All of this information comes from Riot’s official /dev blog, which can be found here.
Autofill Parity
“A reality of League is that some roles are just more popular than others. Autofill exists to keep your queues going, otherwise we’d see extremely long queue times for mid lane especially. That said, we know that getting a role you didn’t choose is frustrating, especially when you tried your best and lost LP for something out of your control.”
/dev: Ranked 2026 – Riot Dev Blog
Autofill Parity is Riot’s new approach to matching autofilled players in games. While Autofill isn’t going away in 2026, it’s gotten a big upgrade. Being autofilled into a role you’re not comfortable with (especially against someone who mains it) can be rough, so the updated system changes things up to make the experience better:
- Autofill now attempts to match autofilled players vs autofilled players in the same role, e.g jungler vs jungler.
- If that isn’t possible, it aims to have the same number of autofilled players on each team.
- In the worst case, the team with more autofilled players will have slightly higher MMR players.
Aegis of Valor (LP Protection)
“Aegis of Valor will reward you with either double LP or full protection from LP loss on an autofilled game if you get a mastery score of C or higher.
/dev: Ranked 2026 – Riot Dev Blog
When you get into a lobby, you’ll be notified that the Aegis is in effect, and that you’ll be protected (or rewarded) for your effort in that game if you meet the requirement.”
Support and Jungle mains will automatically get Aegis rewards around the same rate that Autofilled players do, though they won’t be notified before going into a match.
Dodging
“Another pain point we want to address this year is the awful experience of experiencing chain dodges, and the lobbies that result from them. Aside from the time wasted getting back into new lobbies, your opponents might be able to predict your picks and target ban you, and trust between teammates may start off on the wrong foot. So, we’re implementing several changes to cut back on dodging.”
/dev: Ranked 2026 – Riot Dev Blog
- Dodging will no longer reset your autofill status. If you dodge, your autofill will carry over to your next match.
- For Ranks Master+ a dodge will count as a full loss, in addition to the autofill change, and dodge timer penalties.
Faster Time to Game (Pre-game Lobby Changes)
“Another pain point we’re looking to address is how long it takes to get into a game. Before a successful game even starts, there are all sorts of things that could go wrong, including dodging, lobby hostaging, or more. And all of these things cause your queue time to be extended. We know that lobby hostaging is an area that needs improvements, and we’re working on a suite of changes to help address this early next year, but for now let’s talk about what’s changing now.”
/dev: Ranked 2026 – Riot Dev Blog
- To start, we’re removing the ability to ban an ally’s hovered champion, to eliminate one of the first reasons that folks may tilt before they even get into the game.
- Also helping you get in-game faster, we’re cutting down on animations and timers in Champ Select by roughly 30 seconds.
Ranked Skill Distribution & Climbing Indicator
“Another place that we’re trying to make changes is how MMR and ranks line up at the lower end of the ladder. Over time, the distribution of players across different ranks has drifted out of alignment with their actual skill. Simply stated, you’ve all gotten much better since we introduced Ranked years ago. Where a Bronze player of the past might not know much about the game at all, today’s Bronze player is often familiar with wave management, champion matchups, and objective timing.
If a new player entering Ranked ends up in a match against opponents with that degree of knowledge, it’s just not a great experience for anyone involved. So, we’ll be recalibrating some of those lower tiers to more accurately reflect the skills of the players within them. This update is about realigning the tiers with actual skill, not inflating ranks, to properly match today’s level of play.
Speaking of the climb, we’re adding a Climb Indicator that appears when your visible rank is lagging behind your current MMR. A frustrating experience is being in a Plat lobby and seeing a Silver player in your games—it often feels like you have someone who shouldn’t be on your team. But the reality is that very often this player just started their climb a bit later than everyone else and actually does belong in that lobby. So this indicator will help show when someone’s rank just hasn’t caught up to their MMR.”
/dev: Ranked 2026 – Riot Dev Blog
Other Changes
“Lastly, we’ve got two more quick updates.
First, we’re making changes to how Flex and Solo MMR are determined. An incredibly painful experience is playing Flex with your friends in a Gold lobby and being absolutely stomped by someone who’s Gold in Flex and Master in Solo/Duo. So, we’re going to be bringing Flex ranks more in-line with Solo/Duo ranks (Flex will never pull Solo up, however.) We think this change will make Flex games feel a little more fair, while still allowing you to play with friends (within reason.)
And finally, we’re re-enabling duoing in Solo/Duo at all ranks, including Challenger, for most regions. We previously disabled Apex duos due to concerns around Rank manipulation, but with recent boosting detection and matchmaking improvements, we’re confident it can return without fear of exploitation.
That’s it for our changes for this year. We hope you’re as excited for Ranked in 2026 as we are. We’ll be monitoring queue health, match quality, and your feedback closely and refine where needed. Good luck on your climb! “
/dev: Ranked 2026 – Riot Dev Blog