How to Prepare for a LoL Coaching Session

The most useful thing to bring to a LoL coaching session is not a screenshot of your LP. Bring a game you can talk through and one decision you still cannot explain. “Why am I hardstuck?” is a real frustration, but it gives a coach almost nothing to inspect.

If you have booked a session with EloAscend, send your rank, server, preferred language, main role or champion, and the times you can play. Then add a recent match and a question about a moment in it. A coach can challenge a lane choice; “fix my climb” leaves the call with no starting point.

Pick a game that shows your normal decisions

A close game on a champion you actually play is usually a better sample than a 15-minute surrender or an off-role experiment. A stomp can be useful when it shows a recurring opening mistake, but it often ends before the decision you care about appears. You do not need to find your “worst” game. You need one where you remember what you were trying to do.

Avoid choosing solely by the final scoreboard. A 2/7 game may contain a sensible lane plan ruined by one bad fight; a 12/3 game may hide three poor recalls that your team covered. The review should examine the decision with the information you had at the time, not judge it only by whether the play worked.

If your question is about laning, select a game with a normal matchup on your main role. If you keep losing leads after lane, choose a game where you actually got a lead. For jungle pathing, bring the game where your first clear created a choice: cover a wave, contest an objective, or reset. That choice is easier to coach than “my team never helps.”

Mark one or two moments before the call

Write a timestamp and what you believed when you made the play. Do this before opening the replay, while your memory of the decision is still useful. You do not have to diagnose yourself correctly; the point is to show the coach your reasoning.

For example: “At 7:40 my mid wave was at the enemy tower, but bot was collecting a wave under ours. I moved to river because I had priority. Was dragon actually contestable, or should I have reset?” That question gives the coach two lane states, a map decision, and an alternative to test. “Why did I die at dragon?” starts too late. The answer may be in the wave or the recall a minute earlier.

For a top laner, the useful moment may be the wave before a death to a gank. For an ADC, it may be whether to collect a side wave while the team groups. For a support, it may be the roam timer after a bot crash. Bring the choice you made and the information you noticed; let the coach challenge the part you missed.

Make sure the replay will still open

The League client lets you download a replay from the end-of-game screen or Match History. Riot's replay FAQ says those files expire when the game moves to the next patch. Check the replay before your appointment; a filename alone does not guarantee it will play later.

A client replay shows the game. A recording of your own screen can also show which lane you looked at, whether you checked the scoreboard, and what you could see while controlling your champion. That can matter when the question is map awareness or camera use. A player-perspective recording is optional preparation advice here, not a promise that every coaching format requires or accepts one. Ask support how your coach wants the game shared, especially if a patch is about to change.

Do not send your Riot password. EloAscend's coaching page says coaching does not require the coach to log into your account.

Check what session you actually bought

EloAscend's one-off checkout currently books live one-to-one coaching by the hour. The monthly program includes live sessions and VOD reviews. A separate VOD-only product is not listed in the one-off checkout, so ask support before paying if an asynchronous replay review is specifically what you want. These are product-format details, not interchangeable names for the same appointment.

The same distinction applies to duo play. Playing ranked with a strong teammate can help you reach a rank target, but duo boosting does not automatically include a coaching deliverable. If your goal is to understand why you keep losing a wave or a mid-game lead, book a format that makes time for that explanation. Our coaching-versus-boosting guide covers the broader choice.

A note you can send before the session

Keep it short enough that the coach can scan it:

Rank / server / language: your current details.
Role and two most-played champions: what you normally queue.
Game: match link or agreed replay format, plus patch if known.
Moment: timestamp and what you thought was happening.
Question: one choice you want to revisit.
After the call: the decision you want to practise in your next games.

You can arrive without knowing the right answer. In fact, “I thought this wave was safe to leave; why wasn't it?” is a stronger starting point than pretending you already solved it. Ask the coach for a decision rule you can try again. When the next slow push and river fight appear, you should know which cue changes your choice.