What Does Elo Mean in League of Legends?

Where the word comes from

Physicist Arpad Elo designed the system to rate chess players. Everyone has a number, beating a higher-rated opponent earns more than beating a lower-rated one, and the gap between two ratings predicts who should win.

League of Legends showed players an Elo number in its early seasons. Riot later replaced it with today’s ladder of tiers, divisions and League Points, and the skill estimate moved behind the scenes as MMR. The old name stuck anyway.

What players mean by elo today

• Your rank. “What elo are you?” is asking for your tier, such as Gold or Diamond.
• A part of the ladder. “Low elo” and “high elo” describe the bottom and top of ranked, each with its own habits and meta.
• Boosting services. “Elo boost” means having a stronger player raise your rank for you.

Elo, MMR and rank compared

So when someone says their elo went up, what actually changed is their visible rank. The number that decides who you play against is your MMR.

What is “elo hell”?

“Elo hell” is the feeling of being stuck at a rank because of your teammates. Matchmaking pairs you by MMR, and over many games a player who wins more than they lose keeps climbing, so the term describes a frustration rather than a game mechanic.

If you would rather not grind it out, our Division Boost can take your account to the rank you want.