Learning a language is no easy feat, and we often find ourselves feeling bored and unmotivated during the process. To address these challenges, Duolingo has introduced an innovative feature called Duolingo Leagues, making language learning more fun and competitive.
It was precisely this feature that reignited my motivation to learn on Duolingo and helped me build a stronger foundation in my studies. Today, I’d like to share with you how to use this feature, how to quickly advance through the ranks, what rewards you can earn, and how it truly helped me break through the barriers in my language learning journey.
What are the Leagues in Duolingo?
In simple terms, Duolingo leagues are groups of 30 different users who learn together and compete for rankings. Similar to the ranking system in League of Legends, Duolingo has its own ranking system. By completing courses, exercises, and mini-games, users can continuously accumulate experience points (XP) and compete fiercely on the leaderboard to improve their rankings and eventually advance to the highest tier.
Over the past few weeks, I've been using Duolingo Leagues, and the chart below shows my progress. After studying for three weeks, I successfully advanced from the Bronze tier to the Gold tier.
To encourage users to spend more time on Duolingo, he created a ranking system. Every time you complete a lesson, you earn points, and those with higher rankings can advance to higher tiers.
This approach proved highly effective, significantly boosting Duolingo's user engagement and retention rates through the design of Duolingo Leagues. The retention rate increased from 12% to 55%. It’s clear that people are powerless to resist small goals like “I’m only 20 XP away from leveling up.”
Joining Duolingo leagues is simpler than you might think. Most users are automatically assigned to a league group after registering an account and taking a few lessons. Once you complete the first 10 units (primarily basic vocabulary and grammar), Duolingo considers you to have “graduated from beginner mode” and ready to join the ranking competition.
If you haven't started learning a language yet, don't worry—the process for learning a new language on Duolingo is very easy. Still hesitating about joining? You're probably already in, you just haven't noticed yet. Open Duolingo now and check the bottom right corner of the homepage—is there already a sparkling leaderboard waiting for you?
Every Monday, you will be assigned to a group of 29 other users to start the competition. Your task is to complete as many tasks as possible (reviewing vocabulary, practicing conversations, etc.) to accumulate experience points.
If you're participating for the first time, you might wonder, “Why are the people on the leaderboard learning different languages than me?” This is actually quite normal. Duolingo's leaderboard does not group users by language but matches teammates based on your learning level and activity. In other words, the more diligent you are, the more diligent your opponents will be.
What Are the Different Leagues in Duolingo?
Duolingo currently has 10 leagues, ranked from lowest to highest:
- Bronze League: This is where everyone starts, and it's also a beginner's protection period. The top 20 players will have the opportunity to advance.
- Silver League: Once you enter the Silver League, you'll notice the atmosphere starting to change. The top-ranked players have already begun their “daily three practices,” and only the top 15 are eligible to advance.
- Gold League: This is where the real challenges begin. Users here are typically highly passionate about language learning, and competition is even more intense. Only the top 10 players can advance.
- Sapphire League: It's time to start strategizing. You need to consider when to study, what to study, and how to study each day, while constantly monitoring the rankings to ensure you don't drop below 7th place.
- Ruby League: The mid-game stalemate. This stage is particularly challenging because your opponents are increasingly formidable, and relying solely on daily routine lessons is insufficient. Similarly, only the top 7 users can advance.
- Emerald League: At this point, you have outperformed approximately 60% of global users, and you can take pride in your achievement. Maintaining a ranking within the top 7 allows you to continue advancing.
- Amethyst League: A gathering of top performers. Learners typically have more winning streaks at this stage, so you'll need to put in more effort to stay in the top 7.
- Pearl League: At this stage, most of your competitors are professional language learners who spend “hours” studying on Duolingo. The top 7 players will advance.
- Obsidian League: This is the final step before the ultimate challenge. Only the top 5 players can continue to advance and reach the pinnacle.
- Diamond League: This is the highest level, but the bottom five will be demoted. The top 10 will have the opportunity to participate in the Diamond Championship challenge.
In the league, promotion opportunities depend on your current rank. The bottom five in each league will be demoted. If you don't want to be demoted, you can choose to use 2000 XP to retain your current rank. Users in the middle of the rankings will remain at their current rank.
What Is the Highest League in Duolingo?
Once you reach the Diamond League, it means you have reached the highest level, and you will have the opportunity to advance to the Diamond Championship.
The Diamond Tournament is separate from the Duolingo league rankings. Only the highest-ranked players are eligible to participate, meaning only the top 10 players in the Diamond League qualify.
The Diamond Tournament lasts for 3 weeks, with each week comprising a separate stage. There are three stages in total: the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. Currently, the Diamond Championship is only available on iOS and desktop platforms.
Please note that the Diamond Championship is not held every week. Please keep an eye out for messages from Duolingo.
When Do Duolingo Leagues End?
Each round of the Duolingo League lasts an entire week—from Monday to the following Monday. However, since it starts at 4:00 AM GMT, the specific time will vary depending on your time zone.
Regardless of your time zone, your Duolingo League will end at some point between 10:00 PM on Sunday and 1:00 AM on Monday.
A new league will begin shortly after the previous one ends. Simply complete one lesson to join the new league.
When I first encountered Duolingo Leagues, I also wondered what I would gain from this. Was it worth it to study so hard every day to advance? The answer, of course, is yes. To accumulate experience points, you must diligently complete lessons and practice repeatedly each day. This gradual accumulation actually helps you master grammar and vocabulary more firmly.
Duolingo also gives you small rewards, such as gems, every time you advance. These gems can be used to unlock harder levels, purchase level skips, replenish health points, and more.
For me, the most valuable aspect isn’t the material rewards, but the motivation it gives me to keep improving. Competing with others on the leaderboard also pushes me to stay diligent.
How To Get a Higher League In Duolingo?
I often see people on Reddit questioning whether Duolingo users are cheating to achieve high XP scores in the league. This is understandable—when you see someone earning thousands of XP in just a few hours, it does seem unrealistic.
However, according to Duolingo’s official statement, the platform has not detected any instances of cheating or score manipulation. In most cases, these high scores are earned by users who invest significant time in learning and employ efficient XP accumulation strategies. Yes, such users do exist.
Here are the promotion tips I’ve personally tested and found effective:
Subscribe to Super Duolingo
For most users, upgrading to Super Duolingo is the most direct and straightforward way to earn high XP. Super Duolingo costs $8.16 per month, typically paid annually, but it provides you with many exclusive features that significantly enhance your learning efficiency and experience.
- Unlimited “Hearts.” After purchasing Super Duolingo, you will receive unlimited “Hearts,” meaning you never have to watch ads or stop playing, no matter how many questions you get wrong, greatly increasing your XP acquisition speed.
- More Double XP Boosts. You will receive more “Double XP Boosts.” This means you will always earn twice as many experience points as free users.
- Unlock Legendary Challenges. “Legendary Challenges” are exclusive to Super Duolingo members. A single practice session can earn you 40-50 XP, far exceeding the 10-15 XP from regular courses. This is equivalent to the experience points from four regular courses.
- Offline practice. Super users can also practice offline, allowing them to continue practicing even in areas with poor signal, such as trains, subways, or elevators. When connected to the internet, accumulated experience points will be automatically added, ensuring you don’t miss out on any spare time.
Is the Super Duolingo subscription worth it in 2025? If you’re serious about learning and want to avoid ads and “heartbeat” limits, it’s definitely worth it. However, if you’re hesitant about the price, you might want to check out GamsGo.
I wasn't too keen on spending that much extra money every year for a language learning app, so I tried subscribing to GamsGo. It's more than half the price of the official subscription, and the key is that you can upgrade to your own account, and it works almost exactly the same as the official subscription.
Join Late, Win Easier
The Duolingo league starts at a fixed time each week, but there are some good rules about when to “go online and learn”. Especially if you just want to make it to the next level without all the pressure, this is a strategy you need to know.
In the beginning, it's better to start at a lower level. As you continue to advance, you encounter opponents with higher and higher scores. As soon as each league started, I started studying in the morning and ended up being assigned to groups that were every bit as rolled, with XP growing 1000+ a day, and I just couldn't keep up.
Later, I read the posts on Reddit, and I also learned to be smart. This is obviously much easier when the start time is deliberately pushed back to Monday afternoon or evening.
It works so well that once I went online on Monday at noon to take a lesson, I realized that not many people in my group were seriously brushing up on their XP, and just by practicing a few lessons, I was in the top five.
Join Timed Challenges
If you always feel that earning XP in normal lessons is too slow, you might want to try a hidden feature in Duolingo: Timed Challenges. If you play well, you can easily earn more than 100XP in less than two minutes. For example, in “Lightning Round”, you can earn up to 55 experience points for completing three levels in two minutes. In Lightning Round, for example, you can earn up to 55 XP for completing three levels in two minutes, and 110 XP if you use the Double Experience Card.
There are three challenges in Duolingo: “Lightning Round”, “Match Madness”, and "XP Ramp Up & Rapid Review ". Each of these three time-limited challenges has its advantages when it comes to improving your language skills.
- Lightning Round is essentially a quick flashcard exercise that forces you to answer quickly.
- Match Madness is a quick pairing exercise to deepen vocabulary memorization.
- XP Ramp Up & Rapid Review: Gain a lot of XP in a short amount of time by reviewing your previous knowledge.
The different types of exercises help you target different areas of the target language while increasing your speed of comprehension.
Consistency Is Key in Duolingo Leagues
After all these tips, the most important thing is still perseverance.
Duolingo League is just a small mechanism, but its essence is to help you make the “daily learning” more interesting. Practicing for a few minutes every day and watching your name slowly move up the leaderboards will give you a small sense of satisfaction that will make you stick with it without even realizing it.
Sometimes I'm lazy and drop out, but when I open the app the next day and see that my team has started a new round of ranking, I can't help but click in to "learn another lesson. Duolingo leagues are like “fitness circles” for language learning, you don't roll against others, you compare yourself with yesterday's self.
No matter what, there will always be times when learning is not online. If you find Duolingo leagues stressful and want to stop, then unfortunately, there is currently no way to do so.
But Duolingo actually has a “hidden escape route” for such situations - using XP Shield. This is a “segment preservation tool” that you can activate by using 2000 XP (equivalent to a few days of practice). Once activated, you will not be automatically downgraded by the league system even if you don't study for a whole week. You can think of it as giving yourself a “study vacation”.
Duolingo Leagues are not a burden on your learning, but a fun and smart learning mechanism that gives us a sense of purpose and accomplishment on our language learning journey. You can sprint, or you can paddle; you can challenge yourself, or you can use your XP shield to “take a vacation” when you don't have time.
But what remains the same is that as long as you keep at it, it will always help you turn the small effort of “learning a little bit every day” into real skills that you can easily talk about in the future.
If you want to make the process more efficient and motivating, and you don't want to be interrupted by commercials or limited by the number of Hearts, then upgrading to Super Duolingo is really worth it. Check out GamsGo. They offer a stable Super Duolingo shared subscription for almost half the price of the official website, and they support direct upgrades with your own account, which is easy and convenient.
Whether you're a newbie just starting out or a high-level player ready to hit the diamond tournament, start your Duolingo language practice journey at GamsGo now!
FAQ
What is the hardest league in Duolingo?
The hardest league in Duolingo is the Diamond League, which is at the top of the league system. It is an achievement where the top three players advance to the Diamond Championship, and the bottom five are relegated.
What happens when you finish Duolingo?
When you complete a Duolingo lesson, a celebratory owl appears on your screen, but your learning journey doesn’t end there. You can return to review lessons, strengthen weak skills, and unlock Legendary Challenges to earn more experience points.
What do you win in the Diamond League?
In the Diamond League, each champion will not win a physical prize, but they will receive valuable in-app rewards such as gems, which you can use to redeem some gifts. This is an honor, a sense of achievement that everyone has worked hard to attain.
