Summary of New Season 9 Ranked Changes

Season 9's New Ranked Ladder

Changes are coming to the ranked ladder sooner than you think, and there are a TON. If you're not ready for it you may be caught unaware. Check out our quick FAQ along with a compilation of everything you need to know below to stay on your toes!

This will be a work in progress as Riot updates us with additional ranked information as we open into preseason, so be sure to check back often!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Gimmee the TLDR; SSJ, what's different?

A: New tiers, less divisions, new placement match data, new armors, ranks for every role, three splits per season and split points.

New Ranks and Divisions

Q: What are the new ranks?
A: New Tier Progression: Iron > Bronze > Silver > Gold > Platinum > Diamond > Master > Grandmaster > Challenger

Q: What are the new divisions?
A: Divisions one through four, no more hard stuck division V players.

Q: What's "Ranked Armor"?

A: Ranked Armor is the new border around your profile, party lobby icon etc.

• You receive ranked armor when you complete placements
• You can equip your level border or Ranked armor in your profile
• You can select whether to display your past rank on the banner behind your armor
• If equipped, your ranked armor is visible on your profile, hovercard (in the friend list), party lobby, Ranked dashboard, and loading screen. Sample below:

Q: Will Bronze get a border?
A: Yes

Ranks for Every Role

Q: What if I get auto-filled?
A: If you get auto-filled, you will earn LP for the role you were filled into. However, LP will "splash" to your other positions starting around +6/-3 and can become stronger when you win autofill games or if it looks like you're not taking off-position games seriously.

Q: Can I swap roles in-game?
A: Yes, the occasional swap has no effect, but Riot has a few ideas in place to prevent abusing "role smurfing".

Q: Is this going to take longer to gain ranks for each role?
A: Riot is trying to prevent it from feeling "grindy", which is accomplished through less of a reset this season combined with the "LP splashing" mechanic highlighted above.

Placement Matches

Q: What's the difference in placement matches in Season 9?
A: You'll receive a provisional rank after your first game that only you can see. This will adjust quickly during your placement matches, and will only appear after completion.

Split Seasons

Q: What's this season split thing?
A: Instead of a nine-month season, the game is being broken up into three splits with rewards earned for each split. Riot indicated only a few games each week is enough to maintain the same rank through all three splits.

Q: What are split points?
A: Winning games over the course of a split grants split points that will instantly unlock rewards such as upgrades to ranked armor.

Q: Do I need to maintain my Honor for split rewards?
A: Yes, Honor level one and above gets split points and honor two and above gets split rewards.

Conclusions

Q: Why?

A: To increase the competitive fairness of off-role players, prevent players from trolling in their off-role, and create more feeling of success in ranked.

Q: When does Season 9 Start?

A: January 23, 2019

Source: Dev blog

What do you think about the changes? Comment below!