win.gg
Win.gg News What is smurfing in League of Legends?

What is smurfing in League of Legends?

Author Icon
William Davis Published 27/06/2023
upcoming LoL champion Bel'Veth

Have you been playing League of Legends (LoL) for some time now and come across the terms smurfing or LoL smurfs? Here’s what it is.

Although it is already a worldwide-known concept for seasoned players, it may raise questions among LoL novices. Let’s then check what smurfing in League of Legends entails and why high-ranking players create smurf accounts.

What is smurfing in LoL?

Smurfing is a practice where experienced players create secondary “smurf” accounts to start the game from scratch. 

The idea originates from the era of Warcraft II in the 1990s. It was the time when multiple players created novice accounts using names inspired by the blue Smurf characters from the famous cartoon. As a result, they were able to enter the game as novices and easily dominate less experienced opponents.

These days, the smurfing practice has settled down in the League of Legends world and has become a widespread phenomenon. You can use reliable services, like RankedKings, to easily and securely create LoL smurfs.

Nevertheless, why do high-ranking players create LoL smurfs accounts?

Why do players create smurf accounts in LoL?

Playing with newbie friends

First of all, seasoned players may smurf to play with their friends who are new to League of Legends. In the game, matchmaking is skill-based, which means that it automatically matches players with similar skill levels.

Consequently, if a high-ranking player tried to play with a beginner on their main account, the game would match them against high-ranking opponents. It could be an overwhelming experience for the newcomer.

Therefore, a smurf account can be a clever way for experienced players to play with their friends against opponents that are new to the game as well.

Experimenting

Another reason behind creating a smurf account in LoL can be the desire to experiment. A smurf account can serve as a testing platform to test:

The comparatively less competitive nature of lower-level games can also offer a more relaxed environment, giving high-tier players a chance to experiment and foster creativity in gameplay. Moreover, players don’t have to worry about losing rank on the main account. Since smurf accounts are separate accounts, they don’t impact the player’s main one.

Long queue times

Finally, experienced players may create smurf accounts in League of Legends to avoid the long queue times that come with high-level play. There are significantly fewer players in the top tiers, so finding a game can take a lot of time.

On the other hand, lower-level games often come with shorter queues, which allures seasoned players to do smurfing.

Summing up, smurfing is a common practice within the League of Legends community. It can serve as a way to play with your lower-ranked friends, experiment with new playing styles, or avoid long queue times in high-level play. What is more, it provides an opportunity for learning for newcomers, as lower-ranked players can observe the strategies and techniques of the smurfs, thereby improving their own gameplay.

William Davis
About William Davis

View full profile
Read Also
Not into the World Cup? These are the best free spins offers currently at casinos Slots
Not into the World Cup? These are the best free spins offers currently at casinos Ben Boland The 2026 World Cup is underway in North America, with the 48-team tournament beginning on 11 June and ending with the final on 19 July. Football is the world’s most popular game, but there is still a large chunk of people that do their best to avoid the huge media coverage. Sportsbooks are also understandably dominated by World Cup promos, so it is easy to feel that there is nothing ...
Kick launches World Cup jersey drop featuring popular streamers Kick
Kick launches World Cup jersey drop featuring popular streamers Conn Mc Gillion Kick has launched a new World Cup campaign aimed at rewarding regular viewers on the platform. The competition was announced via email to users subscribed to Kick's mailing list as well as on social media on X. The email announced that viewers can claim exclusive World Cup jerseys simply by watching Kick streams, with winners selected at random through a prize draw. To enter the competition, users need to accumulate ...
Accenture study reveals streaming’s growing battle for viewer attention News
Accenture study reveals streaming’s growing battle for viewer attention Conn Mc Gillion While the streaming industry has never seemed more popular across platforms such as Twitch and Kick, a new study suggests that viewers' attention is increasingly being pulled toward other forms of media. The study, released by Accenture, found that streamers are competing with a growing number of alternatives for viewers' time and attention. These alternatives include social media doomscrolling, increasing AI usage through tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, ...
Kai Cenat returns to announce Streamer University News
Kai Cenat returns to announce Streamer University Conn Mc Gillion Kai Cenat has returned to the world of streaming after an eight-month hiatus, officially opening applications for the relaunched Streamer University Class of 2026. The surprise comeback comes after the popular streamer seemingly disappeared from the public eye, with little public activity during his extended absence. Streamer University was announced in a cinematic trailer posted to social media platforms X and Instagram on 8 June. The trailer immediately caught the ...
2026 World Cup promos at GG.Bet: expect free bets, bonuses and tournaments News
2026 World Cup promos at GG.Bet: expect free bets, bonuses and tournaments Ian John The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway and one of the top sports betting and casino sites in the world today has gone big when it comes to its promotions for the tournament. GG.Bet, perhaps best known for being a market-leading esports betting site, has operated a sportsbook and casino for some time now and customers of the site can access a fabulous range of offers throughout the tournament this ...
This is how to play the Fury of Anubis slot and land the 10,000x max win Slots
This is how to play the Fury of Anubis slot and land the 10,000x max win Ian John Ancient Egypt has proved to be a fertile breeding ground for exciting and innovative slot games. This is a slot theme that has literally hundreds of releases attached to it, but Pragmatic Play's latest effort could genuinely be one of the finest in recent years. Fury of Anubis is set to release on 25 June, 2026, and it combines a unique take on the genre with a mesmerising max win ...
After a perfect split, C9 might lose LCS playoffs for the 8th time in a row Esports Betting
After a perfect split, C9 might lose LCS playoffs for the 8th time in a row Ben Boland After going 7-0 in the regular season, Cloud9 lost to LYON in the LCS Spring Split playoffs. Despite dominating through the entire split, they now sit in the loser’s bracket after a 3-0 loss. This wouldn’t be alarming for any other team. However, this is already the story of Cloud9’s last seven splits. C9 completed the regular season of the LCS Spring Split 2026 without dropping a single match. In ...