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What Is Flex Queue in League of Legends? Rules and Ranks
Flex Queue is League of Legends' ranked queue for groups: you can enter alone or in a party of two, three or five, and it has its own rank. Parties of four can't queue. Your Flex rank, LP and MMR are separate from Solo/Duo, and the rank limits are much looser, since anyone from Iron to Diamond can play together. The client lists it as Ranked Flex.
How Does Flex Queue Work in League of Legends?
Flex plays like any other ranked game on Summoner's Rift. It uses Draft Pick, the same tiers from Iron to Challenger, and the same LP system as Solo/Duo. The only real difference is who you're allowed to bring.
Riot allows these party sizes in Ranked Flex:
One player, matched with whoever the queue finds
Two players
Three players
Five players, which fills the whole team
A group of four is limited to unranked queues, which keeps a solo player from ending up as the fifth on a team of four friends.
You unlock Flex the same way you unlock Solo/Duo: reach level 30, own at least 20 champions, and play 10 Swiftplay or Normal Draft games. After that you play five placement matches for the queue. You can't lose LP in placements, and you can't place higher than Diamond III.
What Ranks Can Play Flex Together?
Any ranks from Iron to Diamond can queue Flex together in LOL, with no tier gap rule at all. The one restriction sits at the top: if anyone in the party is Master or higher, everyone else has to be at least Emerald.
The table below shows who can join based on the highest-ranked player in your party:
Highest rank in the party | Who can join |
|---|---|
Iron to Diamond | Anyone from Iron to Diamond |
Master, Grandmaster or Challenger | Emerald or higher only |
An Iron player and a Diamond player can queue as a duo, but a Gold player can't join a Master friend. Riot does warn that a big rank gap inside a party can lead to harder matchups, so a Diamond carrying three Silver friends shouldn't expect Silver opponents.
What Is the Difference Between Flex and Solo/Duo?
Solo/Duo is built for one or two players of similar rank, and Flex is built for groups of almost any rank. Everything else, from placements to decay, follows the same rules in both queues.
Here is how the two queues compare:
Ranked Flex | Ranked Solo/Duo | |
|---|---|---|
Party size | 1, 2, 3 or 5 | 1 or 2 |
Rank limits | None from Iron to Diamond; Master+ needs Emerald+ partners | About one tier apart (Gold can duo with Silver to Platinum) |
Rank, LP and MMR | Its own ladder | Its own ladder |
Premades you'll face | Trios and five-stacks | Duos at most |
Flex is also different from Ranked 5s, the weekend queue Riot brought back in 2026. Ranked 5s only accepts full teams of five, uses Tournament Draft, and has its own ladder. The current run lasts from September 11, 2026 to January 7, 2027, Friday to Sunday from 4pm to 4am server time.
Does Flex Queue Affect Your Solo/Duo Rank?
No. Winning or losing in Flex doesn't move your Solo/Duo LP, and Riot has said Flex will never pull your Solo/Duo MMR up. For 2026, Riot did bring Flex ranks more in line with Solo/Duo ranks, so a high Solo/Duo player with a low Flex rank doesn't get to stomp Flex lobbies.
Flex wins do count toward ranked rewards. You earn the season's Victorious skin with 15 ranked wins, and those wins can come from Solo/Duo, Flex, or a mix of both. You also need to be Honor level 3 or higher.
Decay is tracked per queue, so Solo/Duo games won't protect your Flex rank. It only applies from Diamond up, and the numbers work like this:
Diamond: each Flex game banks 7 days, up to a maximum of 28. Once the bank is empty, you lose 50 LP a day.
Master and above: each game banks 1 day, up to 14, and decay costs 75 LP a day.
A Diamond Flex player who plays four Flex games has the full 28 days banked and can leave the queue alone for four weeks.
In summary, Flex Queue is tailored for a more team-oriented and potentially more relaxed ranked experience, whereas Solo/Duo Queue is designed for individual players or pairs focusing on personal skill development in a more intensely competitive environment.
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