Getting autofilled into a position that you’re uncomfortable with in a game of ranked League of Legends is always frustrating. An equally annoying problem is having to play with someone who is unfamiliar with the role that has been autofilled for them.
In a discussion posted earlier today on the official League subreddit, gamers questioned the impact of autofilling on a lobby, as well as whether having more autofilled players than your opponent is indeed a death sentence.
“I do not care (that much) if I win or lose, but the game quality is just extremely one-sided dependent on how well the autofills attempt not to lose their lanes/roles,” stated the original poster of the Reddit topic, Adventurous-Ideal554. “I really do not get how one team may have three fills while the other has none, and the game is matchmade.”
While an autofilled player is frequently out of their element in a rated game—especially given that they were never equipped to fulfill the position assigned to them in the first place—it is more likely for them to deliver a substandard performance rather than a blisteringly fantastic one. Unless you are an experienced player who can confidently play all five positions, being autofilled is a significant disadvantage to your team’s chances. If you have more than one person in a capacity that they are not ready for, you are likely to lose.
Autofilling is a technique widely employed by the League client to reduce queue times. When fewer people at your rank queue for less popular roles, you may be pushed into one of them despite having chosen other roles in your pregame lobby. The lobby will always notify you when autofill is enabled, however you can sometimes avoid the mechanism by playing a less-frequented position.
The most widely agreed-upon comment was that it is critical to consider which job on your team receives an autofill. While having an autofilled player on your team is never fun, you would rather have someone autofilled into a less-effective position like support or top lane than into a game-defining role like the mid lane, where a poor early-game performance can ruin your team’s chances just a few minutes in.
“The type of autofill also affects a lot,” one user added. “Having a mid-lane main autofilled is far less awful than having a support main filled to [the] top lane.”
Another League player claimed that the jungle position should never be autofilled, which we tend to agree with given how unique and niche it is compared to the other roles on the Rift. Still, jungling has gotten a lot easier over the previous two League seasons, and getting autofilled into the jungle is not as terrifying as it was.