Let me know what you consider to be effective shot calls, vs just cluttering the chat with useless spam.
For example, calling out some players cool downs is generally a good thing such as “Roadhog no hook,” “Tracer no recall,” “Reaper no wraith,” “Mei not ice block,” “Ana no sleep,” etc. Abilities that have a large impact, with a high cool down. Sometimes teammates don’t see these abilities used and it’s a signal for them that they can go in and push those characters without threat, or they can push without the enemy being able to escape.
My question to you is, what are some really important call outs that you feel should actually called out more often, and what are some call outs that you’ve heard that you feel were just cluttering the comms with useless information? Do you have any examples of some terrible shot calling that should be avoided?
The reason I’m asking this is because I want to be more effective at shot calling because on console it feels like very few people actually want to use their headset to communicate, but a lot of the time there are people in the chat who don’t talk, so maybe they’ll listen if I try to shotcall. I usually try to call out when targets are low, and sometimes I do call out certain enemy abilities, but what are some call outs that I could be missing? What do you feel makes a shot caller actually effective?
Yeah, my fiance is a support main and when people say “I need healing, can you please heal me” she tells them they should use the in game I need healing option, because that will give her a position to look for, rather than “Let me look at who was talking, and then look around and see where you are and then try to heal you”
I always call out discord targets when I play Zen, but sometimes it feels like it’s ignored, and I need to get better at finding the target my teammates are after rather then who I think should be the priority target.
I’m an Orisa main but the last couple seasons I’ve been all but forced to play Rein a lot more, and I’m much MUCH worse at Rein than Orisa, so I’m trying to supplement my lower skill level on Rein by making my all around shot calling better.
I had what I felt was my best game in terms of shotcalling the other day playing Rein on Hollywood, final score was 4-3, we won. We captured with 7 seconds remaining, they captured with 1:32 left so then we has 1:00 to attack and they had 2:15 to attack. We captured point and just barely pushed it past the first door, the next round I focused hard on their Roadhog and called out every time he used hook and every time Ana used nade or sleep, and when I did the our reaper moved in on the hog and our tracer moved in on the Ana and we were able to full hold.
I felt great about that game, and I knew for a fact that my shotcalling was a part of the reason we were able to full hold, and I want to make more games like that happen, so I’m looking for any tips people have on becoming a better shot caller, thanks for posting.
Don’t say same thing repeatedly. Same call different ways like Zen at 1, Zen has a sliver, Zen headshot, Zen low, etc will prevent the call from being lost in a meaningless din.
Heal me is a great call out as it gives urgency and the medics should know where their team is as is.
Imo good shotcalling also compliments great play/cheers team on a little especially post team fight to rally em up, make them want to listen, etc. Just don’t be excessive or coms get muddled.
Oddly enough, I find that the second statement (location of enemies) is helpful. My most common request: “Need someone on the left / right” when I’m camping on the enemy spawn points.
they are 90% just spamming the kill target name in OWL - those guys are pretty damn aware of whats going on.
“Genji Genji Genji Genji hes almost dead cmon Genji Genji ok Lucio lucio lucio lucio f*ck man kill him lucio lucio lucio SPREAD OUT SPREAD OUT TIRE SPREAD OUT lucio lucio lucio lucio ok Ana ana ana ana…”
Just going to say, using the button is 10x more helpful almost every single time.
It not only points me in your direction if you’re out of my direct LoS, but it just outright tells me who’s asking, and doesn’t expect me to memorize your voice to your hero after playing with you for 20 seconds.
If you just say “heal me” over mic, then I need to do mad 360’s to try to find who’s asking. And even then, it’s possible that I just go over to someone else thinking it was you, while you run off expecting the healer to follow you and end up dying (yes, it happens).
Oh I know. It’s not a pro shotcall clip if it doesn’t include “MONKEY MONKEY MONKEY MONKEY” in it.
But the point isn’t to have people be aware of the general situation, like you said they’re good enough at that as it is. It’s to keep the whole team on the same page because focus fire is crucial, especially when playing with a Zen.
Or just look at the icon and realize who said it. Their icon flashes in the top left. As a healer main I try to know where my teammates always are so I can be as effective and this way I can see if I’m even the better fit to heal them (like say a Pharah when I am Moira when we have a Brig v myself as Mercy). Part of the difficulty of healer is knowing 12 positions at once not just 7.
Heal me is a fine call out, if you tell the healer who’s actually saying it and generally where you are. The “I need healing” in game button gives that information automatically, so it would be best to use both if you’re really in need of healing. And while the healers should know where the team is generally, they might have lost l.o.s. to you and not know exactly where you went.
I’m not sure what’s considered “excessive” but that seems like it would vary person to person. I usually call out certain enemy abilities, ults I think the enemy may have, locations of certain enemies that may be trying to flank, and of course who is critically wounded, or who I think should be targeted.
I’m talking about on ladder. In the pro’s it’s understood that there is a primary shot caller, and you listen to them for targets and what the upcoming plans will be. On ladder there is not specified shot caller, so that kind of shotcalling would almost certainly be met with people muting or reporting you.
I meant excessive concerning non-call outs but like compliments which when interwoven work well with anons as people like being complimented by another anon. Things like Clutch Barrage or Awesome Shielding There Rein! really fire people up in my experince
everyone need to use a mic or type all the cooldown so i say if somone is reload i say it into mic or type its. say mercy is 50 health i say and if rien sheild is low i say and if hanzo is jumping i say. it all matert to win to take adventage of other player and win thew game
I see what you mean. I agree that those compliments can be helpful, but those can get excessive to, like the people who really want the shotcaller endorsement going out of their way to compliment every single action.
I’m more the type of shot caller that is giving information that I want to be useful to getting a win as opposed to a loss, if I can help let you know when to attack a vulnerable enemy, or which enemy the team should focus fire down that’s what I’m trying to do, if you get a really good play I’ll mention it, but I’m more interested in giving information and winning the game than making the teammates feel better, if you know what I mean. I don’t mean it to sound harsh, but it kind of does.
Like I said those are best seldom post fight. I’m not exactly high ranked so folks get tilted easily and anything to reduce tilt boosts your odds at winning is how I look at it.
I have the issue with getting engrossed and forgeting to so I have to work on consistency but for a low average elo player I shotcall pretty decently… when I remember to. I think by the rank it will vary what is effective as like at my rank any advanced strategy is lost beyond like “Reaper and DVa you flank left (on Volskaya) while the rest of us will break the choke in the confusion.” And even that is over their heads sometimes…
That may be a part of the healers responsibility, but why not make the healers job easier? If you need healing using the button makes it easier for them, rather than expecting them to see your icon in the brief time you said “I need healing” in comms and then being able to find you. I just try to always use the button when I need healing, and when it’s critical I say it in comms and use the button as well. I thought healers appreciated that kind of thing, I know my fiance does.