LoL MMR in Season 2022 | How to check it & How to improve it

What is LoL MMR - the basics

If you are a new or a seasoned League of Legends player, chances are you’ve heard of the term lol MMR. It’s a term commonly used to differentiate high-skilled summoners from the less skilled ones, as the better players often get labeled as “high MMR players”.LoL MMR stands for matchmaking rating and it is a hidden point-based ranking system that sorts players by their skill levels, and it is used in many different games.  

Historically, MMR is a system first used in chess, with its purpose being to measure a player's chess expertise. Chess players of high MMR would face other high MMR players, creating a fair competitive environment in the process. Interestingly enough, sports such as football and basketball used this system in the past as well. As time went on, many other competitive games adopted the MMR system because it helped them with easing out the matchmaking process.

As far as League of Legends goes, our favorite MOBA has used the MMR rating system since the game’s creation, and it stuck to it until this very day. Instead of the shiny ranked badges and tiers that we often use to determine a player’s skill level, the MMR system is actually behind the matchmaking process, and it’s responsible for creating evenly matched teams in League of Legends. To put things into perspective, two players that are Diamond IV may not be paired against each other, with one playing against high-ranked Platinum players and the other playing against Diamond I ones. All in all, LoL MMR is pretty confusing, and it is the most important number to anyone who looks to play ranked seriously. That’s why we’ve decided to dissect this topic thoroughly and help you understand the League of Legends’ complicated ranking system, so you can improve your LoL MMR by the end of this article.

MMR in League of Legends’ ranked games

General information

In League of Legends, you’ll mostly come across the term MMR in a competitive ranked environment, and that’s where we’ll begin our discussion. 

Initially, ranked was tracked through an MMR point ladder on the League of Legends’ community site, where players could see how skilled their opponents were. Back in League’s glory days, up until season 3, MMR was public for every ranked mode on each player’s profile, along with ranks from Silver to Platinum. Eventually, its transparency was removed and replaced with a system with more tiers and divisions with a goal to simplify the ranked mode for new players. 

How MMR affects ranked LP gains

Generally, in modern League of Legends ranked, Riot uses the MMR point system behind the division badge to determine the LP (League Point) gain for every player on each team, depending on their opposition, win rate, and win streak. Players that have a poor win rate in their division are usually playing against less-skilled players that are most commonly ranked lower than them. 

For example, a 47% Diamond IV player can easily end up playing with several 52%+ Platinum III players in his game. Should the Diamond player win, he will get less LP, and if he loses, he will lose more as a result. That’s because the game itself is trying to push a player that’s “stuck” in a division he doesn’t belong to into a lower tier of competition. Eventually, if the Diamond player wins enough games consistently, he’ll start winning more LP and play against better opposition. 

On the other hand, summoners that experience enormous LP gains get them because their win rate is high and the game is naturally trying to promote them into a higher division where their win rate will stabilize. Players that go onto hot streaks of winning ranked games can get rewarded with enormous amounts of LP, and occasionally skip a division or two, which is why smurfing and boosting is ever so prominent in League of Legends. 

MMR in ranked matchmaking

The second important purpose of MMR in ranked LoL is to create balanced teams and a fair experience for both sides. This is accomplished through the hidden process of matching teammates and their opponents based on each team’s average MMR. This was done by Riot to shorten queue times and it works this way in every tier of ranked. 

For example, one team can have 5 Gold players while the opposing team has a Diamond player, 3 Gold players, and a Silver player. In most instances, the difference between ranks on a single team is not this big, but you get the idea. On average, the average MMR of those 5 Gold players will match the average MMR of the mixed team, creating a fair game as a result. More often than not, the aforementioned Diamond player will have a terrible MMR rating which is the reason why he’s playing with Gold players. In contrast, the Silver player is most likely much more skilled than other Silver players in his division and that’s why his MMR is so high. 

Lastly, each mode in League of Legends has a separate MMR, so for example, improving your flex MMR will have no effect on your solo queue MMR or normal game MMR.

How to know your ranked MMR

As we know, in League of Legends, the MMR system is fully hidden, and there is no reliable way to accurately calculate your MMR rating. Knowing your MMR is crucial to understanding how fast you can climb to the highest tiers of competitive play. There are numerous online calculators that can give you a rough perspective of your MMR, but they’ll never give you a fully accurate result. That being said, there are a couple of ways to know whether your ranked MMR is high or low. 

LP gains/losses

The first and the most obvious way is to play a couple of ranked games and see your LP gains. As we previously mentioned, your LP gains are determined by your matchmaking rating, so the best way to check your MMR is to see how much LP you gain/lose per game.

If you’re getting under 15 LP, you’re in big trouble of demoting and your MMR is below the MMR of an average player in your division. 

Getting anywhere from 18 to 25 LP means you’re right where you belong, and your MMR is average for your ranked tier.

Lastly, if you’re getting over 25 LP consistently, your MMR is stellar and you should expect to climb the ranked ladder quickly, with a chance to skip a few divisions if you keep winning games and improving your rating.

Do keep in mind that the average team MMR also affects LP gains/losses and that you need to play a few games to get an accurate perspective of where you’re at.

Your teammates’ and your opponents’ rank

The second best way of determining your LoL MMR is to check the ranks of the people you’re playing with and against. The best sample size used for this method is to check the rank of the players you’ve played with in your last 10 ranked games. If their ranks are consistently lower than yours, that means your ranked MMR is low, and you’re probably getting small amounts of LP per game already. On the other hand, if their ranks are higher, the game is trying to promote you to a higher tier of competitive play. While using this method, keep in mind that if you’re duo queuing with a partner, his ranked division and MMR can highly impact the ranks of the players you’re playing with/against. In general, it’s best to analyze solo queue games if you’re using this method.

MMR in decaying and dodging

If you forget that you need to play ranked frequently and accidentally decay, your MMR will stay the same even if you end up dropping several divisions. In that situation, your LP gains will be much higher as the game tries to promote you in the division where you belong. Additionally, if you dodge a game, you usually lose 3 LP or more, depending on how many times you’ve dodged that day. That small LP loss from dodging will never affect your MMR and you should keep that in mind when making this decision. 

How to improve your MMR

Win games consistently and abuse the meta

The first and most obvious advice we can give you is to try to win as many games as possible. That may seem like an obvious piece of advice but it goes much deeper than that. You need to enter ranked games with a winning mentality and not give up when your teammates are feeding. When you lose a game, instead of blaming your teammates, you should look into your mistakes in a replay and see how you can perfect your performance. League of Legends is a 5v5 game and your teammates can drag you down, but if you consistently improve, you’ll eventually climb up to higher ranks.

Another tip that often gets overlooked is to play what’s meta. All of us have personal preferences when it comes to champions we love playing, but sometimes playing Ornn top is a free win. You want to give yourself the best shot of winning by picking the most OP and consistent champions in the lane you’re playing every game. The best way to determine how good a champion is currently is to look at the numerous tier lists and win rate trackers on the internet which will give you an accurate perspective of the current meta. Choose the best meta champions you love playing, which are also good in the game right now, test them out in normal games, and eventually win ranked games with them. 

Dodge games that you don’t expect to win

Personally, this is the #1 tip we’d give to anyone who’s looking to take their climb to the next level. Every now and then, we encounter a game that we consider lost in the champion select. We’ve previously mentioned that when you dodge a game, you lose LP but don’t ruin your MMR, which is the most important thing. It’s worth saving your LP and time by dodging games that are obviously lost, so don’t be hesitant to do this.

When you should dodge a game

Dodging is still something that goes down to personal preference, but there are some situations in which dodging is the obvious option.

Op.gg-ing your entire team to check their win rates is a good way to check how good they are. If you have 2+ players that have under a 47% win rate in ranked, you should consider dodging that game. Additionally, if they’re playing a certain champion for the first time in ranked, that’s a dodgeable game as well. 

If you want to take it a step further, you can check their match history and how well they’re doing in ranked recently. If they’ve lost over 3 games in a row, you should consider dodging that game as it’s very likely that their mentality is already in a pretty bad spot and they’ll be deconcentrated in the game you’re playing. 

Team compositions that are overloaded with AP/AD are also less likely to win as the enemy team can itemize against it easier, so you should look out for that as well.

Last but not least, if your teammates are flaming each other in champ select, that can negatively affect them in-game, and those champion selects should be avoided as well.

Duo queue with a high MMR player

We’ve previously talked about how the average team MMR is the way Riot matches players against each other and determines LP gains. Consequently, if you duo queue with a player that has a higher ranked MMR than you, you’ll increase your average team MMR and the amount of LP you win as a result. Keep in mind that you’ll also lose less LP in this situation. Additionally, when you’re duo queueing with someone, you figuratively have an extra dodge at your disposal. That’s because the first dodge for any player costs 3 LP, and if there are two of you, you can dodge bad champion selects twice a day.

Stop playing ranked if you’re consistently losing

The last, and for some of you, perhaps the most important tip we’re going to give you is to stop playing ranked if you’re on a losing streak. Some players just can’t cope with the fact that they’ve lost a game and some LP and they play more games in the hope to eventually win. This can lead to a multiple game loss-streak which obliterates your MMR and makes it hard for you to climb back up again unless you go on a winning streak to nullify that. Instead of playing a game instantly after losing one, take a 5-minute break, stretch, and try to clear your mind in order to prepare for the next game. You can also play ARAM or a couple of normal games where you’ll be able to relax as you’ll feel less pressure to win. If you encounter loss streaks even when taking rational breaks, analyze your losses and the meta further, and try to come up with the winning formula again.

Order an ELO Boost

If every tip we gave you somehow fails and you still keep losing games consistently, perhaps you should consider an easier option which is to get boosted by one of our professional boosters. We offer the cheapest, most reliable elo boosting services on the internet, and in a couple of days, you can increase your rank and MMR without breaking a swear. while keeping your honor level high and maximum security and privacy by using the newest appearing offline methods.

MMR in normal games

As we previously mentioned, every mode in League of Legends has a unique MMR rating, and that applies to normal games as well. Your normal game MMR can highly differ from your ranked one, therefore you can play normal games that are much easier or more difficult. Generally, you should use normal games as a testing ground where you can practice new champions and strategies before using them in ranked.

Season 2021 MMR Update

In preseason 11, Riot Games has announced a change in how the MMR system works for old & new accounts to help prevent smurfing and to stop new players from matching with smurfs to not ruin their experience.