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I thought I understood how LP gains worked, but I guess I don't...

ValyrianBlade··2 votes·682 views

So, title.

I originally thought LP gains were supposed to be based on your MMR versus the game you were in. Then I realized that didn't make any sense - if I'm gold 4 MMR playing in a gold 5 game while actually in Silver 1, I should gain more than 20LP, not less.

So I revised my assumption - I thought LP gains were strictly based on your MMR versus the division you were in. Then I had an occurrence where I gained 25LP after one win, then won the next game and only gained 18LP, and only 19LP the game after. That didn't make sense, I only had a win, why'd I get 7 less LP.

So I revised my assumption - I thought LP gains were based on your MMR versus the MMR of the game you were in assuming you were at the MMR determined by the league you were in.

Then I had these three games in a row: Both teams between S1 and G5 - gained 24LP for winning. My team between S1 and G5, enemy team at S1 - gained 25LP for winning Both teams between S1 and G5 - gained 19LP for winning.

I really don't get this anymore. Especially those last 3 games. The games were all pretty much the same - a mix of S2 and S1 with G5 and G4's. On both teams. Often the team with the S2 also had the G4. Frequently players in promo series.

So why is it that when I win 3 similar games in a row, the third game gives so much less LP? Or the previous time I win 3 in a row and get 25-18-19.

I expect my MMR to be higher than my division. My latest matches have been: 3W to get in to promo series and win game 1 2 losses to lose promo series 4W to promote from S3 to S2 1 Loss at S2 0LP 7W to promote from S2 to S1 2 losses at S1 0LP 3W to S1 68LP

That's 17W - 5L in my last 22 games (I'm 31-23 overall lifetime as I only started this season). I wasn't surprised at all when I gained 24 and 25LP the first two games, that seemed right to me given the recent record and overall record. The 19LP for my last game just seems way off...

Can anyone explain to me how LP gains/losses actually work? Right now it just seems like a random number between 18 and 25...

3 Comments

Peakes1 votes

Platinum 1-2 and low Diamond is worse, especially low Diamond. Receiving 15 LP, losing 20+ and no, it's not because of MMR. Just seems to be some artificial difficulty that Riot created (in this tier at least) to make Diamond that much more special and each division in Diamond that special.

Deep Terror Nami1 votes

Well, you're going to get more LP for having great MMR, but not every match is equal (greater difference in each team's average MMR) and one side gains slightly less MMR because it has a higher win rate, so your gains will fluctuate.

ValyrianBlade1 votes

Hmm... well now that I think about it the high gains were on red side and the low gains on blue side.

That seems rather unfair though... Maybe in pros because of how picks/bans work, or even at really high elo because of the dragon/baron asymmetry there's an advantage to blue side. Heck, I've commented on this in the past.

In Silver/Gold elo though - I find it hard to believe blue side has a big advantage over red. Maybe enough to warrant a 1-2 point swing, but 6-7 points, seriously? And that's 6-7 points dropped while on a winning streak (i.e. my MMR should be growing faster than my LP because of how few games I've played).

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