Queue dodging is leaving champion select before the game starts. One dodge cancels the lobby and sends nine other players back into the queue, and the dodger takes a penalty. In ranked, the first dodge in 24 hours costs a 6-minute queue lockout and 5 LP. The second costs 30 minutes and 15 LP. The third and each after cost 720 minutes, a 12-hour lockout, and 15 LP. The tier drops by one every 24 hours without a dodge, and tiers stack across queues, so a normal dodge followed by a ranked dodge lands as a tier 2 penalty. In Apex tiers, Master and above, the first dodge costs 20 LP instead of 5, and also hits MMR. Dodging never changes MMR for standard tiers, which is the whole reason the penalty ladder leaks: a dodge costs LP only, while playing out a bad lobby costs LP and MMR.
The penalty ladder, as Riot publishes it
The numbers are public and specific, which is rarer than it sounds in this field. Ranked and normal queues share the timer ladder: 6 minutes, then 30, then 720. ARAM starts harsher at 15 minutes for a first dodge, then matches the same 30 and 720. LP loss is capped at 100 total and can never cause a demotion, so the worst case for a serial dodger is a full day out and a dented LP total, not a lost rank. Missing a ready check too many times runs the same ladder: the second consecutive failure is a tier 1 penalty, the third is tier 2, and the fourth and beyond are 720 minutes with LP modified to 10 instead of 15.
LeaverBuster is a different system and players confuse the two constantly. Dodging in champion select never puts you in low priority queue. Leaving a game in progress does. Low priority adds a 5 to 15 minute timer before each matchmade game until you finish a set number of games, usually five, and repeat offences escalate to lockouts of a day, three days, a week, or two weeks. The two systems exist because the two behaviours cost different things: a dodge wastes two minutes of lobby time, a leave wastes twenty minutes of nine other people's game.
Related reading on this site: Home and What Is Good Bot Traffic vs Bad Bot Traffic? cover the neighbouring problems in more depth.
Dodging is rational because the math says so
A player who dodges a lobby with an autofilled jungler and a duo bot lane is not being toxic. They are doing arithmetic. A first dodge costs 5 LP and six minutes. Playing the game out and losing costs roughly 15 to 20 LP and the MMR that decides the next lobby's difficulty, plus 25 minutes. The dodge is the cheaper line, and it stays cheaper until the tier climbs. Any system where the rational move and the intended move disagree is a design problem, and raising the penalty only moves the crossing point, it does not remove it.
The autofill rule made this sharper. Since dodging no longer resets autofill status, a player who dodges out of an autofilled role stays autofill-eligible on requeue, which removes one reason to stay. The players who dodge most are not the ones who do not care about rank. They are the ones who care about it enough to price the lobby before they play it.
What actually reduces dodging
Show the conflict before the lock-in, not after. Most dodges happen when a player sees the team composition in the last seconds of champion select and realises the game is already lost on paper: two autofills, no front line, a duo queue that does not speak the same language. Matchmaking that surfaces role conflicts and duplicate picks earlier, or that lets a lobby dissolve without penalty when the composition is unplayable, removes the dodge at its source.
Forgive the nine victims. Right now the dodger pays and the other nine pay with their time, twice: once in the cancelled lobby and once in the requeue. A system that holds the nine in priority queue after a dodge, or that credits their wait, changes the social cost of dodging without touching the penalty ladder at all. Penalties punish the dodger. Design decides how often the choice comes up.
Frequently asked questions
Does dodging in League of Legends lower your MMR?
No, not in standard ranked tiers. A dodge costs LP and queue time only, which is why dodging can be the rational choice when a lobby looks unwinnable. In Apex tiers, Master and above, dodging also affects MMR scoring.
How long does a dodge penalty last?
The queue lockout is 6 minutes for a first dodge, 30 minutes for a second within 24 hours, and 720 minutes, 12 hours, for the third and each after. The penalty tier drops by one every 24 hours without a dodge.
Does dodging put you in low priority queue?
No. Champion select dodges have their own timer and LP penalties but never trigger LeaverBuster. Low priority queue comes from leaving games in progress or going AFK, and it adds a timer before each matchmade game until you finish a set number of games.
Can you get banned for dodging?
Repeated dodging escalates through longer lockouts and LP loss, and since patch V14.18, repeated ready check abuse at very high frequency can lead to a temporary suspension, escalating to a permanent one. Occasional dodges stay at the timer and LP level.