Disconnected and Reconnected? Can You Still Get a Win?

Earlier today, I played a game where a player disconnected for 10 minutes and came back only to complain that they couldn’t get LP even if they won. 30 minutes later, the enemy nexus blew up, and surprisingly, the usual AFK leaver busted icon wasn’t on their name. They received LP for the win.

Leaver Buster Details

Leaver Buster kicks players who are AFK for 5 minutes. Here are the punishments:

• No XP for the abandoned game
• Normal games: A leave is added to the player’s history
• Ranked games: A loss is added to the player’s history (even if the team wins)

Additional penalties include:

• 1st offense: Unable to join queues for 6 minutes, losing 3 LP
• 2-4 offenses: 15-minute queue time out, losing 10 LP
• 5 offenses: 20-minute queue time out, losing 10 LP

What It’s Not

• Percentage of game does not count: Players who disconnect near the end of long games may not receive LP, even if they contribute to the win.
• End of game does not count: Players often disconnect right before the nexus blows up to speed up the end game screen and still get credit.

What We Know

Here’s how Leaver Buster works:

• 5 minutes at the end of the game: Leaver Buster kicks in, and it’s a loss.
• 5 minutes in a row: Reconnect and immediately win, Leaver Buster kicks in, and it’s a loss.
• Less than 5 minutes: Leaver Buster does not kick in.
• Disconnect and reconnect for more than XX minutes: You can still win the game and gain LP.

Although the exact number of minutes isn’t public information, signs indicate that 5 minutes is the sweet spot. There are also reports of players disconnecting multiple times and still getting leaver buster.

Conclusions

If you disconnect and reconnect after getting the AFK message, it’s still possible to win and gain LP. However, you need to be connected for at least XX minutes to get points for the win. There may be other criteria we don’t know about, but we can’t piece it together without more data.