League of Legends has had a number of competitive ranks since 2010, ranging from Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Iron to Platinum and Diamond, and three Apex Tiers—Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger. It’s a well-worn and familiar system that’s been in place for more than a decade.
This season, Riot Games has decided to rework the system, starting from Split Two. This includes the removal of promotion series and a reduction in placement games—dropped from 10 to just five—to speed up ranked play.
It also includes League’s first rank in six years: Emerald.
Deleting promotions makes sense, especially in my eyes after falling victim to it so many times over the years (and I doubt very much I’m alone in that experience either), and having to play fewer placement games each season should speed up how quickly we can start our ranked grinds, but an extra rank whacked into the middle of the long-standing competitive ladder has given many players pause.
There are plenty of questions to be asked about Emerald, but the League devs are fairly adamant it will be a positive change.
League’s new Emerald rank, explained
The new Emerald rank sits between Platinum and Diamond. It has been introduced to fix what Riot has described as a “very bottom-heavy distribution of rankings.” Stats from the last few seasons found more than 60 percent of players fall between Bronze and Silver, which Riot doesn’t really like.
Instead, Riot wants those regularly ranked between Iron (the lowest on the competitive ladder) and Silver to be below-average players.
The Emerald rank has been added as a way to flatten the curve in a way that won’t negatively impact Diamond-ranked players. From July 2023, it will live between the Platinum and Diamond ranks and is expected to have a percentage of players somewhat similar to the old Platinum.
I’m a visual learner, so I know this graph (below) can help.
As a League player who has actually progressed from originally being placed in Bronze to climbing through Silver and Gold, and before eventually breaking into Platinum last season, I’m very interested to see this all come into effect; especially with Emerald now shaping as a new frontier to challenge.
This should create a more even spread between Silver and Platinum. It will also see the Bronze rank become the below-average League rank the Riot devs are suggesting it was always intended to be.
At the very bottom, Iron should see no changes.
