What is Smurf Queue and How to Avoid It?

Smurf queue is almost never fun. Making a new account and crushing a few new players can be pretty fun (if you’re a psycho), but eventually, you’ll find yourself playing against other really good yet low-rank players. This can be frustrating for a number of reasons. First of all, it makes the grind to high rank that much harder. 

Next, it makes it pretty difficult to gauge your actual skill level when you’re getting stomped by Silver players that should be Platinum. 

So, in this article, I’m going to go over everything there is to know about Smurf queue, and whether there are any precautions, you can take to avoid it. 

Also read: Ways Smurfing Improves you on League of Legends

What is Smurf Queue?

In League of Legends, Smurf queue refers to players that make smurf accounts, only to find themselves facing only other smurfs. If you’re a gold player and make a new account, you won’t even hit level 30 before you start running into other players that have done the same thing. 

The unfortunate part of this queue is that you will get placed against players that are much better than you a good portion of the time because normal games do not have the best matchmaking algorithm. The silver lining is this gives you a good chance to improve against better players. 

Smurf queue also continues once you start playing Ranked matches. If Riot deemed your account to be a smurf, then you may start your journey in Bronze, but you will be playing against much higher Elo players, maybe even up to Gold. 

The bad news is that you will play against high-ranked players while having nothing to show for it as far as rank goes. The good news is that you will gain much more LP than you lose, so it won’t take too much grinding before you reach the rank you deserve. 

Also read: What’s the Most Powerful Dragon Soul?

Why Do You Get Placed in Smurf Queue?

Riot looks at a variety of statistics when deciding whether an account is a smurf or not. We cannot be exactly sure how they determine it, but there are a few things they probably look at.

• Win/Loss: If you create a brand new account and immediately win your first ten games, then it is not hard to tell that your account is a smurf. The same can be said about playing Ranked once you hit level 30. Although it is difficult to tell whether you’re a Smurf, or have just recently gotten good, either way, the result will be the same. 

• K/D: Other than winning and losing, if you’re going 30/0 every single game before level 30, the algorithm will pick up on that and throw you in with other Smurf accounts. 

• APM: APM stands for Actions per Minute, and I am not sure if it is confirmed that Riot looks at this or not, but they likely do. Most new players are not used to League of Legends mechanics and therefore wouldn’t have a high APM. They would not click and use abilities as fast as a veteran player. So whether you have a high K/D or not, Riot will easily pick you out from actual new players. 

Now that you know why you’re placed in the Smurf queue let’s look at why there is one in the first place.

It’s pretty simple, really. Smurfs make the game really un-fun for new players. No one likes getting stomped by someone going 30/0. Of course, there’s not much you can do about this when you make a Smurf account; you’ll have to just play the first few games until you inevitably land in Smurf queue. 

You can take it easy on new players, so you don’t put them off of playing since we want to welcome new players, not chase them away. If you’re making Smurfs just to stomp low-elo or new players and stroke your Ego, I’m sorry, but you’re making them for the wrong reason. 

Also read: How to Play Against Ranged Top Laners?

How to Avoid Smurf Queue?

There’s really no way to avoid Smurf Queue, especially when you first start a new account. As I said, Riot will look at your APM and immediately know you’re not new. Once you start playing Ranked, the only way to avoid playing against better players is to avoid winning, which would defeat the whole purpose. Unless you want to literally troll and run it down every few games, there’s no way to avoid Smurf queue in League of Legends.