Is the order you pick based on your Elo?

Solution 1:

In Ranked Solo and Duo queue, the pick order is by Solo/Duo Elo. Thus, if you have 2nd pick, you have the second highest Elo on your team.

In Ranked Premade, the person who invited everybody is Captain and picks first, and the rest are, according to several forum posts, ordered by a hidden Ranked Premade Elo based on wins/losses while in that specific queue.


Season 3 introduced the concept of Leagues and League Points to mark progression in Ranked. Elo still exists as a hidden value called MMR, standing for Matchmaking Rating. In Season 3, the pick order in Ranked, both Solo/Duo and Premade, ignores Leagues/LP, and is entirely dictated by MMR. Therefore, a Platinum I player can pick before a Diamond IV player, and a duo between a Gold II player and a Bronze III player will always* make the Gold II first pick and the Bronze III last pick.

It is in fact very common for players in lower divisions to have higher MMR and thus pick before players in higher divisions. This is most notable in each tier's Division I, as those players tend to have MMR similar to or above that of players in the next higher tier. It is also fairly common to see players in the upper divisions of a tier pick above players in a tier's Division V, as some players in a Division V may be stuck there due to the inability to drop tiers.

Note that in Premade, the pick order is still determined by individual Premade MMR and not the MMR of the team.

*assuming that there are enough people in queue. If for some reason there are few summoners in queue, such as on low-activity servers, then it is very possible for this to not be the case.


For non-ranked Draft Pick games, pick order is not dependent at all upon individual normal MMR. Rather, each player has an equal chance to be first-pick, with captains of premade groups absorbing the chances of their group members. All picks but the first are randomised.

Solution 2:

Now (in LoL season S3) there is Elo and MMR. Both are hidden.

Elo is "skill" which is defined now by Medals for example Gold tier is for somebody with between 1500 and 1849 Elo. At least there was this way and now tier system is based on old Elo. This value decide about your pick order.

MMR is matchmaking rating. This is new one. This defines where game think you should be based on your last game performance - win/lose balance. This value decides with who you will be playing. From Riot FAQ. T

Matchmaking will continue to match you based on a hidden MMR (matchmaking rating) that's tracked behind the scenes. If you are continually losing matches at the bottom of Gold tier, you'll start to play against Silver players even though you're in a Gold league.

The diference beetween this two (MMR and Elo/Tiers+Divisions) gives LP which is needed for advancing to next divison or to next tier and another one from Riot FAQ.

Seems like you can game the system by throwing a ton of games after each time you go up a skill tier, and then proceed to pubstomp your way to the next skill tier. Please tell me this has been considered already? If your hidden matchmaking rating (MMR) is far below where it should be for your current division, you will gain LP much more slowly. Similarly, if for some reason your MMR is far above where it should be for your current division, you will gain LP more quickly.

LoL Wikia source.

If you want more here you have YouTube video about MMR part first and second which I found on LoL forums.

Solution 3:

Order for solo and duo queue: You get ordered by the amount of elo you have from highest to lowest. This is easy to verify yourself by looking at everyone's elo after the match is over.

For Premade teams: The teamleader is first pick and the rest of the team is in random positions.

Thus to answer your question: Yes you have the second highest elo in your team.