IS DODGING IN LEAGUE OF LEGENDS UNDERRATED?

Today, we will investigate if dodging in League of Legends is a worthwhile mechanic learning or not. Here are the main topics that we will cover;

• What is dodging and how/why it is done
• Why it is worth learning to dodge correctly
• How to decide to or not to dodge
• Pros and Cons of dodging
• Is dodging games really helpful
• The story of dodging to destroy the high elo

What is dodging and how/why it is done?

Dodging is the action done by closing the League of Legends client during your champion selection screen. Most of the players dodge games which they don't want to play. This may be due to a variety of reasons such as getting his/her favorite champs banned by enemy, getting counter picked or not liking his/her team composition, etc. You will find further information about when it is logical for you to dodge games. Keep in mind that you will not be the only one who will be dodging games in these cases.

You can dodge your games either by clicking on the X button at the right top corner of your League of Legends client, alternatively, you can wait until your champion selection timer runs out without picking/setting any champions during your champion selection screen.

Why it is worth learning to dodge correctly

You might say, 'Why would I ever choose to dodge a game, I lose some LP for it and even have to wait a queue dodge timer'. As first, even though you lose some LPs when you dodge a game, your MMR(Match Making Rating - known to be the actual/hidden rank/rating) does not decrease. But in case you lose a game, it decreases. A high MMR ensures that you will get more LPs when you win a game and will lose less LPs when you lose a game, we all would love a +24LPs and -11LPs account on Win/Lose, right?

Lets take this as an example; during the champion selection screen you realise that your whole team is full of AD characters where at the same time there are lots of super tanks such as Malphite, Amumu, etc. in the enemy team. I believe it is clear to most that the odds are you have a very low chance of winning that game. Even though there is always a chance you can win it too, is it really worthwhile the risk taking it? If you take the risk and with high chance, lose the game, you are going to lose mostly 13-20 LPs and the key point is that your MMR will also decrease. Where if you only had chosen to dodge, you was going to lose 3 LPs and your MMR was going to remain unchanged. And you may say, 'But I even have to wait a dodge timer for it'. Yes, but inarguably it is better to wait a dodge timer of 5-10 minutes or even 30 minutes than to be stuck in a very stresfull game waiting to lose it for in average 30 minutes. If you lose the game, even just to get back to the same old Ranked Rating that you was at before, you will have to play another game and definitely win it too. It sounds a lot better to just dodge and wait 5 minutes, right?

Another example could be a case where your team includes one or more trolling players. For instance, if your jungler has picked Yuumi, it clearly is a smart idea to give that match a dodge.

How to Decide To or Not To Dodge?

Of course in real life cases there are always countless parameters that need to be taken in account but here are the few key points which you could consider during your dodging decision process which are likely to lead you to a smart choice in %95+ of all situations;

• If one or many members of your team are not playing their main role, have low win ratio, are on a lose streak or are not playing their main champions,
• If the champions that you are experienced at are banned/picked by either your team or enemy team members,
• If one or many members of your team are trolling/claiming to intentionally feed/being toxic,
• If you are not playing your main role,

It is likely to be a smart idea to dodge the match.

Pros and Cons of Dodging

Pros;

• Not spending time on and getting stressed out by a game which you have a considerably low chance of winning.
• Protecting your MMR strength by dodging games instead of losing them. (Dodging games do not decrease your MMR, losing games do)
• Not wasting your precious time or spiritual/mental energy with people who pick Yuumi jungle.
• In proper application, does grant the applier a higher chance of increasing his/her rank in long term.

Cons;

• LP Loss and Time Penalties

LP Lost with dodging doesn't decrease your MMR and 5-10 minutes of queue dodge penalty is better than to play a whole game losing and to get your mental stressed out. In general, the pros of dodging games in proper conditions seem to be superior compared to it's cons. In case you would not dodge the games that you have a low chance of winning and after that, lose them, The lowered MMR you get will be a pain in the long term and will cause struggle in your ranked ladder journey.

Is Dodging Games Really Helpful?

Would you rather to take a psychological challange by choosing to be stuck playing with singed ADCs or Yuumi jungles for generally more than 20 minutes and lose LP for that or would you just rather make a wiser choice by dodging the game, losing 3 LPs(which doesn't even decrease your MMR) instead of losing 20 LPs and just wait for a few minutes?

I am quite sure the latter sounds a lot more logical to you as well. As you start dodging games, you will see long term improvements in your overall performance, stress levels and ranked ladder rating. Additionally, since dodging games do not decrease your MMR, unlike losing games, over time you will realise getting more LPs per win and losing less per lose.

The Story of Dodging to Destroy The High Elo

Since the Riot had decided to remove duo queue option from Master+ ranked games, a lot of players were unhappy about it(mainly the bot lane players), some were happy. With time, just as it always happens, someone came up with the idea of dodging the games in diamond 1 series all the time in order to be able to keep getting in duo ranked queue with his/her companions. Since dodging games do not decrease the MMR, as they keep winning in diamond 1 but always falling off the promotion matches by dodging, they were able to keep stacking MMR while at the same time playing duo queue and match any rank of players including High Grandmaster / Challangers. But that created an unfair advantage since even though they were playing at the top elo of the server, they were able to play duo queue by abusing this. Specifically the bot lane players had a huge advantage using this tactic since they get to have voice communication while enemy bot lane can't. Thus, this has somewhat destroyed the balance of the game to a certain extend.