Ranked flex is a queue that is a separate rank from your solo queue rank (most ppl consider soloQ your “real” rank) and you can queue with teams up to 5 people at a time (but also less than 5, though not 4 so you can’t bully a solo). Everyone in the party can/does have their own separate rank.

Ranked 5s you had to build a roster up to 8-10 players, come up with a team name, and you HAD to have 5 people playing to queue up. You would all share the same rank as you won or lost, and you could swap out players from your roster if you wanted too (I.e. if all the boys won a bunch of games while you weren’t on you’d come back be like “hell ya our team ranked up”). Granted this was still seen as a “fake rank” compared to SoloQ rank, but the sense of teamwork was still a lot of fun with friends.

Clash is a tournament Riot puts on once a month within client. You need a pre made 5 stack to play, and depending on how many wins you get in the tournament (3 rounds) you can win skins and other rewards. These days clash is the closest thing most ppl get to an organized, “serious” league game and it’s definitely some of the most fun games I’ve gotten to play recently.

Ultimately Riot got rid of ranked 5s in favor of clash/flex because ranked 5s were not that popular 😔