From competitive ballroom dancing to bank robbery, some things are just better with a partner. But what about TFT? Sure, you can queue up with your friends, but at the end of the day it’s really a solo sport. At the end of previous days, that is—because at the end of this day you can play Double Up!

Keep reading to learn all there is to know about Teamfight Tactics’ experimental 2v2v2v2 co-op lab.

Friends Old and New

In Double Up!, you share your wins, losses, and even some of your champions (more on that later) with one other player. You can queue up with someone from your friends list, or you can roll the dice and match with someone random. Either way, you’ll never face that player in battle.

Fight Together, Fall Together

You and your partner share the same health pool, which means that if you take a hit, they also take a hit. (No pressure.) But don’t worry, because in Double Up!, you get double chances! The first time you and your partner go down, you’ll be revived with 1 HP so you can keep on fighting. If either of you loses again though, it’s really game over.

Call In the Reinforcements

When one partner finishes up their battle at least 3 seconds before the other, they send their remaining champs to join the battle that's still going. Champions who hop to the other board bring permanent stacks, item effects, and any bonuses from their traits and Hextech Augments, but they don’t gain any new bonuses or add to any traits on the new board. If a trait or ability grants a stack that would usually reset at the end of a round, it resets before champions arrive as reinforcements. Mana also resets, but champions keep the HP they had at the end of their own battle.

While reinforcement champs don’t add any damage to the enemy player upon victory, they do make it a whole lot easier to win in the first place.

Show Your Allegiance

Reinforcements are great and all, but how about something a little more permanent? Well, by equipping a Rune of Allegiance to one of your champs, you can send them to become members of your partner’s family for good. But that’s not all! Any items the champion is holding are sent over as well, but instead of staying equipped to the champ, they bounce over in a loot bubble so that the partner player can use them however they want. Every player receives one Rune of Allegiance at the beginning of the game, plus another at stage 4-2 and a third at 6-1.

Some Assistance Would Be Nice

We all need a little help sometimes. On stage 2-5 and 6-2, one player from each team gains access to an Assist Armory, then the other player gets their chance to return the favor on stages 2-6 and 6-3. This special armory lets you send each other some really helpful stuff, like item components and gold. Heck, in the second Assist Armory, you can even send over completed items and trait emblems!

The Assist Armory can really come in clutch, so communication is key. Not paired up with a talkative player? Remember that you can take a look at their board to see what they might need.

Ranky-Panky

Starting with Dragonlands, ranked in Double Up! works a lot like standard TFT's ranked system. You have the same metallic tiers (Iron, Bronze, Silver, etc.) with four divisions per tier, and you'll jump to the next tier/division once you hit 100 LP in your current rank.

But there are also a bunch of differences!

While you still can't be demoted out of a tier (ie you can't fall from Gold 4 to Silver 1), demotions between divisions do not brake at 0 LP. So if you have 10 LP in Silver 2, then get hit with -20 LP for losing a match, you'll end up at 90 LP in Silver 3.

Next, Double Up! matchmaking uses the senior partner's rank when looking for opponents. If you're a burgeoning Bronze paired with a magnificent Master, you'll likely face off against Master-level pairs (as opposed to something in the middle, like Platinum). 

Outside of that, there are also a few special rules that may result in you getting more (or less!) LP.

LP Adjustments

If Ranked is all about the climb, then LP are the steps you're taking up and down that big competitive mountain. When it comes to Double Up!, however, there are a few special rules you should be aware of:

• LP gains/losses are not necessarily the same for both members of a pair! If you're a Gold pairing with your Silver friend, you'll get the LP base for your respective tiers. Don't be surprised if you get drastically different LP scores after a match if there's a big difference between your ranks!
• Players at Platinum and under can get streak bonuses when you place in the top 2 (your pair places 1st or 2nd) in 3 consecutive matches. These bonuses cap out at 6 consecutive top-2 matches (ie. they stop getting bigger, but you'll still continue to get the max bonus), and will only end when you place bottom 2 in a match. Ride your win streaks to high ranking glory!
• You'll get more LP for finishing ahead of higher ranked players. Yay!
• Of course, that also means you'll have a lower LP score for finishing behind lower-ranked players. Boo! But don't worry too much—you'll NEVER lose LP when you place in the top 2!
• These bonuses and penalties can be received in the same game depending on where you place and the ranks of the other teams.

And… That's it! Now go forth, pair up, and CLIMB THAT LADDER!

FAQ

Does Double Up! XP count toward the pass?

Yup! Your double battles will contribute to pass progression, so don’t worry about taking time away from the standard mode. It also counts toward LoL event tokens!

What if I want to surrender?

Like everything in Double Up!, surrendering is a team decision. If one player wants to surrender, they can initiate the process once the game has been going for at least 10 minutes, giving the other player a chance to accept or deny the surrender. (If the other player is AFK, they’ll accept the surrender automatically.)