When you are short of players
Allowed team sizes, odd head counts, empty lanes, and how to record guests by Riot ID.
On this page
- Before you start
- How many players per team
- When the head count is odd
- 1. Fill both teams with the same number
- 2. Keep the extra person as a sub
- Can some lanes stay empty
- Record guests after the game
- 3. Open the entry page
- 4. Add a guest to the roster
- 5. Check the Riot ID (optional)
- 6. Press Submit
- Where to go next
- Check it worked
Before you start
- You need the matchmaker role. Admins (people with the Manage Server permission) manage every match; a matchmaker manages only the matches they created (Who can press what · Appointing and revoking matchmakers).
- The bot must have in-house matches turned on; everything in this category works only on such a bot. See Run a match, step by step for more.
- Any server member can record people from outside the server; a matchmaker approves the entry.
How many players per team
A team can have 1 to 5 players. As long as both teams are the same size, the match does not have to be 5 v 5: 4 v 4 or 3 v 3 is fine.
The bar below tells you whether the lineup is valid. When it is, it says “Ready — equal teams, no duplicate lanes” and the Create — send invites button turns on. The conditions for a valid lineup, with a screenshot, are in Team balance, lanes and positions.
Only members of this server can be put in a match, and a sub must be a server member too. For people from outside the server, see “Record guests after the game” below.
When the head count is odd
With an odd number, one team would have an extra player, so the match cannot be created as is. Leave one person out of this game.
Fill both teams with the same number
Use Add member to put the same number of people on each team. With nine people, build a 4 v 4 and leave one out. If the numbers differ you see “Both teams must be the same size (up to 5 players each).”.
Keep the extra person as a sub
If someone drops out after the match is created, pick who leaves in Player to remove… and the extra person in Substitute to add… in the Sub row of the Matchmaker controls box, then press Sub. They take over the outgoing player's team and lane. See Team balance, lanes and positions for how, and Reply to a match invite for the DM the sub gets. If the server requires a linked Riot account, a member who has not linked one is blocked both when you create the match and when you bring them in as a sub (Team balance, lanes and positions). How to link is in Link and re-verify your Riot account.
- Auto-balance puts the extra player on Team 1 when the number of joined answers is odd. No warning appears.
- Locking the lineup does not check that the teams are the same size, so check the head count yourself. The locking rules are in Run a match, step by step.
The match was created with two equal teams, and the extra person is not on the roster (waiting as a sub if needed).
Can some lanes stay empty
Yes. When a team has fewer than 5 players, use only as many of the 5 lanes (Top, Jungle, Mid, Bot, Support) as you need. Which lanes stay empty is up to you, and the two teams do not have to leave the same ones empty.
Empty lanes do not block Lock lineup or Start match. Neither button checks that every lane is filled. The lane rules at creation are in Team balance, lanes and positions.
Record guests after the game
Only server members can be in a Kletoi match. A person who came from outside the server is added after the game, by Riot ID, in the entry page. The rest of that page is in Confirm a result and enter records.
Open the entry page
On your server's card in Home, press Server home, then pick Add a record under the Custom games group in the left menu.
Add a guest to the roster
Press Enter roster (10) in the Roster panel to open the window. On the guest's line, open the member menu and pick Guest — enter by Riot ID at the bottom. Type the Riot ID in the box that appears, as name#tag.
Champion and kills, deaths and assists are filled in just like a member's line. If you change your mind, the Switch to member button on that line takes you back to picking a member.
The Type row has In-house and Scrim. Picking the scrim shows the hint “Guests go in by Riot ID · at least one server member is needed” The guest item works with either.
Check the Riot ID (optional)
Press Verify now to find out right away whether Riot knows that account. The result shows as a badge on the line: Verified, Account not found or Couldn’t verify · Riot outage. After one press you cannot press it again for 10 seconds.
You can submit without checking. Even if the account is not found or Riot has a problem, the submission is not blocked. The server checks once more when you submit and keeps the result on the line.
Press Submit
After you submit, you see “Submitted. Once a matchmaker approves it, the records land and you get a DM.” If guests remain on the roster, a result box lists each one by an anonymous name (for example “Blue TOP · Ahri”) with a check badge, and says how many could not be checked.
After you submit, the result box lists the guests by anonymous name with a check badge. Once a matchmaker approves, the entry is counted.
- A game takes at most 9 guests, and a team cannot exceed 5 members and guests together.
- At least one server member is needed. Guests alone cannot be recorded, and you see “At least one server member is required — guests alone can’t be recorded.”
- The same person cannot be entered twice.
- A Riot ID can have a game name of up to 32 characters and a tag of up to 8.
- If the Riot ID belongs to an account a server member has linked and Riot confirms it, that person is saved as a member line, not as a guest.
- If you run too many checks in a short time, the submission is refused with “Too many Riot ID checks in a short time. Please submit again shortly.” Wait a moment and submit again.
- The Riot ID is not saved in this browser. If a submission is refused, enter the guests again.
- The Riot ID is used for two things only: checking that the account exists, and matching it against accounts that server members have linked. It is sent to Riot when you submit or press Verify now.
- Before saving, the Riot ID (name and tag) and the PUUID are discarded. What stays is the match figures such as team, lane, champion and kills/deaths/assists, plus the check result.
- Only when Riot confirmed the account, one irreversible value derived from the PUUID is kept too. The value alone does not tell who the person is; it is what lets that person match it later when they look for their own records.
- Guests appear only by an anonymous name, and even after approval they are not counted in anyone's stats on their own. Once the person proves they own the Riot account (see Link and re-verify your Riot account), they can take the record as their own or delete it on the Find my records page.
- Details are in the Privacy Policy.
Where to go next
How to build teams and lanes is in Team balance, lanes and positions. How to move a created match through its stages is in Run a match, step by step, and how to record a game that included guests is in Confirm a result and enter records.
Check it worked
Even a short-handed game has two equal teams and a lane for everyone, so the Create — send invites button is on. If you recorded guests, the result box shows them by anonymous name after you submit.