Lesson Summary

Shot calling is really important to any competitive game of LoL. There's a lot to cover but I'll start by breaking it down into easier to digest topics. The first topic we will talk about is the 3 major different systems of shot calling and the pros and cons of each.

1. Sole Shot Caller- This is the Hai style of shot calling. One player will dictate most if not all of the map rotations and movements for the team.

Pro: Quickest reaction time of the 3. Team will feel the most in unison under this method.

Con: Requires a shot caller who won't forget to speak and lose focus during games. If shot caller makes bad call, team will follow the bad call. Might not consider all elements.

2. Democracy type- This method means that the entire team is discussing or voting on something before doing it.

Pro: All aspects of the decision are usually covered thus resulting in better calls overall. No one feels resentment towards a bad call since it was a team decision.

Con: Slowest reaction time due to waiting for everyone to speak. Sometimes hard to reach a decision if half vs half. Timing execution might be more difficult (timing of engages etc.)

3. Combo - combination of the above 2 methods. You have one or two main shot callers and they let others give opinions and suggestions before making a decision.

Pro: All the pros of both. Reaction time is in between.

Con: All the cons of both.

While you can teach your team to do any of these 3, my personal recommendation is to do combo or sole shot caller IF you have a player that seems outgoing and a natural leader. Democratic is generally not very viable compared to the other two until you reach the highest level of competitive league because at that point all the players will generally be on the same page anyways so decision making time is heavily cut down.



Next topic will be some rules of shot calling that MUST be followed for your team to learn and progress and for you to become a better coach as well. I cannot stress enough that the rules of shot calling must be followed with no exceptions and I'll explain why below.

The number 1 rule that must be followed in shot calling is that all members must immediately and without hesitation follow the call that was made even if he/she disagrees with it 100%. There are a few reasons for this.

 First of all, if the shot caller calls for the something and one or two players do not follow it or don't do it immediately then often times the call will result in a negative outcome. Now the players who did not follow the call properly think to themselves that they were right in not following it, and the shot caller is now thinking that the call failed due to the players that did not follow it. Nothing can be learned or gained from the call and it results in a waste of time for everyone and resentment within the team. If the call is followed by all the players though, even if it does fail, the shot caller can now learn from his mistake and realize what needs to be changed next time.

Second of all, only by following the shot caller's calls, can the team slowly learn to be a cohesive unit that is responsive and reliable in executing game plans. I will talk about game plans more in depth later, but basically a shot caller that has a team which responds well to him will be able to execute game plans which will either work or not work, which in turn lets the coach quickly adapt and learn from his mistakes. This leads to a more efficient practice system and allows the team to improve much faster.



The last topic I want to talk about for shot calling is mentoring a primary shot caller. I think there is a plethora of benefits to this. I would usually choose the jungler if possible, or if his personality is too ill of a fit for a shot caller/leader then go with the mid laner or support or top. Marksmen is generally a last option. After you choose this person, really work with them to learn and understand the game better, patches, metas etc. The smarter and more confident your shot caller becomes, the better your team will perform I guarantee that. This is honestly one area of improvement which is often overlooked even in LCS but will actually yield the best results in terms of team improvement.