What is my LoL MMR

July 17, 2021
1:08 am
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League of Legends is a pinnacle of gaming competition. Millions of different players are fighting daily to reach the highest rank and have the highest MMR in the whole game. But, what is MMR in LoL and how does it work like? Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard about it before. After all, Riot keeps it hidden from the players and stopped using it as a name of the competitive ladder a long time ago.

Nevertheless, MMR is what the whole League of Legends ranking system is based on. It’s the secret factor behind determining your LP gains and one of the main reasons people get stuck in elo hell. Continue reading to find out what is your MMR and how to increase it.

What is LoL MMR?

MMR is short for matchmaking rank. It’s a numerical value that determines your rank in League of Legends. Depending on your skill, it can be higher or lower. Furthermore, players themselves are responsible for determining which MMR belongs in what division.

It was first used in chess before being adopted in online video games. League of Legends was the first of many to do so. MMR was visible for the first two seasons and the players were ranked based on it. Nowadays, we have a tier system consisting of Iron, Bronze, Silver, and others. In the MMR system, your ranking is calculated in comparison to other players. In a nutshell, the more skilled the average player is the harder it is going to achieve high elo.

How does it work like?

After each game, you are either losing or winning some MMR based on the outcome of the game. Although not every game rewards you with the same amount of MMR. There is no way for you to see that in client or anywhere online though. Instead, Riot shows how you’re progressing by giving you LP.

League Points, or more commonly LP, are what players try to get each game. The amount of LP you are gaining or losing can heavily fluctuate from player to player. They are based on players’ MMR and there is no universal rule to them. Furthermore, it’s one of the reasons why the Elo rating system used in Season 2 was much more superior to our current system.

Your LP gains depend on your MMR’s position in comparison to your current rank. If your MMR is higher than the average for your rank, you’ll be getting more LP for wins and losing less for losses. For example, when comparing two Gold 1 players one of them could be gaining 18 LP while the other one is getting 25 LP. That is because player two has a much higher MMR. His true ranking is around Platinum 2 and Riot is giving him higher gains so he’ll reach his rank faster.

Each League of Legends queue has a separate MMR and they’re not shared with each other. Meaning, if you have 2000 MMR in Flex Queue it will not affect your SoloQ or Aram games. Instead, you’ll have to earn that MMR in those queues by playing them.

Do I lose MMR if I duo?

One of the everlasting myths is losing MMR by duoing with an account that has a lower rank than yours. That is entirely false. The only way to lose MMR is by losing the game. In addition to that, you’re always bound to gain it if you win. On the other hand, it can affect your LP gains. To help you understand it better here’s an example.

Two friends decide to duo together, but their ranks are not entirely close. One of them is Gold I while the other is Silver IV. The matchmaking system works by placing 10 similarly skilled players into the same game. Our buddies have an average rank of Gold IV/Silver I and will be placed in the queue of such rank. In case they win, the G1 player will receive much less MMR than he usually would but his LP gain will temporarily stay the same. Additionaly, the S4 account will get much more MMR. In the case of a loss, the same rules apply.

The issue arises after continuous playing together. After a while, MMR and LP will not be overlapping anymore and will cause irregularities in LP gains. In a scenario that they go on a big winning streak, the higher-ranked account will start getting less LP while the lower-ranked account will be getting more. This is caused due to the fact each account was getting a different amount of MMR and LP.

Do normal games affect LoL MMR?

There are two answers to that question, yes and no. First, let’s start with yes. Since the beginning of Season 11 Riot made new accounts’ normal games affect their LoL MMR. The change was made in order to help smurfs reach higher ranks easier. It prompted many players to try it out and it was possible to create God-level accounts. These accounts would have extremely high LP gains regardless of their rank or win ratio.

On the other hand, if you already have or had a rank in the past you will not be affected by this. Your normal game MMR is going to be separate from your ranked one.

What is a High Lol MMR?

Having a high LoL MMR means you are getting more LP per win than an average player in your rank. Here’s a vague representation of how it works like. Do note though that this is not confirmed by Riot and is based purely on the experiences of many players.

Above 25 LP – Your MMR is higher than the other players of your rank and you will most likely skip a division.

Between 15-20 LP – Your MMR is average compared to other players.

Less than 15 LP – Your MMR is lower than the League’s average. You will have to improve it in order to start getting more LP.

How to improve MMR?

Improving LoL MMR is a tough and long process. The main goal you are aiming for is having a higher MMR than the average for your current rank. Additionally, you want to limit your losses as much as possible. One of the most common ways of improving MMR is by decaying. Sadly, that option is available only for Diamond and above players.

Secondly, you can reach the 1st division of your tier and repeatedly dodge promotion series for the higher tier. So, if you are getting 15 LP in Gold 1 it might be smarter to dodge promos several times to fix your LP gains. You do not lose any MMR while dodging games but lose LP. In the long run that will cause imbalance and fix your LP gains.

Finally, dodge the games that you think are unwinnable. And in case you forget to do so, you can always stay AFK so your team will remake. You will not lose any MMR either way. Sadly, you’ll have to suffer some penalties for doing so though.

Placement Matches

At the beginning of each season, everyone’s MMR receives a soft reset and they have to play Placement games. Soft reset means that if you had Platinum 2 MMR at the start of the next season you will have something like Gold 3 one. Placement games are the first 10 ranked games in the new season. They will reward you with more MMR compared to the regular games in an attempt to take you back to last seasons’ MMR.

Like we discussed earlier, the two players of the same rank don’t necessarily have the same MMR and that’s easily seen at the start of the season. Even if they both have the same record of wins and losses in their placement matches they might end up in completely different tiers.

What is my MMR?

Finding out your MMR is a hard but not impossible feat. While there is no way to find official numbers, there are certain ways to come relatively close to them.

First of them is comparing your rank to other players in your games. Go through your last 20 games and check what ranks were the players you were playing with. If they are higher rank than you then your MMR is higher than your current rank. Contrary to that, if they are lower rank than you then your MMR is lower and causing lower LP gains.

If you want to save yourself hassle you can use third-party websites as MMR checker. One of the examples of such sites is WhatIsMyMMR. Simply select the server you are playing on and input your summoner name. Next press Search and find out what is your MMR.

Conclusion

League of Legend’s ranking system might seem like it consists of different tiers and divisions between them. But the true factor behind them is MMR. It determines which players you enter games with, how much LP you are getting, and even when you are going to skip divisions.