Reaching Platinum rank in League of Legends is a major achievement, marking a pivotal moment in your competitive journey. Players don’t ascend to this level overnight; It’s a result of continuous practice and adaptation to the ever-evolving dynamics of the game. Platinum stands as a testament to your advanced understanding and proficiency in the game. It’s a clear sign that you’ve surpassed the basics and are now navigating the intricate strategies and nuanced mechanics that set skilled players apart from the rest.
Often regarded as the last hurdle before breaking out of low-elo, Platinum is destined to be a battlefield ignited by fierce competition and high stakes. But what is competition if not more than an opportunity for growth? With the upper ranks shimmering on the horizon, Platinum players are more driven than ever to take on, head-first, whatever challenged solo queue throws their way, demonstrating the sheer resilience and commitment they’ve showcased over the course of their climb.
So, what does it really mean to be a Platinum player, and how does the experience in this tier stack up against others? Let’s dive into the world of Platinum, examining its unique challenges, player dynamics, and what it takes to push through to Emerald and beyond.
Despite being considered a relatively high rank, Platinum now accounts for a staggering 15% of the entire ranked player base. This percentage has been steadily increasing over the seasons, a significant jump from 7% in Season 7 and 11% in Season 10.
This gradual uptick is mostly a result of “rank creep” League is experiencing and can be linked to the fact that the average player has become significantly better than they were 5 or 6 years ago. The introduction of the Emerald rank last year also undermined the exclusivity of Platinum, thus putting an end to its status as the getaway to Diamond and higher tiers. It’s also likely that the changes to LP gains in season 14 and removal of promotion matches allowed heavy grinders to climb into higher ranks through sheer amount of games played.
Even though there are as many players in Platinum as in Gold –or even Silver– this tier still represents a respectable landmark in one’s ranked climb and remains an aspired milestone for lower ranked players.
If you're seeking a detailed breakdown of all ranks in League of Legends and their respective player populations, be sure to check out our article on LoL Ranks: Explained.
Reaching Platinum puts you in the top 30% of the ranked player base. While that might not seem all that impressive at first glance, when you consider League's 150 million monthly active users, it means you're better than 105 million players! You're doing well, so give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back! If you've made it this far, then you've forged a solid grasp of the game's core concepts and demonstrated superior skill compared to the average player.
Mechanics and game knowledge, while still rough around the edges, are no longer holding you back. Most players in this bracket have a solid understanding of every champion in the game and how their abilities work, so gone are the days when you can cheese an enemy because they don’t know how Xayah’s feathers or Zyra’s sprouts work. At this stage, it’s about outpacing your opponents with strategic finesse, rather than relying on gaps in their knowledge.
To navigate the realm of Platinum, you need to understand the limbo this tier exists in, which will help you better understand both your teammates and your enemies. Silver’s identity lies in being "low-elo but at least it’s not Bronze." Gold is coveted because it’s where ranked rewards become attainable. Platinum, however, used to be known as the "bridge to Diamond." With the introduction of Emerald, though, this tier now feels like a void—isolated, with no clear incentive to stay.
Players in Platinum often feel trapped, leading to a pervasive mindset of "I need to get out of Platinum at any cost." This mentality fuels the toxicity and frustration commonly experienced in this tier, as players are more focused on escaping than on improving or enjoying the game. Understanding this dynamic is crucial, as it helps you traverse the trenches of Platinum with a clear head and realistic expectations.
The average skill level in this tier shouldn’t be underestimated as Platinum players are more than capable of executing impressive plays, managing minion waves, and punishing enemy mistakes to a reasonable degree. At the end of the day, these are players with over 1,000 hours invested into the game across multiple seasons. But if you’re here too, there’s nothing to fear! Platinum is just as challenging for a Plat-level player as Bronze is for a Bronze player. The key is to maintain the right mindset and strive to be one step ahead of your peers. If you focus on improving and learning from each match, you’ll find yourself climbing out of Platinum in no time. So, how about we dive into some insights on how to improve?
We all know how frustrating League can be, and how horrible our teammates are. However, if it’s really the bad players dragging you down, how come they never hold others back from reaching Diamond or even Challenger without a hitch? Why do some players breeze through the ranks while others get hardstuck in a single tier for years on end? The difference boils down to mindset, adaptability, and consistency. Those who—seemingly—climb effortlessly invest more of their energy in improving what they can control, rather than constantly blaming their teammates.
We could keep yapping about mechanics and whatnot, but at this stage, your mechanical skills should be sharp enough that no one needs to tell you how to move your mouse. Those rough edges will smooth out naturally as you keep playing and gaining more experience. Instead, you should focus more on your decision-making and game sense.
These tips, though tailored for Platinum players, can be applied and adapted to climb out of any rank. That's why we recommend following advice aimed at higher-ranked players as well. This helps set your expectations and pushes you to play like, or even outperform, them. For more insights, check out our guide on the Diamond rank.
You might have heard the word Tempo get thrown around a lot, and while it may not have been as impactful in lower ranks it’s something you should actively consider as you strive fro Emerald and beyond. This term boils down to the concept of timing and efficiency, and it’s not just something junglers or midlaners need to worry about. It applies to every role in the game, affecting every interaction between both teams.
While Gold and XP are essential for gaining leads and snowballing, the most valuable resource in the game is Time, and how you manage it can make or break your match. To put it in perspective, think of every second as the equivalent of 8 gold (as it’s the average gold per second earned through clearing a jungle camp or a wave). This means that every second you waste is a 16 gold advantage in your enemy’s favor.
To harvest this resource to its fullest, you need to be capable of creating timing windows and utilizing that tempo to snowball your lead—whether that's by recalling at the right moment or applying pressure somewhere else on the map.
Gaining Tempo over your opponent is done by forcing them into disadvantageous positions—like forcing them to farm under tower—while you’re free to capitalize. You can turn a 1v1 skirmish in the river into a 2v1, or secure a free recall to gain an item advantage, pinning your opponent into an even more awkward position.
Another key factor is staying one step ahead of your enemy is your efficiency in… everything; Your jungle clear, your pathing, mana and health management, or even your waveclear. If someone’s faster than you, they’ll get to fights first, rotate to objectives quicker, and have time to reposition, leaving you scrambling to catch up.
Mastering tempo isn’t so cut and dry though as it revolves more around game sense and map awareness than pure mechanics. Start with those aspects first, as they’ll help you read the game better, anticipate plays, and manage your wave accordingly. If you’re a jungler, practice the most efficient clear path for your main champion. This will secure you an invisible, yet massive, advantage over the enemy team. By doing so, you'll become that player who's always in the right place at the right time—ready to turn the tides of any battle!
We’ve touched on the aspect of recalling in the previous header, but come on, how much impact can a single button really have? The answer is: enough to differentiate you from an Emerald player. You’ll be baffled at how important this seemingly passive action can be in securing your lanes and winning your games.
If it hasn’t clicked yet, let me walk you through a scenario you’ve probably encountered countless times: You went for a trade on the enemy midlaner at level 4 and snagged a solo kill. Fantastic! Now all you need to do is crash the minion wave and… you decide to stay for another. Suddenly, your enemy returns with full health and an item lead, a huge minion wave bouncing back, and either kills you or shoves you under tower to potentially dive you. But how did that happen? You had a 400-gold advantage at one point from the kill and the minions! The truth is, that the gold chilling in your inventory essentially means nothing if you don’t spend it and translate it into an item lead. Now your lane is doomed and—of course—it’s your jungler’s fault for not ganking, right?
Let’s envision a different universe where you hard push the minion wave after that kill and simply recall. You head back to lane with your item advantage, barely miss any CS or XP, a massive wave heading towards you to feast on, and an out-of-position midlaner to trade with or gank! See how such a small action early on can determine the fate of an entire match?
While you might not get away with many free recalls on higher ranks, most Platinum players still throw away their leads by not understanding proper recall windows. Punish their bad recalls with lane freezes, and when it’s your turn, slow-push the wave to secure a safe recall by crashing it into their tower. This way, you’ll come back to lane refreshed, while your enemy struggles to catch up.
This is why Teleport is more utilized in higher elo. It’s essentially a “get out of jail free card” in the laning phase, allowing you to recover from suboptimal recalls and giving you the chance to bounce back from a losing position.
Sticking to a single role and narrowing down your pool to only a few champions is a universal rule in ranked League of Legends, so let’s break the mold for a bit. Since League is fundamentally a team-based game, and becomes more so the higher you climb up the ranked ladder, it’s essential to understand the steamworks behind your allies’ decisions. Other than constantly feeding, your teammates have their own game plan and goal to secure their lane which, if you’ve never had any experience in their role, will certainly lead to clashes and frustration.
A simple example of this in action would be an early jungle skirmish in the topside river. As a jungler, you decide to contest the scuttle only to be greeted by the enemy top laner jumping you while yours is nowhere in sight. You end up dying, spam pinging your top laner—who was shoved under tower—and calling for an FF at 15. From your perspective, all that you saw was the enemy top rotating to the fight while yours is farming his dumb minions.
After a couple of games in the top lane, you find yourself in a situation where your jungler is the one contesting the scuttle while you’re getting pushed under your tower. You decide to preemptively warn him about a potential enemy rotation, saving his life in the process! This kind of understanding isn’t just limited to top and jungle interactions, though. You’re playing alongside 4 other players on 4 other roles every single game, and if you have no idea how those roles function you’ll end up calling for poor plays and undermining your teammates. By putting yourself in their shoes for a few draft games, you’ll broaden your knowledge and learn to capitalize on their strengths, helping prevent them from falling behind.
Imagine if Riot Games went ahead and merged flex queue and solo queue into one, how would you feel as a solo player? Why would you get upset if you’re simply the better player?
But here’s the thing—%99 of the time, it’s not the better player that wins, but the better team. Long gone are the days when you could solo carry a game simply because of better mechanics, so start playing as a team instead of a lone wolf.
I’m not saying you should completely disregard flashy solo plays or straight up ditch all solo carry champions. If you’re confident in piloting them, that’s awesome! What I would recommend though is blending those solo efforts with a bit of team coordination. Instead of everyone running off and doing their own thing, sync up with your team and strategize as a collective. You can still make those killer plays, but make sure they’re part of a bigger plan that benefits the whole team. That way, you’re not simply relying on your own skills to secure the win but also leveraging your teammates’ strengths to create a more complete and solid strategy.
Get more proactive in team play through solid communication and mutual understanding. Remember, you and your teammates all have the same ultimate goal: to win. So, instead of treating them with hostility, work together and support each other, and your match history might start looking a lot more blue than red.
The number of matches needed to reach Platinum can vary widely due to several factors, making it quite difficult to pinpoint an exact figure. How tedious or breezy your climb ends up being primarily depends on your MMR –MatchMaking Rating– and how consistently you can snatch out those victories.
We can still ballpark the tally and give you a rough estimate: Holstering a 55% winrate, it would take an average Gold IV player around 85 games or so to reach Platinum IV. For a mid-Silver player, this number spikes to about 150 games, assuming a +25 LP gain for wins and a -20 LP loss per defeat.
From a theoretical standpoint, the climb from low-elo to Platinum might seem surprisingly straightforward, and potentially achievable in just a few weeks. While that might be the case for some, millions of hardstuck Gold players could argue otherwise. Beyond the skill gap that Silver and Gold players must overcome, win and loss streaks are inevitable during your climb, adding another layer of difficulty to the journey. Loss streaks, in particular, can have a significant impact on your MMR, making victories worth less and defeats even more detrimental. Be sure to head over to our article on the Elo System in League of Legends for more insights into how it works and tips on leveraging its nuances to rank up quickly.
As you ascend the ranks, consistency and MMR become increasingly crucial. In your efforts to move beyond Platinum, you'll find that mistakes carry less margin for error, with loss streaks presenting even greater setbacks than ever before. If you've recently reached Platinum and are eager to climb out quickly, you might notice that LP gains start out modest since your MMR hasn’t properly adapted to your new rank yet. However, with time and practice, you'll gain confidence in your performance and score victories more frequently, and with a %55 winrate, you could be greeted with that Emerald crest in approximately 100 ranked games. The moment you no longer feel intimidated by enemies rocking a green border is when you know you're well on your way to joining them in the Emerald ranks!
With placement matches on a new account potentially boosting you up to Emerald IV, you could put your skill to the test with a Smurf account with a fresh hand-leveled account from our store page.
Absolutely! It is indeed possible for players to demote from Platinum all the way down to Gold. **This is far from an enviable position to be in, so it’s important to understand the inner workings of this system to minimize the risk of demotion going forward.
Since you're not yet in Diamond, rank decay isn't a factor yet. At this stage, demotion is solely influenced by LP loss, so here’s how it functions:
Once a player falls to Platinum IV 0 LP, they’ll be at an imminent risk of demotion subsequent to future losses, which would descend them to Gold IV 75 LP.
Fortunately, the ranking system awards you with a buffer zone of 2 or 3 games, giving you a chance to recover from this position without facing immediate demotion. However, if you keep hovering around that 0 LP threshold for long enough, you’ll lose this buffer and be subject to demotion upon losing a ranked match, even with 10 or 15 LP remaining, so tread carefully!
All new promotees to Platinum also receive a 10-game Demotion Shield, ensuring they won't drop back to Gold even if they lose all 10 of those games. Keep in mind that although the Demotion Shield protects you from dropping ranks, your MMR will still diminish with those losses, so avoid throwing those games either way!
Platinum players can play ranked duo queue with anyone all the way from Gold IV to Emerald I. The caveat with duo queueing is that, in order to determine your opponents’ rank, the ranking system averages out your MMRs. If there's a substantial Elo gap between you, it can lead to two main issues:
Queuing as a duo also increases the likelihood of versing other duos in ranked. So if you’re concerned about facing an Emerald Duo bot with matching usernames when playing with your Platinum friend, consider playing a couple of Draft matches together. This will help you get accustomed to each other’s playstyles and improve your coordination.
Even though you're not yet among the elite of League of Legends, your effort won't go unnoticed. Reaching Platinum is an achievement that comes with its own set of ranked season rewards, recognizing your skill and dedication. Here's what you can expect:
As long as you’re placed in Platinum and have achieved an Honor level of 2, you’ll be eligible to receive a Victorious skin by the end of a ranked split. You’ll also need to accumulate 80 Split Points, which are passively earned by simply playing ranked matches. You will totally crush that threshold by the time you finish your placements; no biggie. Just keep playing, and the points will rack up naturally so that you don’t miss out on these skins or other ranked rewards.
Alongside the base Victorious skin, you’ll unlock additional chromas corresponding to Platinum and every division below it. Pick and choose whatever color fits your vibe and hit the battlefield with style!
Other than their sleek aesthetics and royal theming, what truly differentiates the Victorious skinline from the rest is their exclusivity. These skins are only available to players who achieve a specific rank during a ranked split and can never be unlocked again once the season ends. This makes them not only a badge of honor to flex in future seasons, but a testimony of skill and commitment not too many will have.
Since only one is released for each split, a great deal of effort and fine-tuning goes into ensuring each one of them is as memorable and desirable as they’ve always been. With the upcoming Victorious Skin likely going to Sona, it’s the perfect opportunity for all support mains out there to grind the ranks and unlock as many chromas as possible—it’s also a good time to try her out, she’s secretly overpowered.
If you’re sitting a couple of Victorious Skins already, you probably know they’re nice little pieces for your trophy showcase. But here’s the kicker: if your favorite champ has already gotten one, chances are slim they’ll get another, and those older skins? Yeah, they’re pretty much out of reach… but what if they aren’t? Good news—here at UnrankedSmurfs, we’ve accumulated hundreds of accounts loaded with every Victorious Skin, from Jarvan IV in Season 1 to Blitzcranck in Season 11. Now is the time to round out your collection and instill fear in the hearts of your enemies! Want the full rundown of our Victorious stash? Head over to our Victorious Skins page and dive into the complete Skindex.
Your climb also brings additional symbolic rewards. Aside from the impressive Victorious skins, you’ll receive an exclusive Platinum summoner icon to sport in your games for the following season.
You’ll also flaunt a teal crest on your loading screen and profile border, giving you that extra flair as you go into your next placement matches and strike fear into the enemy team!
Achieving Platinum is about more than just earning a shiny crest; it’s about proving your ability to handle challenging scenarios and ferocious opponents. Embrace the competitive arena, stay focused on tweaking your tactics, and continue pushing your limits as you strive even further. Manage your tilt and just have fun! That’s ultimately the reason why we play League at the end of the day.
The journey through Platinum is both a test and a testament to your growth as a player, and Emerald is in arm’s reach, so go ahead and make your mark!
