League of Legends players have been raising concerns about Apex tier matchmaking again, especially after seeing games where Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger players end up in the same lobby. On paper, those matches can look completely lopsided. A team with a huge LP advantage can make the other side feel like the game was unfair before the first minion even spawned.
Riot’s lead gameplay designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison has now responded to the frustration, explaining why some of these matches happen, why Riot believes many of them are still fair from an MMR perspective, and why fixing them is not as simple as only making Challenger players wait longer in queue.
Riot Responds to League’s Apex Matchmaking Complaints
The current frustration is mainly about how Apex tier matchmaking looks from the player side. In League of Legends, Apex tiers generally refer to the top end of ranked play, where players are competing in Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger.
Riot’s ranked system uses LP as the visible climb number, while matchmaking itself is still built around hidden MMR. Ranked play is a system built around fairness and progression, which is why players naturally expect the visible ranks in a match to feel reasonably close.
When players see a Diamond player in the same lobby as a Challenger player, the match immediately looks wrong. Even if the system sees both teams as close in skill based on hidden rating, the visible LP gap makes the game feel unfair.
Phroxzon acknowledged that this is not an ideal experience. He agreed that having Diamonds and Challengers in the same game is frustrating and said it is something Riot wants to resolve in the future. However, he also made it clear that Riot cannot currently solve the issue by simply making Challenger queue times longer without creating other problems for queue times and match quality.
Diamond and Challenger Players Can End Up in the Same Game
The biggest explanation from Riot is that League’s matchmaking is currently based on MMR rather than visible LP. That means a player’s rank or LP total is not always the full picture of how the system values them in matchmaking.
A player might be lower-ranked on the ladder but still have a very high hidden rating. This can happen because of climb timing, alternate accounts, duo queue situations, or other ranking differences that do not perfectly line up with visible LP.
Phroxzon also pointed out that some low-ranked accounts in these lobbies are actually very strong players, often on alternate accounts and sometimes duoing. In those cases, the account’s visible rank may look strange, but the player’s hidden rating can still place them into higher-level games.
Riot Says Large LP Difference Games Can Still Be Fair
One of the biggest takeaways from Phroxzon’s statement is that Riot does not currently believe every large LP difference game is automatically unfair. According to Riot’s internal data, Apex and higher teams have between a 49 percent and 51 percent chance to win across games with LP differences ranging from 0 to 2,000 LP between teams.
From the player’s perspective, a 1,500 LP difference can look ridiculous. From the matchmaking system’s perspective, the teams can still be close if their hidden MMR values are similar.
Phroxzon also said that 95 percent of games fall under a 1,500 LP difference between teams, 86 percent fall under 1,000 LP, and 65 percent fall under 500 LP. Even then, Riot understands that the issue is not only whether the match is mathematically fair. It also has to look fair to the players in the lobby.
The Real Problem Is That Fair Games Can Look Unfair
A match can be close in hidden MMR but still feel awful when the visible ranks do not line up.
Players do not see hidden MMR before loading into a game. They see LP, rank icons, win rates, recent match history, and screenshots of lobbies with huge gaps between teammates and opponents. So even if Riot’s system says the match is close, players judge fairness through what they can actually see.
A lobby with Diamond and Challenger players sitting together does not need much explanation. It already looks bad. Phroxzon admitted Riot has more work to do to make matches both fair and visibly fair.
Queue Times Are Making the Fix More Complicated
The simple answer would be to separate Diamond and Challenger more strictly. The problem is that the Apex tier has a much smaller player pool than most ranked brackets. If Riot tightens matchmaking too much at the very top, queue times can become much longer, and match quality can suffer in other ways.
Phroxzon said Riot cannot only make Challenger queue times longer right now without unintended consequences.
Duos, Autofill, and Alt Accounts Also Affect Apex Matchmaking
Phroxzon also mentioned that Riot considers other matchmaking factors beyond LP, including duos and autofill balance. These details matter because a team’s strength is not just the sum of visible ranks.
A lower LP player duoing with a much stronger player can change how a team is evaluated. Autofill differences can also make a technically balanced lobby feel worse if one side has players off-role in important positions. Alt accounts add another layer, since some accounts may look weaker than the player behind them actually is.
The good news for frustrated League players is that Riot does recognize the problem. Phroxzon said Diamonds and Challengers being placed in the same games is something Riot wants to resolve in the future. He also admitted that large LP differences can be confronting and make matches look unfair, even when the internal win probability says otherwise.
However, players should not expect an instant fix. Riot currently has higher priority items it is working on, and the Apex matchmaking issue appears to be something the team wants to improve when it can do so without hurting the rest of the ranked ecosystem.
