A League of Legends fan has shown off a custom replay analysis tool that lets users draw directly onto Summoner’s Rift, offering a much cleaner alternative to the Paint scribbles currently haunting esports broadcasts.
The project appears to let users sketch lines, circles, and arrows over the map during replay review. Viewers compared the effect to a telestrator, the classic drawing tech used in NFL and NBA broadcasts.
Replay analysis is a huge part of League‘s ecosystem. Casters on the LCS, LEC, LCK, and LPL regularly break down rotations, jungle pathing, vision setups, and teamfight angles, often using whatever drawing software they can get their hands on. LCS analyst Emily Rand recently fought through a Paint-based breakdown on a broadcast, a moment that captured exactly the problem this tool solves.
For coaches doing VOD reviews, the use cases are obvious. Marking expected ward lines, showing spacing errors, drawing engage paths around Baron, and explaining why a flank worked all become easier when the annotation lives on the map itself.
Content creators on YouTube would also benefit. Cleaner visuals make complex macro concepts easier to follow for newer viewers trying to understand modern League‘s stacked objective list of Voidgrubs, Rift Herald, Elemental Dragons, Dragon Soul, Elder, and Baron.
Dota 2 has shipped drawing tools for spectators and casters for over a decade, something League fans have wanted Riot to match for years. A fan finally building it themselves is a familiar pattern in the League community, and the loud call now is for Riot to either hire the creator or bake the feature into the official replay client.
