Solo queue is fine until it isn't. Sooner or later every League of Legends player hits the same wall: your duo is offline, autofill hands you a role you don't play, and you're one coin-flip teammate away from a loss you couldn't control. The fix is finding people to actually play with. Here is every real way to do that, what each one is good at, and where it falls short — written honestly, including where our own app fits.
Option 1: In-game and the post-game friend add
The oldest method still works: had a good game with someone? Add them before the lobby closes. It costs nothing and the person already knows they enjoy playing with you.
The catch is volume. You only meet people one match at a time, most won't accept, and the ones who do are rarely online when you are. It builds a friends list slowly, but it does not solve "I want to play right now and no one is on."
Option 2: Discord LFG servers
Big League of Legends Discord servers have looking-for-group channels where you post your rank, role, and what you want to run. There are a lot of players in them, and voice is one click away once you connect.
The downside is that it is a firehose. Your "LF duo, plat, mid main" message scrolls off the screen in seconds, you are competing with hundreds of other posts, and you have to join, set up, and mute a server you may never use again. It works, but it asks a lot of effort for each game.
Option 3: Reddit
Subreddits like r/leagueoflegends, r/summonerschool, and r/GamerPals have threads and posts for finding teammates, and the people there tend to be genuine. It is also great for long-term friends rather than one-off games.
But Reddit is slow. Posts can sit for hours, replies trickle in, and there is no sense of who is online at this moment. Reddit is better for building a small circle over weeks than for filling a lobby tonight.
Option 4: Dedicated LFG apps and sites
Purpose-built tools are the middle ground, and there are good ones. GamerLink covers hundreds of games on mobile. GameTree leans on a personality and interest match to pair like-minded players. Noobly uses a swipe-style interface and has a large free user base. AnySquad and RiftQ show live lobbies you can filter by rank, role, and region. If you want filters and a big pool, these are worth trying.
The trade-offs vary by app: some are mobile-first when you play on PC, some gate useful filters behind a subscription, and a few feel more like a dating-style swipe than a fast way to get into a game. The right pick depends on whether you value filters, pool size, or speed most.
Option 5: Dengate — a beacon instead of a post
Dengate takes a different angle. Instead of posting into a channel that scrolls away, you light a beacon: a short, standing signal that says what you want to play — ranked, flex, ARAM, Clash, or normals. Your beacon appears in the League of Legends live feed, where other online players can find and message you, and you can browse the feed and message them. It is looking-for-group that works both ways, and your beacon stays up instead of vanishing after ten seconds.
A few things make it specific to how LoL players actually team up. You can attach a Twitch or YouTube link to your beacon, so streamers can pull their community into a game and anyone can show the play they want to run back. Voice chat is built into the Dengate desktop app for Windows and macOS, so once you connect you can sort roles and bans before champ select without a separate Discord server. And you can add the players you click with as friends, so your next duo is one click away. It is free — you can see the full setup on the League of Legends teammates page.
To be straight about limits: Dengate matches you by game and who is online today, not yet by exact rank or role — rank and role based matching is on the way. If your only requirement is a hard rank filter this second, a lobby-filter site may suit you better right now. If you want a fast, low-effort way to signal you are up for a game and let the right people reach you, that is exactly what beacons are for.
So what is actually the best way?
There is no single winner, because it depends on what you need. For a lasting circle of friends, post-game adds and Reddit are underrated. For raw filtering and pool size, the established LFG sites are strong. For getting into a game tonight with low effort and voice built in, a live signal like a Dengate beacon is hard to beat.
The honest move is to stop relying on solo queue alone and pick the tool that matches your goal. Most players end up combining two: one for building friends over time, and one for filling a lobby right now.
Quick answer
If you want the short version: to find League of Legends teammates fast, light a beacon on Dengate so online players can find and message you, keep a Discord server or two for backup, and add good teammates after every game. Do that for a week and you will rarely have to solo queue blind again.