League’s 2026 Ranked ladder has four different systems that are easy to mix together: placements decide where an unranked account starts, promotions move you upward at 100 LP, demotions move you downward when losses cross a division or tier boundary, and decay only targets Diamond and Apex inactivity.
Placements happen when you are actually unranked
Riot’s current support page says placement matches are used to determine your starting position on the current year’s Ranked ladder. You play them if you are unranked: either because you have never played Ranked before or because a new Ranked year has begun.
It is five placement games per Ranked queue
You must complete five placement matches in each Ranked queue to lock in your starting tier and division. Solo/Duo and Flex therefore establish their own placement result.
Placement depends on more than win-loss record
Riot says the outcome of the five games matters, but so do the difficulty of the opponents you faced and your rank from the previous year.
First-time Ranked players also bring normal-queue MMR
If you have never played Ranked before, Riot uses both Swiftplay and Normal Draft MMR as input for your placements. That means a brand-new Ranked account is not being evaluated in a vacuum.
Diamond III is the maximum placement
Even if you ended the previous year in an Apex tier, Riot says you cannot initially place higher than Diamond III.
You cannot lose LP during placements
A placement loss gives 0 LP rather than subtracting LP. Going AFK still counts as a loss, so a bad connection can hurt the placement result even though the visible LP line never goes negative.
Promotion is automatic at 100 LP
After placements, each win earns LP and each loss removes LP. Breaking 100 LP inside a division automatically promotes you into the next division.
Leftover LP carries through promotion
If a win takes you beyond 100 LP, the excess LP follows you into the new division instead of being discarded.
Division I at 100 LP promotes you into the next tier
Reaching 100 LP in Iron I, Bronze I, Silver I, Gold I, Platinum I, Emerald I or Diamond I moves you into the next tier automatically. The old promotion-series concept is not part of this current flow.
Division demotions are now smooth
Within the same tier, a loss simply carries the missing LP across the division boundary. Riot’s example: if you are Silver III at 5 LP and lose 20 LP, you demote to Silver IV at 85 LP.
Tier demotions still have protection
Moving down an entire tier—such as Silver IV to Bronze I—is different. Riot keeps demotion protection so one bad game at the bottom of a tier does not necessarily remove the tier immediately.
When tier protection breaks, you land at 25, 50, or 75 LP
Once you do demote to the tier below, Riot places you at 25, 50, or 75 LP depending on how far the system estimates your actual skill is from the visible rank you were holding.
There is no public fixed formula for choosing 25, 50, or 75
Riot gives the possible landing values but does not publish a player-facing formula that lets you calculate which one you will receive before the demotion. Treat the value as system-determined rather than something you can guarantee from one match result.
Decay is not the same thing as demotion
Demotion is caused by LP losses from games or by Apex leaderboard rules. Decay is an inactivity system that automatically removes LP when your banked protection days run out.
Decay starts at Diamond
Iron through Emerald do not decay for inactivity under the current Riot rules. Diamond, Master, Grandmaster and Challenger do.
Diamond banks 7 days per Ranked game
In Diamond, each played match grants seven banked days. You can store up to 28 banked days, and Riot lists 28 initial days before decay begins.
Diamond decay costs 50 LP per event
Once a Diamond player runs out of banked days, Riot removes 50 LP per decay event.
What happens if Diamond decay reaches 0 LP?
If decay takes you to or below 0 LP, you move to the next-lower division. If you are already in division IV, you fall into the tier below—for example, Diamond IV to Emerald I.
Apex banks only 1 day per game
Master, Grandmaster and Challenger bank one day for each Ranked game played, can store at most 14 days, and start with 14 days of protection.
Apex decay costs 75 LP per day
When an Apex player has no banked days, Riot applies a -75 LP inactivity penalty per decay event.
Master decay can send you directly to Diamond II
Riot specifically says a Master player who demotes because of inactivity descends to Diamond II and must resume the climb from there.
A ban does not freeze decay
Riot notes that rank decay continues even while an account is banned. Being unable to queue because of a ban does not protect the ladder position.
Apex banked days need end-of-season planning
Riot says decay cycles once more on the final day of the season, so Apex players are advised to have at least one more banked day than the number of days remaining.
Master promotion and demotion have extra rules
You reach Master by getting 100 LP in Diamond I. On promotion, Riot grants demotion protection for the first three games. After that protection, dropping below 0 LP demotes you to Diamond I at 25, 50 or 75 LP depending on Riot’s skill estimate.
Grandmaster is a threshold plus leaderboard position
For Grandmaster, Riot lists a 400 LP requirement and requires more LP than the lowest Grandmaster player in your region. You can demote if you fall below 400 LP or fall below the regional Grandmaster cutoff.
Challenger uses the same idea at a higher threshold
Challenger requires 800 LP plus enough LP to exceed the lowest Challenger player in the region. Falling below 800 LP or below the regional cutoff can demote you.
Apex standings refresh every 24 hours
Grandmaster and Challenger standings are recalculated on a rotating 24-hour schedule. This is why crossing an LP threshold alone does not guarantee that your tier changes immediately if the regional cutoff has moved.
Example: Silver III 5 LP, then -20
You do not stay at 0 LP and wait for another loss. The result is Silver IV 85 LP because division demotions transfer the excess loss across the boundary.
Example: Silver IV tier protection ends
If you finally fall to Bronze I, you should expect one of Riot’s three listed landing points—25, 50 or 75 LP—not a universal fixed number.
Example: Diamond player planning a break
A Diamond player can bank up to 28 days. Because each Ranked match grants seven banked days, four qualifying games can fill a completely empty bank to the 28-day cap.
Example: Master player planning two weeks away
Apex players bank one day per game and can store 14. Riot’s own example says a player with zero banked days would need 14 games before a two-week break to fully cover it.
What should you track before queueing?
- Your current LP and division boundary.
- Whether you are at division IV and close to a tier demotion.
- Your in-client banked days if you are Diamond+.
- Regional Grandmaster/Challenger cutoff if you are Apex.
- Whether a planned break is longer than the banked-day protection you have.
Common misunderstandings
- Placements are not described by Riot as a five-game reset every time a season inside the same year changes.
- Promotion at 100 LP is automatic; there is no standard promotion series in the current flow.
- Division demotion and tier demotion use different landing rules.
- Decay affects Diamond+ only; Emerald and below do not lose LP just for inactivity.
- Apex tiers combine LP requirements with regional leaderboard cutoffs.
Bottom line
For most players, the safest mental model is simple: five placements when you are actually unranked, automatic promotion at 100 LP, smooth arithmetic when dropping divisions, protected but variable 25/50/75 LP landing when dropping an entire tier, and no inactivity decay until Diamond. Once you reach Diamond or Master+, banked days become part of Ranked planning, while Grandmaster and Challenger add regional leaderboard cutoffs on top of LP.
Official sources
Riot Games Support — Placements, Promotions, Series, Demotions, and Decay: https://support.riotgames.com/en-us/league-of-legends/gameplay/placements-promotions-series-demotions-and-decay | Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger: The Apex Tiers: https://support.riotgames.com/en-us/league-of-legends/gameplay/master-grandmaster-and-challenger-the-apex-tiers