Smurf Queue: What is a smurf queue and how to get out of it?

Smurfing is a huge problem in competitive gaming, and developers such as Riot Games recognize that. As a form of protecting actual beginner accounts from having to play against highly skilled smurf accounts, many games have what is called a smurf queue.

When a game detects that a beginner account is at a higher rank than it should be (by putting into consideration many factors such as the account level, how the account has been performing in matches, and the total playtime), that account is put into smurf queue and forced to play against similar smurf accounts. At least, that’s what players have been theorizing for years, but Riot Games denies the existence of such a system in their games.

The more likely case is that because players are matched with or against each other based on MMR in League of Legends, a hidden matchmaking rating system, players who win games back-to-back probably have a higher MMR and, thus, get matched with players of similar overwhelming win records.

As a side effect of this, because smurf accounts are more likely to have higher MMR because of them easily winning against low-ranked opponents due to their actual skill level being much higher, they get matched up against other smurf accounts. This created the concept of ‘smurf queue, something that doesn’t even exist in the game.

Unfortunately, this means that even if you don’t have a smurf account, you might get matched up with players of a higher skill level if you play well. In this case, you will probably need excellent teammates to help you win those matches. For that, check out how our teammate system works and start playing LoL the way it’s meant to be played.