Introduction
If you have spent any amount of time discussing League of Legends with friends or just online, then you are probably familiar with the fact that not many people really know what the average player’s rank is in 2023. And while it can be helpful to watch high level players like pros and streamers, it can oftentimes warp our perception of what average means.
That’s why we wrote this article, in here we’re mainly going to cover the big question: What Elo can an average person get in League of Legends? How many hours does it take to get there? And many more related questions about this topic.
By the end of this article, you will know for sure what the average player in League of Legends is and what you need to do to get there.
The Basics of Ranked League of Legends
To really understand how the system works is extremely important for everyone who wants to climb in the ranked ladder. Too many times players ask why their LP gains are so small if their win rate is decent and many related questions.
Ranked League of Legends is not that complicated, what is complicated though is that the visible rank and your “real” rank are different. What I mean is that, there are two things going on when you see that you are Silver IV.
First your “visible rank” is your Tier and Division together with your LP, next is your hidden MMR or “Elo”. The main problem for most players is that what rank they have at the moment doesn’t necessarily reflect their true ability, that is represented by your MMR which is hidden by riot.
MMR is the actual rating of every ranked player ideally; we could see this number but ever since season 2 Riot has decided to hide it from view and we instead we have to deal with tiers and divisions.
The amount of LP you gain on a win and the amount that you lose after a loss is determined by the difference between your MMR and your Rank. So, players that have not played for a long time can drop divisions quickly, this is also how smurfs can climb so fast.
What Elo can an Average Person Get
Now we get to the good stuff, the average league of legends players doesn’t necessarily play ranked matchmaking as their main game mode, so always keep that in mind. Some players just play ARAMs and normal with friends and that’s fine.
That said out of the entire ranked population the average rank of all of these players added together is: Silver 3.
Here is a rough estimation of how the global rank distribution in percentiles.
Iron League is about 5.5% of the lowest ranked population. Bronze League is about 24% of the ranked population. Silver League is the biggest division in terms of player numbers with 29%. Gold League is when players become better than average and are 24% of the population. Next is Platinum League with only 12% of players. And after that we have the elite players of Diamond League which are only about 3% of the population.
After Diamond the other ranks don’t even get to 1%, so most players higher than Diamond I are most likely, professional players, ex pros, streamers and super elite players and together Master and Grand Master make up about 0.56% if the ranked population.
As you can see most people can’t even reach gold as it is, but this will all change with the upcoming changes to ranked distribution that Riot has planned for the next ranked split.
Upcoming Changes to Rank Distribution
Riot has announced as early as 3 weeks ago that ranked is going to change. Riot is adding a new league: emerald in between diamond and platinum. If you want to learn more about this change then your best bet is reading Riot’s own blog post about it here.
The summary of it though is that now most players will probably sit between silver, gold and platinum in equal measure. This means that the average rank will probably go from silver 2 to gold 2 or something like that.
Whether this is a positive change or not I have no idea, there is only that blog post to go on for now. We’ll need to wait for the second split to begin and see for ourselves
How to get Better at League of Legends
Now you might be wondering, how many hours does it take to reach the average rank? Or what do I have to do get there? This is why we have prepared this entire second part of the article to guide our readers into ranked success. Keep reading to learn what you have to do to at least get to gold league.
Develop a strong set of fundamentals
Faker said it best: If you want to learn mid lane, play Twisted Fate. He teaches you about map awareness and how to not rely on your champion’s gimmicks to get ahead and win games.
You can apply this concept to any lane, want to learn ADC? Play some a balanced champion like Ashe at first, then you can later move to the more aggressive or passive ADCs that you might enjoy more.
Focusing on your fundamentals as early as possible is a great habit to develop. No matter your level, everyone develops habits, and if these habits are bad, it can hamper your growth as a player.
One of the most infamous examples if Singed. This champion singed is very unique, his gameplay is not really found anywhere else so there is this weird phenomenon where Singed players actually get worse at every other champion the more Singed, they play.
Last Hitting
Every couple of months I like to spend some time in a practice match practicing last hitting with the champions I play the most and some difficult ones like Anivia. It keeps me sharp and you should do the same.
Go into a practice match and spend as much time as you can practicing last hitting, if you’re not being pressured you should get around 10 CS per minute at least. Keep practicing and it won’t take much time until you can get 8 CS per minute in a real match (in an easy matchup!)
Map Awareness
Map awareness is very important for all roles but it becomes critical for mid laners, junglers and support players. Some champions straight up reward players for having great map awareness and always taking a look at the map so playing these is a great way to improve your map awareness.
Shen for top lane is a great choice. For mid, almost any champion that can roam can do it, but Twisted Fate is a classic example. For support it doesn’t really matter much which champion you choose but it’s still important to take a look at the map a lot. Nowadays support roams are devastating at higher elos and can be the difference maker.
Positioning
Just like map awareness, positioning is another critical skill for everyone. You need to know where to be in different situations. You can’t expect to play the same way with every champion.
Tanks are usually always going into fights first. Divers and Juggernauts are close by too. If you’re playing ADC then this is a critical skill. Even if your mechanics are not that great with excellent positioning you can go very far with champions like Jhin and Miss Fortune.
Maintain a Positive Mindset
No matter what you do inside the game, it’s important to maintain a positive mindset.
Never tilt, every time you get angry you degrade your performance. If you feel like you are getting frustrated then take a break, playing more will lead you into losing more matches. Take a walk, play some sports or lift some weights then come back.
Never play when tired or you don’t feel at your best. That’s what normal are for. If you are serious about climbing then focus on quality not quantity.
Conclusion
Now you should have a pretty good idea of what the average rank of most League of Legends ranked players is it’s about silver. Just by getting to gold you are already better than about 60% of everyone else who plays the game so don’t beat yourself up, it’s a pretty complicated game.