Demystifying the S Rank in League of Legends - 33rd Square (2024)

Hey friend! Have you ever finished a heart-pounding League of Legends match, looked at the rankings, and wondered what exactly it takes to achieve the top-tier S rank? As a long-time LoL player and data analyst, I‘ve explored the ins and outs of ranking systems and have the inside scoop for you!

In this guide, we‘ll dive deep into the history, meaning, and impact of reaching this pinnacle of performance in LoL. You‘ll learn:

• Where the S rank originated from
• How ranks in LoL work and what S tier signifies
• The exact criteria that factor into S ranks
• Why achieving S is so important for progress
• How your own play can reach these elite levels

So tighten your laces, grab some snacks, and let‘s get ready to go beyond the basics of LoL rankings!

The Origins of S Rank Grading

First, a quick history lesson! The concept of an S grade representing the pinnacle of performance originated in Japanese schools. Educators needed a designation higher than the standard A for exceptionally outstanding achievement. The letter S was chosen, standing for "Special", "Super", or the Japanese word "Shu" meaning exemplary.

This quickly got adopted into popular culture, with manga and video games using S tiers to denote the strongest characters, top-level completion ranks, or most difficult settings. As gaming grew globally, ranking systems in titles like Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid, and Devil May Cry all replicated Japan‘s S grade to showcase the cream of the crop.

League of Legends and many other competitive games continue this tradition today. The S rank signals that a player has displayed extraordinary skill and dominated the metrics for their champion and role in a given match. It‘s no easy feat!

How Ranking Works in League of Legends

Let‘s quickly recap LoL‘s competitive ranking ladder before seeing where S tier fits in. Ranks are broken into 9 main tiers:

• Iron
• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Diamond
• Master
• Grandmaster
• Challenger

Within each tier, there are four divisions from IV down to I. Reaching division I allows you to progress up to the next tier. The average rank is around Gold IV. Those who make it to Diamond or above are in the top 10%. Only 0.01% of players ever touch the Challenger tier through countless hours of grinding.

Now, for each competitive match you play, you‘ll receive a performance grade from D- up to S+. Where you land depends on your visible stats and behind-the-scenes comparisons to the averages for that champion. Let‘s unpack what it takes to break into the S tier!

What Does It Take to Reach S Ranks?

Getting an S grade means you‘ve excelled phenomenally beyond expectations for your champion pick and role. But what makes up these expectations? Several key metrics contribute to your chances:

KDA Ratio

This measures your kills, deaths, and assists. To reach S status, you need a very high KDA significantly above average for that champion. Limiting deaths is especially crucial, since every death drastically hurts your rating.

For example, an average KDA on Miss Fortune is around 3.5. To have a shot at S, you would need a KDA upwards of 10-15 with very few deaths.

Kill Participation

Actively contributing to kills with either the final blow or assists is important. You can‘t just rack up KDA by hiding on the sidelines. Being involved in 80% or more of your team‘s kills is ideal.

Vision Score

Having excellent vision control through aggressive warding and denial of enemy vision is a key component of S tier performances. You want high ward placement numbers and lots of enemy wards cleared.

CS and Gold Earned

For farming roles especially, your creep score and gold earned compared to game time needs to be near perfect. Missing only a few last hits from what‘s possible demonstrates your skills.

Damage to Champions

Dealing the highest or 2nd highest total damage to enemy champs on your team goes a long way to proving your carry potential. It shows you‘re optimizing your damage output in teamfights.

Damage Taken

Avoiding unnecessary damage by smart positioning in fights helps your case. You don‘t want to be caught out taking free damage that could have been mitigated.

Crowd Control Score

For tank and support roles, having a very high crowd control score from abilities that stun, knock up, snare, or slow enemies is expected. This reflects good engagement for your team.

These are the major elements weighed to determine if your play elevated to that rare S sphere. Next we‘ll see why it matters so much!

The Benefits of S Tier Rankings

Beyond just the prestige and bragging rights of reaching S ranks, there are some tangible rewards attached:

• Mastery Tokens – The keys to unlocking new champion mastery levels and emotes are exclusively earned by S tier performances. The higher the rating like S+ or S-, the more tokens you obtain.

• Hextech and Event Loot – Reaching S ranks greatly raises your chances at loot like skins and accessories through the Hextech and limited-time event reward systems.

• Mastery Points – You gain mastery points faster with S ranks compared to A or B ranks. This progression unlocks champion mastery badges and new profile borders.

• Keys and Chests – S grades help you earn keys to open Hextech chests, both through drops and increasing your chances at key fragments.

Simply put, S ranks speed up unlocking champion mastery levels, shiny new loot, and profile bling. Consistently achieving them shows you‘re among the best with that champ.

Distribution of Ranks

To appreciate the elite status of S grades, it helps to see how the wider league population is distributed along the ranking tiers:

• Iron: 5%
• Bronze: 20%
• Silver: 35%
• Gold: 25%
• Platinum: 10%
• Diamond: 2%
• Master: 0.08%
• Grandmaster: 0.02%
• Challenger: 0.005%

The large bulk of players remain between Bronze and Gold. Reaching Platinum is a major milestone, but S ranks require playing at Diamond/Master levels with consistency across all performance metrics. Truly difficult to attain without dedicated practice and channeling your inner Faker!

How Other Competitive Games Rank Players

For comparison, here are how several other popular competitive titles handle rankings and skill measurement:

• Overwatch – Ranks range from Bronze up through Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, and Top 500 leaderboards. Ranks depend on skill rating system.

• CS:GO – Uses hidden skill groups like Silver, Gold Nova, Master Guardian, Distinguished Master Guardian, Legendary Eagle, supremes, and Global Elite.

• DOTA 2 – Players have visible MMR (matchmaking ratings) as well as ranked medals like Herald, Guardian, Crusader, Divine, and Immortal.

• Fortnite – Unique Hype point system that unlocks divisions like Contender and Champion once players earn enough Hype through consistent placings.

• PUBG – Survival ratings acting as skill measurement instead of formal ranks. Higher ratings take names like Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster.

While the structures differ, all competitive games use special designations and high bars to represent the top fraction of players. LoL‘s formal division system provides great milestones to strive towards season after season.

Tracking Your Ranked Progress

If you want to start tracking your skill metrics and ranked advancement, sites like op.gg and u.gg are fantastic resources. You can look up your own summoner profile to monitor:

• Current rank and LP
• Win rates and KDAs on each champion
• Damage, gold, CS averages
• Vision score per game
• Head to head records against other players

You can also analyze profiles of top ranked players and pros who consistently hit S tiers. This gives you an expert benchmark to compare your own gameplay against.

Here are some profile stats I would love to achieve someday:

Keep checking your progress across these metrics and you‘ll climb closer to that sweet S tier in no time!

Improving Your Own Play for S Ranks

Okay, let‘s shift gears and talk about how YOU can improve your own skills to reach S tier glory!

Here are some tips and mindset shifts based on my own experience that can help:

• Value your life – Every death significantly hurts your S rank chances, so avoid unnecessary risks and don‘t sacrifice yourself for lost causes. Stay alive!

• Master CSing – Practicing last hitting until you can farm flawlessly, even under pressure, is so crucial for carrying roles. Aim for 80+ CS at 10 minutes.

• Think objectives – Secure dragons, Rift Heralds, Baron Nashors, and turrets. Their stats really help your score.

• Control vision – Ward aggressively to light up the map and destroy enemy wards. Vision wins games and boosts your rating.

• Focus on KDA – Be smart and calculated in fights. Wait for the right openings to target vulnerable enemies you can burst down.

• Analyze losses – Review painful defeats and identify what you could have done better rather than blaming teams. This is how you grow!

• Collaborate with your team – Communicate, enable good engages as tank/support, and follow up on plays. Teamwork fuels individual performance.

• Learn matchups – Study guides and top player strategies for your champion‘s matchups. Understanding powerspikes and win conditions helps immensely.

• Watch the best – Study how pros totally dominate games with your favorite champions. Steal their tips and tricks!

Trust me, with dedication and focusing on incremental improvement, your skills will grow exponentially. You‘ll climb ranks in no time and see more S tier grades coming your way!

Closing Thoughts on the Mysterious S Rank

And there you have it, friend! We‘ve covered the history, meaning, impact, and pursuit of the coveted S rank in League of Legends. I hope this guide gave you some useful insights and motivation.

Here are the key lessons to remember:

• S ranks denote an elite level of play vastly exceeding expectations
• You need outstanding stats across KDA, vision, damage, income, objectives to qualify
• Achieving S grades speeds up champion mastery leveling and loot progress
• With practice and smart play, you too can reach S tierconsistently
• Always be analyzing your gameplay and seeking to improve

Now get out there, try some new strategies, and show the Rift who‘s boss! I can‘t wait to see you land those sweet S rank ratings. You‘ve got this!

Let me know if you have any other LoL questions. Happy climbing and GG!

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