All ranked changes coming to League of Legends in patch 13.4

Riot Games will make crucial changes to ranked games in League of Legends (LoL). In the recent developer post, the company revealed numerous significant adjustments that will elevate the ranked experience for players. These adjustments are meant to offer a more impartial rank distribution and assure that high ranks maintain their individuality and reputation.

The new changes will take effect on LoL patch 13.4 on July 17, 2023, after the upcoming mid-season break.

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League of Legends ranked Season 13 Split 2 ranked changes

A new rank, "Emerald," will be introduced in League of Legends Season 13 Split 2, and it will be located between the Platinum and Diamond ranks. This is one of the most significant changes coming to the game.

This change aims to correct the imbalance in rank distribution, which has historically favored lower tiers. According to the Senior Vice President and Studio Head of League Studio at Riot Games, Andrei “Meddler” van Roon, most ranked players fall into the Silver or lower range, and a small percentage ranks up to Gold 4.

Emerald: A new rank coming to League of Legends (Image via Riot Games)

The following are the significant adjustments coming with Season 13, Split 2:

• New rank: Emerald. It will be between Diamond and Platinum.
• Placement games were reduced from ten to five.
• The promotion series was removed.

With the introduction of the Emerald rank, Riot Games hopes to bring LoL closer to other competitive games by distributing players more evenly among the various ranks. He asserted:

In order to mitigate this, we’re adding a new rank: Emerald, which you may recognize from League of Legends: Wild Rift. Emerald rank will live between Diamond and Platinum and represent a roughly similar percentage of players as Platinum does today.

League of Legends ranked distribution changes in Season 13 Split 2 (Image via Riot Games)

Additionally, Riot Games acknowledged the recent worries raised by high-elo players regarding the growing Masters+ playerbase and how Apex tiers are unintentionally growing larger. The official dev blog ensures that the new Emerald rank was created to offset any potential inflation in Diamond and maintain the exclusivity of the highest ranks.

Furthermore, the goal of reducing the number of placement games from 10 to five is to speed up the placement procedure so that players can quickly learn their starting rank. Hence, their time will be saved, especially those who have already completed ten placement games from the season's first split.