Alright, I just tooled around with 'Smart Ping' and I’m going to go ahead and say it’s one my favorite new functions in League of Legends. At its core, this new feature reduces the need to type greatly. Imagine you’re playing mid and suddenly the enemy Kassadin disappears. Time for some alt, left click, drag mouse, “enemy missing," and BOOM – the team knows. Sure “mia” takes all of one second to type, but that could easily result in a missed last hit! That’s unacceptable. These pings are for quick communication and decisive gameplay.
If you’re not an 'alt' pinger, you can still click the ping icons on top of the mini map. Each ping has a unique icon and sound to it. There are four in total and include: danger, assist me, on my way, and enemy missing. If you don’t want to use the new pings and adapt to the new times, the old ones still exist and work in the same function.
The 'enemy missing' and 'on my way' ping are most intriguing. Like previously mentioned, I love the idea of just clicking the lane or mini map instead of typing 'mia'. The 'on my way' ping puts an arrow where you ping so your teammates know which direction you’re heading. This will help coordinate ganks like never before. Awesome, right?
While this will still help when you play with four of your buddies, I can see this feature being particularly help in solo/duo ranked. Communication can often get derp and I foresee this helping. I just hope the trolls and spammers don't abuse the system. Now they have ONE more tool to drive me crazy.
