You are also able to watch multiple points of views at once which can allow you to look for differences between players and see what styles most like yours are. This is a great way to see what pros are doing during important games in a stressful environment.
The LCS recently brought back Pro View for the Summer Split and there are at least two free point of views every game. These VODs are not through the players screen, but it still shows what high level players are doing to win and it is up to you to determine why they do those things.
These channels have replays of professional players and endless matchups on various patches. Two Youtubes that have thousands of replays are Challenger Replays and Lol Korean Pro Replays.
Watching someone who is better than you at the game is a great way to learn new mechanics or pick up good habits without needing to go through all the experimenting and error. The final way to view VODs is to watch someone else’s game. This way when you go back to rewatch the game, you can know what you were trying to do at each moment and reflect on if those decisions were correct or not. Another feature you can do with this method is you can record your voice and commentate your game as you play. This method can be important since it shows you what you were doing and can give insight on some of your thought processes. This means you can see what you were looking at during the game and see how you were physically playing the game such as where you were clicking or how you were trying to move. Recording your own perspective is the only way to see everything you were doing during the game. While this may be the older method, it is still vastly different from the in-client replays and gives an entirely different perspective. Before Riot introduced the replay system in 2016, the only way you could review your games was to record your own perspective. This can be done by programs such as OBS Studios or BandiCam which are easy to set up. The next method of VOD reviewing is recording your game perspective through a third-party program. Recording replays through a third-party program This method can be useful to get a general understanding of what happened in the entire game and see what other people were doing in comparison to you. This can allow you to see how the enemy may have been playing out the lane or setting up certain plays. There are also various settings available in the replay system such as adjusting Fog of War and seeing gold income of everyone in the game. These replay files allow you to see the entire game and see how other lanes were occurring compared to yours.
Those replay files are only available for the patch they are played on, so if you are going to use this method make sure you review before the replay expires. The most known method to review games is through the League of Legends client in the Match History section. The way you review VODs can give you different perspectives and it is important to know all the different methods. You can study as much as you want before the test date, but it is up to you to prepare yourself for the test. Watching games is analogous to studying for a test while playing the game is taking that test. You can pause and rewind when watching games, so if there are areas of importance you are able to review them as much as you please. You may be able to note your mistakes during the game, but you can easily forget them as the game progresses. If you only constantly play the game without looking back at your mistakes, then it is extremely easy to build bad habits and eventually plateau at a certain skill level. It is important to be able to identify your mistakes since you do not want to build poor habits and you want to be mindful of what you are doing during the game.
Watching VODs also prepares you to play the game since you may be able to learn a new mechanic or new way to play a matchup that you would not have known beforehand. VODs also allow you to see different perspectives and matchups that you may not have a great understanding of. Watching professional games allows you to see some of the highest levels of gameplay and see what the best players are doing to win. Watching games can allow you to find habits that good players make or allow you to see the mistakes you are making during a game. Playing the game is the only way to improve your mechanics and get live action practice against other people at a similar skill level. Two major ways you can improve your gameplay are playing the game and watching games. There are only so many effective ways to improve your gameplay.