How Long is an Average Match in League of Legends

If you have ever wondered what the duration of a match looks like, across different game modes and ranks, you are in the right place.

The meta of League of Legends changes with every patch update. And every season, Riot introduces massive changes to their game. Because of this ever-evolving nature, the game duration also changes constantly.

Average game time varies from season to season, depending on how Riot changes their game. League is a lot faster-paced now than before; games used to take about 40 minutes on average.

Riot added a buff to Baron in 2014, which made the game much faster. Securing the Baron gives the team an aura around them that buffs up their minions. It gives the winning team a lot of agency to finish the game once they secure Baron.

With Season 12 introducing objective bounties, the losing team has a good way to get back in the game if they manage to claim them. Moreover, the durability patch was introduced to make the fights more fun and extended. So, the average game duration was a bit longer than in Season 11.

Another important thing that made Season 11 matches quicker was the introduction of mythic items. Mythic items amplified every champion’s offensive capabilities once you got around the 3-item mark, as the Mythic Passive kicked in a noticeable fashion.

Now, in Season 14, we saw the jungle being modified several times, namely the jungle pets tweaks. There were several other updates in terms of tank items overhaul and bruisers getting stronger. Chemtech Dragon 2.0 was reintroduced. However, all these changes had minimal impact on game duration.

If you have been playing for a while, you may already have an idea of how long a match lasts. But in this article, we will also take a look at the duration across all the ranks, starting from Iron all the way up to Challenger.

Read More: How Armor Works in League of Legends

How Long is an Average Match in League of Legends

Summoner’s Rift and ARAM are League of Legends’ two main game modes. Riot also introduces different rotating game modes throughout the year. But we will take a look at the main 2 game modes in this article for Season 13.

Average Match Time for Summoner’s Rift

The average match time for Summoner’s Rift is different in each rank:

One of the interesting observations here is the gradual decline of match duration as you climb up the rank. Now, there are several reasons behind this.

In low elo, most players are still beginners at the game and mostly play for casual entertainment. They don’t have the motivation to learn the game. That’s why both teams kind of engage in a lot of reckless fights without focusing on objectives.

But as you climb higher, you get to play with people who have made an attempt to learn the game to get an edge above others. Even from platinum, you can see how the supports are warding the Drake and Baron pits for setting up potential plays. Every laners are more mobile to secure an advantage for their teammates. Jungler also learns to exploit counter-jungling. Focusing on objectives makes it easier to close out games faster.

Moreover, high Elo players also know which matches are absolutely unwinnable. This understanding also results in a higher rate of surrender. This is why the match duration is further decreased at the top ranks.

So, based on the data, it’s apparent that, currently, in Season 13 (2023), the average game time for League of Legends is 26-31 minutes. However, these numbers are still subjective, and most of the time, the average match time for Summoner’s Rift is between 30-40 minutes.

However, with the introduction of quickplay, the average for normal matches may decrease. It’s still recent, so there are no significant statistics on that.

Average Match Time for ARAM

ARAM is my personal favorite game mode. Because you can fight to your fullest here without worrying about the drake, Baron, CS and other objectives. Also, XP and gold increase much faster here, accelerating the already fast-paced nature of the game.

This is why ARAM takes less time to finish than Summoner’s Rift. An Average ARAM game can take 15-20 minutes. So, if you are short on time, try playing ARAM.

What can Affect the Match Time of League of Legends?

We saw that rank significantly affects the average match time of League. However, other factors include champions, team compositions, the meta of the current patch, etc.

If explosive champions get ahead in early to mid-game by getting a lot of kills, they can easily close out the game very early. But, on the other hand, if there are scaling champions on both teams, games can drag out for a long time. Sometimes, being ahead doesn’t help if you don’t have champions with good engages that can pick fights and close out the games.

New champions, VGU, changes in Jungle, etc. contribute, even if slightly, to the extension of match duration. Also, system changes like the arrival of minions too late can impact the dynamics of the laning phase, ultimately impacting how long it takes to close out a match.

Another less talked about yet very important factor is the player’s behavior in-game in response to changes made to the game. For example, the ping system got a massive overhaul this year with the removal of bait pings and ally ping visibility.

While this had a positive impact overall in terms of reducing toxicity, it also hindered efficient communication at higher stages of the game. That’s why, compared to 2022, match duration saw a rise due to a lesser degree of team coordination.

Almost every action of the player, one way or another, influences the match duration. But as of 2023, the average is at the 30-minute mark in Summoner’s Rift and 20 in ARAM.