Rules of the Twisted Grove
Shardlands Arena is a team game: five other people are counting on you every match. By creating an account you agree to these rules and our Terms of Service; how we handle your information is in the Privacy Policy. Breaking them leads to the penalties below, and serious or repeated cases lead to a ban.
1. Conduct
- Play to win, as a team. Don't give up on your team, feed on purpose or throw a match.
- Be respectful. No insults, harassment, threats or hate speech toward anyone, teammate or enemy.
- Keep names clean. Usernames must not be offensive, hateful or pretend to be staff.
- Stay in the game. Once a match starts, play it to the end (see Leaving a match).
2. Chat
- No links or addresses of any kind. Web links, website names, email addresses, IP addresses, street or postal addresses are blocked and never sent. Never share your own or anyone else's personal details.
- No HTML or code. Messages with HTML or script code are blocked.
- Mature language filter. Swear words are hidden with *** for you unless you turn the filter off in Settings. Abuse is still reportable even when it is filtered.
- Don't spam. Chat is limited to 5 messages every 5 seconds; pings and emotes have their own limits.
- Match chat is saved for 90 days (longer when the match was reported) so staff can review reports.
3. Queue and ready check
- Cancelling the queue is free. Starting the queue more than 5 times in one minute makes you wait out the rest of that minute.
- When a match is found, accept it. Missing or declining the ready check sends everyone else back to the queue, so it carries a penalty:
| Missed ready checks | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 1st | Warning, no wait |
| 2nd | 5 minutes before you can queue |
| 3rd and more | 15 minutes before you can queue |
Your count goes down by one every 24 hours without a miss.
4. Leaving champion select (dodging)
Closing the game or disconnecting during champion select for more than 20 seconds, or not locking in your champion in time, cancels the lobby for everyone. This is called dodging.
| Dodges | Queue lockout | Ranked |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 6 minutes | −5 ladder points |
| 2nd | 30 minutes | −15 ladder points |
| 3rd and more | 12 hours | −15 ladder points |
Your dodge count goes down by one every 24 hours without a dodge.
5. Leaving a match (leaver penalties)
If you disconnect, a bot plays your champion and you can rejoin at any time from the game client: please do. You are marked as a leaver when either:
- you are still gone when the match ends after being away for 3 minutes or more, or
- you were away or idle (no input at all) for 5 minutes or more in total during the match.
A leaver always gets a loss for that match, even if their team wins. Each time you are marked as a leaver your leaver tier goes up by one:
| Tier | Queue delay | For your next | Queue lockout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (warning) | 1 minute | 1 game | none |
| 1 | 5 minutes | 5 games | none |
| 2 | 10 minutes | 5 games | none |
| 3 | 15 minutes | 5 games | none |
| 4 | 15 minutes | 5 games | 24 hours first |
| 5 | 15 minutes | 5 games | 3 days first |
| 6 | 15 minutes | 5 games | 7 days first |
| 7 | 15 minutes | 5 games | 14 days first |
- Queue delay: when you start the queue you wait this long before matchmaking begins. Cancelling resets the timer.
- Serving it: a game only counts if it lasts at least 10 minutes and you stay to the end.
- Ranked: leaving a ranked match also means your next 3 ranked games give half the ladder points for a win and cost 1.5× the points for a loss.
- Going back down: your tier drops by one after 14 days without leaving a match, once your penalty games are served.
- Matches that end without a result (for example a server problem) never count against you.
6. Cheating
- No scripts, bots, macros, map hacks or modified game files. No sharing or selling accounts and no playing on someone else's.
- The game server checks every online match for play no human can do. Staff review these flags, and cheating leads to a permanent ban.
Age requirements
- You must be at least 13 to have an account. Every account has a date of birth and country on file; older accounts are asked for them once before playing.
- Younger players need a parent or guardian's approval in some places: under 16 in Europe (EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland), under 18 in Brazil, and under 16 in Louisiana (USA). We email the parent a link to approve the account. Until they do, the account can't play, and it unlocks by itself on the birthday the player reaches that age.
- Parents and guardians can approve, lock the account again or ask us to delete it from the same link. They never need the player's password.
7. Reports and bans
- Report players from the end-of-match screen with the red ! next to their name. Reports are anonymous. You can send up to 10 a day.
- Report bugs with the bug icon in the bottom-right corner of the game client, or from Settings during a match (up to 5 a day).
- Staff read reports together with the match chat. Penalties range from a warning to a temporary or permanent ban. Banned players may also have their internet address banned.
- Abusing the report system (false or spam reports) is itself against the rules.
- Keep your account safe. Admins and moderators will never ask for your password. Never give it to anyone, and report anyone who asks.