A pro as heck guide to communication

Since the beginning of League, the community has always valued communication. Riot has made several steps to improve communication. Particularly, 6 different pings are available to the players to quickly convey a message to their teammates. They are: General, Caution, Danger, Assist, Enemy Missing, and On My Way. However, these pings don't reflect their common usage by players. That is why I am here to guide you through both common League terminology, and ping usage. Terminology is constantly evolving and these terms may become outdated, that and it is impractical to list them all, so I will name the three that are used the most. Pings, on the other hand, are fairly simple and haven't changed much over the course of time.

Terminology-

GL HF: Green Lantern High Five. Many players are fans of DC comics. This term is typically used to convey their love of comic book super heroes to their fellow fans, on both teams. They typically show their love more affluently by giving their fellow fans a free kill; going on to get angry about said kill giving their friend an advantage.

GG: Get Good. A very common one, though this one almost always has a specific target, however many people do not specify said target. It is usually said at the beginning of the game to one's teammates to inspire them to play better.

EZ: Elongated Ziti. EZ is typically said at the end of a long match, where either side could have won. It is a reference to the hot, cheesy, lasanga like Italian dish. EZ meaning the match was heated, lengthy, and most likely won by a cheesy move like back dooring with Yi.

That's only a few of the many terms. These are among the most common, however. Over time you will come to learn all of them.

Pings-

I will explain these pings in how common players use them, not Riot's intended use

General: This ping is actually 3 in 1. Pinging open ground will result in a "Don't Look Here" ping. Pinging a friendly structure will show an "Abandon This" ping, informing teammates it's not worth defending this structure. Pinging an enemy structure, enemy, or neutral monster will show a "Too Strong" ping. This is used to tell teammates not to focus this enemy as they are too powerful.

Caution: Opposite to Riot's intention, the Caution ping is used to convey a plan of attack, it shows you where you should charge in and attack the enemy team whilst your teammates focus on another objective or farm.

Assist: Similar to the "Abandon This" ping, assist can be used to inform a teammate of what location they should avoid as much as possible. If a teammate pings Assist, it's in your best interest to run in the opposite direction.

Danger: The danger ping is used point out a spot for the team to gather at in order to engage the enemy team. It's a good idea to get there as fast as you can, even if you are alone.

On My Way (OMW): OMW is a complex one. It's used to signal that you, or a teammate, are going to perform a U maneuver. The U maneuver is used to trick the enemy team. You begin moving towards the target location, half way there you turn around and head back. The enemy will try to get ahead of you and cut you off. Little to their knowledge, you were simply tricking them.

Enemy Missing: A simple one, this ping is used to signify you recognize that your lane opponent left his lane and is currently ganking another one while you try to get ahead in farm. Note that this one isn't used until your opponent is already in another lane.

These are all 6 pings, and their use by the community. Again, these are not Riot's intended uses of the pings. Now that you know 3 terms, and all 6 pings, you're ready to communicate on a level typically seen in Diamond and Challenger games. With this knowledge you too can climb the ladder of ranked, learning new terms on your way. Learning is part of the experience, and knowledge is power!

All images in this article taken from Riot's League of Legends database