My name is Tom, and I started playing CSGO back in May 2015 as a bloody rookie. My first matchmaking rank was silver elite. Since then I accumulated over 5000 hours of playtime, playing for nearly over a decade now and grinded up the matchmaking ranking ladder. I played on a lot of third party services as well like (ESEA, faceit, ECL) with decent skilled players and always wanted to share my so gained knowledge with other players but couldn't get me going for it until now.

When I started playing the game my teammates would often yell at me for making mistakes so I thought I would write this guide so you have a brief Idea what the game is about and not get yelled at when you hop into your first game of counter strike. ;)

DISCLAIMER: English is not my mother tongue so I beg you pardon for any grammar or writing mistakes. More content will be added in the near future. Please let me know in the comments in which topic you are interested the most.

I will explain the "basic, most common" game mode: Bomb defusal mode

Each of the two teams has five players that go up against each other. Your goal is to win 13 rounds (either nine (short game mode) or sixteen rounds (classic and long game mode) back in CSGO) by ...

killing the whole enemy team
Addition for terrorist Side: you have to complete this before the timer runs down
Addition for counter terrorist Side: if the terrorists manage to plant the bomb before you kill them, you have to defuse it before it goes off, in order to win the round. If the bomb goes of the round is considered to be won by the terrorist team no matter how many terrorists are alive.

or as a terrorist to plant the bomb and stopping the counter terrorist from retaking & defusing it, so it will blow.

Of course as a counter terrorist it is your main goal to prevent the terrorist to even take the bombsite. However if they do so, roles flip an the defender becomes the attacker to retake that bombsite and defuse the bomb in time.

If the round timer goes down to zero before the bomb is being planted, the counter terrorist team will automatically win that round.

This sums up what cs mainly is about.

You will quickly experience that cs is different to other games. I played nothing like it before my entire video gaming career.

In cs, skill is determined by three main factors: mechanic skill, gamesense and communication. That among other things includes teamwork, tactics, aim, positioning, map knowledge, timing knowledge, grenade knowledge and well knowing the economy of the game. A player who masters all that will be considered a good, skillful player.

The following sections will give you an idea how successful counter strike players approach the game and how you can easily master it too.

Communication is one key to victory. In counter strike players use certain words your might not be familiar with. Here a some of the most common ones and what they mean so that you know what your teammates are trying to tell you:

• you don't say "kill" you say "frag" in counter strike
  
  
• CT -> counter terrorist
  
• T -> terrorist
  
  
• Top fragger -> Guy in your team/game who has the most frags
  
• Bottom fragger -> Guy in your team/game wo has the least frags
  
  
• molly -> Molotov Cocktail
  
• flash -> throw a flashbang for your teammate
  
• nade -> High Explosive Grenade
  
  
• eco/save -> buy nothing/ just a pistol to save money for the next round
  
• save (end of the round) -> do not go for the defuse and save your weapon/nades/amor/equipment
  
• forcebuy -> after losing a round you might occasionally buy kevlar, pistol/SMG/Shotgun, kit and nades instead of saving, when you see chances of winning the round
  
• lightbuy -> buy a pistol und armor
  
• fullbuy -> buy full equipment, nades and rifles
  
• drop -> your teammate wants you to buy and give a certain weapon for him, often times because he can't afford it himself (keep in mind: it's not your money, it's your teams money! So be the guy, who doesn't drop for the team)
  
  
  
• trade -> if a teammate dies you "trade" by killing an/the enemy to even out the number of players
  
  
• quickswitch -> by pressing double "Q" (or whatever key you use to switch to your last used item) you avoid double zooming before exiting the scope of an AWP/SSG. Greatest benefit of this technique is that you will be able to fire more shots than manually cambering after every time you shot and have a wider field of view
  
  
• peak/ face -> exposing yourself to the enemy/ turn a corner
  
• go defensive -> pull back, don't take the fight
  
• rush -> getting as fast as possible on a bombsite as a terrorist
  
• push -> going aggressive playing on the ct side (This is something you should not do especially as a beginner. It is highly risky but sometimes evenly rewarding. It also requires a lot of gamesense and if you miscalculate you might end up costing your team the round if they are unable to trade)

Before hoping in a match you should get familiar and play around with your ingame settings.

To cover all that it would take to long to note it all down here. Let me know if I should create another guide where I go through all the settings, what they do and how to properly set them up the best way possible in your favor.

There are certain rules that apply to the game. These can be broken when you know how and when but at the start you should stick tightly to them.

1. Do not shoot while moving. Otherwise you won't hit your target

2. Your shots won't go where your crosshair is when you unload your weapon holding down mouse one. Recoil and how you control it is a big topic in counter strike. There are gerat workshop maps where you can practice your spray. Watching the YouTube Videos CS Legends like ( Friberg ) or ( n0thing ) had uploaded might help but for the beginning just stick to tap- or bursting

3. Just because you have the money does not mean you should always buy the most expensive weapon. Choose your loadout wisely depending on the economy and situation of the game, what your teammates have already bought and don't forget you need grenades as well, they are crucial to win a round

4. Keep in mind that most stuff you do will make a sound that the enemy can hear. Use your shift key to move silently only when needed

5. Peak as far away from a corner as you can. Hugging a corner/wall while peaking will make the enemy see you even before you can see them

6. Always put your crosshair where an enemy might be to move it as less as possible when someone peaks you. That includes the following guideline: Aim close to a corner while turning it to clear out every possible angle you will expose yourself to while peaking.

7. If the bombcarrier dies, the bomb cannot be picked up or moved by the ct's. It can only be moved by the t's by picking it up again. Once the bomb is planted it can also not being moved to another place so keep in mind where you planted and where to position yourself afterwards.

8. Always aim at neck hight no matter where you are at the map

9. it takes about 4 seconds to plant the bomb, 10 to defuse it and 4 to defuse it while carrying a defuse kit

10. if you die/ survive after the time runs out as a terrorist you'll get no money for that round

Let's talk about one of the most popular and famous maps for this one: de_Dust II

that is a great map to start with as a beginner. This map (like most other maps) devides in three main parts:

A Bombsite
Middle
B Bombsite

a good and common setup for this map therefore is:

3 ct players on A long (one of them anchor)
1 ct player watching mid/ catwalk
1 anchor B

an anchor player is someone who will stay at that position as long as he can and needed. Keep in mind that setups must always be flexible depending on how the enemy team is playing. This is just to give you an idea how structured a match of csgo really is.

Depending on what the enemy is doing you need to rotate inbetween the bombsites.

Just a little bonus for the more advanced players. For the pistol round on that particular map I would advise a slightly different player setup:

2 Long
1 pushing lower tunnel
1 B throwing a HE into upper tunnel

There a certain roles in a team which needs to be taken care of. Most of the time these are more relevant when five people who know each other play together. Here are the most important ones:

The entry fragger: This guy is the first one to make contact to the enemy mostly on t-side. He tries to get the first frag

The AWPer: The guy who operates the AWP. One bullet to the body is all it takes if you hit it. This role alone splits into different varieties depending on your playstyle ...

The support: Mosts underrated. Most hated. Less shown in frag movies but certainly and undeniably one of the most important . He sets up smokes, throws flashes and molotovs for his teammates so that they can get the frags

The lurker: Not as common today as it was back in the beginning of CSS/CSGO. This guy basically is on the other part of the map trying to catch rotating players of guard therefore getting behind the enemy lines in order to backstab them while his teammates are approaching a bombsite. If you are a good lurker the enemy team is in deep trouble ...

the refragger: Most of the time this guy sticks together with either the AWPer or the entry fragger to instantly trade a frag if one teammate dies

Before I forget, there is one more important one: the ingame leader. That is the guy who comes up with the strats and calls out when to buy and when not to. Of course any of the roles previously named can do that. On pro level counter strike you see this role performed by an actual coach standing behind the players, so they can fully focus on the game. Of course that is not the case in matchmaking and that is what most of you are playing. Therefore I do not consider the igl an extra role for this guide but one player on the team will take this spot knowingly or not every game you play.

So what role should you pick you may ask yourself? Well that depends mainly on your playstyle and preferences. If you have good aim for example you could either go for the entry fragger role or the AWPer if that is what you are into. So go ahead and play around to find whats best for you. The more friends you have to play with the better you can focus on your dedicated role. If you play solo be prepared to maybe take a role you are not comfortable with. I don't see that as an disadvantage at all. Players who play a lot of solo que (like I did from time to time) often are more flexible in their playstyle therefor harder for your opponent to read and over all even a tap more skilled.

Each player starts the game with 800$ in the bank. You should spend these, Do not eco in the pistol even if you plan is to go for an AWP the following rounds. If you eco in the pistol round you decreses chances of winning the round and even the whole game. You usually do not save your gear, nades or kevlar in the pistol round as well. Just risk it out. This round is way too important ...

Your starting pistol (Glock/ USP-S/ P2000) is free and usually not worth upgrading. What pistol you choose on the CT Side is up to you. Both are gerat with minor differences so just pick what you like the best.

On CT Side at least one player should buy a defuse kit for 400$ and either nade, 2x flashes, or a smoke. A defuse kit serves the purpose that it reduces the amount of time for the carrier that it takes to defuse the bomb by six seconds. So instead of ten you just need four seconds to defuse the bomb. Another player should get some of the grenades or an molotov. Not more then two players should buy nades/ kit on the pistol round. The rest of the team should just buy kevlar.

Noticed that you can't buy a helmet at pistol round? That means you are a one hit headshot at most ranges, therefore go for that headshot.

On T-Side usually one player buying nades is enough. The rest should stick with kevlar.

This is a important one! It comes down to differnet factors how you should continue now. Let me break it down for you:

You won the Pistol round! Congratulations! You are ahead of your enemy now! But don't celebrate too early! They might try to steal this advantage from you. I'll explain that in a second.

Frist things first: whoever won the pistol will get an economical advantage meaning the team who has won will have the money. And that is what it is all about in Counter Strike. The team who has the money can buy better guns, utility and therefore will have an advantage over it's opponent.

So if you won the pistol it is likely that the enemy team will have to "eco". That means they won't buy grenades and guns. So they are an easy target and you should take advantage from that. You will experience that the exact same situation will occur again several times until the end of match.

The most important thing now is to buy a helmet and that might set you back 1000$ if your kevlar got hit in the pistol round or you haven't bought one yet. But these 350-1000$ spent are crucial and well invested because if you don't buy it, the enemy will have to headshot you just once with a glock, USP-S/P2000 or any other gun and the round will be over for you. Bet you do not want to be that guy ....

Depending on which weapon you use and kill an enemy with, you will get rewarded an certain amount of money for that. That amount varies depending on the gun you use. So since we expect our enemy to be easy targets you should buy guns from the "SMG" section of the buy menu. This will be profitable from you because you will

A) get a higher kill reward when using an smg (excluding the P90)
B) can shoot while running even though that usually is a big nono in counter strike
C) if you die the enemy won't have such a powerful gun in their hands to use against you or to save for the next round
D) have a gun with a high rate of fire so the aim punch effect (if you don't have armor and get hit your sight flinches and you can't shoot properly) increases

Sounds all easy right? Well it might not be that easy because ...

... if you lost the pistol round: your opponents might want to steal the economy back from you and therefore perform a "forcebuy". What does that mean you may wonder? Well it means they step out on the battlefield against you and challenge you by buying what they can. So maybe SMG, a pistol and nades. Maybe they'll have a teammate drop an AK/M4 for them as well. If you however decide to forcebuy on that round make sure to buy kevlar with helmet, or the round could be over vor you faster than you would want it to.

By buying when losing the pistol round you just reset chances to zero. If you win you'll have the money back on your side cause' whoever wins 2 round in a row will have the economy. And if you do lose you just have to eco one round (which you would have needed anyway). So it is up to you if you wanna give in that round and hand the economy straight to the enemy. I personally wouldn't, but some teams wanna go "the save way" and eco the second round fully (so buy nothing or just a P250 or a flash/smoke/HE) to be able to buy fully on third round.

If you forced in the second round and lost it, it is now time to eco. Don't be that guy who buys every round.

If you won the forcebuy you should consider getting an SMG/ Rifle if you do not already have one, because chances are high the enemy will forcebuy that round.

If you won the pistol and the second round and the enemy was ecoing second round: Be prepared to go against a fully stocked up team. It's showtime now. Make sure to have at least two defuse kits in your team.

If you won the pistol, second round and the enemys was forcing second round: relax they most likely will eco this round. So don't let them come close to you with pistols and use molotov and HE grenades to cause high damage, delay rushes and keep them distant.

Bonus tip: Save a couple bucks on the ct side buy just buying the kevlar without helmet when the enemy team is expected to have a fullbuy. That way you'll save 350$. Thats a flashbang, an HE or Smoke.

As a terrorist you always buy kevlar with helmet.

I hope you are well prepared for your first upcoming match now. If you liked this guide please ...

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