How to Change the Ping Button in Valorant

You’ve probably heard it before; teamwork is the only way you’ll succeed in Valorant. Sure, accuracy and winning games get you the points, but teamwork sets the stage for you to shine during matches.

Like any good relationship, no matter how brief, it’s all about communication.

Fortunately, Riot gives players a variety of options on the communication front, and pinging is at the top of everybody’s list. Check out this article to find out more about pinging, how to change the ping button, and other tips to stay in control during a match.

Change Your Ping Button via Valorant Control Settings

Using the ping system in Valorant is a vital part of your communication arsenal when you’re in a tough spot and need to grab your teammates’ attention. While you can use your headset or type out a message, doing so may break your concentration when you need it most.

The ‘’Z’’ key is your default ping button, but you can customize your ping settings by following the steps below:

1. Access the Settings menu, either by using the gear icon on the main screen or pressing the ‘’ESC’’ key in-game.
   
2. Go to the “Controls” tab.
   
3. Select the “Communication” section of the “Controls” menu.
   
4. Look for the heading, “Ping (Tap)/Ping Wheel (Hold).”
   
5. You can customize the ping hotkey by changing the first column and customize the Ping Wheel by changing the key in the second column.
   

The Ping Wheel

Pinging objects, enemies, or interesting scenery is one way to draw your teammates’ attention to different things in a match, but you can do so much more than place a marker that says, “Look at this!”

Using the Ping Wheel, you can convey different Strategic, Social, and of course Combat pings for any given situation. This is especially valuable if you’re a serial ping-er and tend to use the system to convey a multitude of thoughts and ideas.

Examples of notification pings include:

• Caution
• Watching Here
• Need Support
• On My Mark
• On My Way
• I’ll Take Point
• Rush Them
• Fall Back

You can enable/disable the different Ping Wheel notifications in the Controls menu.

As you might imagine, using the Ping Wheel does take a few extra seconds to bring up on-screen. When you’re in hot water and don’t have time to fiddle with a dialog wheel, you can always customize your hotkeys to work on a “per-ping” basis. Set one to mean specific messages, like “Caution!” or “Need Support.”

Pinging the Mini Map

The ping system works great when you want to bring attention to an object right in front of you. It’s not so ideal, though, if you want to ping things in multiple locations – unless you use the mini-map.

To ping the map, follow these steps below:

1. Bring up the map by pressing the “M” key (default) or whichever key you chose to bind the map key.
   
2. Left-click on the different areas you’d like to ping.
   
3. You can even ping simple callouts like “Caution” and “Need Support” by holding down the mouse button to open the Ping Wheel.
4. Press the “Exit Settings Menu” button to enact changes and return to the game.

Pinging the map is a faster way to communicate with teammates, especially for those of you who don’t or can’t use a headset.

Frequently Asked Questions

As mentioned previously, the Ping option is incredibly important in Valorant. We’ve included this section to answer more of your questions.

Can I Change Other Keybindings Besides Ping?

You can change a variety of keybindings in Valorant by going to the Settings menu and selecting the Control tab. From there, you can choose from a variety of sub-headings that control everything from movement to interface.

Here are some examples of the keybindings that you can alter:

Movement

• Front

• Back

• Left

• Right

• Strafe Left

• Strafe Right

• Jump

• Crouch

Equipment

• Fire (regular, alternate)

• Operator Zoom

• Aim Down Sights

• Sniper Rifle Aim

• Equip Weapon (primary, secondary, melee)

• Drop Weapon

• Cycle Weapon

• Use/Equip Ability (1-3, Ultimate)

Communication

• Push to Talk (party voice, team voice)

• Radio Commands

• Ping/Ping Wheel

Interface

• Combat Report

• Show Team Loadouts

• Open Armory

• Open Map

• Show Scoreboard

Keybinding Pro Tips for Valorant

There’s no one “right way” to customize your keybindings. Configurations that work for one player may not work for another. If you’re looking for a different configuration than you currently have, though, you’ve come to the right place. Check out what the pros have to say about their own keyboard configurations and try out a few.

1. Toggle vs. Hold Options

Many pro Valorant players prefer to use “hold” options whenever possible. They claim that holding down a specific button, like the ‘’Left Shift’’ key, instead of pressing it once to turn it on or off gives them more control in-game and limits reaction time.

2. Bunny Hopping or Jumping

Another popular keybinding choice amongst pro players is to bind the “jump” movement to “mouse wheel down.” The action of flicking the wheel in a downwards motion can help eliminate accidental jumps while shooting with a mouse button.

3. No Weapon Cycling

This may be a point of contention, so you’ll have to try it out for yourself. Some players say that cycling through every weapon can slow you down at critical times in the game. Instead, they prefer to bind weapons to numerical keys so that they always have the weapon they need when they need it.

4. Keybinding Zones

If you’re thinking of customizing your keybinding, try to keep your movement keys and attack/abilities separated into different zones or on another device completely. For example, you can keep your standard WASD on the keyboard for movements.

However, you may want to think about binding your abilities and attack/shoot buttons relegated to your mouse.

If you have a gamer mouse, it’s a little easier to assign multiple attack buttons on the same device, but if you have a standard mouse, you may have to settle for keeping your buttons assigned to different sides of the keyboard.

Ideally, zoning your buttons can help your reaction time to in-game events because one hand is taking care of movement and the other is responsible for attacks.

Another school of thought regarding keybinding zones is to keep the actions you use the most within reach of the four fingers on your left hand, sans thumb. Save your thumb for little-used keys or actions bound to the space bar. Theoretically, keeping these action buttons close reduces travel time and possible mistakes when you’re in intense situations in-game.

5. Pinging the Mini Map

As mentioned before, pinging your mini-map is a great way to mark multiple locations at the same time. With a simple keystroke, you can bring up your mini-map and mark enemies without leaving cover or backtracking to a location to leave a ping. You can also plan advances ahead of time by pinging areas you haven’t reached yet.

Regardless of your pinging method, just remember that communication is key in a game like Valorant and can help boost your win rate exponentially.

6. Keep It Simple

It’s tempting to try out the same keybindings that your favorite pro players use, hoping it gives you that special edge in a match. Before you go changing all your keys, though, just remember that they customize their keyboard to make things simpler for themselves.

Most of the time, pro players use the same keys that they used in other competitive games like CS:GO. This way, they already have the muscle memory for certain actions and don’t waste valuable time retraining themselves for common actions.

If the default settings are the same for games you already play, you may want to leave them alone. Your mind and hands are already trained to reach for those keys anyway, so it’s better to keep it simple.

7. Always Default Movement to Run

Lastly, you may wonder whether you should keep your default movement on “walk” or “run.” The answer to this question is a simple one and the only thing you have to do is think back to your last match. Did you find yourself running or walking from cover to cover? The answer was probably “running,” right?

It makes sense, then, to make sure that every time you press a movement key, you’re always in “run” mode. This is a fast-paced game where you’re always running from point to point, so it doesn’t make sense to keep your default on “walk” and then toggle a “run” key throughout the game. It just takes up an extra finger and keybinding that you could use for something else.

Ping Your Way to Victory

Pinging is an integral way to keep open communication going in a match without wasting valuable time typing a reply. It also makes it easier for teammates who don’t have a mic or prefer to remain silent throughout a match to contribute to the team.

Just remember to keep your pings short and clear and resist the temptation to spam your ping button for silly things. Your teammates depend on concise directives to win a match. If you ping too many false alarms, they may just ignore you when you need them the most.

How important is the ping system to you during a match? Do you prefer pinging or using other communication systems in the game? Let us know in the comments section below.