Pinging is a valuable tool for gamers of all types, since it provides the opportunity to communicate with your teammates without saying a word. In Valorant, pinging is as simple as holding the Alt key down and left-clicking on an object or location on the screen.
โPingโ will appear above your characterโs head when you successfully ping an object, giving your team crucial information about what is going on in that part of the map. Pings will also show up as a yellow circle on the minimap. If you click outside of the menu by accident, make sure to press X or Backspace to cancel pinging.
Pings have four colors: red, orange, green and blue, each color representing a different state.
โข Red: Bad ping, the object is in a terrible spot, your team should avoid it at all costs.
โข Orange: Decent ping, not too good or bad. The object may be worth checking out or disregarded depending on the situation.
โข Green: Great ping, your teammates should know this area is safe to move through without fear of enemies hiding around corners.
โข Blue: Awesome ping! Your teammates need to check this area out ASAP because thereโs probably an enemy nearby that needs dealing with immediately.
To give more specific pings, hold alt down and left-click again on an object/location after youโve already used Alt+left click once for a general (red/orange/green/blue) ping.
โข Draw circle: Draw an orange circle around an object to ask teammates to check it out.
โข Red X: Ping the exact location of an enemy in red to report their position so your team can quickly take them down.
โข Green Checkmark: Tell your team there is nothing dangerous in this area, you checked it thoroughly and found no enemies hiding around any corners.
โข Locked Door : Let teammates know that this door or chest is locked, theyโll need a keycard to access it. Remember that you donโt have to press alt twice when pinging objects with keys โ just one click will suffice since the game already knows youโre trying to give information about an item. This also works for โLockedโ/โUnlockedโ states on doors.
โข Explosive barrel: Ping this object to warn your team of impending danger in the area, best if theyโre far away from it so that they can escape with their lives.
The most effective way to use pings is often the least obvious at first glance โ rather than trying to give detailed information about a specific enemyโs position or an objectiveโs location with each ping, simply focus on giving color-coded general information about what youโd like teammates to do in that particular part of the map.
For example, when entering a new room full of enemies, call out their locations by color instead of looking for them specifically and letting them know where you are at all times. That way, you can save your teammates some time and make it easier for them to understand whatโs going on.
โข Red: Enemies ahead! Prepare for battle.
โข Orange: Enemies in the area that may target your healer or another teammate carrying an objective if they become aware of their presence. Get ready to move as a team.
โข Green: Enemies are mostly dead, this area is clear and safe to move through without worry so quickly escort the objective carrier past this section and keep moving towards victory!
Use pings sparingly and try not to call out specific enemies unless theyโre not showing up on the minimap at all โ otherwise your teammates will find themselves spending more time trying to figure out where you want them to go than actually doing anything useful. Even if youโre not the best shot or the most knowledgeable about whatโs going on in a match, using pings well will make it much easier for everyone to work together and win the game!
Pinging is a vital method for maintaining open communication during a game without delaying the flow of play by typing a response. It also makes it simpler for teammates who donโt have a microphone but want to contribute to the team to do so.
Always keep your pings short and clear, and resist the urge to spam your ping button for everything from funny commands to academic debates. Your teammates will be grateful if you can give them simple instructions. If you ping too many false alarms, they may simply disregard you when you need them most.