Every player’s adventure in the immense universe of League of Legends (LoL) begins with a low ELO. ELO is a method used to rank players in chess that has now been adopted by other games such as League of Legends. Despite the fact that Riot Games replaced ELO with the League System in 2013, the word ELO is still used by the community to define skill levels and ranks. Low ELO divisions in LoL are mainly Iron, Bronze, Silver, and occasionally Gold.

Riot Games, the developer of LoL, estimates that over 70% of its player base resides in these low ELO brackets. Therefore, the question of balance in this area becomes essential. How does Riot maintain equilibrium in a realm of such broad skill discrepancies?

Balancing the Scales

Riot engages in numerous methods to ensure game balance in low ELO. Primarily, it centers around matchmaking. Riot’s matchmaking algorithm aims to pair players of similar skill levels, enabling fairer competition. It’s not perfect, but the attempt to balance player expertise is palpable.