Game modes

Unrated and competitive use the same rules: 5v5, first to 13 rounds, sides swap after 12, full economy. This is the "real" game, the one this guide explains.

The difference is the stakes. In competitive the result changes your rank, 12-12 goes to overtime played in pairs of rounds, and there are rules on who can queue together. In unrated there is no rank at stake and 12-12 is usually settled by a single deciding round.

Unrated is the right place to try new things: an agent you do not know, a different way to play a site, a different role. Losing costs little, and you still learn.

Swiftplay is a shortened standard match: halves of 4 rounds, first to 5 wins. The economy exists but matters less because there are so few rounds. It is useful when you are short on time or want to try an agent in conditions close to the real thing.

Spike Rush is even shorter: first to 4 rounds. Every attacker has a spike, everyone gets the same guns each round and power-ups appear on the map. It is fun and quick, but it teaches little about economy and decisions: the situations are too different from a normal match.

One warning: these modes build slightly different habits (more risk, utility thrown without thinking). That is fine, just be aware of it.

In Deathmatch everyone plays for themselves: the first to 40 kills wins, or whoever has the most when the 9 minutes run out. There are no abilities and no objectives: just guns and movement. It is the most common warm-up at every level.

Team Deathmatch puts two teams against each other in a race to the most kills, with abilities and guns that change during the match. It is closer to a team fight, but there are still no spike and no sites.

Use them for what they are: aim and movement. One tip that goes a long way: in Deathmatch, ignore the score and focus on one thing (say, crosshair placement or counter-strafing) and do it well for the whole match.

Premier is Riot's organized team mode: you create or join a team, play scheduled matches every week in your zone and division, earn points and can qualify for playoffs. It is the first step for anyone who wants to play as a team seriously.

Custom games are the ones you create: you choose the map, mode and rules. They are for practice (alone to learn a map, or with friends to try strategies) and they are also the format used on ClutchLeague: 10-player matches with standard rules, organized by the platform.

The range is not a real game mode, but it is the practice tool everyone uses. You can try every gun, shoot static or moving targets, test your agent's abilities, and there are drills for the spike too (planting and defusing in different situations).

Use it with a precise goal: ten minutes to warm up before playing, or a specific drill during the week. The practice routine chapter has an example of a full warm-up.

To sum up, here is how many players organize a session:

• start: range and one Deathmatch to warm up;
• core of the session: competitive matches (or ClutchLeague), with one goal per match;
• when tired or tilted: a light match (Swiftplay, Spike Rush) or a real break, instead of another competitive;
• study days: a solo custom game on a new map or a new agent.

You do not have to follow it to the letter, but the question stands: why am I playing this mode right now?

Riot regularly adds and removes rotating or limited-time modes (for example modes with random agents or guns, or seasonal events). They can be fun, but they do little for improvement: the rules are too different from a normal match.

Here is how to use the modes to get better:

The underlying rule: always know why you are playing that mode. Ten random matches teach less than three played with a goal.

Rotating and experimental modes change often from one update to the next, which is why this chapter only covers the stable ones. If a new mode becomes permanent, we add it here with its rules checked.