as a starting point for the ranked MMR. That would allow smurfs to instantly skip playing with players below Silver and make their climb faster. Note that this applies only to accounts that have never been previously ranked. Furthermore, they get more LP per each win and lose less compared to players that had a rank in previous years.

To rank up as fast as possible win many normal games before playing your first ranked game. For the best results, you should aim for at least 20 wins with few to no losses. The rule of thumb you can use is to win 2 games for each loss you get until you reach 20 wins.

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Does DuoQ lower my MMR?

Contrary to the popular belief, DuoQ’ing with a lower-ranked friend will not lower your MMR. But it will have an effect on it. The rank difference is not strictly important between you and your duo. The only way to lose MMR is by losing a game. Playing with someone who is ranked lower than you will only affect your MMR gains and losses. Here’s how it works like.

Example:

Tom and Mark decided to play few games together. Tom is Gold 1, while Mark is Silver 4. Meaning, their average rank is roughly G4/S1. Due to that fact, Riot will try to find similar players in G4/S1 range to make the game competitive. How will that affect their MMRs?

If Tom and Mark win, they will both gain some MMR, but they will not gain the same amount. This is since Tom was playing below his usual MMR, while Mark was playing above it. If Mark usually gains 20 MMR per victory, this time he will get 25. And, if Tom usually gets 20 as well, now he will get 13, making it 12 MMR less than his friend did.

This is where the difference between League Points and MMR comes into play. Even though both of them earned a different amount of MMR than they usually do, their LP gain was the same as if they played Solo. If they continue playing together and they keep on winning, Tom’s MMR will not be able to keep up with his LP progress causing him to start gaining less and less LP. On the other hand, Mark will gain from it. As with each victory, he gains more and more MMR, and his LP gains cannot keep up with it, they will eventually increase.

The same theory is applied to losses. In summary, while one or two games will not affect each of the players’ rankings, continuous playing surely will. Bear in mind, the smaller the gap between your MMR’s, the better it is for both of you.

What determines my LP gains?

Your LP gains are determined by your hidden LoL MMR. If your hidden MMR is higher than the average for your current division, you will be gaining more LP. On the other hand, if your MMR is lower than the average for your current division you will be gaining less, and losing more LP.

In a case you are way below the current division’s average MMR you will be at risk of demotion. Luckily, if you are ranked in the last division of your tier, you will receive a demotion shield to help you keep your current rank until you fix your MMR.

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How can I skip Divisions?

If your MMR is higher than your current Rank, you will be able to skip divisions. A general rule of thumb is, if you are gaining around 27 LP per victory, there is a high chance you will skip a division on your next rank up. The system will make the double promotion for you automatically on the next rank-up. But it is not possible to skip from one tier to another such as from Silver 2 to Gold 4, from Gold 2 to Platinum 4, and so on.

You can skip only divisions inside a single tier. That means you can go from Gold 4 to Gold 2 once you reach 100 LP in Gold 4. Lastly, if your MMR is high enough you might now have to play promotion series for the next tier. Instead, once you reach 100 LP in Gold 1 you will be instantly promoted to Platinum 4 without having to play any games.

How can I improve my MMR?

The best way to improve your LoL MMR is to do well in your Placement Matches. At the start of every new season, every player’s MMR receives a soft reset. It is the perfect way to get yourself ahead of the curve and start higher than other players that were the same rank as your last season. But determining a whole season based on 10 games would be silly. Here are some other tips you can use to improve your MMR.

The general scenario we’re trying to create is to make your League rank be below your LoL MMR. To achieve that you will have several options. The most famous one is decaying your account. By not playing Riot will automatically start demoting you down the ranked ladder. As it’s only available to players that are Diamond and above it’s not convenient for everyone.

Secondly, you can dodge many games. This comes with its disadvantages too. You won’t be able to demote just by going to minus LP, plus you’ll be getting restricted from playing. The key is to reach the highest division in your tier, for example, Gold 1, and then repeatedly dodge promotion series to Platinum. Win the first two games in the promotion series and then dodge the next 3. Rinse and repeat until your MMR is fixed.

Lastly, the hardest way to fix your LoL MMR is by continuously playing. You’ll have to go on an enormous win streak just for a small improvement. On top of that you won’t be able to win every game without getting better fast.

Does decay affect my MMR in LoL?

No. Decaying in League of Legends has no impact on your MMR. If you decay from your current rank to a lower one your MMR will stay higher than your actual rank. For example, if a Diamond 1 player decays to Platinum 1, he will continue playing with D1 teammates.

As his League of Legends rank is much lower than the system believes it should he will be gaining more LP than he usually would. If he goes on a big win streak while climbing back to his original rank, he will keep the bigger gains until a losing streak. This method has been abused by Master and above players by demoting to Diamond and resetting their LP gains after big loss streaks. It is one of the easiest ways of fixing bad MMR and low LP gains. Sadly, it’s available only to Diamond and above players as there is no decay in Platinum and below.

Does dodging a game affect my LoL MMR?

Just like with the decays, dodging a game will not have any effect on your MMR. If you are a frequent dodger, your rank is going to be below your actual MMR and you will see an increase in the LP gains. Furthermore, you can also dodge promotion matches between tiers in an attempt to fix your MMR.

If you fail to dodge a game and are certain it’s going to be a defeat you can stay on the fountain and wait for your team to remake the game. Remakes don’t affect your MMR in any way but will cause you some penalties.

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What is my MMR?

While Riot is determined to keep LoL  MMR values hidden from the public, there are several websites that try to calculate its estimate. Although they can be relatively close to the actual MMR, the results must be taken with a grain of salt since there is no way for us to know it for certain.

You can check your League of Legends MMR by going to What is my MMR website.

Simply go to the website, select the server you are playing on and input your summoner name.

Another way to get an estimate on your current MMR is to check the average ranks of the teams in your past 20 games. If you are playing with players that are higher than you that means your MMR is high. In return, you’re being rewarded with higher gains. On the other hand, if you are playing with players ranked lower than you then you are at risk of demotion.

Conclusion

MMR controls all aspects of matchmaking. From matching players of equal skill to keeping the competitive ladder in check. Being a high rank is cool, but having a good MMR is even cooler. It gives you cool rewards like higher quality games, better LP gains, and less risk of demotion. But once it’s ruined, it’s hard to get it back again. Always keep an eye on it and don’t go on big loss streaks.