My friend is Bronze 5 and Im Silver 3. Is it a big hit to my MMR? Because that's what I've been told, and I don't wanna mess my stuff up by playing with my friend. Just wondering if it really matters a lot because this season I'd like to climb back into gold and even go farther and I don't wanna play with him if it messes up my chances.
unless your friend is really good not the best idea unless you can actually keep up but if you are bronze 5 last season as well then probably a bad idea. MMr's do get scewed because of duoing best suggestion is wait till like diamond 3 to duo
In theory the average MMR of teams you're matched with when duoing with them would be lower than the average MMR of those you're matched with if you were solo. As such if you lost those lower MMR matches, you'd take a harder MMR hit then if you lost a match with a higher average MMR (e.g. one where you were solo). If you win those lower average MMR matches, then your MMR will still increase, albeit not as much as it'd increase if you won a game with a higher average MMR.
The other thing to consider though is that you're in theory more likely to be able to carry in those lower MMR games, and hence win. The precise algorithms for how MMR is determined is hidden so it's hard to say what's worth and what isn't, but it might hypothetically be net beneficial to your MMR to win 75% of your games duoed with a low bronzie, compared to winning 50% of your games by yourself.
edit: It might be worth mentioning that riot does want to encourage people to play with their friends, even potentially despite skill mismatches, so I think they've said that grouping with mismatched MMR friends is more forgiving then it once was. That doesn't necessarily make it a good idea, but it's at least in theory better than it used to be.
