### What to Communicate --- To be an effective member of your combo, you need to be able to recognize and communicate a large number of variables to your team. Below is a non-exhaustive list of important things to keep in mind that are worth some level of communication to your team depending on the circumstance. - [[Spy Tracking|Spy status]] - Cross times (including the most likely path) - Spy time (including out of position/most likely targets) - Current focus coms ("I'm watching bomb/spy/looking forward etc") - Immediate threats (bombs, spies, uncalled flank classes, uncalled snipers, etc) - Important information about your in fight contributions (stuffing ubers, planning to die, post uber etc) - Damage done (generally only if it can be followed up on) ### When to Communicate --- > [!Warning] Note > The exact things you will be responsible for communicating can range greatly from team to team. It is highly recommended to discuss with your team what they want you to be responsible for and try not to stray far from it in coms. The most consistent thing you will be responsible for communicating on almost any team is spy timing. Using your understanding of [[Spy Tracking |spy tracking]] and your teams [[Vulnerability assessment|vulnerabilities]], you can let your team know when and where the spy will be crossing. This will allow players outside the combo to check for the cross and catch it more often. On top of this, you can let your teammates know if they are vulnerable to the spy and not being protected, and make sure to communicate when it is spy time. Reminding your team that the spy is dead during fights and to look forward can be helpful as well. Considering that the enemy team will be attempting to collapse on your combo together, take into account what classes are with your combo and communicate where your focus is. With good micro, it is possible to deny multiple classes, but it can be very helpful to your team to let them know where you will be looking during a sac or collapse. Generally this is as simple as saying "I'm watching for bombs", but can be more specific in telling other people to watch for something else. This can vary by map and by point, on top of situationally, so don't just assume that your team will know where you are going to focus. > [!example] > If my team is using the [[Vigil]] first fence hold, I like to ask my engi to keep an eye on hill for the spy so that I don't have to spread my focus as far. This also ensures that we aren't overlapping our spy checking and creating gaps for the spy to take advantage of. Another example of this is letting my engineer focus on spy checking the shutter area on [[Ashville]]. This allows you to keep a better eye on both bombs and the other angles that spy can approach from. Trust your teammates to do their jobs and communicate the spreading of responsibilities. Adding your voice to help call various threats and player positions can be very helpful to your team, but it is not always needed or wanted depending on the team environment. Calling any uncalled snipers will pretty much always be good for your team, but some players would prefer not to have extra coms relating to flank plays outside of general spy timing. Better spies will more consistently be able let you know where and when soldiers will be bombing from and doubling up on positional coms is generally only going to clutter things for your teammates. Communicating to your team that you've stuffed an uber, put players out of position, or the end of an uber that you've stuffed can be extremely helpful. Especially if your team is kiting an uber, other members of the combo may be completely out of sight and have no idea exactly when a stuffed uber will be fading or how successfully you have stuffed an uber. In situations like these it is also important to communicate if you are planning to [[Health and damage management#^2ce58e|die]] to stuff for your team On any class, it can be valuable to communicate how much damage you've done to a target. This doesn't mean you need to clutter coms every time you light someone on fire, but anytime you do a large amount of damage that can be followed up on by your team, it can be worth calling out. On top of this it can be useful to let your team know if you've lit the sniper on fire and removed his buff and started making him flinch. This can allow your sniper to take an advantages peek with the information and fuel a push for your team.