I’ve been playing League of Legends on and off for almost 8 years, and I still remember the first time I hit Gold rank as a teen. I thought I was at the top of the game, until my friend who played on the Korean server laughed and told me I was barely in the top half of all players. That’s when I first started asking what is the highest rank in League of Legends, and how people even get there. If you’re new to ranked play, or just curious how the tier system stacks up, this guide breaks down everything you need to know, from the lowest Iron tier all the way to the very top of the leaderboard.
What Exactly Is the Highest Rank in League of Legends?
The highest rank in League of Legends is called Challenger, and it’s reserved for the very best players in each individual region. Unlike lower tiers that you can reach by hitting a certain tier of LP (league points), Challenger spots are limited by region. For example, major regions like North America, Europe West, and Korea only have 300 Challenger spots total, while smaller regions like Oceania and Latin America North only have 100 spots each.
To get into Challenger, you first have to climb through every lower tier all the way to Master rank, then keep earning LP until you land in the top limited number of players for your region. The rankings update once per day at midnight regional time, so if you fall below the cutoff after someone else earns more LP than you, you’ll drop down to Grandmaster rank automatically.
Challenger rank is only awarded to the top 0.02% of ranked players in any given region, so it’s incredibly rare to hit. I peaked at 120 LP in Grandmaster a couple of seasons back, and I still needed another 300 LP and a 12-game win streak to even touch the bottom of the Challenger leaderboard. Most players never come close, even after playing the game for a decade.
Challenger players get special end-of-season rewards too, including unique profile banners, exclusive skin chromas, and even invites to official Riot Games competitive events if they rank high enough on the regional leaderboard. Pro players in the LCS, LEC, and LCK almost all hold Challenger rank when they’re not playing pro scrims, so it’s also a common way for amateur players to get scouted by pro teams.
How Does the Full LoL Ranked Tier System Stack Up?
Before you can even think about reaching Challenger, you need to understand how the full ranked tier system works. Riot updated the system back in 2023 to add the Emerald tier, which closed the massive skill gap that used to exist between Platinum and Diamond. The full list of tiers, from lowest to highest, plus their approximate share of the total ranked player base, is below:
- Iron: 8.9% of players, the lowest tier for those still learning core mechanics like last hitting and ability cooldowns
- Bronze to Silver: Roughly 35% of the player base, most casual players who play a few games a week fall in this range
- Gold to Platinum: Around 38% of players, this is where people have consistent map awareness and basic knowledge of their main champions
- Emerald to Diamond: Roughly 16% of players, only a small subset of the community hits this tier with regular, focused play
- Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger: Less than 2% of total players, reserved for the most skilled, dedicated players in the region
Each tier from Iron to Diamond has four divisions, with Division 4 being the lowest and Division 1 being the highest. You earn 15-25 LP per win, and lose 15-25 LP per loss, depending on your matchmaking rating (MMR). Once you hit 100 LP in a division, you enter a promotion series to move up to the next division. Once you hit Diamond 1 with 100 LP, you move straight to Master rank, where there are no divisions, just LP gains and losses.
Emerald tier was added in 2023 to reduce skill gaps between Platinum and Diamond, and it’s worked pretty well so far. Before that, Diamond had way too many players of varying skill levels, because the jump from Platinum 1 to Diamond 4 was too steep for most people. Now, Emerald acts as a buffer for players who are good enough to get out of Platinum, but not quite consistent enough for Diamond.
A lot of new players assume Diamond is a super high rank, and it is – hitting Diamond means you’re better than roughly 90% of all ranked players. But it’s still a very long way from Challenger. Most Diamond players still make basic mistakes with map vision and team fight positioning that keep them from climbing further into the Master and Grandmaster tiers.
What Does It Take to Reach the Highest LoL Rank?
Now that you know what is the highest rank in League of Legends, you might be wondering what it actually takes to get there. I’ve talked to half a dozen Challenger players over the years, and almost all of them follow the same core rules for climbing, no matter what role they main.
First, you need to stop playing random champions every game. Almost every Challenger player mains 1 or 2 roles, and only plays 3 to 5 champions total in ranked play. One Challenger top laner I know has over 6,000 games on Maokai alone, and he says he only picks other champions when Maokai gets banned. You don’t need to play flashy carry champions to climb; consistency with a small pool of champions is way more important.
Challenger players win roughly 55% to 60% of their ranked games, not 100%. A lot of new players think you have to win every game to climb to the top, but that’s not true. Even the best players in the world lose 4 out of 10 games on average. The difference is they don’t tilt after a loss, and they don’t blame their teammates for every mistake. They review their losses to see what they could have done better, even if their team ran it down.
You also need to put in consistent, focused play time. Most Challenger players play between 20 and 30 hours of ranked play per week, which is a big commitment. If you only have a couple of hours to play on weekends after work or school, you’re probably not going to hit Challenger, and that’s okay. You can still have plenty of fun playing ranked without aiming for the very top.
Positive communication increases your win rate by up to 12% according to Riot's internal player data. It’s easy to type rude messages to your jungler when they don’t gank your lane, but that only makes your team more likely to lose. Even simple pings to warn your team about missing enemies, or a quick “good job” after a successful team fight, makes your team more likely to work together and win. I stopped typing negative messages in chat two seasons ago, and I jumped from Platinum 3 to Diamond 1 in less than two months.
Common Misconceptions About the Highest LoL Rank
There are a lot of wrong ideas floating around about Challenger rank, especially from new players who haven’t spent much time in high elo lobbies. Let’s break down some of the most common ones.
The first big misconception is that all Challenger players use scripts or hacks to climb. While there are occasionally cheaters that make their way to high elo, Riot’s anti-cheat system has gotten really good at banning them quickly. Most Challenger players spend years practicing their mechanics and game sense to get to where they are, and cheating will get you permanently banned before you even get close to the Challenger leaderboard.
Another common myth is that you can only climb to Challenger if you main a carry role like mid or ADC. That’s not true at all. Some of the highest-ranked players in every region main support, because support has so much control over map vision and team fight initiations. Support is one of the most impactful roles for climbing to Challenger, as it controls map vision and team fight initiations, and there are way fewer support mains queuing up, so you’ll get faster queue times and less role competition.
A lot of people also think you need super high APM (actions per minute) to hit Challenger. That’s only true for mechanical carry champions like Zed or Vayne. Plenty of Challenger top laners main tank champions like Sion or Ornn, who don’t require fast button presses to be effective. What they do have is great game sense, and they know exactly when to push a lane, when to take an objective, and when to group with their team for fights.
The last big misconception is that you have to play 10+ games a day to climb. Quality is way more important than quantity. Three focused games where you’re actively thinking about your decisions and trying to improve are way better than 10 tilted games where you’re playing on autopilot and blaming your team for every loss. I’ve seen players climb from Silver to Diamond playing only 2 games a day, as long as they’re focused on getting better each match.
So, now you have a full breakdown of how the LoL ranked system works, and exactly what is the highest rank in League of Legends. You don’t have to set Challenger as your goal if you only play for fun, but if you do decide to climb, the tips we covered will help you avoid common mistakes and move up the ladder faster. I’ve seen plenty of players go from Silver to Diamond in a single season with consistent practice, so don’t let the tier labels intimidate you. Next time you load into a ranked game, focus on improving one small skill per match, whether that’s last hitting more minions or placing more vision wards, and you’ll be surprised how far you can go.