Anybody got some tips for things to watch out for when looking at replays? It's especially difficult because I'm playing against a lot of people who are better than I am so I'm not sure what to look for when trying to improve. Thanks for your feedback!
[galio-happy]
In replays, You really need a reason to be watching it. If you lost to a certain champ, Watch your lane. Replay every trade 3+ Times and see what you could have done differently to gain the advantage in those trades, or what you could have done differently to counter them. PERFECT Example is
vs 
This is truly a skill matchup in midlane.
Zed can get close quarter with yasuo and Ult him as soon as he throws his Tornado. This gives zed a MASSIVE advantage in ulti trades. Vice Versa. Yasuo can bait zeds ulti with a Q, E away then W to block his shurikens, then continue to E away from zed until the ult procs. Then Zeds Ulti/W should be down so he should be highly vulnerable.
Little things like this you can watch and learn from in replays.
ALSO if you arent familiar with jungle paths, watch what the highest skilled (either yours or theirs) does. learn where they start, what they do etc.
It's all based on why you feel the need to watch the replays
You are right about maybe not knowing what to look for. There are (1) mistakes we make and have no idea we made them, and (2) mistakes we make and know we made them. This type 2 are things like: thins you didn't think of at the moment, but after the fact you realize your mistake; things involving mechanics you couldn't perform; lack of knowledge or champion abilities, items, structure or monster attributes and behaviors; lack of good team planning and communication; other stuff.
For type 1, you need to have a more knowledgeable person help you and review the game with you. For type 2, you can review the game and take notes identifying:
Do this with a few games and you'll have a handful of things to concentrate and work on since you'll see the root causes repeat. Tackle two or three most important ones and save others for later until you improve on the first ones.
Hope you get the idea. Identify problem symptoms, perform root cause analysis, identify counter measures/solution plans. Good luck.
Watching replays gives a different perspective of how you play. It's kinda like when someone backseat plays your game. They see more than you ever would because when you're playing, you're pretty focused on what you're doing most of the time. When watching replays, just pretend that you are backseat playing yourself. Just think about what you could've done differently when you see yourself make a mistake. Mistakes include dying, having your teammates die because you neglected to do something, losing objectives, backing at the wrong time, mistrading, and missing farm for some reason. Also watch teamfights closely. Think about what you could've done differently in that teamfight to win it for your team. Only watch yourself. Don't think about your teammate's mistakes because you can't control them.
Well that's it for me! Happy improving!
Watching replays only works if you hold knowledge but have a hard time applying it. If you currently get nothing out of replays, there's nothing that can make you get something out of replays other than coaching or watching better players.
If you are lacking game knowledge you wouldn't get that much by watching replays, it is more effective to just keep playing and learn. Plus Leauge client replays are pretty shitty, as pause works really bad by keeping cooldown times going. And if I am not mistaken something else was missing. But if you decide to watch replays. Pick one concept and analyze it (e.g teamfighting/map control/lane phase e.t.c) If you try to analyze everything at once it will be too much detail and you won't remember any concept analyzed in specifics. You use replays not just to see the mistakes or better opportunities, but also to carry this knowledge into your next game and focusing on this concept. E.g if you analyzed teamfight, pay high attention in teamfighting in your game and use the knowledge/information you gained from replays to perform better.
