In team games, Communication is one of the most important things to master if you want to compete. Everyone should know what the plan is, regardless of if it changes on the fly. Since it’s hard to play at your 100% best when you’re also trying to talk a lot and communicate, teams divide up communication responsibilities in a couple of ways. We’ll go over a couple of universal roles here.
The Captain is the player that other players listen to and trust to put them in the best place to succeed. Captains are leaders that the team can rally around. Captains don’t have to be the best players or the smartest players as long as they can get everyone on the same page. They take information from other players and help create a plan of action that the team can then execute.
Some captain-like qualities include:
Gets Everyone Involved
Talkative
Positive Attitude
Trusted by teammates
Captains also tend to help the coaches out by being a vocal part of the team during team activities. Students who are natural talkers and understand the flow of the game make excellent candidates for captaincy. Captains may not always be right or have the best plays, but count on your Captain to lead and resolve team disagreements and discussions - and your squad will be stronger as a whole.
The Shot Caller is someone who can quickly process what’s happening in front of them and direct the team’s attention to specific details in the middle of explosive moments. The key difference between captains and shot callers is that, where captains make plans and get the team coordinated, shot callers are vocal during the execution of those plays and get the team’s coordinated focus turned on a single target.
Shot Callers should be:
Not easily overwhelmed
Can play and talk at the same time
Attentive to details
Vocal and Positive
In esports, it’s often better to follow a shot caller’s bad decision and fail than to ignore them and do what you think is best. Why? By doing your own thing, you’ll be splitting your own team into two - leading to almost certain failure regardless of what the “correct” play is. Following the call means your whole team will be on the same page. In fact, sometimes doing the “wrong” play as a full team can sometimes work better than a split team doing the “right” thing.
Trackers aren’t as vocal as Shot Callers and Captains, but are equally vital to the team’s coordination. Trackers are people who follow calls and keep track of specific things during the action so the Captain and Shot Caller can do their job more effectively.
Some important information for a Tracker to mind:
Health Pools
Ultimate Abilities
Key Team-Fight Abilities
Objective Spawns
Every player should, at the very least, keep tabs on their opposite matchup, or another player in their role. This way, the entire team is responsible for keeping track of individual members of the opposing team. But, if you are wondering if a character will have an ultimate or if the enemy buff is coming up, having a dedicated Tracker may be useful for your team.