Randomness in Ranked? How Matchmaking Really Works

By LOLValue Team · October 22, 2025

League of Legends “Ranked.” Love it or hate it; at some point, your LoL journey will see you encounter the ranking system (yes, even if you’re just playing on a casual basis). In fact, the one thing that unites all of us, no matter how many years we have under our belts, is staring at the Defeat screen following a string of losses, thinking, “there’s no way this is fair”...

Maybe you just couldn’t get any momentum, maybe your team fell apart early, or perhaps your support dropped the ball. There’s a whole list of things that may have gone wrong but, somehow, it’s all too easy to assume that it’s the system that’s the issue. 

The truth is, League’s ranked matchmaking isn’t random at all. No flipping coins or blindly pulling names out of a hat to decide your fate here. Behind every match is a data-driven system designed to create an even playing experience, where both sides have about a 50% chance of emerging victorious. 

How many times have you questioned your triumph when you’ve been on the winning side? About zero, right? 

LoL Matchmaking: The Facts

Here’s the cold, hard truth: League of Legends doesn’t decide your ranked games by chance. That’s right. No player is selected at random… Sorry!  

Instead, when you join the queue, who you’ll be teamed up with or set against is decided by your unique matchmaking rating (MMR). The system will automatically match you with players who have similar scores, ensuring teams are built as evenly as possible. The goal is simple: to create the optimum grounds where all sides have an equal opportunity to win, and an equal opportunity to lose. 

Now, here’s where things have gotten a bit muddled, and legends have been born about the inherent randomness of playing LoL ranked. In the past, Riot has said that things like which roles are available or how long you’ve been waiting in a queue can alter the balance a bit, but that doesn’t mean chaos suddenly slips in and runs amok. Rather, the system will always prioritize matching you based on skill, not pot luck. 

In ranked systems like LoL, randomness would be unfair because your success should depend on skill. But for example in gambling, randomness is fairness because it ensures no one can predict or control the outcome.

What Randomness Really Means in Gaming

Now, while randomness feels like the enemy in ranked systems, because it would make skill meaningless, there are other gaming genres where randomness is the very thing that keeps play fair and exciting. There are some gaming sectors where it is far from a side feature and is actually the main event. 

Which sectors? Well, online casino gaming for one. For those who are out of the loop, this is the sector that incorporates verticals like online roulette, slots, blackjack, and video poker. Randomness is the foundation on which these verticals are built on. 

Why? It’s not just about increasing the thrill of spinning a Plinko slot or playing roulette or diving into baccarat at an online casino (although that gaming experience is oh-so-important too). Not to state the obvious here, but online casino gaming is a gambling sector, which for the most part involves playing with real money. A game that isn’t random is… you’ve guessed it, predictable. And a game that’s predictable means it’s possible to spot and track patterns (you know where we’re going with this). 

This is why the truly great casino platforms are built on top-quality random number generator algorithms. RNGs ensure each spin, roll, or card flip is provably fair, providing unique and unpredictable outcomes from each and every action made in a game. And don’t just take our word for it! There’s a whole ecosystem of companies out there that specialize in auditing and testing gambling platform RNGs to ensure they’re up to scratch. 

So you’ve not so much as even picked up a pack of playing cards, never mind hopped on a casino gaming app during the rush hour commute? You’ll still come across randomness forming a core part of the gaming experience, even if you stick solely to AAA blockbusters. You’ll find randomness cropping up in tons of other eSports, MOBAs, and RPG games… 

And you should be happy it’s there, because it adds that extra bit of spice we need to stop us nodding off! A simple thing like the placement of a lootbox in Overwatch is all down to randomness; then it cranks up a gear in your Final Fantasy VII matches by deciding damage and critical hits. 

Where Randomness Exists in LoL

We’ll let you into a little secret: you’ll even encounter chaos and unpredictability in League, just not in the place where you can conveniently blame it for your lack of progress! 

But the game’s ranked system avoids randomness, right? Yes, the matchmaking algorithm is at the complete other end of the spectrum it’s deterministic, making decisions based on player data. You’re responsible for the variable, whereas an RNG-based game like roulette takes the variable out of your hands entirely no matter how airtight your play strategy might be. 

Where you will find randomness in the game is at the edges: think map events, mechanics, and, yes, player behavior.

Critical strike chance is a textbook example! Okay, so the system smooths out probabilities over time, but that initial trigger is still all based on chance. ARAM champion rolls? Random. Jungle scuttle crab spawn on sides? Completely random! Even the occasional rune cast depends on unpredictability. 

And then, there’s the human aspect. There’s no way of predicting the choices your team’s going to make when the action gets underway. And it’s exactly that chaos that makes multiplayer gaming so appealing in the first place.

LoL account value calculator · LoL skins database · LoL MMR checker · Wasted on LoL · Riot Points to USD

LoLValue isn't endorsed by Riot Games and doesn't reflect the views or opinions of Riot Games or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Riot Games properties. Riot Games, and all associated properties are trademarks or registered trademarks of Riot Games, Inc.