LoL placement games: how they work and how to prepare for them

What placements are for

At the start of a season or split, your rank is removed and you have to earn it back. Placement games are for that: they set your starting rank from your MMR, the hidden rating the game computes from your games. Until they are done, no rank is shown.

They are few and they weigh a lot: each one moves your starting point far more than an ordinary ranked game. That is why they are worth playing with care, and not on release night between two other things. The exact number is shown in the client at the start of each season.

Why your placement rank is often lower

This is the most frustrating part. You end the season in Gold, you play your placements properly, and you land in Silver. It is not a bug. At the start of a season, Riot partially resets ranks: everyone starts a bit lower, and the game brings you back up as you win.

Your MMR is not reset the same way. It follows you. That is why a player placed below his old rank often gains more LP per win than he loses per defeat: the game pulls him back towards the level he actually plays at. The placement rank is a starting point, not a verdict.

How to prepare for them

Placements are played like important games, because they are. No new champion, no new role, no experiments. Your two or three most played champions, in your main role, with one or two normal games beforehand to warm up.

And not on release day. On the first night of a season, the queue is full of players testing things, giving up, playing off-role. Wait a few days for the dust to settle. Your placements will not run away.

• Two or three champions you know, one role only.
• Rested, focused, no chaining games after two losses.
• A few days after release, not the first night.

What matters after placements

Once placed, your rank moves with your LP, and your LP move with your MMR. If you are placed below your level, your gains will be bigger than your losses for a while, then they settle once your rank catches up with your MMR. If you are placed above it, the opposite happens.

So do not judge your season on the first games after placements. Look at the trend over a longer series, and compare your gains with your losses: it is the best indicator of where the game puts you. Our guide on LP and MMR explains this mechanism in detail.

Playing your placements in duo with a Master player

If you want to approach your placements with a better teammate, duo exists. You play your games yourself, on your account, and a Master player plays on your team, in the duo queue the game offers. Nobody logs in for you and no credentials are asked.

Riot limits the rank gap between the two players of a duo, and the exact rule is shown in the client. Since the result also depends on your play, we promise no placement rank. What you get is a partner who talks, explains, and carries the games when needed.

What about boosting placements?

Our grid has no placements product: we do not sell placement games played for you, and we will not invent an option that does not exist. The calculator starts from a known rank and a target. Once placed, you can pick your route there, solo or duo, with the price shown before you pay.

For the record, solo boosting, where a player plays on your account, goes against Riot's rules, and our terms of sale say so. Duo remains a queue the game offers, before and after placements alike.