Comms is short for communications: the voice chat, text and pings a team uses to share information and coordinate during a match.
"Good comms" means teammates give clear, useful information; "bad comms" means silence, noise or confusion. The word also refers to the tools themselves, for example "we are on Discord comms".
How players use it
- "Comms are required, mic on, please."
- "Our comms were bad, nobody called the flank."
- "Keep comms clean, one person talking at a time."
- "Can you jump in comms? We are on Discord."
In recruiting posts, "comms" tells you that voice is expected. "No comms" or "text only" means the group does not use voice chat.
What good comms look like
- Short and specific. "Two enemies, top left, one is low" works better than long stories.
- Callouts. Positions, enemy health, ability or cooldown timing and item status help the team decide.
- One voice at a time. Overlapping speech hides information.
- Calm tone. Blame and shouting make teams worse. Muting a toxic player is fine.
- A plan. A clear leader, often called the IGL, makes decisions so the team does not argue mid-fight.
Players who cannot or do not want to talk can use pings, emotes and quick chat. Many games build these in, and they work well with random teammates.
Why comms matter
In team games such as Valorant, Counter-Strike 2 and Rainbow Six Siege, shared information often decides rounds. Co-op games like Helldivers 2 and raids also depend on callouts. A premade with voice usually has an edge over random teammates, because everyone hears the same plan.
If you do not have a team to talk to, look at /find-players, where you can see players online now for the same game and region and message them first. Say whether you want voice or text before the match starts.
Related terms
FAQ
What does "comms" mean in an LFG post?
It means voice communication is expected. A post saying "mic required" or "comms only" wants players who talk during the game.
What is the difference between comms and voice chat?
Comms is the wider idea of team communication, including voice, text, pings and callouts. Voice chat is only one tool.
What does "bad comms" mean?
The team did not share information well: missing callouts, talking over each other or staying silent.
Do I need a mic to play competitive games?
Not always, but it helps in team games. If you have no mic, use pings and text, and tell your team early.