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How do I Ask for Ganks? (The Polite Way)

supple hams·2/9/2018, 8:43:51 PM·3 votes·1,077 views

Asking for ganks is simple. Just a few typed out words or a ping are pretty easy . . . Or are they?

I've been playing League of Legends for a long time, but in that length of time, I have still not figured out how to ask for a gank or assistance without seeming rude. I've come here to the forums to ask for any advice on specific ways to word your chat messages to not make your jungler upset.

Context: It seems like most (definitely not all, but a very large portion) junglers I play with, really dislike pings, and misconstrue what I type as to be rude. "Can you gank?", "Can you please gank?", "Will you gank?", "Will you please gank?", . . . etc. It seems like these relatively simple forms of asking for ganks are seen as rude/condescending. I'm curious if this is because everyone in League is constantly waiting for toxicity/flaming, or if these genuinely are poor ways to ask for help in a lane. It just seems like most people in the community are used to toxicity and flaming, that normal statements/questions are regarded as sarcastic/condescending. I am attempting to find some ways of typing that would be unable to be seen as rude/condescending/offensive by even the most hardened of 14-year-olds. [sg-syndra]

Query: Do you have any ways you ask for assistance that send the message politely to other players? Even if it doesn't pertain to asking for help, I would love advice on general typing as well!

P.S. If there seems to be anything in here that could be construed as sarcastic/condescending, I was trying to mean it in a polite or joking way. I find it very difficult to send that message across, and that is why I made the post. ^-^ (Bonus question: Do little emotes like this help lighten the mood?)

I hope that I can get some great advice, and that this could be useful to other people who also have difficulties in getting their intentions across Thanks to anyone who contributes!

29 Comments

Jo0o2/9/2018, 8:46:59 PM13 votes

I phrase it as a strategic suggestion, rather than a request/demand, to avoid messing with junglers with fragile egos.

"Bot lane is an easy gank", "Top is pushed, free kill for ya", etc. all seem to work. If they're too stupid to listen to that, then such is life.

Umbral Regent2/9/2018, 8:54:38 PM6 votes

While I personally try to rely on Junglers as little as possible (I seldom expect them to gank anyhow), I've found that some modest wording works best.

"Top lane's getting rough, could I get a gank soon?", "A gank bottom would be much appreciated" - I tend to just leave it at that though, whether or not they choose to act on it. Junglers are capricious things, after all.

BobaFlautist2/9/2018, 8:54:42 PM4 votes

It depends on your reason for wanting a gank.

"Hey, I'm getting my ass kicked, could you gank and give me some breathing room please? I just need a little pressure"

"This is a super even lane, I could really use a gank to establish an advantage"

"This guy's just pushing 24/7, come [lane] for free kills?" (Ping any summoners that are down)

If you're top lane, you might have to accept that ganks will be relatively sparse - they're out of the way of most farming, and leave dragon and other lanes exposed. But as long as you make the effort to be civil, the only people that will go off on you are the ones that always were.

TiltoverEnforcer2/9/2018, 8:55:14 PM2 votes

I usually either target ping the enemy laner, defense ping my tower (ONCE), or ping for assistance. Everything you need to say can be communicated through pings.

supple hams2/9/2018, 9:19:25 PM2 votes

Thank you all very much for the quick and great answers! I will definitely use these tips in an attempt to step up my game! [slayer-jinx-catface]

Who Fed Ru2/10/2018, 12:44:15 AM2 votes

"yo you fcking shit jungler, come bot or I afk and report you" works good

No More Cages2/10/2018, 12:18:17 AM1 votes

As a jungler, a single (or two, if you want to make sure) ping asking for help's usually enough for me, because it signals to me just what it says. One is "this lane is hard/I think this gank is easy/I need a tiebreaker" and two is "I'm 40% HP and Trundle's planning to dive me". Any number of pings beyond that starts sounding a little...aggressive, but has its place - such as the jungler/laner planning to dive you together.

As long as you're not pointedly rude ("omg gank top"), then anything (even "gank top plz") is pretty good, although the best way to walk on eggshells for 'those' junglers is something along the lines of "hey, could you help me/us out [x] lane?".

But even then, if the jungler feels the gank is hard or impossible to make, they may not even show up then. Some of us might show up to show that we're "around and willing to come up" in hopes that it scares your laner into behaving a little bit, but sometimes that's all we can offer if the lane is in a position that makes 'sealing the deal' hard for the champion we chose, or if another lane's in a position that pushing it forward's a better alternative.

Infernape2/10/2018, 12:21:20 AM1 votes

I call it as it is. If there's no summs bot I simply say "no summs bot come visit if you can". Or "They're pushed up and haven't warded. Lane's gankable"

y0r1ck2/10/2018, 12:40:24 AM1 votes

Keep track of summoners and let your jungler know the timings. Same with wards and power spikes. Don't bother asking, just keep your jungler informed.

Butt Ρlug2/10/2018, 12:51:44 AM1 votes

I never ask directly, i say "bot no summs/ult" for example. But i always play just like if my jungler would never come, if he come then that's great ! If he doesn't then it doesn't matter i'll deal with it.

Luxana Crowngard2/10/2018, 2:38:16 AM1 votes

I typically only ping for assistance one time if my jungler is healthy and in the area, otherwise its just playing like you don't have a jungler with you at the time.

iSpencer2/10/2018, 2:47:40 AM1 votes

I like putting in the reason and strategy for gank into chat if you have the time to type it out. Most Junglers don't want to go near a losing lane, but "Can you help me break this darius' freeze so I can base?" typically has better success than "I need gank pls..." Ping summoner spells (actually type out when it comes back up if you have the time) and ward locations and suggest a route you know the enemy has no vision.

Try to keep track of your own jungler and know what he wants to be doing and what's good for him. The suggestions you make should be what's best for the team as a whole, not just yourself.

Telephone Booth2/10/2018, 5:03:16 AM1 votes

I know exactly what you mean. It's like any way you put it, someone could always interpret it as you either whining, demanding, flaming, condescending, etc... I even one time had a jungler give me blue, but accidentally take the last hit and I said "thanks for trying anyways" and he went all caps on me like "I DID TRY, I WANTED TO GIVE IT TO YOU RETARD THAT'S WHY I PINGED IT" ... I'm like "yeah, I know... I wasn't being sarcastic... I understand what happened, and I thanked you for the thought." Lol like God damn dude. People have such contempt for one another in game.

I too will be reading suggestions because no matter how I phrase, it always (even in my eyes) seems like it COULD be sarcasm or whining. I think it's becausw a junglers whole job is ganking, so you telling them to do what they're supposed to do, just comes off similar to saying "stop feeding".

Edit: I love that people are saying they never really expect jungler help anyways. This is the attitude everyone needs to have.

Lv99 BearDaddy2/10/2018, 9:40:38 PM1 votes

Here's the long and short of what advice I could offer for either side of the constant struggle of junglers and laners. Hope you enjoy and/or take something away from my personal experiences overall :)

Tips from the Jungler's perspective:

ASK, don't demand.
Take the edge off the very dull and pushy sounding "Gank please" "Can you gank soon" using faces such as ":)" ":D" ":(" or humor, crude or witty doesn't matter "I really need a gank, Camille's rustling my jimmies up here!"
Wait a few minutes before asking again, if you need to
Accept that sometimes I AM helping in other ways, dragon, camping, or invading (while the JG is causing trouble and taking gold/buffs in their jungle, they're not considering ganking or objectives usually)
Yasuo, I'm a Lv.2 Shyvana...
Spam pinging help as I'm taking this permanent. global. potential enemy team having. buff. Doesn't make me wanna come top at... why are you under their Tier 3 at 5 minutes Teemo :(
You can HELP your laners even if you can't gank, ward their tri or river, invade the yi while he's 0/0/0, hold while they back. (Yes laner's they're gonna take some farm.) Call enemy summs, show yourself in the lane and warn em you got 12 inches of thiccness if they get cocky"
If I scryer's bloom your lane, clear the runway so I can lay some foundation of (insert lewd remark here) in their face.

Tips from Laner's perspective:

Getting camped by the jg, being dove under my tower is not my fault. I know I'm 0/4 don't remind me
No, I'm not "bad" Lee just ganked me 4 times within the past 2 minutes and they only killed me once.
Warding is kind of hard when I die every time I move towards river.
My support is afk in between towers walking to lane half the time, probably on twatter and instagraph waiting for Brad to like my outfit.
This adc is lagging and I just want to end laning phase, getting a 300ping Ashe to not die is hard.
Losing a lane can be miserable feeling, please understand.
Taxing when you got the kill is unnecessary
Helping take the tower after killing enemy laners is WAY more beneficial than backing off for krugs.
Stop farming, you're level 9 Rengar ffs, act like an assassin and kill someone.
You win when the nexus falls not when you get a quadra 3x, khazix -.-
If I keep them up to date on if things are warded maybe, just maybe they'll know they can gank!

fatherdarius2/11/2018, 3:45:45 PM1 votes

"A gank would be most appreciated top lane"

Always works for me.

Phieldworker2/9/2018, 9:23:08 PM1 votes

I know sometimes you can be pressed for time and can't type it out. But if you do get the chance try and set up the lane for a gank and then let the Jungler know what you are doing by pinging or saying I let them push we can gank him, something along those lines. As a jungler I am usually looking for things like; Targeting pings on over extended lanes, enemies pushed to tower on low health, someone calling out the enemy jungler preparing for a gank etc. The more info someone gives the less rude it sounds and the more fluid plays go. Had a game where Darius was terrorizing our Kayle top lane. I was fiddlesticks. I told him what I was going to do so we could secure the kill on Darius but I literally said "going blue, going up behind your tower and ulting onto him, I'll target him when I starting ult" and it worked. You don't always have to be so detailed and it's harder when you're in lane and unable to type as much. I hope this made sense.

disclaimer I was a communication major before switch to web design/dev and so from classes I learned that most text, email, etc communication can be read by the reader with incorrect emotion so I might not be the best example.

Kei1432/9/2018, 11:02:16 PM1 votes

Coming from support main in silver4

Example setup cases:

Case1a

Trade with the enemy
Get them to blow summoners
Back and heal

Case1b

Build minion wave
zone enemy off CS
Crash the wave into the tower

After setup is successful:

ping jungler
ping "assist me" in my lane
ping target
ping target's summoner spells
say "Teemo no flash, free kill"
blow their escape tool when jgler gets close
tank most of the dmg / CC & exhaust enemy
????
profit

zayn112/9/2018, 11:11:36 PM1 votes

Just ping him that you need help as simple as that Ahri

ModKnightsKemplar2/9/2018, 11:17:24 PM1 votes

I go one step further than JoOo and just inform about facts.

I'll say "really aggro Draven, he's always pushed, no summs" or "first jungler to bot probably gets a double."

I get ignored as often as I get a gank, but that's not my call. Don't try to play someone else's champ for them; just tell them what you see and let them make the decision. Despite the "shotcaller" honor, most people don't actually like being told what to do in any form.

Buck Berserk2/9/2018, 11:45:08 PM1 votes

I find that the best way is by playing well. I mean, if you haven't died twice by five minutes, you're well on the path to gank town. It comes as a huge shock to many people but you may not be the most important player for your team's chances in your match. If the jungler feels his attention is better served elsewhere then elsewhere it will be. I swear to god those assholes who tell everyone they need to climb by carrying every game have caused more losses than having your nexus killed does. Also have wards about so he can sniff out a juicy countergank or know that he won't get easily countered.