How to Review 101

This article is an introduction to reviewing. Inside the Academy you will learn much more in-depth on how to review when it comes to your champion and role.

Important: Reviewing is a skill.

The first few months of reviewing will feel incredibly uncomfortable, awkward, and inefficient, but don’t let this stop you from starting.

As your understanding of the game grows and you develop mastery of your champion and the fundamentals, it will become easier to spot errors and you will have an easier time knowing where to direct your attention.

1. What is a VOD review?

A VOD review involves looking at gameplay after a match with the intention of identifying and correcting mistakes. This can be done using a local recording (learn how to record your gameplay here), or the in client spectator recorder.

2. Why is reviewing important?

Reviewing is an essential tool to improve in League of Legends and a core part of our Academy programs. Reviewing helps to:

• Spot errors and identify key trends in your gameplay
• Reduce confusion and help you understand what actually happened in the game.
• Limit you from blaming teammates and give opportunities to take accountability.
• Allow you to revisit moments from the game objectively, separate from your in-game emotions
• Give you closure so you can move on to the next game without mental baggage

During the game, decisions tend to be viewed from a very biased perspective. Whereas in review, we have the luxury of seeing things through multiple perspectives.

Note: The Review is the medicine.

A good review process makes your League journey more enjoyable and significantly reduces tilt streaks.

3. What is our goal with reviews?

In general, reviews should be less than five minutes.

The goal of review is to complete the learning cycle in reference to your current learning objective.

For example:

If your current main focus is early lane trading, look over poor trades and identify key learnings.

You can then walk away from that review knowing what we should have done better with your trades, and therefore have refined our muscle memory and game understanding.

The Learning Cycle: Make a decision > Assess the outcome > Diagnose the problem > Implement those learnings moving forwards > Rinse repeat

4. How Does Learning Work In League?

Most of your learning will result from the following methods:

1) Pattern recognition and intuition through continuously putting yourself through a wide variety of situations with intensity. This learning will happen naturally as your muscle memory is refined.

2) Deliberate review of mistakes and missed opportunities.

Players can improve through either, or both of these methods. Some players have reached very high ranks solely through pattern recognition and intuition, refining their understanding of the game through pure muscle memory.

However, this is an incredibly time consuming way to improve at the game, and since the average player doesn’t have six hours a day to spend playing solo queue, deliberate review is vital.

5. The Three Categories of Mistakes

1. Champion Mastery
2. Fundamentals
3. General Game Knowledge

5.1. Champion Mastery Mistakes

These all tie back to not playing in accordance to what the champion wants to do, either due to not understanding your given champion’s identity, or lacking experience.

Example: Tower diving side lanes as Annie, all-inning people outside of key spikes, or forcing fights without key abilities.

5.2. Fundamentals Mistakes

These are non-champion-specific mistakes and are covered in depth in the fundamentals courses for each role.

Examples: Poor wave management, over staying in lane (reset problem), warding issues.

5.3. General Game Knowledge

These mistakes are deeper than both champion and role specifics. They can be present throughout the entirety of the game, not just the laning phase.

Example: Didn’t know Aurelion Sol R gets stronger over time, didn’t know that Pyke R has an execute, didn’t understand that Dragons did that much damage, didn’t know tower shots get stronger over time.

6. Importance of Reviewing Early Game

The first ten minutes shape the direction of the game. This is typically where players have the most direct control over the outcome.

Early game execution doesn’t need to be perfect, but it’s important to note that any mistakes during this portion of the game will trickle down to the rest of the game.

Reviewing the key aspects of early game is crucial to growing consistency as a player. Always prioritize reviewing early game first, then address mid game mistakes.

7. Reviewing Mid Game

Mid game is a term encompassing everything from team fights and macro rotations, through to picks and neutral objectives. It can be quite overwhelming to review mid game.

Watch the mid game section of your chosen champion guide and follow the underlying reference points outlined. This will help solve 90% of your mid game problems. If you don’t know where to look, reviewing neutral objective contests from a micro and macro lens (framework below) is a great place to start.

REMEMBER: You don’t need to review every aspect of the mid game, a few key points is more then enough.

8. The Micro / Macro Review Framework

Micro Stage

When reviewing team fighting or skirmishes, first view them through a micro lens, focus on:

• Ability usage, specifically timing, accuracy, and intention
• Spacing, movement, quality of clicks
• Positioning relative to key threats
• Target selection

Once you have looked some of these areas, you can then move to the next stage.

Macro Stage

Look 30 to 60 seconds before the fight and review your decisions through a macro lens. Asking yourself:

• “Was this fight coherent with the win condition?”
• “Did the decision to fight align with my champion’s identity?”
• “Was this fight too risky?”
• “What could I have done instead of taking this fight?”
• “Was there an opportunity to trade the objective for something on the other side of the map?”

NOTE: Starting with the Macro Stage can lead to jumping to conclusions and convincing yourself that it wasn’t the right play, preventing yourself from getting into the details.

The Micro Stage allows you to improve your micro, mechanics, and champion mastery.

9. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

9. 1. What should an average review look like for a player with decent champion mastery?

An average review would start by reviewing any death that occurs across the first ten-fifteen minutes.

Then, scan the early lane and address any glaring problems such as resets, trading, wave management, or pathing.

Next, look at all of the neutral objective contests. Review setup, team fight execution, and TP usage (if applicable). Apply the micro/macro framework whenever possible.

9.2. How do I review my deaths?

Deaths are important to review, they tell you a lot about what is going wrong with your play.

Start by reviewing the micro component of the death. Ask yourself if you could have played the situation better mechanically? Consider factors such as ability usage, target selection, movement, etc.

Then, view the death from a macro lens. Consider any wave management, warding/leaning, reset, positioning problems. Once identified, make note of what you’d do next time and why.

A helpful tool is to view situations from the enemy’s perspective. This will help develop anticipation and threat assessment.

9.3. Why am I making the same mistakes over and over again?

Mistakes in League require more than a one-time review—they demand ongoing practice to correct.

League is a game of muscle memory and intuition, and creating habits takes time. Understanding a concept theoretically doesn’t mean you can execute it immediately or consistently.

Just like watching a video on skateboarding doesn’t mean you can instantly do a kickflip, mastering League requires time, practice, and respect for the game’s complexity.

9.4. Why do I feel like I’m not learning anything from my reviews?

You will spend the majority of your League journey refining small details in your play.

For example: “Against Aatrox I must dodge his Q1 horizontally and his Q2 vertically.”

These small details add up over time, creating consistency and high quality gameplay.

If you feel as though you haven’t learned anything new, don’t worry, you are always developing muscle memory and habits.

Warning: While sudden bursts of improvement may occur, they’re rare. Most of your progress in League will be slow, tedious, and time-consuming. Embrace it—League is a challenging game that requires patience.

9.5. What do I look for in my review?

If you are unsure where to start, refer to the champion guides on the site. These will give you a great indication of where to direct your attention. Also watch the member reviews of your champion at your rank.

Prioritise reviewing the early game first, then the midgame. If you still don’t know where to look, review your deaths, skirmishes or team fights.

If you’re still lost, attend a review session. A WTL Coach will look at your gameplay and give you something specific to focus on.

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10. Broken by Concept Episode

Watch the full Broken by Concept 90 minute breakdown on How To Review Your Games, expanding on many of the topics in this article.