Riot has revealed the first League of Legends ranked 2026 changes, including updates to autofill, dodging penalties, queue times, MMR, and duo queue. Many of these updates were expected, so let’s go through the most important ones.
Contents
- 1 All League of Legends Ranked Changes for 2026 (Overview)
- 2 Autofill Parity: Fairer Role Matchups in 2026 Ranked Games
- 3 Ranked Dodging Changes in 2026: Penalties, Losses, and Autofill
- 4 Faster Time to Game: Shorter Queues and Champ Select Adjustments
- 5 Ranked Skill Distribution and the New Climb Indicator Explained
- 6 Flex vs Solo MMR, Duo Queue at All Ranks, and Other 2026 Changes
All League of Legends Ranked Changes for 2026 (Overview)
The latest dev update makes it clear that Riot is planning a number of ranked changes for 2026. We will walk you through each one, starting with the Autofill Parity.
Autofill Parity: Fairer Role Matchups in 2026 Ranked Games
The first series of changes is related to the Autofill function, which allows you to find games faster. Riot finally realized that playing against someone who’s maining a given role is not that fun, so the new autofill will attempt to match an autofilled player against someone in the same position. The idea here is to have a more balanced setup where you do not have to play against someone who’s maining a given role when you are not in the same position.
If it is impossible to meet such a player, the team with more autotuned players will have a slightly higher MMR than others. On top of that, Riot will introduce a new system called Aegis of Valor.
Aegis of Valor will reward you with double the LP or a full LP loss protection in an autofilled game where your mastery score is at least C. Don’t worry, Riot will notify you when the effect is active once you get into a lobby.
People who focus on support or jungle will also get an Aegis reward, but they won’t be notified in the lobby. All of these changes aim to boost the popularity of certain roles and to allow players to feel more confident when experimenting.
Ranked Dodging Changes in 2026: Penalties, Losses, and Autofill
Another League of Legends ranked change that Riot has addressed is related to dodging. Doing this will no longer reset your autofill stats. Also, if you’re a Master or at a higher level and you dodge, this will be counted as a loss, and the autofill will carry over. On top of all that, you will also receive a dodge cooldown timer.
Some people may find these changes harsh, but the idea behind them is to have quicker queue times. Riot also wants to make a more “stable champ-select environment”.
Faster Time to Game: Shorter Queues and Champ Select Adjustments
Riot will be working on various small changes related to getting into a game that it has not announced yet. What we do know, however, is that players will no longer be able to ban an ally’s hovered champion. The idea here is to avoid “tilting” players before the game even starts.
Additionally, Riot has decided to adjust the animations and timers in the Champion Select by approximately 30 seconds. It seems like these changes have been live in NA and OCE for some time now, and since they work well, Riot is implementing them worldwide.
Ranked Skill Distribution and the New Climb Indicator Explained
This is something that we’ve been waiting to see for a while. Riot Games has finally acknowledged that the ranking system needs adjustments and will recalibrate some of the lower ranks in the game. The idea here is to make them more accurate in terms of reflecting the skill levels of players.
On top of that, Riot will also add a “Climb” indicator. This will help you identify when someone’s rank is not accurately aligned with their MMR. In other words, it will give you an answer as to why some lower-ranked players are in your team.
Flex vs Solo MMR, Duo Queue at All Ranks, and Other 2026 Changes
Aside from the things we mentioned so far, Riot also decided to change the way Flex and Solo MMR are determined. Riot will try to basically align the Flex and Solo/Duo ranks so that players are more evenly matched. The idea here is to make the Flex games feel more fair and avoid meeting other Flex players who are Master in Duo or Solo.
Lastly, Riot will also enable duoing in Solo/Duo at all ranks. There were concerns about rank manipulation before, and this option was disabled, but it seems like the company has found ways of dealing with it.
Keep in mind that these are just some of the League of Legends Ranked 2026 changes. We will see a lot more in the upcoming months, so make sure to follow us for more details.
