The Ranked game system in League of Legends has always been where a person would go if they wanted to take the game seriously. For the new Season, Riot Games announced that they would have a tournament halfway through the season playoffs to give amateur teams a chance to fight their way into the final League Championship Series lineup.
Now they’ve announced how those teams will actually do that.
League of Leagues
To start with, the old ELO system will be making its exit to be replaced by separated leagues of play. The leagues will keep the names of the current ELO rankings (bronze, silver, gold, etc) with the addition of the Challenger league at the very top.
Summoners will gain league points as they win games. Enough league points and they get a chance to increase their standing, first within their current league through the divisions within their given league, then eventually to bump up into the next full league.
On getting enough league points to advance a summoner will have their next series of games be for advancement. To go up a division, they’ll need to win a best of three. To jump into the next league they’ll need to win best of five.
A new Challenger approaches
The Challenger league is the only one not broken into divisions. The Ranked 5v5 teams in the Challenger league will be the teams with a chance to participate in the mid-season tournament in hopes of jumping into the League of Legends Championship Series.
This new system will be entirely replacing the ELO system. Players who have played at least five Ranked matches will have their initial league standing determined by a mixture of their current ELO and their maximum Preseason ELO. For the players who have not played enough Ranked matches to have their initial placement possible, their first few matches will be a placement series to determine where to actually place them.
The new system looks like it will make Ranked games more exciting across the board, with more tangible benefits and milestones for players to strive for. I, for one, am going to go see about boosting my initial placement a bit higher. See you all in the League of Legends!
