Introduction
If you’ve queued for a Swiftplay match (Learn What's Swiftplay here) for the first time, you’ve probably noticed two roles marked with a golden icon or a label saying “Priority Position.” It’s not a ranking, it’s simply Riot’s way of filling underplayed roles faster.
This article explains what priority positions are, why they matter, and how they affect your time in queue.
What Is a Priority Position in League of Legends?
A priority position is one of the two roles that don’t have enough players queuing for them at that moment.
These roles change often, and they’re picked automatically by the system in real-time. You’ll usually see them marked with a golden icon when choosing your role, like a shiny highlight around Support or Jungle.
The system isn’t judging your skill or performance. It’s just trying to make sure every game has five players per team as fast as possible. Fewer people in queue for a role = higher priority.
When you join a Swiftplay lobby, you have to choose two different roles, and one must be a priority role. While it used to be optional to choose a priority role to queue, it's now mandatory.
How the Swiftplay Queue System Works
Swiftplay is League’s faster, more streamlined way to get into a 5v5 Summoner’s Rift match. No pick/ban phase. No champion select. You pick your roles, champions, and loadouts before queuing—and once everyone’s ready, the game starts right away.
This mode replaced Blind Pick, which used to be the default casual queue. Blind Pick had a lot of issues—instalocking, role fights in chat, and no way to balance teams properly. Swiftplay fixes that by assigning roles in advance and speeding up matchmaking.
This is where priority roles come in. By asking players to pick a role that needs more people, Riot smooths out the queue process. If everyone only picked Mid or ADC, matches would stall. But when the system highlights Support or Jungle as priority, it gently nudges the queue into balance.
Do You Have to Pick a Priority Position?
Yes. You can’t queue without picking one.
When you enter the Swiftplay lobby, you must choose two different roles, and one of them has to be a priority role. The system won’t let you start matchmaking unless you follow that rule.
But just because you pick a priority role doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get it. The game still tries to build the best team setup. Depending on what other players selected, you might get your secondary role—or even be auto-filled in rare cases.
Benefits of Picking and Maining a Priority Position
If you happen to be in the minority that mainly plays a position that is often priority, such as Jungle, congratulations! On average, you’ll enjoy the shortest queue times in the game, even as you climb to high elo.
However, if you’re trying to use priority positions to get out of low priority queue, it won’t help by much. Matchmaking will still assign you less priority than non-penalized players.
What Happens If You Don’t Have Unlocked Champions for That Role?
The system won’t let you queue with a role if you don’t have at least one valid, unlocked champion for it.
Let’s say Jungle is a priority role, but you haven’t unlocked any junglers yet. You’ll need to either pick a different role or go unlock more champions first. The same applies to any position.
New players do get a rotating pool of free champions, including some solid picks for every role. That helps you get started without needing a massive collection right away.
But still, it’s a good idea to slowly build up your champion pool, especially for roles you don’t usually play. The more options you have, the easier it’ll be to fill a priority spot and still play comfortably.
If you’re missing champions for key roles like Jungle or Support and keep getting stuck, a smurf account with a full champion pool can help you queue without restrictions, and start learning underfilled roles faster.
Why Is Jungle Almost Always a Priority Position?
Jungle tends to be one of the least-picked roles in League, and that’s why it’s almost always marked as priority in Swiftplay.
There are a few reasons for this:
- It’s harder to learn. Jungle has a steeper learning curve than most roles, and knowledge from playing other roles doesn't necessarily translate to jungle knowledge very well. A mid lane player can do just fine in top lane because they know wave mechanics, but this isn't the case with jungle.
- Less visible impact. Some players feel like they don’t get credit for their work as a jungler. If your lanes lose, you get blamed. If they win, they think they didn’t need you.
- Lower popularity. Compared to flashy roles like Mid or ADC, Jungle just doesn’t attract as many players. So when Riot’s system checks for underfilled roles, Jungle pops up more often than not.
Support also ends up in priority a lot—for similar reasons—but Jungle is the consistent standout. If you can learn even the basics of Jungle, you’ll almost always have a fast queue.
FAQs
What does “you must select at least one priority position” mean?
It means that when you queue up for Swiftplay, one of the two roles you choose has to be one marked as a priority,one of the golden-highlighted roles with fewer players in queue.
You still get to pick two roles, like always. But one of them needs to help fill the matchmaking gap. If you try to pick two non-priority roles, the game won’t let you queue. You’ll have to swap one out for a priority role first.
Will I always get the priority role?
Not necessarily.
Picking a priority role just means you’re more likely to get it, because the system needs more players in that spot. But it’s not a guarantee. The matchmaking system will always prefer to queue somebody who mains that position, into their preferred position.
If you were always queued up into the priority role, that'd mean there's somehow
no players for that role queued up.
