The match score explained: who wins a 1v1

Why speed alone does not decide a match

If ranked 1v1 matches were decided by WPM alone, the best strategy would be to type as fast as possible and ignore mistakes. That is not the skill the league wants to measure. A match on League of Keyboards is won by the match score: a single whole number that rewards speed, but only speed that is clean and controlled.

Both players see their score at the end of the match, and the higher number wins. There is no hidden tiebreaker and no judge. The same score also ranks the players in a Battle Royale lobby.

The formula

Every part of the score is computed on the server from your keystroke timings, not from anything your browser claims. The formula is:

score = net WPM × 10 × (accuracy / 100)³ × consistency factor + streak bonus

The result is rounded to a whole number. The three ingredients besides speed work like this:

• Accuracy factor: your keystroke accuracy as a fraction, cubed.
• Consistency factor: 0.90 + 0.10 × (consistency, capped at 65) / 65, so it ranges from 0.90 to 1.00.
• Streak bonus: your longest run of correct characters, capped at 200, divided by 2, so it is worth up to 100 points.

Why accuracy is cubed

Net WPM already ignores characters you left wrong, but it does not punish wasted keystrokes much. Accuracy here counts every key press at the moment you press it, so a mistake you corrected still lowers it. Cubing that number makes small slips matter and large ones matter a lot:

• 100% accuracy keeps 100% of your speed points
• 98% keeps about 94%
• 95% keeps about 86%
• 92% keeps about 78%
• 90% keeps about 73%

Consistency: worth up to 10 percent, capped at 65

Consistency measures how even the gaps between your keystrokes are. A steady rhythm scores higher than bursts followed by pauses. In the match score it can move your total by at most 10 percent: the factor starts at 0.90 and reaches 1.00 at a consistency of 65.

The cap at 65 is a fair-play decision. A perfectly regular rhythm is exactly what a macro or a script produces, and the anti-cheat system treats robotic regularity as a warning sign. Honest typists with a very steady rhythm reach the mid 60s, so the cap rewards a good human rhythm fully and gives nothing extra beyond it. A consistency of 90 scores exactly the same as 65.

The streak bonus and its 200 character cap

The streak bonus is half your longest run of correct characters without a mistake. A run of 120 correct characters adds 60 points.

It stops growing at 200 characters, which is about 40 words in a row without an error, for a maximum of 100 points. Without the cap, a fast and perfect run would collect a huge bonus and reward accuracy a second time on top of the cubed factor. With it, the bonus stays a reward for typing a long clean stretch, not a replacement for speed.

Worked example: clean against fast

Player A types 80 WPM at 98% accuracy, with a consistency of 50 and a longest streak of 150 characters. The speed points are 80 × 10 = 800. The accuracy factor is 0.98³ = 0.9412, which leaves 752.95. The consistency factor is 0.90 + 0.10 × 50 / 65 = 0.9769, which leaves 735.58. The streak bonus is 150 / 2 = 75. Total: 810.58, rounded to 811.

Player B types 90 WPM at 92% accuracy, with a consistency of 40 and a longest streak of 60. Speed points: 900. Accuracy factor: 0.92³ = 0.7787, leaving 700.82. Consistency factor: 0.90 + 0.10 × 40 / 65 = 0.9615, leaving 673.86. Streak bonus: 30. Total: 703.86, rounded to 704.

Player A wins 811 to 704 despite being 10 WPM slower. If A had dropped to 95% accuracy at the same speed, the score would fall to 745, still ahead, and at 90% it would fall to 645, now behind.

For reference, a perfect run at 100 WPM with a consistency of 65 or more and a streak of 200 or more scores 1000 + 100 = 1100. That is the ceiling for that speed.

Ties, ghosts and broken runs

Because the score is a whole number and that whole number is compared, two players who both see 894 have drawn. A draw changes nobody's LP.

When you race a ghost, the ghost's score is computed with the same formula from its own stored run, including its own accuracy, consistency and streak. You are compared like for like.

If a run cannot be measured, for example because its accuracy cannot be read, it has no score at all. The match is then settled without inventing a winner.

What this means for how you play

The formula points to a simple habit: type at the fastest speed you can hold cleanly, not the fastest speed your fingers can reach. Going from 92% to 98% accuracy at the same speed is worth more than adding several WPM with the same error rate.

Avoid long pauses and frantic bursts; an even rhythm costs nothing and earns up to 10 percent. And once you make a mistake, fix it calmly and start a new clean stretch. You only need 200 correct characters in a row for the full streak bonus.

If you lose a match to a slower opponent, the formula tells you where to look first: accuracy, because it is cubed, and then your longest clean stretch. Working on raw speed is still worth it, but in the match score the fastest gains usually come from making fewer mistakes.