In the MMO shooter Destiny, many Guardians look at the Elo rating – especially in connection with the Trials of Osiris. What is Elo and what does it mean?
“Show me your Elo rating first, and I’ll tell you if you can play.”
In social networks and Destiny groups, one often reads about an ominous Elo number that inexperienced Guardians may not understand. In-game, there is no trace of “Elo,” and even on the Bungie website, one can search long for an official Elo number. So what is it all about?
Elo as a Rating System
The Elo number is actually a score that represents the skill level of chess and Go players. Over time, it has been transferred to other sports (such as soccer) and other competitive games, including Destiny.
The Elo number in Destiny is supposed to describe the skill level of the Guardians. Especially in the Trials of Osiris, the probably most challenging PvP mode, players like to look at the Elo number of the opponents and their own team members to identify strengths and weaknesses in advance. Elo serves as a rating system.
Elo in Destiny – The Basics
Since the Elo number is not an official statistic from Bungie, most Guardians know about the Elo rating from another source, the “Destiny Trials Report.” This site sources the data from “guardian.gg” where the Elo numbers are tracked.
On guardian.gg, you can see that you not only have an Elo number for the Trials, but also individual ratings for many other PvP modes. The Elo numbers apply account-wide. The K/D you see in the Trials Report is indicated per character.
All Guardians start in each PvP mode with 1200 Elo. Depending on your performance, the Elo rating increases or decreases.
How is the Elo Rating Calculated?
How many Elo points do I get after a match? This does not determine your personal Elo number, but the average Elo number of both teams at the end of a match.
Example:
- Your team consists of three players with 1200, 1500, and 1600, then you enter the match with an Elo rating of 1433.
- If during the game the player with 1200 disconnects, the average of the remaining two Guardians counts. Your Elo rating increases from 1433 to 1550.
This is how Elo is calculated:
In each match, 16 Elo points are at stake. When two teams with similar average Elo ratings face each other, each team puts in 8 points. This means, if Team A wins, Team A gains eight Elo points, and Team B loses eight Elo points.
The further apart the Elo numbers of the teams, the fewer points the team with the higher Elo can gain. Conversely, if the team with significantly lower Elo wins, it receives more points as a victory reward.
In other words: If you win against a team with significantly higher Elo, you receive more points than if you win against a team with equal or lower Elo. However: It is always about 16 points per match.
The Redditor JBH613 has taken a closer look at this Elo point distribution and published this table (Note: No official data):
On the left, you see how far the average points of the teams are apart. In the next column, how many points you win with a victory. The column on the right shows how many points you lose with a defeat (which the opponent then gains).
An example:
- Team A consists of players with 2050, 1800, and 1600. The average is 1817.
- Team B consists of players with 1440, 1560, and 1370. The average is 1457.
The teams differ by 360 points. This means according to the table:
- Team A wins 1 point with a victory, loses 15 points with a defeat.
- Team B gains 15 points with a victory, loses 1 point with a defeat.
However, due to the enormous Elo differences, it is likely that Team A will win.
Therefore, outstanding players with high Elo values like to take players with low Elo values onto their team to lower the Elo average and earn more points to boost their Elo.
By the way: The best players have Elo values in the Trials beyond 3000.
Elo is not entirely uncontroversial in the community. Many consider the K/D as a better and more reliable indicator of how strong the opponent really is.
Tips for PvP in Destiny can be found here for you.
