LoL Esports is introducing Coach Comms, allowing coaches to speak to their players over the course of the game.
League of Legends is introducing one of the biggest changes in the history of LoL Esports: Coach Comms. This new system allows coaches to communicate with their players in-game. Here's what we know.
Changes to the professional League of Legends tournaments are few and far between, but many of them end up being impactful. Whether it was the increase from three to five bans, the removal of game five Blind Pick, or, more recently, the implementation of Fearless Draft, all of these introduced significant changes to the scene.
Coach Comms in LoL Esports
Previously, coaches could only communicate with their players during the Drafting phase and in between games (in the case of best-of series). This "limits real-time strategic adjustments," said LoL Esports staff.
With Coach Comms, they will now be permitted to speak to their players during the game, but there are a lot of caveats and guardrails. This will also enable strategic responses, timely tactical decisions, and provide coaches with a more direct way to impact the game.
Only the LCP Split 1 Regular Season and LCK Cup Group Stage will have Coach Comms. The play-ins and playoff stages of either tournament will not have this system.
Other LoL Esports regions will not have this system just yet.
Even though "creating new points of engagements for fans" is one of the primary reasons for Coach Comms, the audio will not be played during broadcast.
How does Coach Comms work?
Teams may activate Coach Comms up to three times per game, each lasting 45 seconds. This will not result in a pause.
The enemy team will not be notified when Coach Comms is activated.
Members of the coaching staff can be nominated before game start to participate in Coach Comms. Nominated members will remain in a designated area, be restricted to the team-only perspective, and all external communication is prohibited. Nominees can be swapped after each game. Once their three activations are done, they may leave the designated area.
LCP teams can nominate one member of their coaching staff, while LCK teams may nominate two.
This will eliminate the risk of ghosting, since coaches usually have global vision of the map without Fog of War. This means they have access to the enemy team's positions, wards, and cooldowns.
Coach Comms is optional, and teams must confirm whether to use it or not before the game begins.
Will Coach Comms be in other regions?
The LCP and LCK operations teams will study the new system's impact. They will take team usage patterns, player feedback, fan reactions, and operational stability into account. After the review, they will make a decision whether to broaden its implementation.
The LCP 2026 Split 1 begins on Jan. 16, while the LCK Cup 2026 begins on Jan. 14. For more League of Legends, stick around esports.gg.
