In Solo/Duo you can queue with a friend about one tier above or below you: Gold with Silver to Platinum, Emerald with Platinum to Diamond III, and so on up to Master, where only players within 400 LP of each other can duo; Grandmaster and Challenger play alone. In Flex you can queue in parties of 1, 2, 3 or 5 (never 4), with no rank limits up to Diamond and a rule that Master and higher players can only play with Emerald and above. All from Riot's tiers and queues page, dated 7 May 2026.
Solo/Duo: who can duo with whom
Riot's tiers, divisions and queues page gives the range per tier. Read your own row; your friend has to be inside it, and you have to be inside theirs.
| Your rank | You can duo with |
|---|---|
| Iron | Iron to Silver |
| Bronze | Iron to Silver |
| Silver | Iron to Gold |
| Gold | Silver to Platinum |
| Platinum | Gold to Emerald |
| Emerald | Platinum to Diamond III |
| Diamond IV to II | Emerald II to Diamond II |
| Diamond I | Diamond III up to Master players under 200 LP |
| Master | Diamond I (only while the Master player is under 200 LP), and Master players within 400 LP of each other |
| Grandmaster | No duo |
| Challenger | No duo |
Riot's own summary of the pattern: Iron players can queue up to two tiers above, “but at Diamond, a friend must be within two divisions to join your party”, and “from Grandmaster and onward you must continue your journey alone”. Master duos came back with patch 26.15 in July 2026, “but only with players close to them in rank”; Riot had switched apex duos off earlier over rank manipulation.
Extra restrictions
- Korea. “Players in KR cannot queue with Master or higher tiers.”
- Master-level MMR. “From Emerald and up to Diamond II, you can't queue with players who have a Master-tier MMR while being Diamond or lower.” And more generally: “players with an MMR of Master or higher will be subject to the same solo-only restrictions regardless of rank.” This is the rule that blocks a duo whose visible ranks look fine.
- Master players chasing Grandmaster. “Master players who are competing for Grandmaster are also restricted from playing duo.”
- Diamond I and Master. “For Diamond I, you can't queue with Master players who have more than 200 LP.”
An old wiki snippet that still ranks on Google says you can “queue with anyone regardless of tier”. That has not been true for years; Riot's table above is current.
Flex: party sizes and rank limits
- Party sizes: “you can queue for Flex in groups of 1, 2, 3, and 5”; “parties of 4 will have to stick to unranked matches”.
- Diamond and below: “there are no Flex rank restrictions for Diamond and below”. An Iron player and a Diamond player can be on one Flex team.
- Master and above: “If you want to play with Masters and up, however, you'll have to be at least Emerald.” Riot's apex page says the same from the other side: apex players can queue Flex solo, duo or in teams of 3 or 5, but “cannot, however, queue with any player ranked below Emerald”.
Riot's Flex page carries a warning the table doesn't show: a wide gap inside a party means the matchmaker has to find opponents for the whole range, so expect harder games for the lower-ranked players and longer queues.
Solo/Duo vs Flex
They are two ladders. Riot: “Your rank in Solo/Duo queue is totally independent of your rank in Flex”, each with “rewards unique to your” tier at the end of the season. The ratings are separate too: the MMR page says you have a different MMR for Normal, Solo/Duo and Flex, and that Flex losses don't alter your Solo/Duo MMR. In December 2025 Riot said it would bring Flex ranks more in line with Solo/Duo ranks, adding that Flex will never pull Solo/Duo up.
What each is for follows from the rules. Solo/Duo is the ladder people mean by “your rank”; its duo limits exist to keep it that way. Flex is where three or five friends play ranked together, and its rank says as much about the group as about you. Both count toward the 15 ranked wins of the Victorious skin. Why your LP per game can differ between the two queues is in LP gains and hidden MMR.
Does duoing change your LP?
Slightly, and Riot says so. Its MMR page: “Queueing with somebody you know confers certain advantages that the system takes into account when creating your games, so you may see slightly more difficult opponents or reduced LP gains.” The page gives no numbers, so neither do we. The practical reading: a duo is not a free win, and if you duo every evening your LP per game is a duo number, not a solo one.
One more cost sits next to the duo rule. If your friend leaves champion select, or lets the timer run out, leaving champ select costs LP: 5 LP and 6 minutes the first time, 15 LP after that, for the player who dodged.
Common cases
| Pair | Solo/Duo | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Gold I and Platinum III | Yes | Gold reaches Platinum; Platinum reaches Gold. |
| Silver II and Platinum IV | No | Silver stops at Gold; Platinum starts at Gold. |
| Emerald III and Diamond IV | Yes | Emerald reaches Diamond III; Diamond IV reaches Emerald II. Not if the Diamond player has a Master-level MMR. |
| Emerald I and Diamond II | No | Emerald stops at Diamond III. |
| Diamond I and Master, 250 LP | No | Diamond I can't queue with Master players above 200 LP. |
| Master, 100 LP and Master, 450 LP | Yes | Within 400 LP of each other, unless one is competing for Grandmaster. |
| Any rank and Grandmaster | No | Grandmaster and Challenger have no duo. |
In Flex every pair above can play together except the ones with a Master+ player and a partner below Emerald. The apex side of these rules, including what counts as a Grandmaster-level MMR, is in apex tier rules; the tiers and divisions behind the table are in League of Legends ranks explained.
In champ select, LazyElo's scout shows the rank of your duo partner and of everyone else in the lobby, in both queues, so the gap is visible before the game starts.
Questions
Can Gold 1 and Plat 3 play together?
Yes. Riot's table lets a Gold player duo with anyone from Silver to Platinum, and a Platinum player with anyone from Gold to Emerald. Gold I and Platinum III are inside both ranges. Gold and Emerald, or Silver and Platinum, are not.
Why can't my friend join my Ranked party?
That is a question on Riot's own Ranked FAQ, and the answer is almost always the table above: the gap between your Solo/Duo ranks is more than the rule allows, one of you has a Master-level MMR (which makes a player solo-only regardless of rank), or you are trying to queue Flex as a party of four. Check both ranks in the queue you picked; Solo/Duo and Flex ranks are separate.
Can you play ranked with 4 people?
No. Flex takes parties of 1, 2, 3 or 5. Riot's page says parties of four 'will have to stick to unranked matches'. Solo/Duo takes one or two players only.