Seeing a Demotion Shield Expiring message? You might be in trouble – read on to learn all about what it means and what you can do about it.
If you’ve played any amount of League of Legends, chances are your rank is pretty important to you.
Let’s face it, unlucky streaks, a fit of blind rage, or a chain of spontaneous losses, whatever you want to call it – it’s normal, it happens.
Thankfully, LoL has this nifty mechanic called the Demotion Shield that protects you from losing your rank when you rack up a few too many losses.
However, as of recent, more and more players have been talking about seeing a message stating that their “Demotion Shield is expiring.”
Since it’s got quite a few players dumbfounded – we thought we’d drop a few lines to shed some light on what this foreboding message is telling you, and what you can do about it to makes sure your rank stays safe.
What Is The Demotion Shield In League of Legends?
The Demotion Shield, as the name may imply, is a mechanic in LoL that helps protect players’ ranks from dropping off the face of the earth if they lose a few too many games.
Typically, this is most prevalent in the first division you enter on ranking up to a new tier. For example, if you just landed in Diamond 5, you’ll have the Demotion Shield up to keep you safe and sound should you go on a losing spree right after.
This also happens when someone plummets down through divisions in the same tier.
Although this isn’t officially confirmed – the League of Legends Demotion Shield lasts 3 losses after you rank up to a new division, and 10 losses when you first enter a new tier. With the exception of Master Tier where your safety zone is 3 games.
What Does “Demotion Shield Expiring” Mean?
Just as the Demotion Shield Expiring message says – the game is trying to tell you that you’re about to run out of losses before you drop in rank. Typically it means you have 1-2 safe games remaining before you get demoted.
However, depending on how bad your MMR (Matchmaking Rating) is, you may get demoted the very next game.
And should you get demoted, you’ll end up in the next division or tier down with anywhere up to 75 LP. But depending on how many games you lost, you might start at 0 LP. This is because of a mechanic called negative LP.
How Does Demotion Work In LoL?
As we covered earlier on, demotion in League of Legends is effectively dropping in rank either down to the next division below, or the next tier altogether.
Typically this happens as a consequence of poor performance across a prolonged period of time.
So, while it’s not something that anyone aspires to have happen – how exactly do you go about being demoted in LoL?
To drop in rank through demotion – you’ll need to either force your MMR to be low enough and lose a game at 0 LP, or alternatively, you could let decay do the trick for you.
What Is Decay In LoL?
When you don’t actively play the game on your account, after a certain amount of time, you’ll start losing LP daily until you log back on and play again. This actually bypasses the demotion shield expiring message altogether.
How much time you’ve got until you decay depends entirely on your tier. For tiers below Diamond – decay is non-existent. However, in Diamond Tier, you can take up to 28 days away from the game before decaying. Any rank higher than that, and you’ve only got 10 days.
In Diamond, you’ll lose 50 LP per day of inactivity in the decay period, and you’ll need to play a minimum of 4 games to get back to the initial threshold (as each game awards you 7 banked days).
On the other hand, in ranks above Diamond, you’ll lose 250 LP per day, and a played game will only give you a single banked day – meaning a total of 10 games needed to reset.
And here’s the other thing to keep in mind – banked games are awarded for both losses and wins, so the outcome of your game is inconsequential, though that isn’t an open invitation to troll your teammates by going AFK.
Can You Get Demoted From A Tier Like Gold or Platinum?
Unsurprisingly, many people who’ve finally overcome the valley of doom we know as Silver and Gold ranks may be eager to figure out whether or not they’re safe.
First and foremost, you can’t decay from these ranks – so feel free to log for the season if you’ve already got those sweet sweet rewards. Or go play some normal games to practice your lane control mechanics to rank even higher next season.
On the other hand, if you do keep playing actively, you can get demoted from both Platinum and Gold if you manage to drop your MMR low enough and lose past the safe-space that the League of Legends demotion shield mechanic gives you.
Closing Thoughts
If you’ve kept up with us this far into the guide – you’re now well-versed in LoL’s demotion and decay mechanics.
So, now when you see the message “Demotion Shield Expiring” in League of Legends, you’ll know exactly what it is, and what you’ll need to do in order to safeguard your rank.
Best of luck on the Rift, summoner!
