League of Legends: What is LoL coaching?

As the years passed and the overall player base improved at the game, reaching the desired rank in the solo queue landscape became increasingly difficult. The players who are climbing and trying hard to improve always try new methods that will help them advance through the ladder. Because of this, experienced challengers and high elo players have started cashing in on their knowledge by providing coaching to less-skilled players.

In League of Legends, coaching is a practice in which a high elo player trains an individual with the goal of overall improvement. Coaching is most commonly conducted in a one-on-one session in which a coach analyzes your gameplay by watching a past replay or a live game and providing commentary and advice. 

By reviewing your games, the coach is able to identify the key areas in which you require improvement and the possible solutions that will take your gameplay to the next level. Last but not least, a League of Legends coach can provide you with essential advice such as how to maintain a tilt-free mindset or other non-gameplay-related tips.

Is League of Legends coaching worth it?

Long-term investment

Investing in LoL coaching is an investment in yourself and it shows that you value self-improvement a wish to grow as a player by learning from the best. Fortunately, the greatest advantage of LoL coaching lies in the fact that it’s a stellar, cost-efficient investment.

By paying for just a single session of coaching, you may resolve the key issue that has been holding you back from improving your solo queue rank for a long time. Apart from the financial aspect, coaching is a great investment when it comes to saving time in the long run. By having a coach, you can save dozens of hours by improving and gaining knowledge faster than you would if you were climbing on your own.

Technical improvement

Given that coaches are most commonly Challenger players who have reached the peak of competitive solo queue, you will definitely learn invaluable advice by talking to these experts. By using personalized methods in a one-on-one environment, you’ll be able to fix any consistent mechanical issues you make by using game reviews as a reliable source of information. 

You will significantly improve your in-game mechanics, especially if you handpick a coach who is particularly experienced in a certain role/champion. In addition, some of these players can teach you how to exploit the weaknesses and mistakes of low-elo players given that a lot of them smurf in the lower ranks as well.

Strategic improvement

The majority of League’s playerbase, especially the low elo ones, focus on improving their technical abilities and outplaying their opponents more than they should. However, in reality, most of these players struggle when it comes to basic strategic concepts such as wave management or recall timing. 

Apart from technical improvement, a coach will help you correct common strategic mistakes which the majority of low elo players make. More often than not, these small errors hold you back from improving your rank and by correcting them you will allow your technical prowess to shine.

Increase your game knowledge and see the winning angle

Coaches are high elo experts who know the ins-and-outs of the meta and the best picks that have a higher statistic likelihood of winning a game. With a coach by your side, you will be able to pick the right champion at the right time, consistently outdraft your opponents, and counterpick the opposing laner. By passively expanding your game knowledge, you will gain a new perspective on solo queue and abuse tricks such as dodging bad drafts and MMR manipulation.

With coaching, you will have access to advanced strategies and game knowledge which will elevate you as a competitive player. With a coach by your side, you will have a massive advantage over every other player before the game even begins. By listening to the coach’s advice, you will easily see the winning angle in every game, which will increase the likelihood of victory and your solo queue rank will eventually increase as a result.

Mentoring and mindset

Apart from the fact that a coach will elevate your technical abilities in League of Legends, experienced solo queue experts will help you find the right mental approach to every ranked game. If you’re playing a ranked game while talking to a challenger, you will be much less likely to play on autopilot and lose games because of a lack of focus. Additionally, while it may seem like a small factor, coaches also play a large role in providing emotional support and consolation after a tough loss.

One-trick coaches

Coaches who are extremely prolific in playing one specific champion are very in-demand in the last few years, as there are a lot of players who want to specifically improve on their main champion. There are plenty of coaches who have reached the peak of the solo queue ladder by playing and mastering only one champion and when it comes to that specific champion, their advice and input is priceless. 

One-trick coaches will provide useful insight on optimal itemization, matchup manipulation, power spikes, and trading patterns. This type of one-trick coaching is particularly useful if you’re playing a niche champion with a small player base, and there aren’t enough useful resources to help you improve. 

Role-specific coaches

Much like the one-trick coaches who are extremely skilled when it comes to playing a single champion, there are coaches who have extensive knowledge when it comes to playing a single lane. Their guidance will help you make the right calls when it comes to champion selection and with their help, you will expand your champion pool as well. 

Given that every role has a unique impact on the map and its objectives, you will gain extensive knowledge on optimal rotations and macro play. Furthermore, you will understand better how your role synergizes and plays around other roles which will improve your team cohesion, even in a solo queue setting.