Ranked Restrictions in League of Legends (2025): Causes, Fixes, and Queue Rules

The core of any multiplayer game in this day and age is the competitive (ranked) queue, allowing players to match with and against players of similar skill. Ranked queue is a competitive PvP queue type. Nearly identical to the Normal game mode, Ranked queue comes with some additional matchmaking limitations. League of Legends utilizes the ranked ladder system. As players complete matches, depending on the outcome, wins and losses either add or subtract rating (League Points) from their overall. This in turn influences their standing on the ranked ladder. 

Why is Ranked Queue So Popular?

With this mode comes the feeling of competition and skill-based matchmaking that delivers a feeling of ‘improving’ at the game through visualization (known as ‘rank’). But not every player is able to queue for competitive play. Ranked restrictions imposed by Riot Games have been set in place to maintain the integrity of the queue and games. While it can be frustrating to log into a game of League of Legends with the hopes of battling it out on Summoner’s Rift in a thrilling ranked environment and finding yourself ineligible, understanding why that is the case is the fastest method to resolve it and get to climbing. 

Alright I’m Sold. Why Can’t I Start Ranked Queue?

Ranked restrictions may stem from a variety of factors including account eligibility, party/rank rules, behaviour penalties, and service outages. In this article, we’ll go over every potential reason stopping you from getting back on the Rift. 

Note: Updated as of Patch 25.23, December 1^st 2025.

Have more questions or need more specific help? Check out the Riot Support page. 

Restricted from Playing Ranked? Quick Answer Checklist

Requirements to Play Ranked in League of Legends (Eligibility)

Ranked Queue are separated into Solo/Duo and Flex. Both queues share the following prerequisites:

• Account must be at least level 30.
• Account must have access to at least 20 champions, all of which must be owned.
• Account must have played at least 10 full Normal Summoner’s Rift games.

Assuming this is your first foray onto the Ranked ladder, to begin your journey having met all the prerequisites, players must first complete a set of provisional matches (5 in total). The results of these matches will determine the account’s initial tier and division within the League of Legends (LoL) ranked system for the current season. 

Note: Players who were already ranked at the end of the previous split will also have to complete a set of provisional matches. However, their previous rank will be taken into account with a ‘soft reset’ instead, worth relatively 4 division’s of rank degradation. With this as the base, the absolute minimum rank (0 wins, 5 losses) and absolute maximum rank (5 wins, 0 losses) is determined for the account.  

Queue-Specific Rules (Solo/Duo vs Flex)

For Solo/Duo Queue:

• Players can only queue solo or with a single other player (duo).
• Accounts with hidden MMR (Matchmaking Rating) corresponding to Grandmaster and Challenger tiers will not be allowed to queue with each other. In Korea and China servers, this limitation is expanded to Master tier MMR as well. 

For Flex Queue: 

• Players are allowed to queue with any sized party, except for parties of 4. 

Once these requirements are all met, your account will be free to charge forth onto the ranked ladder. Climb to your heart’s content. 

Region and Transfers

Transferring your League of Legend’s account to a new region will lose your Ranked League placement. The player will need to complete new placement games. Hidden MMR will carry over to be used as seeding for the new region. However, visible rank and LP are reset. Recent server transfers may also temporarily block Ranked Queue until MMR sync is complete. 

Official Riot Games documention on account transfers. 

 Party and Rank Restrictions (Why Your Duo Can’t Queue)

If you see the following message ‘Not eligible together’, it means one or more in your party is in conflict with the rank/MMR gap rules. 

Behaviour and Penalty Systems that Block Ranked

In LoL, there are two different types of penalties that relate to Queue Penalties: Timeouts/LPQ (Low Priority Queue) and True Ranked Queue Suspension. 

With Timeouts, players can only re-enter Ranked Queue after a stated amount of time has passed. This temporary suspension cannot be bypassed and players must wait for it to expire. As for LPQ, players will be allowed to re-enter queue directly, however, additional wait timers will be added across queues. Players will need to complete penalty games to clear the LPQ penalty. Frequent AFKs and other accrued faults will escalate account punishments. 

Dodge Penalities and Queue Lockouts

Multiple queue dodges will also lead to queue lockouts and LP (League Points) loss. These are more short-term and may display the message "Ranked Disabled". Simply waiting out the timer will clear this penalty. 

Technical/Service Causes (Ranked Globally Disabled)

In some cases, during patch deployments, outages, or incidence responses, Riot Games may disable Ranked Queue. In those instances, check the status on the official Riot Games status website. 

Server Status and Maintenance

Same as above, check the status on the official Riot Games status website. The message displayed in-game should say: "Ranked games disabled". In those cases, nothing user-side will fix the issue. 

Patch Rollouts and Hotfixes

Ranked Queue may be paused during major patches/hotfixes. Try re-entering queue once it has completed. 

How League of Legends Ranked Works

The ranked system in LoL runs on a ranked ladder system utilizing MMR as the deciding factor for where the account places on the ladder. After completing the initial placement matches, the account is given a 'starting' MMR and 'placed rank' to begin your competitive journey. It is also worth noting that there are two values tied to each account's rank, the MMR (which is a hidden value assigned to the account and ties into the ranked ladder) and the visual rank (e.g. Diamond) which publicly displays on the account itself. 

The current ranks in League of Legends are:

An account's rank in Solo/Duo queue is totally independent from its Flex rank. Check out the Riot Games official documentation on Ranks, Divisions, and More. 

Promotions

Reaching past 100 LP in a specific division (e.g Iron III) will promote the player to the next tier (Iron II) and so forth. Promoting past 100 LP in the highest division of that tier will promote the account to the next division (Iron I -> Bronze IV). 

Check out the official Riot games documentation on Promotions and Demotions if you still have questions. 

Demotions

Demoting between division occurs when an account loses more LP than they currently have in that division. For example, if the account currently sits at 10 LP in Gold II and a loss of 20 LP occurs from a game's result, then the account will be demoted to Gold III with 90 LP. 

Note: Additional protection is granted between the tiers (e.g. Gold IV to Silver I). However, should the account still demote after the protection has been consumed, the LP loss will land the account at preset amounts of 25, 50 or 75 LP depending on where the system determines the player's actual skill level to be at. 

Note: For the apex tiers of Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger, a further restriction of 'rank decay' will also need to be considered. Check out Riot's official documentation to better understand it. 

While the ranks of Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger will be the biggest receivers of rank decay, a minor version also exists for Diamond. For each 24 hours that passes, an account's rank will decay (automatically losing LP). This can be negated by 'banking' days (playing matches). 

• LP Lost on Decay: 50 LP
• Initial Days before Decay: 28 Days
• Banked Days per Match: 7 Days
• Maximum Banked Days: 28 Days

Solo/Duo vs Flex (What You Need to Know)

Quick recap: Solo/Duo and Flex ranks are kept separate and independent of one another. You earn unique rewards based on both your Solo/Duo and Flex ranks. We've already outlined the queue requirements for Solo/Duo above. For Flex Queue, there are no rank restrictions for Diamond and below. To queue with an account that is Master, Grandmaster, or Challenger in Flex Queue, the other accounts must be at least Emerald or higher. In Flex Queue, party sizes of 1, 2, 3, and 5 may queue up. Parties of 4 will not be allowed to queue. 

FAQs

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Featured Image Credit: Riot Games