How Does Clash Work in League of Legends?

How does Clash work in League of Legends? The long-gestating system is designed to simulate tournament play for players outside of the esports ecosystem, raising the stakes and providing infrastructure for more coordinated play. Here's how it works.

How Does Clash Work in League of Legends: Creating a Team

The first step to playing Clash is to head to the League of Legends site and begin the process by selecting a team name and logo. You can also be invited to a team by a friend, in which case the invite will appear at the top of your friends list.

Once you've created a logo and named your team, you can invite players to join the team. Teammates can be of any rank, but smurfing is strictly forbidden.

Teams are assigned a Tier based on their skill level, with Tier IV the lowest and Tier I the highest. Tiers are based on the team's collective rank but is weighted toward the best player on the team.

How Does Clash Work in League of Legends: Ticket Types

To enter a tournament, you'll have to purchase a basic or premium ticket. With a basic ticket, you're guaranteed a Clash Orb regardless of whether you win or lose. Clash Orbs can contain prizes from Blue Essence to Ultimate skin shards. With a premium ticket you'll be guaranteed a Clash Capsule containing Orange Essence and prizes including skin shards and Ultimate skins.

How Does Clash Work in League of Legends: Tournament Play

Teams can lock in any time after the Lock-in window opens for its tier. Tier IV can lock-in at any point in the two-hour lock-in window, Tier III can lock-in a half hour later, Tier II a half hour after that, and Tier I can lock-in for the last half hour.

Once you've locked-into a tournament, you'll be placed in a single elimination, eight-team bracket against teams at the same skill level. Teams that lose in the first round of each day can play in a lower bracket against other losing teams to earn better prizes.

Before each match, you'll have the chance to scout the opposing team's stats and information about their champion usage to strategize. After scouting, teams will draft champions in the same way pro players do. All champions are unlocked in Clash, and failing to lock in a champion will lock a random one in instead.

How Does Clash Work in League of Legends: Gameplay

A pair of changes to the gameplay experience are active in Clash. For one, at the 60 minute mark towers will become more fragile and easy to push. At 65, structures will damage themselves at a fixed rate starting with the outermost structures. By 70 minutes, no matter what, one team will have won the game.

Pause and remake commands are disabled in Clash.

How Does Clash Work in League of Legends: Prizes

Clash prizes include trophies, Victory Points and capsules. Trophies correspond in theme to the tournament in which they're won, and show up at the nexus for all your Summoner's Rift games for the two weeks following the win. They're also displayed on your profile page.

Each win earns 200 Victory Points, which can be used to unlock banners, which will display automatically in your chosen Summoner's Rift lane once you reach the Victory Point threshold to unlock them. The more Victory Points unlocked, the more the banner frame will upgrade.

Capsule contents upgrade depending on ticket entry and how far in the tournament you make it.

For more info on Clash, check out Riot Games' FAQ about the mode.