How Ranked Matchmaking Decides Your Opponents, and Why You Stall at the Same Rank

Playing through countless ranked games only to see the same starting spot crop up again and again is enough to make anyone mistrust the system. "Why do I keep getting the same opponents, no matter how I play?" You might ask. The answer is simpler than it seems: Ranked matchmaking is not "trying" to win or lose to a specific player, or placing those same opponents in your game queue in an effort to peg you down. Instead, it measures how uncertain the system is of the estimated level it assigned you, then adjusts your skill level up or down according to how consistently you win or lose against that estimated level.

Every ranked game uses a matchmaking rating (MMR) to form teams, and while visible rank is separate from MMR, the two are related. Riot says directly that MMR is what determines the place on the ladder, which means that when you win, you gain both MMR and points toward your visible rank in League of Legends. On the flip side, when you lose, both MMR and visible rank points go down. Similarly, in Overwatch and Dota 2, the MMR internal estimate from individual performances in ranked matches is what the systems use to pair players, and while visible rank applies to the competitive ladder, MMR alone affects matchmaking.

When a matchmaker looks at the MMR of two players, the system tries to assemble a game with two evenly matched teams, where both sides have an equal chance of winning. This means on the whole, the system wants both of the teams represented in the game to have roughly the same chance of winning. It does this by trying to match up players with similar ratings—launching a game with a team of skilled players against a team of novice players is unlikely to produce a satisfying or close game, and so the matchmaker tries to avoid it.

In general, the skill estimate goes up when a player wins and down when a player loses. A player’s MMR increases when they win and decreases when they lose, though there is a mathematical formula rather than a flat number that affects the player’s MMR. The formula weighs the perception of your MMR versus the skill level represented by the sum of opponent MMR. This means if you lose a highly contested game, a flat loss might not do a lot to change your MMR, but it could if the game margin was high.

When you play alone, MMR is your own personal skill estimate that matches with similarly rated players or groups to calculate team strength. Queuing with a group of players, or even with just one other, makes it harder for the matchmaker to find a paired group of players with the same MMR, since the playing field isn’t uniform. And a team’s starting MMR reflects the past performances of the players on the team; if two players with different ranked history play together, the team’s MMR is the average of both players’ solo queue MMR and wins.

Your MMR is hidden, but your visible rank is not. Along with visible rank, each game also provides a score representing the amount of rank points (RP) you or your team received. RP is represented by a number that can either increase or decrease from game to game, for individual players or for teams in team games. Your RP will increase if you or your team score a ranked victory, and will decrease if you or your team lose a ranked game; the difference will depend on the MMR of the player you are playing against.

This is why you see your visible rank move. In League of Legends, for instance, for people playing in the solo queue, players who win a game receive an equivalent amount of points as other players who win, based on their win streak and the amount of rank points they went into the game. The amount of rank points someone gains as a result of a win is determined by several factors, including skill, but also win streaks and first-time wins. A player’s rank begins to change if they are no longer first-time wins or high win streaks, and is adjusted constantly with losses.

Visible rank is the rank that is displayed to other players and within the game interface. It is earned and achieved as a result of a player’s MMR, and is the rank that players typically see in the competitive queue. It is also the part of the ranked system players deal with day to day.

MMR, by contrast, is what the matchmaker sees and uses.

A stall on the ladder isn’t evidence that the system is trying to peg a player to a spot. Rather, it means that when the system sees a win from a player in that spot, it thinks that player should hang there. In practice, this means a win and a loss would keep you in place, but your MMR has moved, and your next win would bump you up because now the system thinks you should be at the next level.

In order to actually change your rank, you need to play more than average. If you queue solo, avoid playing with others so that the MMR is more accurate, you’ll want to play consistently without skipping sessions, and win more games than you lose. It may feel like a long-term goal, but if you can break that 50% win rate barrier, play your role and not that of the team, you might begin to see increases. If you’re playing an unfamiliar role, you’re likely falling behind others because you’re mismatched, and you’d be better off queueing solo where you can play to your strengths.

It’s in the nature of MMR that visible rank can move independently of the ladder spot you were in before. If you just gained a new rank but feel like you’re playing the same games, that could mean your MMR outpaces your rank. Rank is the public number; the matchmaker is looking at the hidden one. A plateau on the ladder usually means the hidden rating has settled at the level where you win about half your games, which is exactly what the system is aiming for.

When you slot into a game and find yourself facing the same opponents, it’s not because the matchmaker is trying to punish you by pairing you with those specific players; it’s because your MMR is close to the MMR of those players. To face different opponents you have to move the rating, and only a run of results does that.

When you click the button to queue for a ranked game, it’s not a challenge to see how many wins you can rack up against the same faces, it’s a mathematical process of pairing players by the hidden numbers the system tracks. Skewing the system could mean the difference between matches that are boring and lopsided and ones that are contested and dramatic.