If you are not a big fan of using voice chat in Valorant, but you want to remain a team player, there is a great solution that traveled from League of Legends (that doesn’t have a voice chat at all) – pings. This guide will teach you what pings are and how to ping in Valorant.
What are Pings in Valorant?
Pings, not to be confused with the Internet ping, are used to mark objects/locations to give information to your team. You can mark enemy locations, dropped weapons, or do different callouts using your agent’s voice.
The same mechanic is used with Pings in League of Legends, and it comes in very handy as a replacement for regular chats. In some cases, it may be even better as it allows everyone to remain focused on the game.
Ping the right thing at the right moment, and you may get an advantage that can turn the tables of the round!
How to Ping?
By default, your ping button is bound to the mouse wheel button. This bind is very comfortable as you don’t have to move your hands much to get to the button. And you have to ping fast to give info to your team when playing.
To ping, you need to press the ping button for a quick ping. It will automatically define the type of ping depending on what you were aiming at.
With a quick ping, you can:
- Ping Enemies
- Mark Dropped weapons
- Mark Locations
- Ping the Spike
Alternatively, you can hold the ping button to open Valorant’s ping wheel. The ping wheel offers a few more detailed pings, such as:
- On my way
- Danger
- Push (with a countdown to attack)
- Caution
While you can do that in-game while you are alive, you can also ping when you are eliminated. For that, open the map by pressing “M” (default keybind) and start pinging the locations there. With this, you can give the latest information about the enemies on the spot where you died. And that info is very valuable.
Related Article: How Long a Typical Valorant Game Is
Changing the Keybinds for Valorant Pings
If you don’t like the default keybinds, you can easily change them in the Valorant settings. All the keybinds you need are in the “Communication” section under the “Controls” tab.
Here you can change the keybindings for using voice chat, pings, and radio commands. By default, some of the keybinds are not set. Like the one for the dedicated caution ping. So if you want, you can set up a keybind for every kind of ping there is. But you may need a bigger keyboard.
Valorant’s Radio Commands
Apart from pings, you can also use radio commands to communicate without using voice chat. Radio commands are a selection of lines that your agent can say. You can use them to request healing, suggest an attack plan, or just say hello.
You can start using these commands in two ways. The first one is by opening the communication menu by pressing the period “.” button. It opens a small menu in the bottom right corner that you can navigate through via number keys.
The second way is to use hold the comma “,” key to open the radio command wheel. You can pick from different commands and switch to social/strategy commands by scrolling up/down respectively.
Both options give access to the same commands, but the communication menu also has a tab for tactical commands. Those commands are not available in the command wheel.
Combat Radio Commands
When you open the radio command wheel, the first wheel you will see is the combat command wheel. These commands are all about communicating during the action. You get hurt? Scream “Need Healing” or ask for support.
Here’s the full list of Valorant’s combat radio commands:
- Caution
- I’ll Take Point
- On My Way
- Watching Area
- Need Support
- Ultimate Status
- Need Healing
- Rotating
Use them in the middle of the fight to stay in touch with your team. And you will get a chance to gain an advantage.
Social Radio Commands in Valorant
These commands are simple lines that can be used in many ways. They take slightly longer than pings in Valorant to execute, yet radio commands can be used to communicate something richer. You can say hello at the start of the game or use them to reply to the combat and strategy commands. To be honest, you can use them to react to something others type or say in regular chats.
Here’s the list of all the social commands:
- Yes
- Thanks
- Commend
- No
- Sorry
- Hello
Use them to interact with others instead of just making statements with combat or strategy commands.
Related Article: How to Remake a Match in Valorant
Strategy Radio Commands
The strategy commands are akin to Valorant pings when you are in the fight. They are for planning the fight. Some of the lines like “Let’s Rotate” or “Rush Them” may look similar to the combat commands, but they are there just because you may need them in both environments.
The strategy commands are made so you can coordinate the attack while out of combat. You can decide on the entry point or the appropriate strategy.
Here’s the full list of strategy radio commands in Valorant:
- Play For Picks
- Rush Them
- Let’s Rotate
- Be Quiet
- Going C
- Fall Back
- Going B
- Going A
Use the strategy commands to come up with the perfect plan to knock the enemy down!
Quick Comms using Valorant Pings and Radio Commands
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to stay in contact with your team without using voice or text chat. As those two can get a little too distracting during the game. Between quick pings and pre-set radio commands in Valorant, you can get whatever point across you need with ease and speed.
Of course, in ranked matches, I would highly recommend using voice chat. Voice chat spammers are a pretty rare occasion in ranked. At least in my experience.
Now you know how to use Valorant’s pings and radio commands, so put that to good use. Help your team and yourself to get that Radiant! For more insights to improve, you should check out our guide on how to get better aim in Valorant.
