The History of League's Elo System

If you are a regular on League of Legends, you may know all about the League system. League's system has evolved through the seasons. Up until season three, League of Legends used what is called the Elo rating system. This system was first used in games like chess. In League of Legends, the Elo system is used to match up players that are close to the same skill level. Also, players are given medals depending on their Elo. This makes the game fair when competing. The Elo system is named after Arpad Elo. Arpad was a chess-player who created the Elo system to have a better chess rating system. From there, it went on to be used in various games. Association football, American college football, and basketball are just a few of the examples where the Elo system is used.

Arpad Elo staring at a chessboard.

How the Elo System Works

How is Elo calculated? It is all based off of statistics. The actual formula that is used in League of Legends is not actually known. What we do know, is that your Elo depends on your wins and losses compared to other players. A player with a higher Elo has a better chance at winning compared to someone with a lower Elo. The Elo system compared the outcome of the game with the expected outcome. After that, a player would be adjusted to where he needs to be. For example, if a player's team was expected to lose, but won, their score would change more than if they won as expected. Pretty simple, right?

Here,we have the Bronze tiers.

Decaying Points and the Result of the Elo System

Next, let's talk about Elo decay. Your Elo would decay over time if you were above fourteen-thousand Elo. If you were not active for a while, that was what caused your Elo to decay. That is one thing I have always loved about League of Legends. You have to work to stay at the top. The different medals had different decay values. The Bronze, it would decay at zero. The Silver players would decay at a rate of ten. The Gold would decay at twenty-five Elo. Then, the Platinum players would decay at thirty-five. Lastly, the Diamond players would decay at a rate of Fifty Elo.

The Elo system was a great start for League of Legends. Now, we have the League system that was introduced in season three. Overall, the Elo system was a great creation for all types of competitive sports and gaming. Thanks to Arpad Elo, we have a system to help match up teams more evenly. This rating system was great for keeping the competition fair. China actually still uses the Elo system, due to the bugs in their client. Arpad Elo created a unique and straightforward system to improve ratings in competition. What do you think of Elo's system?