LoL players are fed up with ‘miserable’ ranked grind and they claim one thing is to blame

Regardless of the game, it’s fair to say ranked matches can be some of the most challenging and competitive games for players. In League of Legends, ranked games are considered the soul of the title, with players striving to do better each season.

Although League can be enjoyable, ranked games aren’t always sunshine and rainbows, and that has become all the more apparent in recent years. Rising through the ranks has always been difficult, especially when facing similar players—and it becomes even worse when high-ranked players creep into low Elo lobbies.

This week, League players have put their feet down over ranked.

According to a pile of aggrieved grinders in the League subreddit, who came together on April 12, the ranked experience in 2023 has become “miserable,” with many struggling to even queue up for games.

The biggest issue, many claimed, is that players are either “super smurfing” (coming down from high Elos to win easier games) or inting (going so badly they dictate the course of the match). Neither of those is good, fans added, as it brings the quality of the match down, and can create a toxic environment in competitive queues.

The ranked experience has gotten so bad that many are begging Riot to bring back Smurf Queue, an older feature that would bundle suspected smurfs together in games.

Unfortunately, it won’t happen any time soon, but it is on Riot’s radar: early this week League devs admitted ranked League games have a severe smurfing problem and—maybe worse—toxic behavior seems to be on the rise too, even after chat and ping changes. Riot Siraris said that, while they can’t reveal their plans yet, the team is working on a way to help resolve smurfing. They’re hoping to roll these features out later this year.

Riot hopes these changes will help create a better ranked experience, but for now, there’s little players can do to avoid those dreaded smurfs in ranked lobbies.