Whether you’re a League of Legends rookie or a seasoned expert, you’ve been curb-stomped or solo carried by a high elo smurf in the past before. The outcome of these games is always the same. Complete joy or despair, depending on whether you’re playing with the smurf or not. More often than not, these games will leave us thinking about what is the point of smurfing in League of Legends and why people have smurf accounts at all.
Stomping The Opponents
This is undoubtedly the #1 reason why smurfing is so popular and why people create and purchase low elo smurf accounts every day. Players that reach high MMR on their main accounts often want to unwind from tryharding by playing games in low elo and destroying the opposition.
Some players take that to the next level and try to stream, snipe the pros or even ghost their games. Since this is such a major issue, pro players often buy accounts to hide their identity and play in peace, at least until they’re found out.
In certain situations, some players go on massive loss streaks, and they tilt, which leads them to log in on their smurf and feel better by playing against weaker players. All in all, some players just need an ego boost from time to time, and smurfing is one of the best ways to do so.
Playing with Less-skilled Players or Friends Who Are New to the Game
We’ve all found ourselves in a situation where our friend, who is Silver, begs us to duo queue with him and help him climb out of elo hell while our account is in high Diamond. In situations like these, the only way to help your friend climb out of ranked or play with him, in general, is to have a low elo smurf account that you can play on. Similarly, you might want to introduce your friend to LoL, who has never played before, and to maintain balanced matchmaking, it’s a good idea to play on a low-level/low elo smurf account.
Taking a Break From Your Main Champion
Most high elo players that climb high on the competitive ladder have something in common, which is strictly maining a single champion which they master. That is usually a great plan since mastering a single champion can lead to great success in ranking, but it can also burn you out and end up losing you more games than winning. Taking rational breaks between playing your main champion(s) is a great idea, and that’s why many players make smurf accounts where they try new champions and strategies.
Permanently Banned
Given how toxic the League of Legends community is, it should come as no surprise that a lot of smurfs are players that have purchased or made a smurf account because their main account got permabanned. Since they still want to play after receiving the ultimate punishment, most League of Legends players doesn’t quit after receiving the permanent ban on their main account, which leads them to smurfing.
Trying Your Skills on A New Server
Another reason why people smurf so much is to test their mettle against players on a different server. Many players share the opinion that EU West, and especially Korea, are the two most competitive regions with the highest quality solo queue experience. That being said, a lot of players are willing to ignore higher ping and lags just to play against the best in the world.
“Given how toxic the League of Legends community is, it should come as no surprise that a lot of smurfs are players that have purchased or made a smurf account because their main account got permabanned.”
Furthermore, a lot of professional players and professional teams create smurf accounts, mostly in Korea, in order to play against Korean challengers who are the best solo queue players in the world. Usually, those professional teams buy hand leveled smurf accounts from reputable sites such as Turbosmurfs in order to avoid any unfortunate consequences.
Trying a New Role or Playing a Champion for The First Time
The majority of League’s player base plays only a single role in ranked which they’re best at, but if you want to take your game to the next level, it is vital to understand every role in League and their importance. Coincidentally, the best way to understand a role is to play it yourself and trying a new role or a new champion is not something you want to do on your main account for the first time.
Sadly, normal games are not a competitive environment where you can test out your skills, and ranked is the only place where players take the game seriously and play to win. Smurfs are perfect for this reason because the increased skill cap that you have over your opponents is a cushion that allows you to try and experiment with new things without being punished.
Smurfing When Stalling for Decays
The reality of the League’s ranked system is that some players punch above their weight and sometimes overachieve, ending up in a rank that doesn’t accurately display their current skill. More often than not, if they continue playing ranked on their main account, they’ll lose the rank they ended up in. Despite that, those players cling on to the rank they’ve achieved and don’t play ranked unless they’re forced to by Riot’s decay system, which is where smurfing comes into play. Simply put, in order to maintain a certain skill level while not playing ranked on their main account, players play on smurfs to be able to experience ranked while not losing the shiny rank they’ve worked for all season long.
Troll / Toxic Account
This may come as a surprise, but there is a very high number of smurf accounts that exist for the sole purpose of trolling other players.
This is an old trend that originates from earlier seasons back when players such as PSZ and L9 Ap0calypse made numerous smurf accounts where they’d troll other players. All in all, these smurfs enter games with the intention of ruining the experience for everybody by being extremely toxic or just running it down mid from the first minute.
Pro Players and Twitch Streamers Going Undercover
Ever since Twitch and professional players became internet superstars, creating and purchasing smurf accounts has become a widely common practice. If you’ve ever watched a stream of a high elo player, you were likely to see another player troll them or be toxic towards them to gain attention. Some players take that to the next level and try to stream, snipe the pros or even ghost their games. Since this is such a major issue, pro players often buy accounts to hide their identity and play in peace, at least until they’re found out.
