This article provides an overview of League of Legends Clash including the requirements for forming a team, how to enter tournaments, preparing for matches and rewards that can be earned.
What is League of Legends?
League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game that was first released in 2009. In the ensuing years, it has become one of the world’s most popular video games. It is highly competitive and notoriously hard to improve rankings leading some to use a League of Legends boosting service to assist them. A mobile version of the game, League of Legends: Wild Rift came out in 2020 around the same time as Destiny 2 became available on mobile devices. Also in 2020 League of Legends successfully launched their Clash mode which had been in the works for several years.
What is Clash Mode?
Clash is a competitive game mode in League of Legends where teams made up of 5 players compete against other teams at the same skill level. Clash tournaments will be held every other weekend. There will be two tournaments over the weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Teams can join an 8 team bracket on either day or both days. Winning all three rounds of the same tournament wins a trophy as well as other prizes. Teams can only join one bracket per day, and are locked in once they have joined.
Forming a Clash Team
Players have the option of forming their own team or joining an existing one. There are some requirements that have to be met in order to create or be a member of a Clash team. All players on a team must have:
- Reached level 30 or higher
- Completed placements in a minimum of one Summoner’s Rift ranked queue
- Verified their League account by SMS.
Every member of the team must also have at least one ticket entry into clash. The team captain will be responsible for adding and removing members. Team selection can begin the Monday before the start of the tournament. The captain will also select the name, tag, and logo that the team will be competing under. To start the process the captain should go to the League of Legends Clash tab and select “Create Team”. From there it is just a matter of following the instructions.
Once the team is complete it will be assigned a tier. The tier is assignment is determined by the average of all team members’ skill level. There are four tiers with Tier 1 being the highest and Tier IV being the lowest. Teams are matched against opponents of the same skill level as indicated by the tier level they are assigned.
Entering a Clash Bracket
To enter a Clash tournament bracket every team member will need either a Basic or Premium ticket. The Basic ticket can be purchased with 990 blue essence or 195 RP. A Premium ticket will cost 975 RP. It is up to individual team members which ticket they use. The only difference is that Premium ticket entries earn better rewards.
Each bracket will be made up of 8 teams of approximately the same skill level. Clash tournaments are single elimination but there is a consolation bracket for teams that lose their first match. If you don’t win your bracket on Saturday you can still enter a tournament bracket on Sunday.
All team members must lock in before the start of their first match which secures the team slot in the tournament. This usually takes place around 30 minutes before the match, but the actual lock in time is determined by your tier level. If any member of a team fails to lock in the team won’t be entered into the bracket.
Pre-Match Preparation
Once all team members are locked in there will be a brief period of time to prepare for your match.
- Scouting: When a team has locked in they are presented with stats for their opponents. This includes their win rates and KDAs with the champions they play most in ranked games, which are their best champions with regards to mastery and any previous Clash data. Having this information allows a team to develop a pick/ban strategy.
- Champion Select: In Clash, all champions are unlocked. There are two ban phases and two pick phases. The team captain makes all ban decisions. Not declaring or hovering a champion will result in a random champion being assigned.
Teams need to make efficient use of the time available and members should strategize and pass along any tips they may have that will improve their chances of winning.
Game Time
Players have chosen their champions and the team has developed a strategy to take their opponents down. There is nothing left but to play the match. There are a couple of differences in Clash matches that aren’t seen in regular play.
- Sudden Death: To keep matches from running on too long League of Legends has introduced a “sudden death” mode into Clash. At the 55 minute mark of a match, turrets will lose armor and magic resistance. Towers will become more fragile and easy to push when 60 minutes have passed. At 65 minutes structures begin to damage themselves at a fixed rate. One way or another by the time 70 minutes have passed one team will be the match winner.
- Pauses and Remakes: During Clash /pause and /remake are disabled so that matches can’t overrun or be remade to save time.
What’s at Stake?
So what exactly do you win in Clash tournaments? There are three main types of rewards:
- Trophies: Winners of a bracket earn a trophy of the corresponding tournament theme. For two weeks after the tournament, the trophy will show up at the nexus of all your Summoner’s Rift games. They will also be displayed on your profile page
- Victory Points: Every win in Clash earns 200 VP which can be used to unlock banners or spent on new team icons
- Clash Orb/Capsule: Every player who enters Clash gets a Clash Orb or Clash Capsule. The contents of the Capsule will upgrade depending on your type of ticket and how well you do.