How to communicate with Valorant teammates (February 2024)

In Valorant, effective communication with your teammates could mean the difference between winning and losing. If you are playing casually or competitively, improving your communication skills will greatly increase your chances of success. In tactical shooters such as this one, every callout and piece of information is crucial.

This article explores Valorant actionable callouts, strategies, and tools necessary for effective communication.

Effective Valorant callouts for communicating with teammates

The most effective way to assist your team is by promptly communicating any information you gather about the enemy. Share what you know as soon as possible so your team can act on it sooner. When making callouts, ensure you include all essential details rather than aiming for brevity at the cost of important information.

Here are various callouts that can aid you in efficiently expressing your strategy during a Valorant match:

Basic map callouts

Heaven: An elevated position
Hell: The area directly beneath Heaven on a bombsite.
Back site: The primary pathway connecting the Attacker spawn and a bombsite.
Main: The primary pathway connecting the Attacker spawn and a bombsite.
Long: The longest route on the map, spanning between the defender and attacker sides.
Short: The shortest route on the map, linking the defender and attacker sides.
Cubby: A small hiding spot within a map.
Link: A pathway connecting two areas of the map.
Elbow: Any path forming an L-shape on the map.

In-game terms

Thrifty: Achieving victory while spending fewer than 2500 credits compared to the opposing team.
Half Buy: When the team has a credit discrepancy, the richer members buy less than they could to balance the economy while still ensuring enough funds for the next round.
Eco: Instruct the team to save money by purchasing inexpensive weapons/items or abstaining from buying.
Anti-Eco: A strategy your team can employ to combat the enemies eco-round.A strategy employed by your team to counter the enemy's eco-round.
Force: A risky strategy of spending credits even when unable to afford utility, rifles, and full shields.
Dinked: When a player has been headshot but is still alive.
Drop: Providing a weapon to a teammate if one has surplus credits.
One-way: A smoke deliberately positioned to benefit one side, with a gap below allowing defenders to see attackers while the attackers have limited or no vision of the defenders.
Timing: This refers to luck when an enemy or ally slips past enemies at just the right moment.

Common FPS terms

Whiff: Failing to hit an easy target.
Util: Refers to a Valorant agent’s abilities.
Peek/Swing: Briefly checking a position where an opponent might be, aiming to eliminate them.
Pre-fire: Firing at common spots in anticipation of encountering enemies.
Retake: Recapturing control of a site that has been taken over by attackers.
CT / T: Signifying Attacker/Defender respectively
Fake: Confusing opponents with a fake defusal sound queue.
Anchor: A defender responsible for securing an entire site.
Entry: Attacking moves to breach a site and secure eliminations.
Exit frag: Defenders eliminating Attackers attempting to escape the spike explosion.
Tagged: Informing teammates of prior damage inflicted on an opponent.
Bait: Executing a tactic to entice a response from the opposing team, be it their agents or their abilities.
Care: A teammate's alert about a nearby or potential danger.
Trade: Swiftly avenging a fallen teammate.

3 important strategies to communicate with Valorant teammates

1) Establishing a crossfire

Ascent B Main crossfire (Image via Sportskeeda/Valoplant)

In Valorant, when you and your teammates know the enemy's position and have multiple allies alive, you can strategically position yourselves around corners and chokepoints. This positioning forces the enemy to engage one of your teammates first, allowing you to capitalize on their distraction.

This tactic, known as "setting up a crossfire" or "swinging off contact," requires careful positioning and communication between you and your teammates. The teammate likely to make initial contact should signal, "Swing off me." Meanwhile, the teammate planning to capitalize on the distraction should signal, "I'll swing off your contact."

This catches enemies off guard and disrupts their aim when facing multiple opponents from different angles simultaneously.

2) Accounting for ally and enemy abilities

Valorant distinguishes itself in the FPS genre with its inclusion of character abilities, which can significantly impact the outcome of a match. During intense skirmishes, these abilities are used strategically to gain an advantage in gunfights and control specific areas of the map. By paying attention to which abilities your allies and enemies are using, you can predict and influence the flow of the round.

Understanding these abilities is crucial for gaining early insight into the match and maintaining focus. For instance, if you have accounted that the enemy has used all their blinding and deterring abilities, you can coordinate with your teammate to hold chokepoints rather than engage in trading utilities or aggressive plays.

3) Identifying the spike planter

Valorant scorecard (Image via Reddit/u/abcDroid)

In Valorant, knowing who planted the Spike can greatly impact your team's strategy when retaking a site.

While retaking a site, checking the scoreboard before and after the Spike gets planted, you can quickly determine which Agent's Ultimate points increased by one. Players earn Ultimate points for planting the Spike, which is visible in the scoreboard accessible by pressing the "Tab" key.

Communicating this information to your team helps them understand the enemy's positioning, as the Spike planter is likely still on the site. This might seem complicated to implement at first, but this crucial insight helps your team predict the enemy's probable positions during the retake through deduction.

In-game chatting tools in Valorant

All in-game chat actions can be accessed by pressing a button. This allows players to communicate via text during matches. Valorant offers several chat options:

All Chat
Team Chat
Party Chat
Whisper

Each of these chats serves its purpose. However, All and Team Chat are available in specific game modes in Valorant, including Competitive, Unrated, Deathmatch, Spike Rush, Escalation, Custom Game, etc.

To access these chat options:

While in a Valorant match, press "Enter" to open the chat box. By default, it will be for Team Chat.
Team Chat: Press SHIFT + Enter, type /team followed by the message, then press Enter to send.
Party Chat: Press SHIFT + Enter, type /party followed by the message, then press Enter to send.
All Chat: Press SHIFT + Enter, type /all followed by the message, then press Enter to send.
Whisper Chat: Press CTRL + Enter, type the player's name, then press Tab to switch to typing the message.

Players can also disable the chat filter in the "Settings" menu under the Communication tab. This allows them to see if anyone on the opposing team has used offensive or toxic language.