We’ve all been there: you’re 15 minutes into a ranked draft, your jungler is positioned perfectly for a top lane gank, and you forget to warn them the enemy Darius still has flash up. The gank fails, your jungler dies, your top laner starts flaming everyone in chat, and suddenly a winnable game is spiraling out of control. Most players write off these losses to bad teammates, but the real issue usually comes down to poor communication. Knowing how to chat in game League of Legends is one of the most underrated skills for climbing ranks, far more impactful than mastering a single champion’s combo for 90% of the player base. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to communicate effectively, avoid unnecessary tilt, and win more games without spending hours practicing mechanics.
How to Chat in Game League of Legends: Core Text Chat Etiquette and Best Practices
Text chat is the most flexible communication tool you have, but it’s also the easiest to misuse. The first rule of effective text chat is to keep messages short and actionable at all times. No one has time to read a three-sentence explanation of why you think the team comp is bad when a team fight is about to break out at dragon. Stick to 1-2 word phrases that convey exactly what your team needs to know: “mia mid”, “jg on way”, “baron next”, or “no flash” work far better than long sentences.
Avoid typing during team fights or objective contests unless you’re pausing to type while dead. Even a 2-second distraction to type a message can make you miss a skill shot, fail to dodge an engage, or lose track of an enemy’s position. If you have something urgent to say while you’re alive, use a ping instead. You can also use the built-in chat wheel for pre-written phrases like “On my way” or “Need vision” if you don’t want to type at all.
It’s also smart to limit chat to only information that helps your team win. Complaining about a teammate’s mistake, arguing with someone who flamed you, or typing memes in all chat might feel fun in the moment, but it distracts everyone on your team from playing the game. If you really want to meme or complain, save it for your Discord call with friends after the game ends. You can also toggle all chat off entirely in settings if you never want to see enemy messages.
Leverage Pings and Smart Commands to Communicate Without Typing
Pings are the most underused communication tool in LoL, and they’re far more effective than text chat for 90% of in-game situations. They pop up on every teammate’s screen immediately, no typing required, and they convey clear, simple information that everyone understands regardless of what language they speak. Riot has added dozens of ping options over the years, so you can communicate almost anything you need without touching your keyboard.
Spamming pings is just as annoying as toxic text chat, so stick to 1-2 pings per message to avoid tilting your teammates. For example, if you want your jungler to gank your lane, ping the enemy laner once then ping the assist icon once – spamming the assist ping 10 times will only make your jungler ignore you on purpose. You can also combine pings to convey more complex information without typing, which is perfect for fast-paced ranked games.
These are the most useful ping combinations you can use in almost any game:
- Ping an enemy laner + ping your own laner to warn them the opponent is roaming toward their lane
- Ping your ultimate ability icon + ping an objective to let your team know you have ult available for the fight
- Ping a bush + ping the danger icon to alert teammates there's likely an enemy waiting to ambush there
- Ping your recall + ping a turret to let your team know you're backing and they need to cover your lane while you're gone
You can also adjust your ping settings in the options menu to make pings louder or smaller, depending on what works best for your playstyle. If you play with friends, you can even set up custom ping notifications for your party to make coordination even easier. I personally keep my pings set to a slightly higher volume than my game music, so I never miss a warning from a teammate even if I’m focused on farming.
How to Handle Toxic Chat and Avoid Tilting Your Team
Let’s be real: LoL has a well-deserved reputation for toxic chat, and you will run into players who flame you for even small mistakes eventually. The worst thing you can do in that situation is engage with them. Arguing with a toxic player will not change their mind, it will only distract you and the rest of your team from playing the game, and it will make you tilt far faster. I’ve lost count of how many winnable games I’ve seen thrown because two teammates spent 10 minutes arguing over a single bad play instead of focusing on the map.
The mute button is your best friend, and you should use it early and often. If someone starts flaming you or another teammate, mute them immediately – you don’t owe them a response, and you don’t need to see their negative messages to play the game. Riot also has an automatic chat filter that blocks most slurs and offensive language by default, but you can adjust the filter settings to block more terms if you want a more peaceful experience. I personally keep my filter set to the highest level when I’m playing solo ranked, so I never see any unnecessarily harsh messages.
It’s also important to avoid being the toxic player yourself, even if your team is playing badly. One bad play doesn’t lose a game, but tilting your entire team by flaming them almost always does. For example, if your ADC misses a skill shot that loses a small fight, don’t type “lol trash adc” – instead, type “no worries, we’ll get them next time”. That small positive message can keep your team’s morale up and help you come back from a deficit, while flaming will make them stop trying entirely. If you do run into extremely toxic players, you can report them after the game ends – Riot does act on reports, and repeated reports can lead to chat restrictions or even permanent bans.
Customize Your Chat Settings for a Better Play Experience
Most players never touch their chat settings after they install the game, but small adjustments can make a huge difference in your play experience. You can access all chat settings by hitting the escape key during a game, then navigating to the Interface tab and scrolling down to the Chat section. There are dozens of customization options here that can help you communicate better and avoid unnecessary distractions.
You can adjust the chat size and position so it doesn’t block important parts of your screen, like the minimap, your health bar, or your ability cooldowns. Most players keep the chat in the bottom left corner of the screen, but you can move it to the top right or even make it smaller if you don’t look at it often. You can also adjust the opacity of the chat window so it’s less distracting when you’re focused on farming or fighting. I personally keep my chat window at 70% opacity, so I can read messages if I need to but it doesn’t pull my focus away from the game.
You can also toggle which chat channels you see at any time. If you’re playing ranked and want to focus, you can turn off all chat entirely so you don’t see enemy taunts or spam. If you’re playing with a party of friends, you can turn off public team chat so you only see messages from people you know. If you have a gaming keyboard, you can even set up custom chat macros that let you type common phrases like “mia mid” or “baron in 10 seconds” with a single button press, which saves you a lot of time mid-game. Just make sure you don’t abuse macros to spam toxic messages, or you could end up with a chat restriction from Riot.
At the end of the day, League of Legends is a team game, and even the best mechanical player can’t carry a team that doesn’t communicate. Learning how to chat in game League of Legends effectively doesn’t just make the game more fun – it also helps you climb ranks faster, avoid unnecessary tilt, and win more games without spending hours practicing combos or watching pro gameplay. Try one of these tips in your next game, whether it’s using more pings instead of typing, muting toxic players immediately, or adjusting your chat settings to reduce distractions. You might be surprised by how much of a difference small changes to your communication style can make.