Riot ups Master+ queue times to chase better matches — what that means for high-ELO players

Longer queues at high ELO: Riot’s matchmaking trade-off to fix duo imbalances

This caught my attention because I’ve always preferred a slightly longer queue if it means the game we get is fair and competitive. Riot’s latest League of Legends patch intentionally increases queue times for Master rank and above to “make better-quality matches” and better balance Challenger duos – a clear prioritization of match integrity over instant gratification.

Key takeaways

• Riot increased queue times for Master+ in an attempt to reduce mismatched games and curb duo advantages at the top of the ladder.
• The change is regional: larger regions will see slightly longer delays, smaller regions moderately longer – a recognition of player pool limits.
• Riot knows this is a partial fix: further work is planned to handle heavy-duo matches, autofill/secondary balancing and scoring tweaks tied to win-impactful behavior.
• Gameplay lead Matt “Phroxzon” Leung‑Harrison is asking players to report unusually long queues or “funky” lobbies to help tune the system.

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Publisher|Riot Games
Release Date|2026-02-13
Category|Matchmaking / Patch Notes
Platform|PC
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What Riot changed and why it matters

At high elo, small advantages snowball. Duos who communicate are naturally stronger than solo players; when several duos line up against solos, games can skew into stomps that feel unsatisfying even when they’re “correct” by rank. Riot’s solution here is pragmatic: lengthen search windows so the matchmaker has more flexibility to assemble balanced teams rather than snap a suboptimal lobby together.

Phroxzon framed the change bluntly: the queues will be “a bit longer” for Master and above, particularly in big regions where the matchmaker can afford to wait. In small regions, the increase will be moderate – an explicit nod to the reality that waiting longer won’t magically create more players where there aren’t any.

What Riot still needs to fix

Riot admits this isn’t the end of the story. They’re still working on situations where many duos create clearly skewed games (for example, five Challengers versus five Masters/Grands). That fix is coming in a later patch, and it sounds like Riot is being deliberately cautious — they want to avoid making matchmaking brittle by rolling half-baked rules.

They’re also revisiting scoring and mastery metrics. Phroxzon said Riot wants scoring to reflect “things that actually win the game” rather than metrics that produce perverse incentives (like farming safely to chase a grade). High ELO players have long complained that scoreboards sometimes reward style over substance; addressing that could shift behavior in meaningful ways.

My read: a sensible, cautious approach — with trade-offs

I appreciate Riot prioritizing match quality. Longer queues for better balance is a classic matchmaking trade: wait more, play better. For competitive players who value meaningful, fair games, that’s usually a welcome change. It’s also honest: Riot is telling players what they’re optimizing for instead of stealthily changing hidden weights.

That said, there are trade-offs. Longer queues increase downtime, which can be frustrating and may encourage queue dodging or opportunistic play (hop in only when a stack looks favorable). Small-region players and time-sensitive competitors will feel this more. There’s also the risk of unintended new edge cases — the matchmaker is a complex system and band-aid changes can sometimes swap one imbalance for another.

Riot’s ask for player-submitted examples is smart — crowd-sourced data helps surface the odd lobbies that automated telemetry misses. But it also signals that tuning will be iterative: expect a few more patches while they test duos, autofill vs autofill, secondary roles, and the scoring remodel.

What this means for you

If you’re Master+ and value competitive, balanced games, be prepared to queue a little longer. If you live in a smaller region or prefer quick games, this will sting more. Keep screenshots of long waits and odd lobbies — Riot explicitly wants that feedback — and watch upcoming patches for further duo-related fixes and scoring changes.

TL;DR

Riot increased Master+ queue times to give the matchmaker more room to produce fairer games and reduce duo-driven imbalances. It’s a reasonable, transparent trade-off that should improve match quality, but expect more tuning (and brief discomfort) across a few patches as Riot addresses heavy-duo lobbies and scoring incentives.