● CREATE OR JOIN A TEAM

You need a full team of five to play Clash. Team captains create a team in the Clash tab and choose which players to invite. You'll see invites to join a Clash team on the top of your friends list. Once you're locked in before the first match, you can't kick teammates or change the team, even if they're a Teemo main. Your five rostered teammates stay together throughout the entire tournament, whether you win, lose, or re-enter.

● TEAM NAME AND LOGO

The team captain chooses the team name, tag, and logo. Captains can change these details until the full team locks in before their first match. If anyone on the team has won a logo in previous Clash rewards, the captain can use it. If more than one player has the same logo, the team unlocks chromas. That means menacing rainbow Ducky Crabs, pink Barons, and mean muggin' poros to let enemies know you've been there before!

Team names and tags use the same filters as summoner names, so try something else if you get restricted (don't make grams send you to obedience school). You can have the same team name and tag as other teams.

● TICKETS

You'll need a ticket to enter Clash. One ticket lets you participate, but if you're confident (like proxy Janna confident) a premium entry is available for five tickets. Each teammate chooses their own ticket entry and their individual rewards scale off that. Once your basic or premium entry is set (when your full team locks in before a match), your entry can't be changed.

You can get tickets from missions, a teammate, or in the store. Every two tournaments (once per theme), completing the Clash mission unlocks a ticket. A teammate can offer a one-ticket entry to anyone else on their team roster. In the store, you can purchase a maximum of three tickets with Blue Essence (990 BE each) per tournament and as many as you'd like with RP (215 RP each).

The only difference between one- and five-ticket entries is the prize pool you're playing for and Victory Points you'll earn. A one-ticket entry gets you basic rewards and a five-ticket entry upgrades your prizes.

● LOCK IN

Each Clash day begins with the lock in phase. Lock in opens thirty minutes before matches start. Your team can lock in anytime during this window before the countdown reaches zero. Matches begin as soon as lock in ends. If your full team doesn't lock in, there's no stopwatch to save you. Your team will not participate in that day's matches. Don't be that afk.

● TIER MATCHMAKING SYSTEM

Unlike ranked, Clash uses its own tier system for matchmaking, with Tier IV at the lowest and Tier I at the highest. Your Flex or Solo/Duo ranking and previous Clash history decide your individual tier. Your team's tier (the weighted average skill of the team) determines your opponents. The team's tier adjusts as you add or remove players.

There aren't restrictions on skill differences within a team; you can compete with one plat player and four bronzes, but your team's tier favors the highest-skilled player. Teams like this could face against opponents in the same tier (with the same average team skill) who eat bronzies for breakfast. We'll give your captain a heads up if you're likely to see these kinds of matches.

The team's tier is at the top of the roster and each player's individual tier appears on hover. Teams in different tiers won't compete during Clash, consider each tier a totally separate tournament.

● SUBSTITUTES

If one of your teammates can't make a day of competition, a substitute player can cover them. Subs are allowed on the second and third days of Clash. Once they're locked in, they play all matches for the day. Subs are automatically off the roster after the day's matches, but if you need their awesome warding skills again, re-invite them the next day. Players can only substitute for teams who've competed at least once with their rostered members.

Team captains invite subs during lock in phase with an invite button by the team member they want to sub out. You've got to sub a player with the same or lower tier as the player they're subbing for. A subbed out teammate can reclaim their spot on the roster before lock in ends if their date with Pizza Delivery Sivir falls through.

Substitute players get a one-ticket entry and earn all prizes the team wins that day except for trophies. Rostered players who are subbed out and have an existing ticket entry (if they won the last bracket) get rewards as if they'd gone 0-2 that day. If the team wins the bracket, the original member continues Day 3 with those rewards.

● SCOUTING

After lock in ends and you're matched into a bracket, your team has seven minutes to scout the opponent! The scouting window shows your opponent's stats and which side they start on. You'll see win rates and KDA for their most played champions, highest mastery champions, and previous Clash history. But they can see yours too, so your spin-to-win strategy could get a Garen-teed ban.

The scouting page is available for your team in between matches too, so you can check out other competitors in your bracket to plan your picks and bans.

● BRACKETS

You'll compete in single-elimination brackets each day. Only teams entering on the first day and playing all three days win the biggest prizes. If you are undefeated all three days your tournament run looks like this:

On Day 1 you'll enter into a 4-team bracket and play two matches against teams in your skill level. Your win carries you into an 8-team bracket the next day where you'll play three matches. On Sunday, you'll compete in a 16-team bracket and face four opponents for the Clash Trophy.

If you lose the first match of any day, your team continues in a consolation bracket for more prizes. Winning this bracket won't count towards the final Clash Trophy, but you can re-enter the next day.

New brackets start each day, so your team can enter Clash on any day of the tournament. If you win Friday and can't compete on Saturday, you can skip it and enter Sunday into an 8-team bracket on the same ticket entry. You choose which days (or not) to participate.

Take a deeper dive into combinations of brackets.

● CHAMP SELECT

After scouting ends, you go straight into champ select. Clash champ select follows the draft format you might have seen from the LCS—two ban phases, and two pick phases. The team captain makes all ban decisions for the team.

Don’t worry about complicated trades with your team because all champions are unlocked in Clash! Make sure to check your runes and summoners, because no one wants a Smite / Heal Orianna.

Just in case you disconnect or take too long “toasting pop tarts”, we’ve got a fail-safe for Clash. If you don’t declare a champion during champ select, a random champion gets picked for you—we want to avoid dodging. If you’re inactive but hovering over a champion, that champ gets picked whenever possible.

● SUDDEN DEATH

Sudden death mode keeps matches at a fixed length. After 60 minutes, towers get easier to destroy. By 65 minutes, structures start to damage themselves at a fixed rate in order (towers in order, then inhibitors, then nexus turrets, then the nexus). By 70 minutes, one team will win the game. GG.

● SMURFING

Smurfs are players who don’t use their highest ranked account to compete in Clash (every player should use their highest ranked account to play). We’re taking new measures to shield Clash from smurfs so teams in lower tiers don’t face opponents trying to game the system. Along with SMS verification, our systems are built to keep tournaments competitive and fair. Even though we won’t catch every smurf that gets by, we’re serious about protecting Clash. Players who slip through anti-smurf measures face penalties for their whole team. They’ll get banned from competing again and lose any Clash rewards gained.

● PRIZES

Clash has entirely new prizes that get better as you win. You get Victory Points for winning matches and loot when you drop out of a bracket. Victory Points add up to unlock rewards like banners. The best rewards, trophies, are for winning brackets. Banners and trophies show up in your Summoner's Rift games. 16-team bracket champions have their team names and trophies showcased on the Winners page.

● VICTORY POINTS

Every time you win, you'll earn 200 Victory Points. VP scales based on your team's tier (higher tiers earn more VP per win) and your personal ticket entry. Your VP totals up over two whole tournaments, unlocking banners and logos as you progress. Banners show up in your Summoner's Rift lane and your profile page after you've won.

● LOOT

Every player who enters a tournament earns a Clash Orb (one-ticket entry) or Clash Capsule (five-ticket entry). Loot is awarded when your tournament run ends. If you re-enter, you'll get more loot. You can expect XP boosts and a new logo in each orb and capsule. They'll have better prizes the more you win.

● TROPHIES

Trophies are the rarest of prizes! They'll match the current tournament theme. The pedestal shows your tier and the color of the gem shows which bracket you won. These trophies hang out by the nexus in your Summoner's Rift games for two weeks.