LoL (League of Legends) has a "replay" feature that lets you rewind and rewatch the match you just finished. You can review with your own eyes why you died in that teamfight, or whether that gank was really unavoidable. But there's something a lot of people get wrong. LoL replays aren't something you can watch "any time." Once a patch passes, the replays from before it are gone forever. This article lays out, step by step, everything from how to download and watch League of Legends replays to how to keep your highlights forever even after a patch passes.
Downloading and playing replays from the client
The most basic method is to grab them inside the LoL client. Go to "Profile → Match History" and you'll see a list of your recently played matches. Hover over each match card and you'll see a download icon (a down arrow); click it to download that match's replay file (.rofl). Once the download finishes, a "Watch" button appears in the same spot, and clicking it has the game client open the replay in spectator mode.
Beyond your own match history, you can also download other summoners' recent .rofl files from match-lookup sites like OP.GG. Search a name and go into the match details, and a replay download button is provided; double-click the downloaded .rofl and the LoL client launches and plays it right away. Useful for studying the play of pros or high-tier players, freely rewinding it down to the camera angle.
Where replay files (.rofl) are saved
By default, .rofl files downloaded from the client are saved in the "Documents → League of Legends → Replays" folder (Documents\League of Legends\Replays). Keeping this folder open lets you check which matches you've saved, and you can move files to another PC and play them as-is if it's on the same patch. That said, to manage storage, old files may get cleaned up once a certain count is exceeded, so it's safest to back up separately any match you really want to keep.
Views and features you can use inside a replay
The biggest advantage of LoL replays is that you can freely look into the whole match, not just "your own screen." You get the same controls as spectator mode, exactly as they are.
- View switching: click any champion on your team or the enemy team to switch to their vision (you can even check the enemy jungler's pathing)
- Speed control: from 0.5x slow-motion to fast-forward, teamfights slow and laning fast
- Jumping: drag the timeline to jump to the moment you want, going straight to a specific minute and second
- Display toggles: turn fog of war on and off, switch on health bars, the minimap, the UI, and health values
- Pause and free camera: stop the screen and move the camera anywhere on the map to check positioning
In other words, a replay isn't a simple "rewatch" but something closer to an analysis tool that dissects a match. The problem is that you can use this great feature only on a "limited-time" basis.
Caution: replays aren't forever
This part is really important. A LoL replay (.rofl) plays only on "the patch version that match was played on." That's because a replay file doesn't contain a finished video; it only holds data like each champion's inputs and coordinates, and the client redraws that data on the current game version.
So once a new patch is applied and the client updates, .rofl files made on the previous patch no longer open. Patches usually come out about once every two weeks, so within a week or two at most, that highlight is gone forever, along with a message like "This version cannot be played." You've probably had the experience of landing a pentakill, putting it off for a few days, and then losing it because a patch passed.
Saving a replay permanently as a video (mp4)
There's only one way to keep a highlight forever without being tied to patches. Record the screen while playing the replay and turn it into a video file like mp4. Once you've pulled it out as a video, it stays as-is no matter how many patches pass or even if you uninstall LoL, and you can share it with friends or edit it.
Here, keeping DOR running makes the process simple. Play a replay with DOR running and it records that screen in high quality and saves it as a video. The mp4 is left exactly as you set the view and playback speed. On top of that, when you're actually playing in-game, DOR automatically detects moments like kills, assists, and pentakills and cuts them into clips, so the whole "I couldn't hit record" problem happens less. In the same way, you can have it automatically collect highlights from VALORANT or Teamfight Tactics (TFT) too.
How to analyze your skill with replays
Replays aren't just a tool for making brag clips. Used properly, they're the fastest review tool for climbing in rank. Watching them in the following order is effective.
- Pin the moment you died: go back to 10 seconds before you died, switch to enemy vision, and check "was this gank visible?"
- Review teamfight views: just before the teamfight at 0.5x, check the entry angle, skill order, and positioning frame by frame
- Analyze with vision on: turn the fog-of-war toggle on to grasp at a glance where wards were placed and the gaps in enemy pathing
- Compare laning: switch to the opposing champion's view in the same lane and compare their cs, recall timing, and roaming paths against yours
- Objective fights: don't fast-forward through the tightrope around Dragon and Baron; check positioning and control ward placement
If you also save the scenes you analyzed this way as videos with DOR, you can compare directly against "that old clip" when you repeat the same mistake. Even after a patch passes and the .rofl is gone, your review material keeps piling up as video.
