So you’ve been working on your aim, reflexes and general game sense. You’ve surpassed level 7, and you’re playing ranked. But you’re struggling with your teammates and coordinating with them. This means that you need to master the art of call-outs.
Call-outs can make or break your match. Having good call-outs in a match will drastically improve you and your teammates’ awareness of the entire map, leading to the formation of intelligent strategies. Best of all, they are easy to learn.
With Season 4 coming to us in 2 weeks, call-outs are vital to learn.
The Art of Call-Outs
Call-outs should convey maximum information quickly. This means you need to keep them short and to the point. Long call-outs can be misleading, and inaccurate. By the time you have finished your words, the call-out may be false information.
Call-outs have three main types: timer call-outs, merc call-outs, and ability call-outs.
Timer Call-Outs
Timer call-outs are simple, yet require you to be able to multitask. A timer call-out should inform teammates when a long-spawn is approaching, so that they avoid dying or ‘K’ out. Hence, the call-out will also inform teammates that the enemy team will be spawning.
Another thing timers are especially important for is when a merc (friend or foe) is long spawned. When you kill an enemy merc, and they get long-spawned, call it out, especially if it is a significant kill, like a Fragger. This will allow you to decide as a team if you want to push or not.
For this, I recommend having your timer in a good place on your HUD. You can customize your HUD using my HUDEdit Software. – Version 3 soon to come 
Good Example:
“Long-Spawns in 5.”
“Our engi got longed.”
Bad Example:
“Long-Spawns in a bit.” What is ‘a bit?’
“One of them is long-spawned” Who?
Merc Call-Outs
Merc call-outs are made up of three categories:
Merc-Location Call-Outs
This type of call-out informs teammates the number of mercs in a specific location and, if possible, the mercs themselves. This will keep your teammates cautious as they approach said location.
Call out accurate information and not what you think. If you are unsure about someone in an area, do not say who you think the merc is. Instead, say the number. I understand that most of you may have trouble naming the places where you saw the mercs, and for this reason I have compiled a bunch of images of all the maps with the most important call-out location names. Check the end of this section of ‘Merc Call-Outs’ for the images.
Good Example:
“3 at MG Nest.”
“Rhino, Aura in Yellow.”
“Fragger taking forward.”
Bad Example:
“A few people at the MG area thing.” Too long, keep it shorter.
“I think that is Proxy at ramp.” Instead, say “one ramp”
“Someone is taking forward, dunno who it is.” Who is taking forward?
Another thing you can do is call-out the path the enemy is taking. For example, you could say “Proxy, Aura going from Van to EV,” to allow your team to prepare at the anticipated location.
In addition, it is importatnt to call out when you down someone, and when you gib (finish) them.
Example:
“Fragger down” can lead to either “Fragger revived” or “Fragger gibbed.”
Deployable-Ability Call-Outs
These call-outs are similar to the previous types in the sense that they convey the location of an entity. In this case, you would convey the location of a merc deployable or ability. Since these are smaller, it’s okay to be more specific as long as you are being accurate with your information.
Some ability call-out can be more finicky since they are not stationary. A good thing to keep in mind is convey not only where the ability (whether it be molotov, frag, concussion nade, rocket, etc.) is coming from, but also where its going to go.
Good Example:
“Turret behind EV next to crate.”
“Health station in generator room behind pillar.”
“Mine on ramp”
Bad Example:
“Laser incoming.” Where?
“Health station in generator room.” Where in the generator room?
“Mine.” Yours? A proxy mine?
Merc-Objective Call-Outs
Objective call-outs entail telling teammates when someone is at an objective, whether it be primary or secondary.
Good Example:
“Fletcher planting south generator”
“Engi repairing EV”
Bad Example:
“C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4!!!” SHUT UP!
“EV REPAIRING!!!” Yes, no need to shout
Ability Call-Outs
Ability call-outs are extremely important in keeping a team alive, keeping the enemy team dead, or stopping an objective. They’re also good for coordinating when to use two abilities in conjunction, or separate. This involves knowing how long your abilities are on cooldown for. You can use HUDEdit (linked previously) to change where your abilities are located.
Good Example:
“I have Laser in 10.”
“Health station in 5.”
“I’m putting shield in yellow”
Bad Example:
“Laser in a bit.” Yea, dumbass, how long?
“Health station is on cooldown” That’s great help!
“Shield up” Where?!
An extension to this is to call-out when an enemy merc is using their ability, although this overlaps with a previous section. An example would be “Fragger cooking nade near obj.”
This last type of call-out is something I am unsure about including, since they’re not call-outs per se; they’re more of requests.
Commands and Requests
There is the standard V21 = MEDIC and V22 = AMMO, and although those are fine to use, another way is to literally say “I need ammo” or “I need a revive” and describe your position, therefore allowing the medic or fire support to decide whether or not you are worth their time.
Commands involve telling your team where and when to push, plant, or defend. For this, each player needs to be aware of the merc they are playing. So, when someone wipes out the objective area, they should say something like “Turtle, plant now.” Another thing to keep in mind, do not say something like “Someone, plant now.” Make sure to state who you are talking to in order to communicate better. If a player is not addressed directly, they’ll assume you are talking to someone else, therefore causing miscommunication.
Call-outs are important to master, yet they can be difficult to get used to. For this reason, I would like to draw your attention to something called a PUB (Pick Up Game) which are held often by DBN community members. These PUGs provide the competitive environment without risk of losing your rank. Join the DBNation Discord here!
Call-out maps
Please don’t take these maps as a bible for call-outs as most call-outs in-game are made on the fly in the heat of battle. These call-outs are simply the ones most commonly used/make sense.
Dome
Bridge
Terminal
Chapel
These were the only maps provided to me by SD that showed the map itself from top-down, that’s why not all the maps are present
I had the help of some competitive members in making the images of the map call-out locations. Huge thanks to:
Rigged
x3onn
Adetonian
ArmuH
silentrage
carniee
Special thanks to Catatafish and Popey from SplashDamage for sending me the map images. Cheers guys!
If you have any questions or recommendations to change anything, feel free to comment your thoughts below 
