Upset and/or confused that you didn't get an S?

Since the Mastery and Grading system has finally been added to other permanent game modes, the confusion over how it works is on an uptick again.

Grades are not based on static prerequisites. There is no magic KDA, CS, or warding score that defines an S grade. Your end of game grade is based on a dynamic comparison to others in your region who played that same champion in that same role. Having the same end of game stats on Top Thresh and Support Thresh will give different grades. Likewise, having the same end of game stats on ADC Jhin and ADC Jinx may also give different grades.

Champion Mastery FAQ What goes into the grading system? How do you calculate it? It’s based on the champion and role that you just played in a game. So, for example, we look at Annie mid differently to Annie support. We take a series of performance metrics and compare how you do to all other players in your region in your champion / position combination. It is percentile driven - so earning a high score means you performed in the top x% of players on that champ in that position. The grade itself governs the point gains.

As an example of a dynamic percentile-based scale, consider a bell curve. I assume most of you are somewhat familiar with those from school. One of my cousin's law school professors used an extreme form of this to encourage competitive thinking. If everyone in the class scored a 98% on an assignment, everyone was given a C. It didn't matter if you performed your task very well if everyone else with the same assignment also did very well. You had to outperform them.

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Let's take a look at a League example. Say we have 10 players from different games. For the sake of this discussion, we'll be the first Janna.

|Role/Champion-|----KDA----|CS-----|Wards---|Grade| |- |Support Janna|0/0/19|12|35|A |Support Janna|0/2/23|15|37|A |Support Janna|3/1/17|13|36|A |Mid Janna|0/4/6|209|15|B |Support Leona|2/5/10|35|35|B+ |Support Janna|1/3/36|20|38|S- |ADC Ashe|12/4/1|317|14|A+ |Jungle Janna|0/4/12|257|16|A+ |Support Janna|2/6/11|2|27|B |Support Janna|5/1/27|30|41|S

######(Be aware that these are likely not the only metrics used for grading)

"WTF DIDN'T I GET AN S?" Those first three Jannas have stats similar to a lot of these complaints. "Look at those assists! Look at my low deaths!" While those are definitely good stats, Janna is a disengage support. Escaping death is what she does. A low death/high assist game is the norm for her, and performance like the last Janna in the list simply outshines the others. If high stats are the average, then you need to go above and beyond. As average regional results for a champion in a specific role improve, grade requirements increase. An oversimplified way of looking at it - excellent games raise the bar, while trash performance lowers it (more realistically, an outlier result will have a lesser effect on the overall distribution of the curve).

"Why is my grade lower than that Ashe?!" That's simple. Ashe's stats mean nothing to us. Different champion, different role. If the champion/role combo is different, it's irrelevant to your grade.

"Look how much better I did than Mid and Jungle Janna!" Again, doesn't matter. Different role. Jungle Janna might even score a higher grade than the Support Jannas in these games simply because of how rarely people play Janna in the jungle. There isn't an established history of strong performance in a large number of games with her in that role, so less impressive results may provide higher grades.

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So, what about ARAM? There aren't well-delineated roles. Also, everyone is supposed to die! This is true. Summoner's Rift roles are initially determined by your location on the map. In the Howling Abyss, everyone's in the same lane. Caster supports are often either played full APC mode or hybridized, so the support grading criteria from the Rift wouldn't be ideal. Deaths are almost guaranteed in ARAM, but that doesn't mean grading is fucked as a result. Remember, grades aren't based on static values. Your results are compared to everyone else in the region playing that same champion in the same role. If the average death count for your champion on ARAM is 10, then having 8 deaths isn't going to be a dealbreaker. You're actually ahead of the pack in that regard.

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Is there a way to guarantee an S grade? No, but there are ways to get an advantage. Two of the most obvious ones:

• Play a champion/role combo so far off-meta that the average performance is weak. If you're strong with that champion, you can overcome role deficiencies and outperform most people using that specific champion/role combo. As with all off-meta gaming, this can be risky and you may catch flak; don't do it in ranked without trying it out in normals first.
• Queue with friends who are at a far lower MMR. If you've earned your MMR, you've got a good chance of playing against opponents of a lower skill. Stomp hard. Think your stats are good? Stomp harder. Make sure your results are better than good. Bear in mind this is kind of a douchebaggy approach.

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TL;DR The Grading system turns a single game into a competition on two separate fronts.

• Your end-of-game stats are your performance in that game against the other team in the same game.
• Your grade is your performance in that game against people playing your champion and role in other games.