League of Legends has had a number of ranks since its inception, including Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and the three Apex Tiers—Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger. It’s a system that myself and many other players have been familiar with for years.
But while that might be the case, Riot Games has decided to rework the system in a number of ways. Not only is the dev team removing promotion series and lowering the number of placement games from 10 to five, but it is also adding a new Emerald rank. These changes go live once Split Two 2023 kicks off on July 18.
The addition of the new rank is pretty groundbreaking stuff. It’s also raised a lot of questions since it will impact the rank distribution regardless of what rank you are, but Riot is adamant that it will be a positive change.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new rank.
LoL’s new Emerald rank, explained
The new Emerald rank sits between Platinum and Diamond. It was added to fix what Riot described as a “very bottom-heavy distribution of rankings.” According to Riot, more than 60 percent of players fall between the Bronze and Silver ranks, which is a problem since the original intention was for these ranks to be for below-average players.
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Riot wanted to flatten the curve in a way that wouldn’t negatively impact Diamond-ranked players. That’s where the Emerald rank comes in. It will live between Platinum and Diamond and is expected to have a percentage of players that is somewhat similar to Platinum.
Riot hopes the addition of Emerald will create more of an even spread between Silver, Gold, and Platinum and make Bronze the below-average rank it was always intended to be. Iron is an exception since the percentage of players in that rank has always been as low as Diamond.
In my opinion, this is a positive change that will make the ranked climb a bit easier to stomach. Riot said most players will find themselves ranked at a higher tier than before. I’m looking forward to that, and I’m sure many others are as well.
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