If you’ve ever squeezed in a game between work meetings or before heading out to meet friends, you’ve probably asked how long is the average League of Legends game at least once. There’s nothing worse than loading into a match right as your food delivery arrives, or realizing you only have 20 minutes left to play and risk dodging a queue penalty if you leave early. I’ve been playing LoL on and off since Season 3, and I’ve had matches that ended in 15 minutes of surrender, and others that dragged on for over an hour when both teams were evenly matched. This breakdown covers every popular mode, the factors that change how long your match will last, and tricks to plan your playtime accordingly.
How Long Is the Average League of Legends Game by Mode?
Match length varies wildly depending on what game mode you pick, so it’s easy to pick the right one for the time you have available. Riot has adjusted spawn timers, gold gain, and objective stats over the years to keep most modes from dragging on too long, but there’s still plenty of variation match to match. Below is a quick breakdown of average times based on publicly available Riot match data and my own years of play across all ranks:
- Summoner’s Rift casual: 25–30 minutes
- Summoner’s Rift ranked: 30–35 minutes
- ARAM: 18–23 minutes
- Rotating limited-time modes: 15–20 minutes
- Pro esports matches: 30–45 minutes
Summoner’s Rift casual matches tend to be shorter than ranked because players are more likely to mess around with off-meta picks, surrender early when they’re having a bad time, or make risky plays that end games fast. Ranked Summoner’s Rift games run a bit longer because players take the game more seriously, play around vision and objectives more carefully, and are less likely to surrender at 15 unless they’re completely crushed.
ARAM matches are the shortest standard permanent mode, since constant team fights and limited access to healing make it hard for teams to stall out games. Rotating game modes like URF or One for All are even faster, thanks to boosted damage and ability spam that leads to early snowballs. Remake matches, triggered when a player AFKs in the first three minutes, end in less than 5 minutes with no penalty for the remaining players.
Key Factors That Make Your LoL Match Longer or Shorter
Average times are just a baseline, and your individual matches can be 10 minutes shorter or 20 minutes longer than the average depending on a few key variables. If you’re curious about how long is the average League of Legends game for your specific rank, you’ll notice higher elo games tend to be a bit shorter than low elo, since players know when to surrender and end games faster once they have a lead.
Team composition is one of the biggest factors. If both teams pick early-game dominant champs like Draven, Lee Sin, and Pantheon, you can expect the game to end by 25 minutes, because one team will snowball a lead before late-game scaling champs can hit their power spike. If both teams run scaling comps with Nasus, Veigar, and Sion, it’s not uncommon for matches to hit 45 minutes or longer as both teams farm up and wait for the perfect team fight to push for the nexus.
Player mentality also plays a huge role. I’ve been in matches where my team was down 20 kills at 20 minutes, but half the team refused to surrender out of spite, dragging the game out for another 15 minutes for no reason. On the flip side, I’ve been in evenly matched games where one team surrendered after losing one team fight, cutting a potential 40 minute game short at 28 minutes.
Tips to Adjust Your Match Length to Fit Your Schedule
You don’t have to get stuck in a game that runs longer than the time you have available, as long as you plan ahead before you queue up. The easiest rule of thumb is to add 10 minutes to the average match time for your chosen mode, to account for unexpected stalls or close games. That way if you have 40 minutes free, you can safely queue for a ranked Summoner’s Rift game without worrying about being late.
If you only have 20 to 25 minutes free, stick to ARAM or a limited-time fast mode instead of Summoner’s Rift. You’ll almost never get an ARAM match that runs over 30 minutes, and most will end well before that. You should never leave a match early unless it's an emergency, since leaverbuster penalties can range from 5 minute queue locks to permanent bans if you do it repeatedly. Dodging a queue before champion select ends only gives you a 3 to 15 minute penalty, which is way better than getting a leaverbuster mark on your account.
If you want to avoid unnecessarily long games, be honest with your team about when it’s time to surrender. If your team has no turrets left, is down 15 kills, and the enemy has baron buff, you’re not coming back 9 times out of 10. Surrendering saves everyone 10 to 15 minutes of frustration, and lets you queue up for another game where you have a real chance to win.
How Pro Esports Match Lengths Compare to Casual Play
Pro LoL matches run quite a bit longer than casual or ranked solo queue games, for a few key reasons. Pro teams are extremely coordinated, so they rarely make the silly unforced errors that lead to early surrenders in solo queue. They also tend to pick slower, scaling comps more often, since they can trust their teammates to farm safely for 30 minutes without feeding kills to the enemy team.
Pro teams also almost never surrender, even when they’re down 10 kills or multiple inhibitors. A single well-executed team fight can turn even the most lopsided pro game around, so teams will usually play all the way until the enemy nexus explodes. The longest professional LoL match on record ran for over 90 minutes, with both teams trading baron and elder dragon buffs repeatedly before one team finally pushed for the win.
You don’t need to plan for 90 minute games if you’re just playing with friends, of course. Even the longest solo queue games rarely go over 60 minutes, and those are few and far between. If you watch pro play to learn macro strategies, keep in mind that the slow, deliberate playstyle you see on stage won’t translate directly to your solo queue games, where players are far more likely to make risky plays that end games early.
At the end of the day, how long is the average League of Legends game depends almost entirely on what mode you’re playing and who you’re queued up with. If you’re short on time, stick to faster modes like ARAM to avoid getting stuck in a long match that makes you late for your next commitment. If you’ve got a full hour free, queuing for ranked with a premade team can lead to those epic, hour-long slugfests that you’ll talk about with your friends for weeks. No matter how much time you have, knowing the average match length for your favorite mode makes it easy to plan your playtime without stress.