GG.OP says "MMR depends on how you play."

ok is going to be very lengthy, so bare with and ill go from the very beginning, some unfortunately will be around wins/losses but ill go into as much depth as i can for you.

1.) What is this pesky thing called Match Making Rating, or more commonly known as ‘MMR’? Match Making Rating (or MMR), is the behind the scene*s calculator that determines who you play against and how many League Points (LP—see below) you gain or lose for each of your RANKED League of Legends games. There is a version of an MMR calculator for Normal play, but it differs slightly from the ranked calculator we all know and love. For the purpose of this thread, I’m going to only focus on ranked MMR. The Purpose of MMR: To the best of my knowledge, via research and observation, the changes in MMR are directly reflected in gaining or losing League Points (LP). They function on a rating system of 40 points per game, and these points (be they gains and losses) will be distributed/removed in each game reflective of how your MMR compares to the rest of your teams MMR (to be explained more later). So, in short, MMR is reflective of how the system estimates a numerical value for your skill. views your skill (on a mathematical level).

2.) What are League Points (LP)? League Points (LP) are a way of tracking your placement within a tier. There are 100 points per tier, and once you reach 100 Points you will be entered into a promotion round while if you are at 0 points and lose a few games, you will be demoted to the lower division. Though LP fluctuates according to your current MMR, it isn’t a true representation of your actual MMR.

3.) How is your initial MMR calculated? I’ve seen this question what seems like a million times; and, with much reading and comparisons between seasons, it seems like your base MMR (the MMR you would have if you had never played a game of solo-queue ranked, (EVER) will, and always will be, 1200. That’s a big 12, with two 0s next to it.

**4.) How the league placement is calculated. ** Now, after learning the basic start value above, this means that if Season 7 is my first ever attempt at ranked play, then my MMR for the 1st PLACEMENT match will start at 1200 and fluctuate accordingly from there. A SIMPLIFIED example of this is as follows (on a 40 point fluctuation scale): Starting MMR Game 0: 1200 Game 1 Result, Win = If both teams have an average MMR of 1200. Result on your MMR: Since your MMR is 1200, and both team’s averages are 1200, then you will gain 20 points on a scale of 40 because you were neither expected to win nor expected to lose.

This means that your MMR should now be 1220, going into game 2. Now, here…here is where your MMR gets tricky. Previous wins and losses are 100% included in calculating your MMR gains and losses, however, we do not know what those calculations are. Therefore, it is almost impossible to calculate what our MMR is with certainty. The best way to calculate is through estimation. For example, let’s say you never played a game of LoL in your life. Yet, for some odd reason, you went 10-0 in your placement matches. Each consecutive game would garner you more and more of a MMR increase as the system deems you “out of place”. So for the first 2-3 games you win, you’d get your standard 20 points…and then more and more…see below;

Example of a 10-0 Placement Match for a new ranked player: Game 1: ELO -1200 ; Earned MMR: 20 Game 2: ELO – 1220 ; Earned MMR: 20 Game 3: ELO – 1240 ; Earned MMR: 22 Game 4: ELO – 1262 ; Earned MMR: 23 Game 5: ELO – 1285 ; Earned MMR: 25 Game 6: ELO – 1310 ; Earned MMR: 27 Game 7: ELO – 1337 ; Earned MMR: 30 Game 8: ELO – 1367 ; Earned MMR: 33 Game 9: ELO – 1400 ; Earned MMR: 35 Game 10: ELO – 1435 ; Earned MMR: 40 Ranked Placement ELO: 1475 (Gold V) Assumed Rating Values:

1150 – Bronze I 1200 – Silver V 1250 – Silver IV 1300 – Silver III 1350 – Silver II 1400 – Silver 1 1450 – Gold V 1500 – Gold IV

Summary: a** FRESH ACCOUNT** with 10 wins should put you between Gold V and Gold IV (as an estimation). Depending on the difficulty of matches (Collective MMR) you could be placed in Gold IV or Gold V (with a maximum of PlatV though that is really only if your finished diamond + the season before)

The ranges are estimated for a new ranked player or an individual at (or around) 1200 ELO is as follows: W/L (Placement) NOTE: These ranges are ESTIMATED and I have seen people fall outside these ranges fairly often :)

10-0 - (Gold IV/Gold V) 9-1 - (Gold V/Silver I) 8-2 - (Silver I/Silver II) 7-3 - (Silver II/Silver III) 6-4 - (Silver III/Silver IV) 5-5 - (Silver IV/Silver V) 4-6 - (Silver V/Bronze I) 3-7 - (Bronze I/Bronze II) 2-8 - (Bronze II/Bronze III) 1-9 - (Bronze III/Bronze IV) 0-10 - (Bronze IV/Bronze V) Simple, right? Right.

5.) How does your MMR change between seasons? It has been assumed that the calculation for pre-season soft reset is as follows (though this is unconfirmed): (MMR Season 3 + 1200)/2 = Starting MMR for Season 4 or as RIOT likes to call it the “2014 Season” NOTE: No explicit evidence has been provided to confirm this. We can only confirm that there is an actual soft-reset. My Example according to this theory is currently: (1494 + 1200 )/2 = 1347 MMR That means, if I go 5-5 in my placement matches, I’ll be placed in the Silver II/Silver III range. I will need an estimated 8-2 or 7-3 start to be placed back in Gold V at the start of the 2014 Season (crosses fingers).

Now, it’s important to note that the more games you play, the harder it is to drastically change your MMR. In a typical ELO system (MMR), it is established that the more games you play, the closer you are to your actual MMR, and the more difficult it will be to improve this MMR. If you find yourself seemingly “stuck”, then there is a good chance you’re either, **a.) **VERY unlucky or b.) actually at your true MMR.

In order to change your MMR from here, you’ll have to “prove“ to the system that it’s wrong by either increasing your win-rate significantly, or loss rate significantly. There are plenty of good links for how to improve your game strewn about the internet. A quick Google search can help you here.

7.) How to improve your MMR/LP: This…now this is the real question. Honestly, there really is no SURE way to improve your MMR. The best you can do is really learn a few good champions (I would suggest picking 1 or 2 lanes and mastering 3-4 champions in those lanes). Once you’ve learned a few good champions and roles, just grind the games out. Yes, you’ll lose games still, but if you get to the point where you’re consistently winning your lane…you’ll start to win more games than you lose, and slowly…(ever so slowly) you’ll start moving up. If you’re unsure of specifics to focus on, I’ll give you a few things that got me from Silver V to Gold IV in 1 week:

**1.) Master a support role as one of your “mains”: ** Not many people play support, and those that do, play it casually. If you can become a master of counter-warding and ADC protection/zoning, you can greatly increase your chances of winning.

**2.) Learn the importance of “Teamwork OP”: ** RIOT isn’t just spewing BS here. Teamwork really does win games. Buying that extra ward, or protecting your carries instead of chasing for a kill, will DEFINITELY get you ahead faster.

**3.) Learn the abilities and trades of as many champions as you can: ** The more you know about the champions, the fewer mistakes you’ll make. If I know that Annie out trades me as Ahri in the early game, I’ll take less risks and play the safe farm game. If I know that Leona is going to be super aggressive on my ADC, and I’m playing Sona, I’ll max my W (heal) first, so we can stay in lane longer, and ultimately win the farm game. Knowing what and how champions normally play, will get you ahead.

4.) Peel for your heavy damage dealers: The longer the game goes on, the longer your team fights will last, which means, you’ll need those carries to apply as much damage as possible during the fight. In order to do this, you may have to sacrifice your own personal score to protect a champion that can finish off the rest of the team. Knowing when to peel, and when to push out, are some of the more advanced theories in game. Read up, and practice these.

**5.) Be Positive: ** Being positive has a proven effect of increasing the performance of your team. Don’t be a troll, it doesn’t help anyone. Yelling at someone just makes them mad at you, it doesn’t make them play better. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading this huge block of text.

I hope it was helpful.