Headquarters

Headquarters, sometimes referred to as the "client" or "Home Screen", is everything outside of a match/arena. This includes things like the Marketplace, Account Management, Champion Select, Matchmaking, etc. For information about match mechanics inside an arena, visit Match Mechanics.

## Currency

Circuits operates on two forms of Currency:

* Honor, the basic currency earned through playing matches, primarily used for unlocking champions
* Glory, the real money currency, purchased through Steam Wallet, primarily used for purchasing cosmetics. Also periodically earned by leveling up your account and individual champions.

## Marketplace

The Marketplace contains all unlockables, including champions and cosmetic items.

## Account Level

Your account earns experience and levels up through playing matches, with more experience being rewarded for winning and/or longer games. Accounts start at level 1 with a max level of 30. Level 30 is required to play ranked matches.

Each account level rewards 250 basic currency. Some levels also feature additional rewards:

* Level 5: 200 cash currency
* Level 10: Accesory mystery box
* Level 15: 200 cash currency, Special Account Icon
* Level 20: Skin mystery box
* Level 25: 200 cash currency
* Level 30: Special Account Icon, skin mystery box

You can increase the amount of account experience you earn per match by purchasing an Account Experience Boost through the marketplace. Note, Account Experience Boosts do not affect champion mastery.

XYZ, should mix in more unlocks so level 1-30 isn't such a drag. Also possible to have some system that isn't leveling for ranked matches (i.e. X games required or X total kills/assists required). Also should require owning minimum amount of champions. Additional unlocks could be champion unlocks, skin/accessory mystery boxes, XYZ?

## Champion Mastery

Champion Mastery is an experience based system that rewards skilled play on a single champion. Mastery is gained separately from match experience and is added to the champion you played in that match. Champion Mastery earns the following rewards:

* Level 3: 1000 basic currency
* Level 5: Champion Icon unlock
* Level 10: Champion basic alternate skin unlock
* Level 15: Champion basic alternate accessory unlock
* Level 25: Champion Exotic Icon unlock
* Level 30: 3000 basic currency, 250 cash currency

After level 30, every additional 10 levels grants you an additional 3000 basic currency and 250 cash currency.

XYZ: Can add mounts if we include those.

## Matchmaking

Matchmaking refers to a system that groups you with players of similar skill and places you into a match. Matchmaking differs from custom games as it does not include a lobby, but rather players are loaded directly into champion select once enough players are found.

For full details about current queues, ranked games, and measuring player skill, see the Matchmaking page.

## Custom Games

Custom Games are created by players themselves. Once a custom game is created, a lobby is formed and players can join into the lobby. Once the host of the custom game is satisfied with the players in the lobby, they can start the match and all players in the lobby are loaded into champion select.

A 'Valid' custom game refers to a custom game that is 5v5 and lasts a minimum of 10 minutes (may vary depending on arena). Valid custom games award Honor and account experience while non-valid custom games do not. Some mutators will automatically set a custom game as not valid.

## Mutators

Mutators are alterations to the default Arena settings that create new gameplay experiences. Custom games can be created with various mutators, and certain Matchmaking queues will also sometimes feature preset mutators.

## Joining a Game

XYZ pipeline for joining games. Include tutorial/custom

## Clans/Teams

XYZ any clan/team functionality we have, again based on Steam

## Watch or Spectate

XYZ Steam functionality. Spectate current featured games (Sort by MMR). Spectate current tournaments. Watch previous replays. Featured games. Spectate from friends list

## Champion Select

Champion Select occurs once enough players have been found to begin a match. There are two stages to Champion Select: Ban and Pick.

### Ban Stage

Banning is the act of eliminating a champion from being picked for your current match, typically done to avoid an especially strong champion or a champion that may put a wrench in your strategy. Each team gets 2 bans.

Bans are chosen by the team as a whole. Once the champion select screen loads, all players independently have 20 seconds to nominate their choices for bans, ranked in the order nominated. A player's first nominated ban is assigned two points while the second nominated ban is assigned one point. At the end of the 20 seconds, all points are added up, with the top two nominations being banned. In case of a tie, a coin flip occurs between the top nominations.

Note, in the case of premade 5v5 games, bans are selected by the team captains in alternating order.

### Pick Stage

The pick stage is when each player selects the champion they wish to play. Once a champion is selected, a player can "lock in" that pick, reserving that champion for themselves. There are three primary pick stage variants, so be sure to check which pick variant it is before joining a match. See Matchmaking Queues for a list of currently available queues to join.

#### Pick Variants

* **All Random:** All players on both teams are assigned a random champion. Players can be assigned champions they do not own. (Maybe? XYZ)
* **Blind Pick:** All players select their champions at the same time, though the opposing team cannot see your picks. Duplicate champions cannot be picked on the same team, but the same champion may appear on both teams.
* **Draft Pick:** Each team alternates picks in the following order R1, B1, B2, R2, R3, B3, B4, R4, R5, B5 where R = Red Team and B = Blue Team. Duplicate champion picks are not allowed.

## Settings

You can configure various account settings, including match settings, from the Headquarters menu. You can find a full list of options on the Settings page.