How do placement matches even work?

LKP Cerberus·Oct 1, 2018·2 votes·3,679 views

So I decided to try out doing ranked right, did my placement matches and I thought I did pretty frwaking decent.

I went: Game 1: 10/2/3 Loss Game 2: 14/2/11 Win Game 3: 8/0/10 Win Game 4: 13/5/13 Win Game 5: 4/3/2 Win Game 6: 15/7/16 Win Game 7: 10/5/6 Loss Game 8: 8/3/11 Win Game 9: 15/1/5 Win Game 10: 6/4/16 Loss

But yet.. I only somehow placed Bronze 1?! I'm not too sure I understand, I played much better than that and even had very high cs, kda, and winrate, achieveing at least 6 S- or higher games, but thats only Bronze 1? Can someone help me out here?

12 Comments

MoldyCheese1Oct 1, 20181 votes

If you did it in the previous year theres a hard soft cap.

LKP CerberusOct 1, 20181 votes

Went from playing ranked at 280 ping to playing at 65, so you can expect a tough previous season or two.

KVbqbFsC8eOct 1, 20181 votes

How you did in those games and what grades you got are completely irrelevant. The only thing thats counted is win or loss. Since you were already in Bronze last Season its normal that you were placed in Bronze.

LKP CerberusOct 1, 20181 votes

Thats kind of absurd to think about, especially when I've been consistently keeping up with my parties in Platinum. I feel like I shouldn't have to waste my time grinding through all the toxic lobbies just to get recognition for that,

5050BSOct 1, 20182 votes

Yep the Ranked system was designed by a 12 year old.

Better JunglerOct 1, 20181 votes

I havent looked you up, but I assume you were bronze/low silver last season?

If that's right then your 7-3 placements were going to place you between bronze 3 and silver 4. Since you lost 3 of the games, silver 4 is out of the question, so bronze 1 is about right.

Your 7-3 is not pointless though. You have an invisible number attached to your skill level called an MMR. If you're playing with golds/plats in your game, you'll be getting more LP than someone in bronze. Likely you'll get 25-26 lp per game, and only lose 14-17 lp per game..

that means only 4 wins in a row will get you into your series for the next division. with a 70% winrate you're likely to climb REALLY fast once you start actively playing ranked.

Good job on promos.

edit; Next season since you're bronze 1, going 5-5 in placements will get you bronze 1. going 7-3 likely to get you silver 4/5 and going 10/0 will get you silver 3/2.

LKP CerberusOct 1, 20181 votes

Ahh that would explain why I'm getting around 30lp per win. Looks like I'm not too far away from plat then afterall :3

Better JunglerOct 1, 20181 votes

30 lp per win is CRAZY good.

thats almost 3 games per tier to get to the promotion series.

And every time you win you get to lose 2 times before you're back where you started.

its like 2 steps forward and one step back, rather than where I'm at.. getting 22 lp per win and losing 18.. so I'm taking 1 step forward and .9 steps back lol.

LKP CerberusOct 2, 20181 votes

Awe I feel bad for ya, maybe we can duo! Haha

Sona PingOct 1, 20181 votes

Placement matches are for informing your placement and finding your starting point which you will start your climb from. They do not work as "X wins out of 10 = Y rank". Naturally as what is an important detail is not just how many wins but who those wins and loses are against. Where you ended last season matters as well, and as it says in all the notes, players should expect to start a little lower than where they ended as they are starting over in a new season. Last season, you ended on Bronze 4 0LP if I have that right, so it appears that due to your fine performance you got to skip multiple divisions. Congrats!

Went from playing ranked at 280 ping to playing at 65, so you can expect a tough previous season or two. Went from playing ranked at 280 ping

I did not expect that and I am horrified. At least the autumn in Eastern Europe is quite pleasant, or so I hear.

RIP Tahm KenchOct 1, 20181 votes

There is a slight note I'd like to point out about previous rank affecting placements:

It's not exactly your rank that affects your placement, but your invisible ranking that the game uses to award and subtract LP. Season 7 I ended in gold 2, with a MMR that gave me +24/-17. Then in my placements for S8, I went 8-2 using jungle Taric and was placed back into gold 2 0 LP.

Even though most people were expected to drop in rank, I managed to stay the same due to MMR and good performance in my matches.

LKP CerberusOct 1, 20181 votes

Thanks haha. I'm kinda okay with it now I suppose, but thanks for the info anyway!