Clearing

Most kills in OW come from an enemy on high ground you never saw. Shooting and peeking the upper angles to shut them down before you push out removes the starting point for a sudden focus or an Ult. It is not a term for "taking" high ground — it is the concept on the other side, nullifying the enemy's high ground and off-angles, and it functions as the prerequisite work for Staging. Where pre-fire is placing shots ahead of time on a line where someone should be, clearing refers to active scouting and sightline checking in general before a push, sometimes ending in a kill and sometimes only in confirming a position. As the process of checking that everyone's vision is accounted for before pushing into open terrain, before entering a contest, or before a close, it is one of the prerequisites a coach can put into words most easily.

Before a contest, a close, or a push out, run shots and sightlines through the high ground and the upper and lower off-angles to check for hidden enemies. Use it as the basis for not starting the push while an uncleared angle remains, and treat it as paired with the go signal for Staging.