What Your Tier and Division Really Mean

I've played up and down the ladder with a large range of players from all different tiers and divisions. It's easy to say higher division players are simply better players, but the truth is really more complex than that. There's the old "1v1 me bro", but honestly speaking there's no real hard-set rule for who wins lane from gold to diamond. On any given day a gold player can spank a diamond player in lane...so is it really a "boosted diamond"? Tiers mean more than winning lane and really reflect..

What Does Your Tier/Division Really Say?

I've played up and down the ladder with a large range of players from all different tiers and divisions. It's easy to say higher division players are simply better players, but the truth is really more complex than that.

There's the old "1v1 me bro", but honestly speaking there's no real hard-set rule for who wins lane from gold to diamond. On any given day a gold player can spank a diamond player in lane...so is it really a "boosted diamond"? Tiers mean more than winning lane and really reflect...

Your Average Play Level

This includes components like:

• What champions you play in ranked and how good you are at them
• How strong are those champions when you play ranked (which patch)
• How focused are you when you play ranked
• How easily you tilt or surrender 

How Often You Play (Ranked)

Some people are incorrectly deemed "smurfs" in games where they absolutely dominate, but the truth of the matter is they may just not be placed at the right rank yet.

This may be for a variety of reasons such as:

• Ranked Anxiety - Anxiety about ranked may prevent people from playing. Here are 10 tips to help alleviate the anxiety.
• Lack of Time - Ranked games take more time than normal games.
• Plays with friends - Some people like to play with other people that don't enjoy ranked.

Current Win/Loss Streak

No matter what your mental state and your "true division" are, there will always be games that you simply can't win. Sometimes this happens multiple games in a row and results in large loss streaks. 

Of course, sometimes the opposite happens and you get long win streaks with little participation.

Either way, these may not reflect your true skill and will just be a temporary park for your ranked level.

Conclusions

The division someone is playing at does not necessarily measure a player's strength. This means that if you see someone on the enemy team significantly higher ranked than you, don't be scared. They may not be playing at their best.

Similarly, don't be upset if your teammates are losing to players much lower ranked than they are. Trust that the matchmaking rating system landed everyone in the game there for one reason or another, and that's really all there is to it.

Thoughts? Comment below!