Solo vs Duo Queue in LoL: Which One Helps You Climb?

Solo vs duo queue in LoL has a short answer: a duo helps when your friend is close to your level, plays a role that works with yours and keeps you calm, and it hurts when one of those three is missing. The matchmaking takes a duo into account, so it is not a shortcut to a higher rank. Playing alone stays the most honest test of your own play, and the fastest way to learn.

Solo vs duo queue in LoL: how the queue works

League of Legends has one main ranked queue, and its name says it all: Ranked Solo/Duo. You enter it alone or with exactly one other player. Larger groups have their own queue, Ranked Flex, with a separate rank.

Two rules decide who you can duo with. Your ranks must be close: if the gap is too large, the client does not let you queue together. And at the very top of the ladder Riot Games restricts duo queue, so the highest ranks are reached alone.

Inside the match nothing else is special. Each of you keeps your own rank and League Points (LP), and the system finds your other three teammates as usual.

What duo queue changes

One teammate is no longer random. In a team of five strangers, one player you know is a real difference. You know how they play, you can plan the first minutes together, and a premade group can talk in the client's voice chat while everyone else has only pings and text.

The matchmaking counts it. The system knows that two of you arrived together and builds the match with that in mind. Riot has said it tries to keep premade groups balanced between the two teams, so expect to see a duo on the other side as well. Opponents do not get easier because you brought a friend.

Some role pairs gain more than others. The strongest pairs play near each other:

• ADC and support. You share a lane for the whole early game. Knowing when your duo will go in is worth more than any single skill.
• Jungle and mid. These two roles move around the map the most. Together you can control the river and arrive first at fights on either side.
• Jungle and any lane. A jungler who knows how their laner sets up the minion wave turns ganks into kills.

A top laner and an ADC, on opposite corners of the map, get the least out of a duo.

Bad games weigh less. After a lost fight, a friend on voice calms you faster than any message from a stranger.

What duo queue does not change

• Three teammates are still strangers. You are two players out of five.
• Your LP. Queuing as two adds nothing to your LP and takes nothing away.
• Your own mistakes. A friend cannot farm, position or decide for you.
• Your duo's bad day. When they fall behind you feel it directly, more than with a random teammate, because your plan was built around them.

One case makes duo worse than solo: a friend far above your level. The match is built from both of your ratings, so you meet stronger opponents than you are used to and become the weakest player in the game.

When solo queue is the better choice

Solo queue is where you find out how good you are. Nobody covers for you, so your rank after a hundred games is an honest picture of your play.

Play alone when:

• you are still learning a role and want to feel every mistake yourself;
• your hours do not match your friend's, and waiting for them means playing less;
• you want to learn to carry: to read the map, call objectives with pings and win without a plan agreed in advance.

How to climb in League of Legends, alone or as two

The queue matters less than these habits:

1. Keep a small champion pool. One main role and two or three champions. Ranked rewards the player who knows their champion better than the opponent knows theirs.
2. Stop after two losses in a row. Take a break before the next game. Tilt costs more LP than any bad teammate.
3. Mute early. If the chat turns sour, mute it and play with pings. You lose nothing.
4. Review one death per game. Ask what the minimap was showing ten seconds before. Do not look for someone to blame.
5. Play for objectives. A kill is worth something only when it becomes a tower, a Dragon or a Baron. Our guide to Smite and securing objectives covers that part.

Boosting and account sharing are not duo queue

Some services call themselves "duo" and are nothing of the kind: a stranger logs in to your account and plays for you, or a high-ranked player is paid to carry you up. This is boosting. Riot's rules forbid both boosting and account sharing, and accounts that are caught are suspended and lose their ranked rewards. Giving your password to anyone also puts the account itself at risk.

Frequent questions about duo queue

Is duo queue better in LoL?

Only with the right person: close to your rank, in a role next to yours, and calm. With the wrong one it is harder than solo, because the matchmaking still treats you as a premade.

Do you get less LP in duo queue?

No. LP for a win or a loss does not depend on whether you queued alone or as two. It follows your own results over time.

Can I duo with a friend of any rank?

No. Solo/Duo allows only ranks that are close to each other, and the client tells you when the gap is too large. Friends far apart in rank can play together in normal games.

RP codes for Türkiye server accounts on Mas4Games

Climbing comes from play. Skins are for enjoying the champion you spend all those games on: they are bought with RP, the game's paid currency, and change looks only. Mas4Games sells League of Legends RP codes for accounts on the Türkiye server. The code is shown on the order's page in your account and sent by e-mail.

If you are still choosing the champions to climb with, see our list of the best League of Legends champions for beginners.