Putting Ranked Play in Perspective

A goal for many ranked Hearthstone players is to reach the top rank of Legend, but many find themselves frustrated when they have trouble on the ranked ladder. In this article, I’ll cover what it actually takes to get to Legend, and what you can do to perform better in ranked play!

First, let’s take a look distribution of players in ranked play. Below is a depiction from Blizzard of the statistical distribution of players on the ranked ladder.

As shown by the picture, most players (75%) are between the ranks of 25-16! You're probably actually better than you think you are! Also in the picture, the Legend ranking has the fewest players (0.5%). With 22 million accounts registered, approximately 110,000 players worldwide will reach the Legend ranking. There are 95 stars between ranks 25 and Legend.

Rank	Star Information
25-20	10 stars, can’t lose stars, win streak eligible
20-5	60 stars, can lose stars, win streak eligible
5-1	25 stars, can lose stars, no win streaks
Legend	Can’t drop out, MMR ranking system starts

These players that work through the 95 stars to reach Legend have to play a large amount of games each season.

From 20-Legend
Win Rate	Games Played
100%	78
60%	269

From 5-Legend
Win Rate	Games Played
100%	26
60%	146

As shown in the tables above, reaching Legend requires a large amount of games. Doing so is very time consuming, and can be very stressful! Below are some general tips to help you be successful and enjoy your journey on the ranked ladder!

- Check out professional tournament results and professional players’ streams to see what decks are hot in the current meta!
- Make sure you are relaxed when you sit down to play. Sitting down to play while stressed or concerned increases your chances of going on tilt!
- Make a SEASON goal for yourself, not a daily goal! There will be good days and bad days on the ladder regardless of your skill!
- Keep a notebook beside you, and track the number of mistakes you make and your win rate! It’s easy to dwell on the losses, even if you are playing well!
- Set a schedule for your sessions! I suggest taking a break after reaching a new rank or after every 2 losses! This gives you time to analyze about your losses, and appreciate your wins!
- Remember that there are good days and bad days! If you've reached that rank before, you can get there again!
- Finally, remember Hearthstone is a game, make sure you are enjoying it!

Good Luck out there! Let us know how you’re doing on Facebook and in the comments! I leave you with this inspirational quote: “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France