Climbing the Ladder: How to Earn a League Promotion

Each new ladder season, we see many players on the community forums asking, “What do I need to do to earn a league promotion?” This post should provide you with enough information to answer that question.

One way to almost guarantee a promotion by next season is to earn the number of division ladder points given in the corresponding table entry below by 7 February, in anticipation of a 14 February season roll.*

Q: Is this the only way to be promoted?
A: No, this is just one fairly reliable way. Some players may be promoted before reaching this number, and a rare few may remain in their current league after reaching the value. This rare few can expect a mid-season promotion if they maintain their skill level during the next season.

Q: How do I get my ladder points that high?
A: The only way to gain these points is to win more than you lose for a sustained period. For example, if you look at your match history and have won at least 12 of your last 20 games, you’re on the right track. Keep it up!

*Note: This assumes season 5 ends the week of 14 February. This date is subject to change.

Target ladder point values for next season promotion:

  1v1 2v2 Random 2v2 Arranged 3v3 Random 3v3 Arranged 4v4 Random 4v4 Arranged
Bronze to Silver 1200 1100 1000 1000 900 1000 900
Silver to Gold 800 800 700 700 700 700 700
Gold to Platinum 800 700 700 700 700 700 600
Platinum to Diamond 800 800 700 700 700 700 700
Diamond to Master 900 900 800 800 800 800 700
Master to near Grandmaster 1400

 

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Comments (99)

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SQPolet #652
SQPolet
25/03/2012
Just play well guys and you will be promoted IN season easily, from bronze it takes little longer but the games are preeetty easy so just play WELL!
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@SQPolet: Its easy to get out of bronze as toss, just DT rush and your out in one day :)
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Babel #952
Babel
24/03/2012
Finally made it from bronze to silver with around 200 1v1 win background from sc2. Good to see that iam progressing to be better player.
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fiskOEIZ #821
fiskOEIZ
24/03/2012
I hope this season is long no way i am getting 1200 points
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FalconPawnch #891
FalconPawnch
29/02/2012
1200 points to get out of BRONZE. :whatisthisidonteven:
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Wraith #350
Wraith
22/02/2012
What determines that you get promoted earlier though?
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DontGoDutch #981
DontGoDutch
16/02/2012
If blizzard think i will get demotivated by a win/lose score on my account rather than the win/lose score i am keeping track off now on a piece of paper... that's fine. (They could show it per season imo, so i can at least keep track of my progress in a nice way.)

But my question is a different one... The hidden rating does not go back to zero each season right? So does that meen you will need more wins (in games played not in ration) to go up each league?
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Hasselhoff #370
Hasselhoff
15/02/2012
66% Winratio 2nd in my 2v2 diamond league 574p with 30 wins. Matching masters, winning my placement still diamond...FML
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RobbyG #223
RobbyG
15/02/2012
@Hasselhoff: you are not good enough :D
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MytƕKiWi #173
MytƕKiWi
16/02/2012
@Hasselhoff: Hey Hasselhof, a friend and me are also matching Masters, even high masters, we lost or placement match and now we are Diamond ;s
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Hasselhoff #370
Hasselhoff
16/02/2012
@RobbyG: Seems like it, or Blizzard hates both Hasselhoff and the Terran race^_^ We'll never know.
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MytƕKiWi #173
MytƕKiWi
13/02/2012
@Gwynnbleid: For a promotion you must have over 50% win rate, but I think with +600 points in 31 wins, you might have a chance for a promotion if you win your placement match next season. :) Good luck :D
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Gwynnbleid #502
Gwynnbleid
12/02/2012
Guys what do you think about my chance of being promoted? I've got 31 wins with 590 points (8th in my division). Btw I am plat now. In bronze-gold I was used to have like 5-win-streaks all the time, but in plat it changed so much, I win only like 50% of my games. Do you think that thers a chance of promotion? I guess it will be much harder to get a promotion if it doesn't promote me in the new season placement match?
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Verus #831
Verus
13/02/2012
@Gwynnbleid: Dunno, but I think if someone finish season in TOP 8 he must be promoted in better league.
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RobbyG #223
RobbyG
14/02/2012
@Gwynnbleid: I think there's no chance of you getting promoted. I'm in diamond with 988 points 1st place and even I'm ot sure if i'll get promoted
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Gwynnbleid #502
Gwynnbleid
15/02/2012
@RobbyG: yea but thats promotion to masters, there are higher requirements for promotion. Last season I had 30 wins and 620 points and it promoted mi into platinum league. I will see after few hours :)
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RAPHAEL #692
RAPHAEL
11/02/2012
6 moi salut toi
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NewbieOne #967
NewbieOne
11/02/2012
Thanks for the info, guys! It's a good thing that adds some perspective and quenches frustrations. Is there any chance of being told a bit more about how promotion works when you get promoted below this stated number of points, as in anything closer about the kind of win streaks you'd need to be having (e.g. 3 out of 4 games typically won or 2 of 3 etc.)?
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Hitman #1823
Hitman
09/02/2012
guys before hour my bonus pool was 7..now its 299!!!after so much playing time i'm so disappointed..no hance for promotion
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BugAss #866
BugAss
08/02/2012
Right...
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RobbyG #223
RobbyG
07/02/2012
A better question would be if I have those points at the end of the season, so on 14th feb, will I almost guaranteed be promoted?, cause I guess now the season is already locked...., cause I have 40 wins in my last 58 games, so better then 2/3
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Zerberus #470
Zerberus
07/02/2012
just got my promote for R2v2 from Gold 2 Plat played lot of games last time, always tried to play with bonus pool for the extra point boost if it worked out. last week from ˜600 to 711 then one more win and i got promoted plat place 7 434 Points...At last the Point Matrix is a good way to look at where u stand and what u need. But as mentioned before...more constant wins and better mmr will promote u before reaching that amount of points. GL ! I am happy that I made it before freeze :P
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Karakan #777
Karakan
07/02/2012
I'm bronze and won 23 mathces without losing any and was 2nd my league. Won many matches against silver and top 8 silver but no promotion so I gave up playing :(
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Penance #388
Penance
07/02/2012
@Karakan: dont give up! i was bronze once. it takes time to comvince the system that you are worthy, but im now diamond and i promise u u have hope! X winning streake is not importent. if ur getting silvers it means you are very close.
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Karakan #777
Karakan
07/02/2012
@Penance: Thanx dude. I played 2 games today and got them. silver and silver+ i hope u are right
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NewbieOne #967
NewbieOne
11/02/2012
@Karakan: From what I've read it might be possible that the system is evaluating you to get a gist of where you belong rather than simply pushing you up one league. Promotions by two leagues do happen. As for facing silver opponents, it may help you to know that the system needs to have some kind of reasonable certainty that you're at least around the average level for your new league. Therefore beating people who are ranked below average for their league (and, statistically, that will be like 40-50% of people from that league that you play against) will not be reliable evidence yet. It only suggests that your MMR (hidden ladder rating) is going up and you might up for a promotion. Also, just because you will only have just landed in silver doesn't mean you will have to wait much time before being considered for gold. I would suggest playing your best every game (and not trying to cheese a win, either, since that could land you in a league where normal play might be too hard for you) and seeing where this takes you. Also, skill > league! That you're improving is a far more important thing than that you're getting out of bronze. Congrats on the 23 win streak. I've never had one, nor did I have one when I was in bronze. I may have had half that at most! GL HF, you'll probably make it to master before me. ;)
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rockaa #807
rockaa
06/02/2012
This doesnt work.... sorry but i have the same problem now. I doing gold 4on4 random. had more then a 10 winning streak and came from silver. now i am nr 1 gold with more then 200 points ahead of nr2.. if after the 700 i am still gold...
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Faisal #774
Faisal
06/02/2012
I just got promoted from bronze to silver and I had 980 points 2nd place ,my win rate was decent but not hot streak its above 50% but what helped me in my opinion is my match up were all silver and i won lots of games against them..want to share experience :)
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NewbieOne #967
NewbieOne
11/02/2012
@Faisal: @Faisal: Sounds like the time I got when climbing back to silver (I got demoted a while after placing silver initially). Congratulations!
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hwbgCroNIkaL #129
hwbgCroNIkaL
06/02/2012
couse there are only 200 GMs and change to search for a game in the exact same time is LITTLE
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NewbieOne #967
NewbieOne
11/02/2012
@ChroNIckaL: GM don't necessarily have the 200 biggest MMRs on the ladder after initially qualifying, since the qualification is assured for the rest of the season unless they exceed bonus point quota. This makes it possible for some of the highest Masters to have a bigger MMR than folks from GM. There are probably somewhat more "almost GM" runner ups than actual GM MMR people, with the difference being slight enough to allow more or less equal competition. At least this is how I see it.
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Powerstrike #665
Powerstrike
05/02/2012
I don't know why but I have this feeling that top GM players meet top master players more than bottom grandmasters... why is that
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Penance #388
Penance
07/02/2012
@Powerstrike: there are more master players - that is statistics
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@Powerstrike: It is likely that many masters are better than Grandmasters, they just can't get in because of the quota.
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CaptCookie #955
CaptCookie
05/02/2012
Hello; So being n°1 in your division by the end of the season doesnt assure you to climb from bronze to silver ? I am getting frustrated, as i was placed in silver divison, climbed from place 100 to 20 then after a few losses was demoted to bronze and i am fighting for 1 st place for weeks and nothing happens.
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Maievy #614
Maievy
05/02/2012
I'm a silver beating stable platinum players, what a joke is this, I'm not even gold! I won 12 of last 20 games, but nothing happened :(
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Penance #388
Penance
07/02/2012
@Maievy: 20 games is not enough for the system to be sure. if you are beating platinum often, the system is considering double promotion for you. so next season u will be promoted to gold or platinum. you cant be promoted now - the system isnt sure where to put you, it does know that silver isnt a place for you
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Maievy #614
Maievy
08/02/2012
@Penance: now I'm top gold league, thank you! :)
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Ohboi #670
Ohboi
04/02/2012
K this is easy. i play one day only ladder and i get diamond? lolz imah silver but should be dia. master toss told me.
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MORAOFSWEDEN #621
MORAOFSWEDEN
03/02/2012
I just (5min ago) rose from bronze to silver, i was 1st in bronze with 760 points, now i'm 9th in silver with 406. Apparently if you win players ranked higher than you on a regular basis, eventually a promotion will come.