EPTThis far, we’ve covered the basics on coaches and checked their performance through statistics, commenting every topic with people from inside the HGC scene. Now we move on to how coaches are born: where do coaches come from? What does it take to become a coach?
The Coaches’ Background
When thinking about the HGC coaches, we mainly distinguish three very different profiles: the former player, the content creator, and those who were neither players nor content creators. The first profile doesn’t need a big explanation; they are retired players. In this group we can find people like CauthonLuck (HeroesHearth), Blumbi (Fnatic), Noblesse (Gen.G) or Zoos (Team Liquid). The latter in this list has spoken with us about the advantages of being a former pro player.
“I think it can be beneficial to be a player first, but I do not think it is necessary. The experiences that I had as a player allow me to better understand some of the struggles that my players go through. This can be things such as finding motivation, mental stress, how to discuss/have arguments in a positive way. Often, I consider situations/problems that I felt were detrimental to teams that I played on and make sure that we avoid those issues occurring in Team Liquid.
In the Heroes of the Storm scene, it is still very recent that teams started to find the value and importance in having a coach. Because of this, many players who are older to the scene are skeptical of bringing in someone who never played at a high level. They assume this person will not be knowledgeable enough about the game to provide useful insights. This can be the case, but I think a lot of teams are also finding that even if the coach is not providing good gameplay insights they can still be valuable. So, I would say that the main advantage of having been a player before becoming a coach is the higher chance that players trust and respect your opinions.”
In the Heroes of the Storm scene, it is still very recent that teams started to find the value and importance in having a coach. Because of this, many players who are older to the scene are skeptical of bringing in someone who never played at a high level. They assume this person will not be knowledgeable enough about the game to provide useful insights. This can be the case, but I think a lot of teams are also finding that even if the coach is not providing good gameplay insights they can still be valuable. So, I would say that the main advantage of having been a player before becoming a coach is the higher chance that players trust and respect your opinions.”
The second profile, the content creator, is the most diverse. They are generally streamers, some focused on a more didactic content, for example CavalierGuest (Gale Force eSports). Others are casters like Kala (Tempo Storm), HeroPhysio (LFM Esports), or Sarly (ePunks). They have great knowledge of the game, usually from an analytic perspective.
There are also some people that have little notoriety at all as a caster or a player. The most noticeable example for this case would be nabby (Team Dignitas). He was just a regular player interested in joining the competitive scene, and after trying out for Dignitas, he was the chosen one to coach them, partially due to his life coaching approach.
Becoming a Coach
But how can a regular player or any member of the community become a coach? To deepen in “the way of the coach” we’ve talked to Tsty, coach for the European Open Division team SFD-Gaming about his point of view. Formerly a League of Legends coach, he transitioned into Heroes of the Storm with little issue.
“Coaches are definitely necessary both in HGC and HGC Open Division; they make a huge difference in a team. In general, coaches are better at map/general/hero knowledge than mechanical skill. Coaches can give their knowledge to the team and the team can implement it in the next games. Also, you can give a lot of input on different situations/mistakes, playstyles, and combos. Let me explain it a bit.
Situations/mistakes: There are always misplays that happen in-game. Your job as a coach is to sort out those mistakes and go through it with your team via replay, stream, whatever so you can tell the players how to play or tackle certain situation differently. As an example: either do thing X and your team wouldn't get killed there or do thing Y and execute the objective better. Something like that, and if your team accepts your criticism, they will improve in the long term.
Playstyles: Different playstyles means different games. Often teams don't know or respect the fact that each playstyle works differently. So, for example there are early game compositions and sometimes there are late game compositions that need to be executed differently. Coaches can go through these compositions with your team and talk about how they need to play on different maps and in different situations.
Combos: If you have certain combos like Medivh to set up an ultimate from another hero, you need to show the players how they need to play it in different situations. Or if you have a poke combo and a heavy execute hero, you also need to show them how they need to play it.
Mechanics are also very important for a player so they obviously can improve in Elo, [so they] should work on improving it. But that doesn't mean that players just need to focus on mechanics. They should also convert the knowledge from the coach in their playstyles. In the long term, a team/player will improve if they accept the coaches’ opinion and individually improve their mechanics.
But don't be too harsh to them or they will hate you and maybe kick you. And don't be to kind to them or they won't take you seriously. Find a good middle way.”
Situations/mistakes: There are always misplays that happen in-game. Your job as a coach is to sort out those mistakes and go through it with your team via replay, stream, whatever so you can tell the players how to play or tackle certain situation differently. As an example: either do thing X and your team wouldn't get killed there or do thing Y and execute the objective better. Something like that, and if your team accepts your criticism, they will improve in the long term.
Playstyles: Different playstyles means different games. Often teams don't know or respect the fact that each playstyle works differently. So, for example there are early game compositions and sometimes there are late game compositions that need to be executed differently. Coaches can go through these compositions with your team and talk about how they need to play on different maps and in different situations.
Combos: If you have certain combos like Medivh to set up an ultimate from another hero, you need to show the players how they need to play it in different situations. Or if you have a poke combo and a heavy execute hero, you also need to show them how they need to play it.
Mechanics are also very important for a player so they obviously can improve in Elo, [so they] should work on improving it. But that doesn't mean that players just need to focus on mechanics. They should also convert the knowledge from the coach in their playstyles. In the long term, a team/player will improve if they accept the coaches’ opinion and individually improve their mechanics.
But don't be too harsh to them or they will hate you and maybe kick you. And don't be to kind to them or they won't take you seriously. Find a good middle way.”
The importance of managing the responsibilities between the team members is something nabby also points out.
“In terms of coaching, I have three principles that I try to incorporate and channel my energy into when working with the team.
1) The player's responsibility is to perform at their highest capacity, ideally finding success. My role is to provide them the environment and means to do so.
2) I attribute wins to the player's performance, while losses to my own misgivings.
3) While I hope my presence has an impact to the team finding success, ultimately my goal is that even when I'm gone they will be able to continue to reach their goals.
As a coach, especially in the esports culture, I really believe that passion about your craft and game go a really long way. In an evolving field that may not be the most stable at times, it is a labor of passion. Also self-discipline is very important. Often, working out of your own home can be mentally taxing on top of how it can affect one's physical health. You also have to be driven; you are own motivator to innovate or simply improve.”
1) The player's responsibility is to perform at their highest capacity, ideally finding success. My role is to provide them the environment and means to do so.
2) I attribute wins to the player's performance, while losses to my own misgivings.
3) While I hope my presence has an impact to the team finding success, ultimately my goal is that even when I'm gone they will be able to continue to reach their goals.
As a coach, especially in the esports culture, I really believe that passion about your craft and game go a really long way. In an evolving field that may not be the most stable at times, it is a labor of passion. Also self-discipline is very important. Often, working out of your own home can be mentally taxing on top of how it can affect one's physical health. You also have to be driven; you are own motivator to innovate or simply improve.”
Now What?
We’ve covered most of the coaching topics, but, what should we expect from HGC from now on? According to the current trend, where almost every HGC Pro team has a coach and many are appearing in Open Division, many more coaches should appear in 2019. With some players retiring after this 2018 season (QuackNiix, Darkmok, Roskmeg, AlexTheProG, JayPL and probably more), it's very likely that some of them end up being coaches.
I retired before it was cool 😎
— James Baker (@BakeryHeroes) September 25, 2018
Apart from this, the possibility of transitioning into another game has been proven. Former MVP coach, Coach815, is now the coach for London Spitfire, the current Overwatch League champions. Tsty is an example of transitioning from other games into Heroes and knows the process.
“Before coaching the old SFD team (nice organization btw), I was very active in League of Legends. I had some teams there that I have coached before. I was very successful with it, so I had quite some experience with the coaching stuff. Making the transition from League to Heroes of the Storm wasn't quite easy, I must say. I had to get used to a lot of stuff like different maps, different objectives, etc, but in the end, it paid off. After that, I was really lucky that SFD picked me up and worked together with me.
I wouldn't recommend starting with an HGC Open Division team or an HGC team because, for a newbie coach, it's quite overwhelming with how much stuff you need to look at. Rather, I would start with a team that is at least a division below you to get familiar with all the coaching stuff.
Most importantly, try to watch as many HGC games as you can and try to analyze how the HGC teams execute objectives or play a map. Also look for possible mistakes that happen in their games. If you do this consistently, you can improve your coaching rapidly. Then you can reach the level to coach a HGC Open Division team. I would start to look for one now because there are a lot of opportunities.
Since I already was an active coach in League of Legends, I just improved on the more social part of working with different people and different opinion—besides all the game stuff that I needed to get used to.”
I wouldn't recommend starting with an HGC Open Division team or an HGC team because, for a newbie coach, it's quite overwhelming with how much stuff you need to look at. Rather, I would start with a team that is at least a division below you to get familiar with all the coaching stuff.
Most importantly, try to watch as many HGC games as you can and try to analyze how the HGC teams execute objectives or play a map. Also look for possible mistakes that happen in their games. If you do this consistently, you can improve your coaching rapidly. Then you can reach the level to coach a HGC Open Division team. I would start to look for one now because there are a lot of opportunities.
Since I already was an active coach in League of Legends, I just improved on the more social part of working with different people and different opinion—besides all the game stuff that I needed to get used to.”
Whatever the future brings us, this series are over for now. Through these three articles we’ve looked into the world of coaches, getting to know some of the work behind the HGC scene. Many names have come up, don’t hesitate to follow them on social media and ask them anything or just thank them for helping your favorite teams improve. Thanks to all the people involved in the project for sharing their experiences and helping us understand their world better.
This time the quotes belong to:
Check out our latest articles:
Introducing: The Crucible Victors
Lore of the Nexus: Mal'Ganis
Let's Talk NA: HGC Year in Review
BlizzCon 2018 Power Rankings
Mal'Ganis First Impressions and Analysis
Introducing: The Crucible Victors
Lore of the Nexus: Mal'Ganis
Let's Talk NA: HGC Year in Review
BlizzCon 2018 Power Rankings
Mal'Ganis First Impressions and Analysis
Writer(s): Koznarov
Editor(s): EsportsJohn
Formatting: EsportsJohn
Design: shiroiusagi
Art Credit: Blizzard
Editor(s): EsportsJohn
Formatting: EsportsJohn
Design: shiroiusagi
Art Credit: Blizzard
