Hide and Seek is a custom and unofficial game mode. There are 5 hiders and 2 seekers, the game is supported on Dominion/The Crystal Scar and is traditionally played on Draft Mode, although it can also be played on All Random or Blind Pick.

CHANGE-LOG:

2 November 2014

• Updated F.A.Q and addressed some outdated skills/abilities of champions.
• Kassadin has been removed from the 'Tips/Discussion for Seekers' topic.

27 April 2014

• Made changes to F.A.Q Question 3.
• Added things to Reference and Gameplay Video sections.

MAP: Dominion/The Crystal Scar.
GAME MODE: Draft pick.
TEAMS: 5 hiders, 2 seekers.
GAME TIME: 40 Minutes.

HOW TO WIN - SEEKERS: Kill each hider 5 times.
HOW TO WIN - HIDERS: Get to 40:00 (40 minutes), without having all hiders die 5 times each prior.

One slow item is allowed on each team.
Slow items may include:

Frozen Mallet, Twin Shadows, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Randuin's Omen
Bilgewater Cutlass, Blade of the Ruined King, Entropy, Iceborn Gauntlet, Hextech Gunblade


One oracles item per team, Oracles can be purchased at or after 15:00 (15 minutes).

HIDERS: May not Auto-attack at all. They are not allowed to use abilities that do damage and have no crowd-control effects.

No team is allowed to capture points.

• Can auto-attack and use all abilities.
• Leave base and begin seeking at 2:00.
• Must wait 30 seconds after a dead hider has re-spawned before 'seeking' them. (aka. Grace)
• Must not spawn camp re-spawned hiders.
• Can recall at any time, and purchase items at any time.
• Must recall at 200 hp. Further chasing will mean hiders can kill you, this includes self-cancelling a recall whilst reaching 200 or lower hp.
• Are not allowed to purchase Oracle's Extract, Hextech Sweeper, The Lightbringer, and Grez's Spectral Lantern until 15:00.
• Are not allowed to use Clairvoyance.
• If a hider is killed during the 'Grace' period, they do not lose a life.

• Have 5 lives each, no more or less.
• Are not allowed to use Clairvoyance or Ignite.
• May begin hiding at 1:20, or alternatively wait until 2:00.
• Cannot recall or re-enter the base until they die.
• May only use Crowd-control (CC) abilities and Survivability abilities. [CC-Includes but are not limited to: stun, snare, root, slow, fear, taunt, knock-up/knock-back, suppression, etc] and [Survivability-includes but are not limited to: shields, movement speed, leap/dash, heals and blink, etc]
• Are permitted 30 seconds after a recent death to leave base without being spawn camped (Grace), this is forfeited when the hider attempts to CC a seeker or take the storm shield.
• Can only buy items at the beginning of the game, until 2:00 and after each death for the duration of their grace period (30 seconds).
• Must not cancel a seeker's recall. (Allow room for mistakes; i.e. using an ability a slight second before the seeker's unpredictable recall animation).
• CANNOT stay in the base for longer than their grace period (30 seconds).
• Must give at least 3 seconds to seekers when they drop below 200 hp for them to recall. If a hider CC's the seeker at critical hp knowing their ability will kill the seeker OR chain-damage with another's, the hider loses a life.
• The first step towards the spawn area counts as part of the spawn, therefore hiders may not stand on or beyond the first step.
• Suicide in the enemy fountain counts as a death.
• When a hider loses all 5 lives, they are no longer allowed to enter any Fog of War or disrupt the game in any way.
• Lose a life each time they break a rule.

Barrier - Allowed on both teams.
Clarity - Allowed on both teams.
Cleanse - Allowed on both teams.
Exhaust - Allowed on both teams.
Flash - Allowed on both teams.
Ghost - Allowed on both teams.
Heal - Allowed on both teams.
Revive - Allowed on both teams.

Clairvoyance - Not allowed on any team.
Garrison - Not allowed on any team.
Smite - Not allowed on any team.
Teleport - Not allowed on any team.

Ignite - Allowed for seekers only.

RECOMMENDED: Flash and Ghost for seekers and hiders.

One movement slowing item is allowed on each team.
Slow items may include:

Frozen Mallet, Twin Shadows, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Randuin's Omen
Bilgewater Cutlass, Blade of the Ruined King, Entropy, Iceborn Gauntlet, Hextech Gunblade


One oracle item is allowed on one person of each team beyond 15:00 (15 minutes).
Oracle items may include:
Oracle's Extract, Hextech Sweeper, The Lightbringer, and Grez's Spectral Lantern

SEEKERS:

• One seeker may purchase one MOVEMENT slowing item.
• One oracles item can be used on one seeker at any time beyond 15:00 (15 minutes).
• May purchase any item with the exceptions of the above, at any time during the game.

HIDERS:

• One hider may purchase one MOVEMENT slowing item.
• One oracles item can be used on one hider at any time beyond 15:00 (15 minutes).
• May not purchase Thornmail, Sunfire Aegis, Guardian Angel.
• May purchase items only at the beginning of the game 1:20 till 2:00, and after each death before the hider exits the spawn area (this is during your Grace period), with the exceptions of the above.
• Are not allowed to purchase flat damage items (both ap and ad) as hiders should not play with the intent on killing seekers.

Masteries and Runes for Hide and Seek are very subjective to what you think you may need based on the way you play.

Here are examples of what Masteries a hider may want.Masteries for seekers, I would honestly recommend sticking with the masteries you would normally use for normal games. These masteries are what you are comfortable with, asking seekers to build down the utility tree instead of building down the offensive tree = less damage and could lead to misconceptions of believing you had done enough damage to finish a hider when in fact you had not.

Recommended Runes:
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - is probably the best quintessence choice for both hiders and seekers.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - a good option for hiders, also doubles as a good option for seekers, as seekers will normally be hit by countless cc abilities.
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - also a good option for hiders who are more reliant on early cool down reductions and are more confident in their own abilities.
Greater Seal of Armor - the rune that everyone has, and has an overall great purpose in most situations.
Greater Seal of Health - (for hiders) the reason why you would have this without worrying about not having armor for seals is when you have Greater Mark of Armor.
Greater Mark of Armor - (for hiders) hiders cannot auto-attack, therefore any attack speed/damage marks you would normally have would be a waste of 9 mark slots.
Greater Mark of Magic Resist - (for hiders) an alternate option to armor marks.

Naturally, if you do not purchase new runes and masteries or adjust a page for hide and seek, you will still do fine in a hide and seek game. But for those who do enjoy the game and playing as a hider, Greater Mark of Armor and Greater Mark of Magic Resist are a good investment.

tl;dr skip this section.

Overall Game Ethics and Basic etiquette: Please don't join a game with the intent to troll. If you are out, stay out, don't ruin the game for the six other people playing, no one appreciates it. People play by different rules all the time so if there is a misunderstanding, clear it up instead of arguing or telling someone how much they should value your opinion over theirs.

General:

• There is no 'pre-banned' champion/s in the Hide and Seek game mode. There are 3 bans per team, ban the champions you would prefer not to see on the opposing side.
  However, some hosts may declare pre-bans before the game starts, such as; "teemo, evelynn, rammus and rengar are pre-banned".
• Use your ignore list. If there is a person who consistently breaks the rules and ruins the game, don't be afraid to add them to your ignore list. It acts as your personal blacklist for future games.

Know your FOG OF WAR. The grey area is where fog of war is on the map. You can view this on the mini-map of any Dominion/The Crystal Scar game. Making yourself aware of specific zones where the enemy can/cannot see you is crucial for individuals who may want to hide in unconventional areas. And/or individuals who want to leap around the map without revealing a position.

THE RYLAI'S CONFUSION
Rylai's Crystal Scepter - this item is commonly questioned as to whether or not it enables hiders to use additional abilities which would otherwise, not have any CC effects. For example: if Singed purchases a Rylai's in order to use his Q Poison Trail in order to slow seekers.
To answer this dispute; there has never been a rule in any un-bias and traditional guide which has said, "Rylai's Crystal Scepter does not legitimize abilities". This is in fact, a rule which has been 'made up'.
The only rules which binds Rylai's Crystal Scepter are, "One team is allowed one movement slowing item" and "Hider's may only use crowd controlling abilities". This would mean that the Rylai's is in fact an item which does legitimize abilities for the purpose of slowing seekers.
However, contrary to this fact, it would be a courtesy for hiders Not to purchase a Rylai's in order to use high-damage abilities; this would mean that seekers would not get deterred from chasing Singed due to his Poison Trail or Nidalee's Javelin Toss, both skills which would others do an unreasonable amount of damage and discourage seekers (much like Thornmail and Sunfire Aegis which have never been allowed for hiders).

For those of you that want to watch a video guide: EDIT: I will be interested in the help of a person who can record high quality for the purpose of making a hide and seek video, more details will be given, just contact me via mobafire inbox. Preferably NA server.

http://www.twitch.tv/titansop/b/481370590 - streamed version on twitch.

Number one tip: Do not take BS from your hiders.
Hiders love to make rules up to suit their needs. The most common thing I have seen from hider's include;

1. abusing Grace period. Grace is there for you seekers not to spawn camp your prey and give them a chance to enter the middle and hide. But hiders occasionally call Grace twenty seconds or so after they re-spawn and have exited the base. Grace is strictly 30 seconds after re-spawn and includes time spent inside the spawn.

2. Using illegal abilities which MUST be chained, to create a legal effect. Lee Sin's Sonic Wave is an example of this, Sonic Wave is not a CC, but pressing Q again to activate Resonating Strike allows Lee Sin to leap. This skill is not allowed unless Lee Sin takes every single Q he hits to jump to the seeker. The skill itself is not CC or a dash/leap (survivability) in any form.

Overall general tip: Recall at 300 hp.
Some guides which have been created in 2013 will tell you to recall at 300 hp or prepare to die. The actual rule (effective since 2012) is 200 hp and below, but in saying that, I do think when looking at a mere 300 hp threshold, seekers are in danger of dying if they continue chasing. This is because, usually seekers would only chase at low hp when their prey is almost dead, but when the hider's team sees that their ally is low and you are still chasing, prepare to get ulted and eat cc from multiple directions (ult's usually hit for 250 damage and above).
So to avoid getting angry at the hiders for killing you, and ruining the mood for yourself, recalling at 300 hp is a good incentive for yourself.

FOCUS on one hider. Your attention span is not fickle, don't let the hiders force your attention onto someone else. This may be difficult during the beginning of the game when you have a limited HP pool, but you will find that if you focus on one hider, you will exhaust all their abilities at some point and they will die. But the key thing you get out of doing this is striking fear into that individual. Once they know their allies will die to you, they will abandon them to avoid being the next target, this will allow you to chase a lot more smoothly towards your mid-late.

Seeking tip: Choose a champion that has a gap closer and co-ordinate it with your ally seeker. CC such as long slows work really well against hiders.
Champions that are great at seeking (given you know how to play them) include but are not limited to:

• Nidalee since her re-work, nidalee is one of the most overlooked champions in terms of seeking - she is almost always available to choose (bonus~). Prowl is probably the most ridiculous addition to Nidalee's skill set, why you ask? Pounce has 750 range if you managed to Javelin Toss or Bushwhack them beforehand. Takedown has also been buffed to deal 33% more damage ON TOP of dealing a .9 scaling bonus AP damage to your enemies. What does this mean? Q-R-W-Q/E, GG, faceroll, easy.
• Rengar only due to his R Thrill of the Hunt which allows rengar to stealth AND have vision of all (including stealth) champions within a large radius. This allows him to quickly burst you down and take you by surprise with stealth and follow up with Unseen Predator and Bola Strike, plus his Unseen Predator and Thrill of the Hunt both scale with his bonetooth necklace stacks.
• Warwick's Blood Scent is extremely deadly for hiders, and with the use of Infinite Duress on low cooldown - finding hiders will not be an issue.
• Kha'Zix is exceptional in HNS due to his Leap and the fact that all of its abilities stack with [attack damage]. When khazix closes the gap between himself and hiders, he also has exceptional burst damage.

OVERALL STARTING TIP: If you are not gunning for tier 3 boots, then I would at least recommend tier 2 boots. If you begin with Boots, the chances of any hiders dying to you drops exponentially. Your seeking buddy will undoubtedly be disappointed if you let a hider get away due to not upgrading your boots.
Once you have found your first prey, make sure your ally seeker also knows who to focus down and concentrate on the first kill.

Number one tip: Follow the rules.
Almost every single game, at least one hider does not follow the rules. Although there are many versions of how HNS should be played, the general rules such as intentionally auto-attacking and building damage items occurs. Be fair to the seekers, follow the rules. If the seekers (or just one seeker) ends up quitting, there is no longer a game to be played.

Overall general tip: Build movement speed and cool down items. Zephyr and Boots of Swiftness are your best friend. Boots of swiftness has that unique "slow resist" passive. You need that. And I guarantee swiftness is better than mobility will ever be for HNS. Mobility Boots increases your movement speed multiplier to 5 when OUT-OF-COMBAT, but the only time you really need to get away is when you have a seeker on top of you. Choosing a spot to hide is easy, getting away is not as easy.
Other good items to have are: talisman of ascension which grants a quick burst of movement speed to not only you, but allies in a close radius. More Zephyr, the unique passive does not stack but the 10% movement speed and cool down are well worth it. If you find that there is an extremely long cc ability which hinders your movement, i.e. Rammus's puncturing taunt or Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow, you may want to consider purchasing a Quicksilver Sash, although I do not recommend this item on the first recall (where you should purchase more movement speed items).


Hider champion selections: There are countless champions which make for great hiders, not just the ones that have stealth abilities. Ideally, the best hiders are ones that are able to create such a large gap between themselves and their pursuers, that they are able to re-hide themselves once their pursuers no longer have vision of them.

• Shaco has a great overall skill set which allow for great map manoeuvring and instant de-aggression from seekers. Deceive is an extremely strong ability for hiders as it not only cloaks them, it is also a leap. This could lead to amazing game play with wall-leaping and repositioning.
• LeBlanc is probably the most commonly chosen hider and could be seen in a large majority of hide and seek games. If leblanc builds cool down early on, her leaps will be restricted by a short cool down Distortion and Mimic, teleporting around the map makes for great hiding potential through deception. Her Ethereal Chains also deserve an honourable mention as they take denying melee seekers to a new level.
• Pantheon along with champions like Udyr who have stuns on short cool downs - Aegis of Zeonia and Blazing Stampede are hilarious to watch, the tactic behind this is to stun, walk into a brush, stun, then walk into another brush. When in doubt, Grand Skyfall to one of the side pockets.

OVERALL STARTING TIP: Get tier 3 boots at the start. Wait in base for around 15 seconds after the game begins at 1:30, upgrade your boots to tier 3 then leave the base. There are heal/mana relics all over the map which will restore your health and mana if you are conscious about that, but by the time you get to the level in which you would need additional mana/health is around the time when you die for the first time.
The only two tier 3 upgrades that can be made within the 2:00 starting time limit is Enchantment: Alacrity and Enchantment: Distortion, both are extremely useful. Distortion namely has been buffed to give an extra movement speed boost when you use ghost or flash.

This section has been made to provide answers for questions and disputed topics. Please ask questions in the discussion section, and don't forget to check the Revised version of the guide.

1. Are hiders allowed to give their lives to another person?

2. [HIDER] I have a question about Rylai's Crystal Scepter and hiders using it to 'legitimize' other abilities.

3. [HIDER] I am using a champion with no one-ability crowd-control like Kennen, can I chain my Q and W for a stun?

4. [HIDER] I am using a champion that requires ability charges for a crowd-control, am I allowed to do this? (slightly different from above Q)

5. [HIDER] Can I build damage items? Such as attack damage and ability power items.

6. [HIDER] Can I place more than one trap per brush?

7. If the seeker is at 200 hp or below and kills a hider (beyond the 3-5 seconds given for seekers to recall),

does it count as a death towards the hider? And can you kill a seeker if he does not recall at 200 hp?

Take a look at these other Hide and Seek guides if you would like some contrast.

NOTE: This guide was created to be The Hide and Seek Guide. It complies the know-how of a player who has consistently played Hide and Seek since 2012, clocking in over 300+ games; has read most other existing guides (as listed) and is still fairly active.

Solomid 24 October 2012 - Great guide, mostly relevant; except the item list.
EU West 12 February 2013 - Probably the most looked at and most inaccurate guide there is, but it is a guide nonetheless.
NA Custom 21 July 2013 - An example of a host's individual rules for a custom hide and seek game. These vary from host to host who want to implement and/or change the rules of a game.
Cursed/Mobafire 25 August 2013 - One of the better guides which would have been a great mesh with solomid's guide. Similarly to solomid's HNS guide, there is a champion list of abilities allowed/not allowed.
NA Custom 23 November 2012 - Limited set of rules.
NA Summoner's Rift Version - Rules for the Summoner's Rift version of the game which is very different from Dominion/The Crystal Scar version.

Feel free to send me a message on mobafire or let me know if there is something that I have missed or not covered.

Special thanks to:
iRavagePie (NA server) - who recorded and anchored the video in the "Gameplay Video" section
rocketman2be (NA server) - co-anchored the video
AND their channel: http://www.twitch.tv/titansop

This guide was made in 2013 and has been edited 9 times. The guide has been compiled to accurately reflect the original rules of Hide and Seek from 2011.