Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for adaptive hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) communication for changing a reference signal (RS) configuration between one or more re-transmissions. In some embodiments, the method includes detecting a failure to decode a first communication from a network entity. The method may also include determining one or more communication metrics associated with the first communication. The method may also include selecting a physical parameter configured to identify the one or more communication metrics associated with the first communication, and transmitting a second communication in accordance with the selected physical parameter to the network entity in response to detecting the failure to decode the first communication.