You cannot lose League Points (LP) in placement matches! Instead, you'll simply gain 0 LP upon defeat. You also cannot place any higher than Platinum I, even if you were previously in one of the top tiers. If you've never played Ranked before, your normal MMR will be taken into account for your placement matches. If you participated in Ranked last season, know that all players undergo a 'soft reset' at the beginning of each season, so your new rank will likely be about a tier lower than it was at the end of the previous season.

You'll have to play ten placement matches in each Ranked queue to lock in your starting tier/division, which will depend on the outcome of these matches, the difficulty of the opponents you faced, and your rank from the previous season and preseason. You'll only play them if you're unranked, which happens if you've never played Ranked before or if it's the start of a new season. Placement matches are how we determine your starting position on the current season's Ranked ladder. As might be your starting position on the ladder! Placements Sure, every win and loss will affect your MMR, but climbing-or even falling!-between tiers might also be on the line.

When you queue up for Ranked, it's important to know what's at stake.