LoL Split 2 2023: Adding a New Emerald Rank, Removing Promos & More

The League of Legends ranked experience has has a lot of changes since it was first introduced, however, it has never had so many changes added to it in such a short period of time.

The second Split of League of Legends Ranked Season 2023 is coming, and with it, aside from the previously promised rank resets, players will also have a lot of other changes to experience, the biggest of which is going to be the removal of promotional series between ranks, also known as promos, and the addition of a new rank to the existing structure.

LoL Season 2023 Split 2 -  What's New?

Up until season 2023, ranked seasons have been uniform, with splits having a small role in the grand scheme of things. With season 2023, Riot have announced a rank reset with each split, to go along with the changes they've implemented so far this season:

• Increased LP gain and loss
• Removal of promo series between ranks
• Lowering promo series between divisions from 5 to 3 games
• Removing visible rank influence in matchmaking
• Two Victorious reward skins per season

However, aside from these, Riot say that they like the direction League of Legends ranked is going in, and are implementing new strategies to move it forward, with the end goal being centering the player distribution around gold rank, rather than the bottom-heavy it has had until now.

LoL Ranked Ladder - New Emerald Ranked Division

As far as Riot Games are concerned, the ease at which players are climbing ranks these days, due to the change in LP gain and loss is a positive thing, as they believe that LoL ranks are not comparable to the ranking system of other games.

Due to the player distribution being centered around the silver rank, LoL players are, in their words, usually ranked one tier lower when compared to the skill they play with.

To combat this, they will flatten the curve with the changes in the second Split of season 2023, and to make it viable, are adding a new Ranked Tier, called Emerald, between Platinum and Diamond.

This will ensure that the Apex ranks, those above Diamond, retain their prestige, while the lower ranks have a more even distribution of players compared to before. Of course, it will also ensure that the ranked ladder now accommodates a larger number of players than it was originally designed for, before player influx.

So, what are these changes that we can expect to arrive soon? 

Lowering Placement Games to Five

As we've said previously, one of the new things Riot have announced for season 2023 at its very beginning was a rank reset each split, and they intend for that to be the case.

However, they've promised that the rank reset will be softer than the usual one we've experienced so far, which was usually one division and a rank below what we finished the season at.

Alongside this, the number of placement games players will be required to play will be lowered to five, which Riot say will be enough to return to your previous rank, from the usual ten, to speed up the process of climbing back up the ranks, and filling the new Emerald rank.

Removal of Promotional Series

At the start of this season, Riot Games have lowered the promotional series games from three to five, which had a significant impact on ranked climbing. Players reached their skill ranks faster than before, and Riot want it to continue in that direction.

On that note, Riot are removing promotional series games entirely in the second split of Season 2023. This way, players will bounce back from the ranked reset in the middle of the season quickly, as is the entire point of all of these changes.

LoL Season 2023 Rank Reward - Victorious Anivia Skin

At the end of every season, RIot hand out rewards to players that rank Gold IV and above, in the form of a free skin from the Victorious skinline. This year, it's Victorious Anivia.

However, as we all know, season 2023 has promised us two skins instead of one, at the end of every split, so Victorious Anivia is only the first reward this year. Though, per their own admission, they are still unsure if the new rewards track has landed in a positive manner.

And speaking of such things, we just hope that they stop considering the issue of smurfs in games worthwhile in exchange for a better returning-player experience because the consistent-player experience is going downhill quite quickly.