Every new ranked season, the same questions flood in: "Why did my rank drop?" "Did I lose all my progress?" "Is my MMR gone too?" It's one of the most-searched topics in League of Legends every single split, and the confusion is understandable—Riot resets some things, keeps others, and the difference between the two isn't always obvious from in-game messaging alone. This post is updated each season to reflect current reset mechanics, so bookmark it if you want an up-to-date answer every time a new season rolls around.
Here's a clear breakdown of what actually happens to your rank, your hidden MMR, and your reward eligibility when a season resets.
What Actually Resets vs. What Carries Over
The most common misconception is that a season reset wipes your progress back to zero. That's not accurate.
Visible rank resets—but it's a soft reset, not a full one. At the start of a new ranked year, your visible rank goes back to unranked, and you're required to complete placement matches before a new rank is assigned. This part genuinely does reset.
Your underlying MMR does not fully reset. Behind the scenes, Riot maintains a hidden matchmaking rating that estimates your true skill level, separate from your visible rank. At a season reset, this MMR moves partway toward a central baseline—it doesn't wipe out entirely. A player who finished the previous season in Diamond will have a post-reset MMR that's still meaningfully higher than a player who finished in Silver, even though both start the new season unranked.
"My rank reset to zero" isn't accurate—here's the precise version. What actually happens is closer to: your visible rank resets to unranked, your MMR partially resets toward the average, and the system uses your (still-elevated) MMR to place you back near your real skill level over the course of your placement matches. You're not starting from true zero—you're starting from unranked with a running head start based on how you actually performed last season.
How Placement Matches Determine Your New Rank
Once the reset happens, you'll need to complete a set of placement matches before receiving a new rank. Your performance in these games, combined with your carried-over MMR, determines where you land. We cover the mechanics of placements—win thresholds, how many games are required, and what factors into your placement rank—in detail in our Placement Matches Explained post, so we won't duplicate that breakdown here.
Why Some Players Land Higher (or Lower) Than Expected
If you've ever finished placements and felt like your starting rank didn't match your effort, MMR carryover is almost always the explanation.
MMR carryover explains why placements can feel "unfair." Because your MMR only partially resets, a player who finished last season significantly above their visible rank (a common outcome for players who were actively improving) will often place higher than expected, since their MMR was already elevated going into placements. Conversely, a player whose MMR had drifted below their visible rank—common for players who were on a downswing at season's end—may place lower than their last visible rank, even though it looks like a "drop." Neither is the system being unfair; both are the system correcting toward your actual current skill level. Our MMR Explained post goes deeper into how this hidden rating works and why it often diverges from your visible rank.
Ranked Rewards and Border Timing
Season resets aren't just about rank—they also start a new reward eligibility window.
End-of-season reward eligibility windows. Ranked rewards, including end-of-season borders and reward tiers, are typically based on the highest rank you reach during a defined eligibility window, not just your rank at the exact moment of reset. This window usually closes shortly before the reset itself, so there's a specific cutoff to be aware of if you're pushing for a reward tier.
Practical note: why timing a final push before reset matters. Because reward eligibility is locked in before the reset—not continuously—a late-season push to secure a higher border can be one of the highest-value pushes you make all split, especially if you're close to a rank threshold. Waiting until "next season" to make that push means starting over from unranked instead of banking the reward you already had in reach.
Should You Rank Up Before or After Reset?
Honestly, it depends on your goal. If you're chasing a specific reward tier or border for the current split, pushing before the reset is the only way to lock that reward in—once the window closes, that opportunity is gone until next season. If your goal is a fresh climb with a clean slate and you're not close to a meaningful reward threshold, there's less urgency, and some players actually prefer starting a new season with a full placement reset rather than grinding out the last few LP of a split they're not fully invested in.
There's also a timing question worth considering from the other direction—whether it's strategically better to buy or use a rank boost right before a reset versus right after one, given how placements and MMR carryover interact. We'll cover that in more detail in an upcoming post dedicated specifically to boost timing.
FAQ
Does my LoL rank fully reset every season? No. Your visible rank resets to unranked and requires new placement matches, but your underlying MMR only partially resets toward a central baseline. Your MMR carries forward enough that your placement results and post-placement rank will generally reflect your actual skill level from the previous season, not a true blank slate.
How many placement games are there after reset? Riot has adjusted the placement match requirement over time, and the exact number can change between seasons—check our dedicated placement matches guide for the current requirement, since it's the kind of detail that shifts from split to split.
Does MMR reset along with visible rank? Not fully. MMR moves partway toward a central baseline at the season reset but retains a meaningful connection to your prior performance. This is why placement results and post-reset climbs tend to track fairly closely with where a player actually finished the previous season, even though their visible rank starts over.
Want to skip the placement grind? Check out our Placement Matches Boosting service to lock in a strong starting rank, or read our fu