Feel there’s been a great injustice and you’re trapped in elo hell? We’ll discuss everything you need to know about MMR in League of Legends, including how it’s calculated and whether Riot has made this information readily available to players.
Your MMR — also known as matchmaking rating — is a hidden statistic that is used to determine your position on the League of Legends ranked ladder, and crucially, the skill level of players you’re matched against. Put simply: It’s the number that represents your actual, genuine skill level.
Whether you’re just curious about how Riot has ranked your gameplay, or feel there’s been a great injustice and you’re trapped in elo hell, you may be wondering how to find out your MMR in LoL.
Today, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about MMR in League of Legends, including how it’s calculated and whether Riot has made this information readily available to players.
Most LoL players will be familiar with League’s visible ranked system. Players are grouped based on their skill level into several different tiers, with Iron being the lowest and Challenger being the best. Below Master, these ranks are also divided further into four subdivisions.
To climb up the ranked ladder, you need to accumulate League Points, or LP. Winning a game gives you LP, while losing a match deducts LP. This sounds simple, but here’s where MMR comes into play. The exact amount of LP you win or lose after a match is ultimately based on your MMR.
For instance, imagine that there are two players on a team with the exact same visible rank. They absolutely destroy their laning phases, obliterate the enemy’s base, and ultimately win the game. However, at the end of the match, one player gains 25 LP, while the other only gains 15 LP. The reason for this is that the first player has a much higher MMR despite sharing the same rank, and they’ve been rewarded accordingly.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately, it’s not possible to find out your MMR in League of Legends. Some third-party tools will try and give you an estimated guess, but these aren’t approved by Riot by any means, nor are they likely to be accurate.
A good way to gain some insight is to consider how much LP you’re gaining from your games. In general, if you have a significantly higher MMR than your elo, you’ll gain a lot more LP from your games and lose very little on a loss. In comparison, if Riot has deemed you, ahem, boosted, you will gain a marginal amount from wins and see huge LP deductions on losses.
And if Riot feels your current rank is an accurate representation of your skill? You’ll see pretty equal LP gains and losses.
Do note that Riot gives players a different MMR for each game mode queue, meaning your Solo/Duo MMR is completely separate from your Flex MMR. However, your initial ranked placement matches will take into account your normal game mode MMR.
Riot really, really doesn’t want players to find out their MMR. So, it should come as no surprise that the measures used to calculate MMR are kept a closely guarded secret, too.
That said, while we can’t know for certain the specific metrics Riot uses, it’s highly likely that your win/loss ratio is a huge influence. Maintaining a 52% or above win rate in your past 20 ranked games will lead to a higher MMR, as it indicates you are performing better than the average player in your current elo. In contrast, a win/loss ratio below 50% will result in a lower MMR.
Other potential metrics that Riot may use to calculate your MMR include your actual gameplay performance — think factors like your K/D/A, kill participation, kill streaks, objective control, vision score, map presence, and total damage dealt.
They may also put more emphasis on certain metrics depending on the role you play; vision control may matter a lot more for a Support main than it would for an ADC, for instance.
Your MMR is a hidden statistic Riot uses to determine your skill level against other players in the game. While it isn’t possible to find out your MMR, nor the specific metrics Riot uses to calculate it, the amount of LP you gain or lose after matches can give you a rough idea.
The only real way to increase your MMR is to win your games consistently. Watch professional streams to learn tricks and tips from the pros, practice mechanics in the client practice tool, and make sure to keep a close eye on the mini map.
For further tips and tricks on how to climb (and improve your MMR), be sure to check out the rest of our blog too.
