How League of Legends Clash works, and how to find a team for it

Clash is League of Legends' monthly weekend tournament for teams of five, played on Summoner's Rift and ARAM by turns. A team's tier leans toward its best player rather than a plain average, and the lowest tier gets the most time to lock in. Riot's reward tables list only three-game records, so plan the evening for three games, win or lose.

This guide is for a player with a five, or part of one, who wants to play Clash with people they chose. It covers when Clash runs, how a Clash day goes, how tiers are set, what each of the five needs before the weekend, and how to find the players you're missing. For other games, see every game's team format.

In short

• Clash runs once a month, alternating Summoner's Rift and ARAM. Teams form from the Monday, and the cup is played that Saturday and Sunday. The next in 2026 is the Worlds Clash on Summoner's Rift, 21–22 November.
• On each Clash day, a team plays a single-elimination bracket of eight teams at its tier, with a consolation bracket for the first round's losers. Riot's reward tables are all for three games.
• A team's tier, I at the top to IV at the bottom, comes from its players' ranks but leans heavily toward its best player. Outside Southeast Asia, lock-in lasts two hours: Tier IV can lock in from the start, Tier I only in the last half hour.
• Every player needs level 30, SMS verification on a mobile number and a ticket. Summoner's Rift Clash also needs ranked placements this year or last, and ARAM Clash doesn't.
• Each player submits their own Basic or Premium ticket, and their rewards follow it. A teammate can give a ticket to anyone on the roster.

When Clash runs

Once a month. By Riot's Clash FAQ, captains can start inviting players on the Monday of Clash week, and the tournament is played on that Saturday and Sunday. The maps alternate, Summoner's Rift one month and ARAM the next. Riot's 2026 calendar, in which every cup's teams form from the Monday before its tournament days:

Cup	Map	Tournament days
Demacia Cup	Summoner's Rift	24–25 January
Ionia Cup	ARAM	21–22 February
Noxus Cup	Summoner's Rift	21–22 March
Ixtal Cup	ARAM	18–19 April
Zaun Cup	Summoner's Rift	9–10 May
The Void Cup	ARAM	20–21 June
MSI Cup	Summoner's Rift	18–19 July
Bilgewater Cup	ARAM	22–23 August
Bandle City Cup	Summoner's Rift	19–20 September
Piltover Cup	ARAM	17–18 October
Worlds Clash	Summoner's Rift	21–22 November
Freljord Cup	ARAM	19–20 December

The time of day depends on your server. Riot's 2026 patch notes open team formation at 11:00 local time on the Monday and give the tournament days as "~4-7 PM Local Time, varies by region", as patch 26.6's notes do for the Noxus Cup. Riot doesn't say whether those hours are the lock-in, the first game or the whole evening, and it publishes no timetable for each server. Its FAQ sends players to the client for the latest.

Dates can move. Riot's FAQ says "always check in-client for the latest, most accurate information", and 2026 showed why. Patch 26.1 moved the year's first cup back a week, to the dates above. Riot then "had to cancel the 26.2 patch Clash", and patch 26.3 announced a makeup for Europe, Asia-Pacific and Oceania on 7 February, free to enter.

How a Clash day works

Lock-in. On each tournament day, the whole team locks in from the Clash tab during a two-hour window. By Riot's Clash FAQ, when a team can lock in depends on its tier:

• Tier IV can lock in at any time in the two hours.
• Tier III can from half an hour in.
• Tier II can from an hour in.
• Tier I can only in the last half hour.

Southeast Asia's servers differ: "all tiers can lock in 1 hour before Clash begins." Riot staggers the tiers to "ensure we have enough teams to make quality brackets for everyone."

The bracket. Once all five have locked in, the team goes into a single-elimination bracket of eight teams at its tier. Three wins take the bracket and its trophy. A team that loses its first match plays on in a consolation bracket against the other first-round losers. Riot's reward tables list only three-game records, from three losses to three wins, so plan for three games. "Teams of different tiers won't meet during the same weekend", so each tier is a tournament of its own.

Once a day, both days if you like. A team joins one bracket a day and is locked in for all of it. If Saturday goes badly, Riot's FAQ says you can come back on Sunday "with the same team, or even a new one", and a team that wins on Saturday can play again on Sunday for more rewards.

Before each game:

• Scouting. Your opponents see each of you: "win rates and KDAs with their most-played champions in ranked, their best champs in terms of mastery, and their previous Clash data". They'll know your champion pools before the draft.
• The draft is the tournament draft from pro play, with two ban phases and two pick phases, and "the team captain makes all the ban decisions for the team." Every champion is unlocked for everyone. A player who hovers nothing gets a random champion, since Riot wants to avoid dodges.
• No pauses or remakes. /pause and /remake are off in Clash. After 60 minutes, towers weaken. Five minutes later structures start destroying themselves, and five minutes after that one team has won, so no Summoner's Rift game runs past 70 minutes.

Rewards. Each win is worth 400 Victory Points (VP), which unlock banners and team logos, and by Riot's FAQ a player's VP also scales with their ticket. The first win of each Clash day earns a bonus of 150 VP in Tier I, 100 in Tier II and 50 in Tier III, and none in Tier IV. Winning the bracket earns a trophy, which shows at your nexus in Summoner's Rift games for two weeks. Every player gets an orb or capsule by their record and ticket when the team leaves the bracket. Riot's FAQ lists the full tables.

Clash tiers

Tiers run from Tier I, the highest, to Tier IV, the lowest. By Riot's Clash FAQ, they're "bottom-weighted", so more players are in Tier IV than in any other.

Each player's tier comes from their Flex or Solo/Duo rank, plus a rating from their past Clash games. Riot places players by their Clash MMR from the previous season, or by ranked MMR for a player who is new to Clash or missed last season.

The team's tier leans toward its best player. Riot's FAQ says team tiers "take a weighted average of the roster, but it heavily prioritizes the highest-skill players—so it's likely that comps of players with vastly different skills may have some tougher matches ahead." The tier changes as players join or leave the roster, and the client shows a warning for a team of mixed skill. So four Golds with a Diamond friend land in a higher tier than five Golds would, and the four Golds play stronger teams. Pages that call it a plain average get this wrong.

For a team, that means recruiting near your own rank. A five that also wants to play ranked together between cups can queue Flex or Ranked 5s, which What ranks can duo in League of Legends, and playing ranked with friends covers.

TeamTavern's League player posts can give a Clash tier. Of the 571 posts that tick "Clash" and give a tier, 203 say Tier IV, 100 Tier III, 97 Tier II and 171 Tier I (TeamTavern's posts, 2021–2026, counted 5 November 2026). Players choose their own, so Tier I is more common there than in Riot's bottom-weighted tiers.

What each player needs

All five need the same things before they can join the team. By Riot's Clash FAQ:

• Level 30.
• Ranked placements, for Summoner's Rift. "Completed placements in at least one Summoner's Rift ranked queue this year or the year before." ARAM and ARURF Clash "still have the same account level 30 and SMS verification requirements, but you don't have to play any Ranked to participate." A friend who doesn't play ranked can join the ARAM cups.
• SMS verification. Every player links a phone number, from the Clash tab or from Settings. Riot accepts "only mobile/prepaid numbers", and "Internet numbers [VOIP] like Google Voice will not work." By Riot's SMS Verification page, a number links one account, and once unlinked it waits six months before another account can use it. Riot asks players with several accounts to "only SMS link your highest-ranked account."
• A ticket. "Every team member must submit at least one ticket to enter Clash."

Riot's pages disagree on two points.

• Unranked last season. Further down, the same FAQ says "you cannot participate in Clash if you were unranked last season". That's stricter than "this year or the year before", and Riot doesn't say which applies, so a friend who was unranked last season should check that they can join well before the weekend.
• Honor. The Clash FAQ says "There is no Honor Level restriction for Clash." The SMS Verification page says "Your highest-ranked account must be Honor level 2 in order for you to participate in Clash." If a teammate can't join, their Honor level is worth checking.

Tickets. A Basic Ticket enters you, and a Premium Ticket enters you for bigger rewards; "the only difference between Basic and Premium Tickets is the prize pool". Each player picks their own, and their rewards follow it, so one player on Premium doesn't upgrade the team. The choice is fixed once the full team locks in. Riot's FAQ lists three ways to get them:

• The store: Basic Tickets for Blue Essence or RP, Premium Tickets "at a higher RP cost".
• The Clash mission: "Every two tournaments (once per theme), completing the Clash mission unlocks a ticket."
• A teammate: "A teammate can offer a ticket to anyone else on their team roster."

The captain creates the team from the Monday, invites and removes players, and picks the team's name, logo and tag. The captain also makes every ban in the draft, so pick someone who'll prepare for it.

Finding a team for Clash

Recruit for the cup's weekend: players near your own rank, in the positions you're missing, who'll stay for three games.

Match the rank first. The best player pulls the tier up, so a friend far above the rest lifts the whole team into stronger brackets.

Cover the positions. A Clash team needs Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC and Support. Among TeamTavern's League posts that tick "Clash", groups ask for Top and Jungle far more often than players offer them:

• Groups asking
• Players offering

Top

Groups asking: 62%

Players offering: 36%

Jungle

Groups asking: 61%

Players offering: 40%

Mid

Groups asking: 53%

Players offering: 43%

ADC

Groups asking: 50%

Players offering: 45%

Support

Groups asking: 52%

Players offering: 50%

A team short of a Top or a Jungle should start looking early in the week, since those are the hardest players to find.

Use the client. In patch 10.18, in 2020, Riot added a beta that let a player without a team set themselves as a free agent in the Clash hub, with their position preferences, so that teams looking for players could add them. No current Riot page describes it, so expect today's client to differ. At best it finds a stranger for the weekend, not a team.

One server. Accounts are per server, so recruit on yours.

Keep a good five. A five that worked one month can enter the next cup together. A teammate who played well is worth adding by their Riot ID. How to make an esports team covers tryouts and keeping a roster together.

Post on TeamTavern. Clash is a common reason League players post here: 1,004 of 3,639 player posts and 141 of 344 group posts tick it (TeamTavern's posts, 2021–2026, counted 5 November 2026). Put up a player post with your "Rank", your "Role" and your "Clash tier", tick "Clash" under "Looking for", and add your Riot ID. A team short of players puts up a group post with its "Clash tier" range and the roles it's missing. Then filter the posts for "Clash" and message the ones near your tier.

League of Legends players and groups on TeamTavern

Frequently asked questions

When is the next Clash in League of Legends?

The Worlds Clash on Summoner's Rift, on 21–22 November 2026, with team formation from 16 November. After it, the Freljord Cup on ARAM, on 19–20 December 2026, with team formation from 14 December. Riot lists each year's cups in its Clash FAQ.

What time does Clash start?

Riot's patch notes give the tournament days as "~4-7 PM Local Time, varies by region". Each day opens with a two-hour lock-in window, and lower tiers can lock in earlier. Riot publishes no timetable for each server, and its FAQ sends players to the client for the latest.

How does Clash work in League of Legends?

A team of five locks in on Saturday or Sunday, or both, and goes into a single-elimination bracket of eight teams at its tier. Three wins take the bracket. A team that loses its first match plays on in a consolation bracket, and Riot's reward tables are all for three games, so plan for three.

How are Clash tiers determined?

From each player's Flex or Solo/Duo rank and their Clash MMR, combined in a weighted average that leans heavily toward the team's best player. Tier I is the highest and Tier IV the lowest, and more players are in Tier IV than in any other.

What are the requirements for Clash?

Level 30, SMS verification on a mobile or prepaid number, and a ticket for every player. Summoner's Rift Clash also needs completed placements in a Summoner's Rift ranked queue this year or the year before. ARAM Clash doesn't need ranked.

Do you need Honor level 2 for Clash?

Riot's Clash FAQ says there's no Honor level restriction. Riot's SMS Verification page says a player's highest-ranked account must be Honor level 2.

Can you play Clash if you're unranked?

ARAM Clash, yes: it needs level 30, SMS verification and a ticket, but no ranked games. Summoner's Rift Clash needs completed placements in a Summoner's Rift ranked queue this year or the year before, and Riot's FAQ also says a player unranked last season can't take part.

What's the difference between a Basic and a Premium Clash ticket?

Only the rewards. Each player picks their own ticket, and their own rewards follow it. Basic Tickets cost Blue Essence or RP, Premium Tickets cost more RP, and the Clash mission gives one ticket every two tournaments.

Can you play Clash without a team?

Not alone: all five lock in together. Riot added a free-agent option to the Clash hub as a beta in patch 10.18, in 2020, and no current Riot page describes it. Otherwise, find a team on TeamTavern before the weekend.

Find your five

• Check the next cup's dates and times in the client.
• Get all five SMS-verified, and for Summoner's Rift, placed in ranked.
• Recruit near your rank, since the best player pulls the tier up.
• Bring five who'll stay for three games.

Post as a player with your rank, role and Clash tier, and tick "Clash" under "Looking for", or post as a team with the roles you're missing: League of Legends players and groups on TeamTavern.