CS:GO tips for competitive players (Part 1)

Intro

Today I’ve decided to share some tips with you competitive CS: GO players. The tips discussed here are probably not of essential if you are playing in a for-fun casual server, but will come in handy during a competitive game.    

#1 Know your grenades well!

In competitive matchmaking, it is more than advised to be knowledgeable about grenades, as this will give you the edge when capturing or holding off a bomb site. From my experience, missing the basics here puts you at grave disadvantage as a CT. You might find the terrorists being so skilled at smoke grenades that more than half of the site is already lost before you’ve even seen the enemy team. 

When combined with skillful flash grenades, your team can turn into an unstoppable force as this will not only make your enemy hide while they’re flashed, but also allow you to take a better position. A good example is a situation where someone is waiting for you to come around the corner – first, you throw the flash for a good look-out, and then you can go in all guns blazing. I encourage you to have a look at one of the many tutorials for grenade use in CS: GO. I suggest YouTube as it is full of content-rich tips and tricks for all kinds of game situations.

Here, the Terrorists have smoked off my Vision from A site in de_mirage

Top tip:  Not all people know this – in CS: GO there are two ways of throwing a grenade. One is with the left mouse click – the usual as far as I can throw it technique. The other way uses the right mouse click – a gentle throw that lands the grenade just by your feet.

#2 Be keen on using the sound to your benefit

The deeper you delve in the ranks of competitive CS: GO matches, the more you learn that sound is a huge giveaway as almost everything you do makes sound.  To drive this point home, consider that the following activities all produce sound: running, jumping, dropping off small heights or landing from a jump, planting/defusing a bomb, dropping your weapon, reloading, switching to burst/automatic fire mode, FAMAS and Glock weapons, grenade bouncing off a surface or going off/exploding, zooming in with an optical weapon, and, of course, firing your weapon and having bullets hit an object.

I might have missed something, but you should get the idea. Depending on which of the mentioned things you do, there is a certain range in which you can hear these things. By taking that into consideration, you can form tactics that create more of an element of surprise and put your enemy at a disadvantage. 

The position is crucial for navigating by sound

In every map, there is likely to be a position that can help your team get the overall idea of where your enemy is. For an example, in this picture of de_mirage layout I have marked a blue dot for where I usually stand as a CT and yellow circles for what I can hear to get information of enemy movement for my team. This prepares us to face the terrorists and, therefore, form a proper defense strategy for upcoming attacks.

You should understand that these are some examples out of many, and there can always be an alternative position or an even better way to do this. I am giving you simple examples that might not necessarily be the most efficient ones. From my experience, the one thing I can suggest for pinpoint sound accuracy is to invest in a decent pair of headphones with proper surround sound, as speakers will not do the job as well as a headset could. 

A way to fight players that use sound to their advantage is to be as sneaky as possible, especially when you are close to a position that the enemy team should be protecting. This brings us to the last point in this set of tips.

#3 Beware the role of The Lurker!

Of all the team roles in CS: GO, this, in my opinion, is the role that you should get to know most, as it can be a huge game changer. The Lurk is the shiftiest and most evil abomination you can encounter in a competitive match. To explain, I will tell you a story about what this little devil does. Note that this is merely an example where the Lurk’s role can be highlighted, there are countless other tactics that can be used – this is not how it always goes.

As we know, it is common practice that in a bombing mission the Terrorist team has to decide to force one of the bomb sites and leave little to no focus on the other site. Suppose then that the Terrorist team decides to go for bomb site A. The CT team is expected to have started like this: two go to bomb site A, two to bomb site B, and one focuses on middle part of the map and is ready to rotate to one of the sites if needed.  

In this example as I mentioned above, the Terrorist team is going for bomb site A. Suppose now that with some luck they have gained the site and are ready to plant the bomb. In this situation, the Counter Terrorist team has already started their rotation – meaning all the remaining CT players that weren’t in the bomb site A when it was lost are now running there in order to regain control and defuse the planted bomb. They have left the other site and are now surrounding the lost site. However, when they are ready to push in and have started to throw various grenades, all of a sudden they are being fired at from behind.

What happened? THE LURKER HAPPENED! While they were rushing to site A, this sneaky little bastard has sneaked just before the bomb site B and waited, listening for the queue of the CT’s leaving. When he hears them leave he simply starts to sneak or run after them. If executed properly, the end result is like picking mushrooms. 

First of all, he creates the perfect element of surprise. Second, he passes his team very valuable information about how many enemies are approaching from the specific entry point he is taking.

You can also use the Lurk in an “eco” round. Here the Lurker plants the bomb in the site that the enemy has left. Now that you know how a Lurk role works, you can start experimenting and have fun with it, but be careful: you’re not the only one that knows this, and there are ways to counter them. Be aware that this is a well-known role especially when you start to compete with more experienced players.

Outro

To finish off, I should mention that teamwork is the key to a solid victory, so keep talking to each other and share information at all times. If you combine communication with the few tips that I just laid out here, you should have more successful matches, and that will hopefully lead to more rank-ups! Have fun and check back if you want to see more awesome CS: GO tips!