LoL: Should You Duo to Win More Games?

It’s almost a no-brainer that a premade would have an easier time climbing the ladder. After all, League of Legends is a team game that’s all about coordination and synergy, right? But unless you and your duo partner are at the very top of the rankings, this strategy might not be as effective as you might think.

Inevitable Drawbacks

Just like with most things in life, playing as a duo has its pros and cons. The pros are self-explanatory: better map awareness, higher levels of teamwork, and increased confidence in at least one other player on your team. Also, it’s way more fun than playing on your own.

It sounds great on paper.

Unfortunately, the cons are often far more severe. The first thing people tend to forget is that you will have to outplay the enemy premade. But the real issues start when the system fails to find a similarly skilled duo and throws you into a game against stronger opponents to compensate. This can lead to you playing out of your league—which is never a good way to climb.

Then there are also psychological drawbacks. When you’re on a Discord call with someone, it’s easy to forget that there are three more players that aren’t listening in on the conversation. And that doesn’t bode well for team communication.

Don’t even get me started on toxicity. If one player in a premade is lashing out in chat, then the other is likely to follow—after all, it’s much easier to blame randoms than someone on your friend list. And we’ve all been in games where junglers frantically babysit their premade while forgetting everyone else in the process. In a sense, an inadequate duo can make your team way worse than five random players could ever be on their own. So everything comes down to finding the right person.

League of Matchmaking

Finding a good duo partner is a lot like finding a good date. You’re looking for someone smart, funny, and easy-going. Someone whose smile will always lighten your mood. Someone that knows your every move before you even think of making it. Someone that wouldn’t leave you with the bill at the restaurant just to hook up with an ex like Jessica who’s really a major—

Look, what I’m trying to say is that you need synergy. And that takes time and effort to develop.

Oddly enough, sometimes it’s not your real life friend that you’ll have the best synergy with. Sometimes it will be that random guy that you’ve had a good game in Solo Queue with but then felt too anxious to add. Truth is that it will be hard to find a good duo partner. It can take two, three or even ten tries. But the premade system itself opens up opportunities. Opportunities of playing and coordinating with random strangers to the point where you become an unstoppable elo machine. And if that’s not a perfect example of a human connection, then I don’t know what is.

Which is why if you’re going to duo, then you might as well…

Duo It Right

Before you reach for your pitchforks due to that horrible pun, there’s a valid point to be made here. Just like with most things in life, there is a proper way to setting up your duo.

First, let’s look at the roles. Almost every position can benefit from a premade but some combinations work a lot better than others. The duo bot lane is the classic one for premades that want to spend most of the game working together. Junglers and solo laners play off each other by coordinating ganks and setting up invades. And if you’ve ever wanted to take over the game through vision control, then there’s nothing better than a jungle/support combo for the job.

Second, work on your mindset. League of Legends is built around giving every player exactly a 50% win rate. Losing is inevitable and queuing up as a duo won’t make you an exception. But it might make you way more critical of your teammates’ mistakes. That’s why it’s even more important to stay positive and refrain from toxicity. If you must curse your teammates, then do it over voice chat, although even that might lead to you getting stuck in an endless loop of negativity.

Third, don’t forget that there’s more than just the two of you. I’ve already mentioned that League is a team game, and there are three more players apart from your premade that also want to play and have fun. This means that you need to work and communicate with them if you want to have the biggest chances of winning.

In the end, there’s a reason why Duo Queue is disabled in the Challenger League. Having another player you can talk to and coordinate will always grant you some sort of advantage. And it will be up to you to use it properly.

What do you think about League of Legends premades? Hate them? Love them?  Share your opinion in the comments!