Apex Legends Comms and Pings Guide (2026): Callouts That Win

Apex Legends launched with a ping system so complete that a squad of strangers can loot, rotate and fight without anyone using a microphone. Most players still use a fraction of it. This guide goes through all of it: the default buttons, every option on the ping wheel, enemy pings, item requests and replies, and what changed in recent seasons. Then it covers voice: a callout formula short enough for a fight, the vocabulary EA itself uses, who should talk when, a ping-only plan for solo queue, and the voice and accessibility settings. The ping and setting facts come from EA and the Apex Legends Wiki; the comms habits are BoostPirate's coaching.

Ping basics: three presses

The Apex Legends Wiki's controls page lists the defaults: middle mouse on PC, or the right bumper (RB on Xbox, R1 on PlayStation) on a controller. Every ping plays a voice line from your legend and, if chat is enabled, a chat message, so even a teammate looking the other way hears it. Three presses do almost everything:

The other wheel calls — Going, Looting, Defending, Watching and Someone's Been Here — have no key by default, but you can bind them in Controls. Binding Enemy Here and Going Here to spare keys or mouse buttons is the single most useful comms change BoostPirate's coaches make for new players.

Every ping on the wheel, and when to use it

Options in the wiki's clockwise order; uses are BoostPirate's advice.

The wheel is most useful for the calls a basic ping can't make. Watching Here tells the squad you hold an angle so they can loot or heal; Defending Here says "we stay"; Someone's Been Here on an open door or a looted bin warns that a squad passed — EA's glossary has words for what comes next, from mirroring (following another team's route) to pinching. Pinging on the map works too: open it and ping the building you want to rotate to, and every teammate sees the marker in the world.

Requests, replies and item pings

Pings work inside menus as well. According to the wiki, pinging a gear, attachment or survival slot in your inventory requests that item, pinging a weapon or its ammo requests that ammo type, and pinging your Ultimate's icon tells the squad it's ready. Teammates answer item pings with Dibs and other pings with:

Ok

Acknowledges a basic, Enemy Here or Someone's Been Here ping

No / I Can't

Declines — say why on voice if you can

I'll Join You

Answers Looting, Attacking, Going, Defending or Watching Here

Dibs

Claims a pinged weapon or item

Recent seasons automated some requests:

1. Season 22 · 5 Aug 2024

   Ammo pings show the ammo icon in the kill feed; emptying all reserve ammo auto-pings that you need ammo.

2. Takeover · 10 Feb 2025

   Low ammo or heals prompts you to ping nearby loot you need; Survey Beacon and Ring Console sounds quieter for your own squad.

3. Season 29 · 4 May 2026

   Per-teammate voice volume in the squad menu; clearer voice chat; voice lines when several enemy shields crack in quick succession.

4. Season 31 · 2 Nov 2026

   No ping changes; Text to Speech fixed on Xbox One.

Voice callouts: who, where, do

Pings show where. Voice adds how much and what now. BoostPirate's callout formula has three parts, in this order, and nothing else during a fight:

1. Who — number and state

   "One", "two", "three" for how many you see; "cracked", "knocked", "low" for their state. "One cracked" is the most useful two words in Apex.

2. Where — a landmark, not a direction

   "Blue truck", "top of the stairs", "behind the rock". Pair it with a ping and the landmark becomes exact. Compass numbers work too, but landmarks are faster to say.

3. Do — one instruction

   "Push", "hold", "reset", "rotate". If you're not the in-game leader, say what you are doing instead: "I'm healing", "I'm on the left".

Damage calls belong to the first part. "Hit 100" or "one cracked" is worth more than "I hit him". To make the numbers mean something, know the shields: the Apex Legends Wiki lists Evo Shield levels at 50, 75, 100 and 125 points on top of 100 health, so "hit 100" on a purple-shield player means they're cracked and "hit 150" means they're one clean burst from a knock.

EA's own vocabulary

A squad that shares words calls faster. EA Help's terms guide defines the ones you'll hear most in a fight:

Cracked

"A term for broken armor."

Focus

"Focusing your attacks on one enemy player."

Poke

"When you keep attacking an enemy from afar to damage their health and armor over time."

Third partied

"Two squads are fighting and another team joins in, becoming the third party."

Knocked

"Your Legend is downed and needs a knockdown shield to be revived."

Thirst

"Killing a player that's been knocked down so you can take their items."

IGL

"A team's leader in-game."

Hot drop

"An area of a map that attracts a lot of players."

The positional words — rotate, playing edge, playing zone, gatekeeping, anchoring — are in the rotations guide, and "third partied" has its own third-partying guide.

Who talks when

EA's glossary defines the IGL as "a team's leader in-game". A squad without one argues; a squad with two argues louder. Agree before the drop who makes the final call on rotations and fights. BoostPirate's split for a three-player squad:

In a fight, only fight information. Loot chat, jokes and the last match's review wait until the squad is safe.

Solo queue: a ping-only playbook

Many ranked squads in solo queue never say a word. The ping system was built for exactly that, and a squad that pings well beats a silent one that doesn't:

Three habits matter most. Ping every enemy you see, even one you think the others saw. Ping where you're going before you go, so nobody wanders off alone. And answer pings — an "Ok" or "I'll Join You" tells a teammate their plan was heard. When you're knocked, the help ping alerts your squad; when you're dead, ping your Deathbox so they collect your banner, then ping the nearest Respawn Beacon.

Voice and accessibility settings

• Push to TalkAudio settings: Voice Chat Record Mode — push to talk or open mic (default key T)
• Per-teammate volumeSquad menu, added in Season 29 alongside clearer voice chat
• Speech-to-textAccessibility: incoming voice converted to chat text
• Text-to-speechAccessibility: incoming text chat read aloud — fixed on Xbox One in Season 31
• Ping OpacityGameplay: Default or Faded, so pings don't cover targets
• Mono audioAudio option added on 10 February 2025 for players with limited hearing

Use push to talk if your room is noisy — open mic that broadcasts a keyboard drowns out the callouts that matter. The rest of the setup is in the best settings guide.

Common comms mistakes