LoL Rank Decay Explained: Diamond & Master Rules, Banked Days and How to Stop It

Decay is the quiet way to lose a rank in League of Legends: no loss on the record, just LP draining away while the account sits idle. It only applies from Diamond upward, it runs on a "banked days" counter that most players never look at, and — unlike every other demotion — it walks straight through the protections. Here are the exact rules from Riot's wiki, what a decayed account looks like, and how to make sure a holiday does not cost you a tier.

The rules, tier by tier

Tier	Grace / initial bank	Days banked per game	Maximum bank	LP lost per day
Iron – Emerald	No decay
Diamond	28 days	7	28	50
Master · Grandmaster · Challenger	10 days	1	14	75

Only completed ranked games on the same queue add days; remakes and dodges do not. A new Diamond account starts with the full 28-day bank; a new Master account starts with 10 and can build up to 14 by playing. Once the bank reaches zero the LP comes off daily until you play again, and every game you play afterward refills the bank at the same per-game rate.

What a decay looks like

Take a Diamond III account at 40 LP with a full bank that stops playing for 45 days. Nothing happens for 28 days; on day 29 it loses 50 LP, on day 30 another 50, and so on — 17 days of decay is 850 LP, enough to fall through Diamond IV to 0 LP and keep going. A Master account at 120 LP with a full bank loses 75 LP a day from day 15: two days of decay and it is at 0 LP, a third and it drops into Diamond. The decay calculator runs the numbers for your own bank and trip.

Decay demotions ignore the shields

A normal loss at 0 LP is cushioned — a ten-game demotion shield after a promotion, and tier-loss protection at the bottom of a tier. Decay has neither. Diamond IV at 0 LP decays into Emerald I; Master at 0 LP decays into Diamond (Riot's wiki says Diamond II is the intended landing spot and notes the game has not always behaved that way). The one mercy is MMR: decay changes nothing underneath, so the first games back usually pay +25 LP or more and the lost divisions come back in a fraction of the time they took to earn.

How to avoid it

1. 1 · Check the bank before a break.

   The ranked tab in the client shows banked days for Diamond+ accounts. Diamond: four games bank the full 28; apex: fourteen games bank the full 14.

2. 2 · Do the arithmetic.

   Days away minus banked days = days of decay; multiply by 50 (Diamond) or 75 (apex). The calculator does this and tells you how many games cover the trip.

3. 3 · Play one game per week if you can.

   In Diamond a single game resets the clock by a week; on the apex ladder one game a day keeps the bank where it is.

4. 4 · Longer than the bank? Buy a few games.

   A verified booster playing the games that refill the bank is the cheapest insurance there is — the net-wins service is priced per win at your tier and keeps the rank where it is.

Edge cases

Flex and Solo/Duo decay separately — each queue has its own bank. Emerald I does not decay, which makes it the safe parking spot for players who know they will be away. Decayed LP is not refunded when you come back. And Diamond cannot decay into Master — decay only ever moves you down.