Kill feed, enemy spotted and the scoreboard

Top right, every time someone dies, a line appears: who killed, with what, who died, sometimes with an icon for a headshot or a wallbang. Many players read it to see "who is doing well". That is a wasted use.

Every kill feed line asks you three questions:

• where did it happen? (check the minimap: that is where the fight is);
• how many are left now, on both sides?
• what changes? A dead defender on A means A is weaker; your dead lurker means nobody is watching that area anymore.

The alive count in particular is fundamental: 4v3 or 3v4 completely changes the right choices.

When a teammate sees an enemy, the game marks it on the minimap with a red marker (enemy spotted), even if your teammate says nothing. Many recon abilities do the same.

It is the "freest" information there is: it takes no action from you, just a glance. The minimap chapter covers it. Here, just remember that a red marker is a snapshot: it shows where the enemy was at that moment.

The scoreboard (opened with a key during the match) is full of useful information, and almost nobody uses it during rounds. The most important:

• your teammates' money: in the buy phase it tells you who can buy what, and who needs a gun;
• everyone's ultimates, teammates and opponents: how many points they have and whether they are ready. Knowing the enemy has an ultimate ready that can lock down a site, or bring a teammate back, changes how you should play the round (ult economy);
• each player's agent and how their match is going.

The scoreboard does not show the enemy's money: you estimate it from how earlier rounds ended (how many they lost in a row, whether they planted, whether they saved guns). The economy part covers this.

When you die, the round is not over for you. You can watch living teammates and see what they see, and you often see things they miss: an enemy coming from the side, utility on the way, time running out.

The golden rules for dead players:

• short information: "one left", "time, you have to go", "he's low";
• no commentary on the round or on who messed up: it distracts and drowns out sound;
• silence in delicate moments (a clutch, a defuse), except for one decisive piece of information.

And right after you die, one very important thing: say where and by whom you were killed, in a few words. "One B back, Odin". It is the last information you can give, and often the most valuable.

The scoreboard updates in real time, and that hides a trick attentive players use: enemy ultimate points also go up when they collect an orb or plant. If during the round you see an enemy's points go up without them getting a kill or dying, they probably picked up an orb: and you roughly know where the orbs are on the map.

It is not something to check every second, but in quiet moments, or while dead, it can tell you where an enemy nobody has seen was standing.

Kill feed, minimap and scoreboard tell the same story from three angles. One way to use them together:

1. start of the round (scoreboard): who has money, who has their ultimate ready, on both sides;
2. during the round (minimap): where teammates, spotted enemies and abilities are;
3. at every kill (kill feed + minimap): where, how many of you are left, who is unaccounted for.

The scoreboard also shows each player's scores and stats. They are interesting after the match, to understand how it went, but during rounds they distract. A player with few kills who gave information, delayed and traded may have contributed more than someone with many. Use them to learn, not to judge teammates.