First I want to go over some things I see many people including my friends do which they should stop when having an AWP in their hands.

- Do not crouch and slowly peek around the corner. EVEN IF IT SEEMS TO WORK SOMETIMES. Just don´t. I see it so often and if you get killed in an AWP duel while doing this you deserve it. If they have good reactions they will see you before and probably smack an AWP bullet right in your face because you tend to aim in the mid section with an AWP. In fact, try to stop crouching with an AWP all together. All it does is hinder your movement and helps with nothing except in very very certain situations. Later on I will elaborate further on why you should not play "slowly" with an AWP in the first place. If you want to go slowly around corners, then do it standing if you must. Its much safer.

- Know when to *test your might* and when to just back off Again something you see once too often. Don´t be that CT on Dust 2 that wants to AWP mid and sees a zillion shots bang through mid doors from T spawn awps AND PEEKS ANYWAY. Why not just get back and hold an angle at short or upper mid where you have the advantage?

- Static movement vs other AWPers . This one is a bit more advanced *_*
If you keep getting killed by the enemy AWPer on the same spot, say mid, change your playstyle. It sounds complicated but it is quite simple. The most common example is that you keep getting outreacted and he keeps killing you before you press the left mouse button. Get behind cover, and stay there for a bit, then jiggle out and try to flick him while he/she is very probably aiming somewhere else or moving to a new position to get closer to the bomb spot,thinking you are somewhere else. If not, it is still quite likely he/she will miss the shot even when in full concentration if you only jiggle peek out, in that case, move to a new position or simply wait a few seconds and repeat.

- Wielding the AWP in a retake situation as a CT or bomb retake as a T vs 2 or more opponents Again you see this very often and if you are doing this, well, stop it. If you are on Dust 2 as a CT and the bomb is planted B and its say a 2v1, just drop it man (to deny an AWP the enemy), take your pistol (If there is any other weapon like an smg or ak/m4, obviously use that instead) and try the retake. Why??? (Omg you noob I have clutched a retake so many times and ofc you can do it with an AWP!!!!). Yes, you may have been fortunate and won the clutch in this way at one point or another. But in most cases you will go on the spot, see a T, shoot, kill him/miss and then get insta headshotted by the T in the other corner. The AWP is very poor vs many opponents in close to close-mid range, like on a bomb site. It takes a long time to fire another shot after firing when compared to , in this case, a far more useful SMG, Assault Rifle or pistol.

- Switching between angles Sometimes, you are exposed to potential pushes from different sides of the map. Some people think scoping one angle then epilleptically switching to another one very fast is a solution. Let me tell you all it does is give the enemy team more intel on where you are so they can kill you more easily, should they hear the scoping. You will very very likely miss when an enemy does push out at some point because you were just switching, or get shot before you can even try. Just go behind cover and choose one angle. At least you will hit what comes there and if they do come from the other side well you have cover that you can work with. If you hear them just retreat behind cover where you can peek in their direction.

AWP VS AWP

An inevitable situation that occurs multiple times in every game. You might think this is just about who reacts faster/has better flick aim, but it comes down to more than that:

Many people try to get an advantage by trying some sort of trick to make you miss your shot, and the real magic of winning an AWP duel is not falling for it, and making a counter.

- Very common, especially in higher elos: Shot baiting. Some people take out their knife/pistol, jiggle out very fast and wait for your shot so they know they have a short period of time to peek out and kill you without worrying about being killed. It is very effective because even if you do not fall for it and shoot, they will know where you are and if they are half decent quickly preaim and kill you. The best time to counter this is when they stop jiggling to make a shot. (you cannot jiggle while scoped with an AWP) CHANGE YOUR POSITION. With this I mean simply move to the left or right a bit. An example: You are a CT on mirage mid and you see a T trying to bait you. Wait until he´s behind cover and has stopped jiggle peeking, and move slightly to the right. Why right? If you go to the left in window mirage (and you cannot see the T corner), and the enemy awper does not suck, they will quickly guess where you are and preaim you. If you move to the right, they will have to flick from their preaim to you, while you are already zeroed in and ready to fire, giving you a reaction advantage.

- Jumping out: I decided to include this as many people, mainly in lower elos, actually think this is a good idea. Again this is obviously supposed to make you miss, but you are smarter than that: DO NOT SHOOT WHILE THEY JUMP "UP"!! This is a very hard shot to make and exactly what they want. If you miss, they will land and kill you before you can fire again. Shoot just in the moment they land/almost land. Remember they cannot accurately aim while in-flight, so they have to scope first when they land. You should consistently and easily frag people who do this, it is actually very stupid.

- Oh no, a flashbang! A lot of people simply pop flash/flash you before they peek. Very effective but you can still make sure you come out alive: IF YOU SEE THE FLASH COMING: Some people try to move away while scoped in with the AWP, obviously without much effect. Quickswitch and move/jump to cover. If you like an offensive playstyle like me, you can actually try to kill them anyway: When you are full flashed, wait about half a second then fire (assuming you were aiming at the angle the enemy peeks out of). You will not know if you hit them before the flash clears so in any case, quickswitch immediately to your pistol after firing and jump to cover. You should be ok because remember they will be flashed too if they move out too quickly and if you time it right you can make quite the troll shot. Keep in mind this requires some practice to execute fast and correctly. What do I do then?? The best option is probably to counter flash while in cover and peek, unless you do not mind giving up your position, in that case just move to a new angle. WHUT A FLASH?! If you do not see it coming its best to just try and quickly switch and head to cover. The reason is that you cannot be 100% sure the pop flash came from where you were aiming at, unless you saw it pop just before you are blinded, in which case you can try to time your shot.
Defensive tips
- Dealing with an imminent rush:
Although it is best if you manage to GTFO if there is a rush called to your position or you just notice 10 million pounding footsteps menacingly nearing your angle, sometimes its just too late and you have to stand and fight. What often happens to newer players is that they place their awp crosshair wayyy to close to the edge of the angle (so its almost zero distance) and then get clipped by the first dude running in with his p90 sand spray battle scarred.
To not be this guy, place the crosshair a generous distance off the angle so you compensate for the speed of the guy running and crossing your corner. You might believe you have inhuman reactions because you managed to pull off a zero distance shot once, however even if you do, its still way more consistent to just waste a rusher by placing the crosshair with a bit of slack. Simply because you need to factor in that they could 1) jump around the

- Dealing with an imminent rush:
Although it is best if you manage to GTFO if there is a rush called to your position or you just notice 10 million pounding footsteps menacingly nearing your angle, sometimes its just too late and you have to stand and fight. What often happens to newer players is that they place their awp crosshair wayyy to close to the edge of the angle (so its almost zero distance) and then get clipped by the first dude running in with his p90 sand spray battle scarred.
To not be this guy, place the crosshair a generous distance off the angle so you compensate for the speed of the guy running and crossing your corner. You might believe you have inhuman reactions because you managed to pull off a zero distance shot once, however even if you do, its still way more consistent to just waste a rusher by placing the crosshair with a bit of slack. Simply because you need to factor in that they could 1) jump around the corner 2) might hug the wall before they cross (making them much faster in the crosshair view and harder for you to react) etc. If they do happen to just jiggle peek, its an easy flickshot most of the time, as you just shoot a little to the right/left.

- Noscoping:

Although doing this is sometimes for comedic effect, it can actually be a viable decision to make in the heat of the moment. If you are on a bombsite and know someone is very close (maybe other side of the box you are standing at for example) and you have no better weapon, it can be quite difficult to aim a shot in time if you get rushed. In this scenario it is indeed better to just go for the noscope. Remember to stand still and aim roughly in the middle. If it is very close range the chance of a hit is actually quite high.

In my opinion, one of the biggest common misconceptions about this game is that the AWP is a defensive weapon. It is extremely useful when pushing a spot except in close quarter situations.
Remember what I said about playing "fast" with an AWP? I will explain why this is the main basis of playing AWP, especially offensively.

- They are already aimed in, don´t forget Do not slowly peek around the corner. To kill an enemy awper who is already zeroed in on your angle, you have to either have very fast reaction time or you just know how to preaim. There is no way around it, you need to have map knowledge. Go on a deathmatch/private server, stand behind cover and practice preaiming a spot. You don´t have to do it for every spot on every map. At some point you will have a feel for it and guess distances correctly, allowing you to preaim pretty much anything.

- Quickswitching, movement You have to make your shots count. A missing AWPer is a dead AWPer, at least if you do not know how to move. If you miss, hit whatever key switches your weapon and jump behind cover. Try not to just stand there and wait to fire another round, it will probably just get you killed.

-Sens/consistent flickshots Also a common problem, people use a bad sensitivity/mouse dpi. This is actually extremely vital to get right if you want to be a good AWPer. Generally speaking, a lower dpi/sens tends to be advantageous because it allows more accurate and consistent reaction shots, and more smooth preaiming. Now you might think this contradicts playing fast, but I assure you the only real drawback is that when there is a guy behind you, you are pretty much screwed. Then again, if enemy players keep ending up behind you then the problem lies more with your teams positioning, a different topic. Almost all AWP pros (can´t think of an exception) use a sens/dpi on the lower side, and there you have the reason for it. In the end it his however most important that you find a sens you are comfortable with, of course.

-Offensive tactics/teamplay You can push very well with an AWP, you just have to watch out for a few things:
Generally maintaining a bit of distance is always a good idea. The AWP is, well obviously, very powerful at controlling the map in long range situations, but its also a good rule of thumb to never be too close to a possible enemy position, as an AWPer will fare poorly against a ´professional´ p90 or autoshotgun-rusher standing right opposite the wall. Working with your teammates here is important, make sure to call out when you are taking a new angle and your m8 can try to cover any possible "surprise motherf-" positions while you advance. Don't hug walls when approaching a bombsite, you deny your own main advantage. Only do this if you are certain where the enemy players are or if you need to because of pushes from other angles.

-Training to play fast and effectively You can give as many tips as you like to an aspiring AWPer, but at the end of the day you still need a little raw skill mixed in. However, if you are willing to play a few 10-minute training sessions once in a while, you will improve in no time. While map knowledge is one thing, you still have to have good reflexes and reactions, but also good at reacting in a smart way, which I hope I have covered now to some extent. From my experience, I think aim_training cs go (and then the further "Reaction Training" option) is a great way to keep your senses sharp, but the best thing IMO is joining a DM server and trying to hold angles while pulling of reaction shots against enemies coming from all sides. If you do this often, trust me, your AWP aim will get faster, more accurate and deadly QUICKLY. Important last note: No I do not mean just running around with an AWP like 99% of silvers in a DM server and just shooting at anything you see while constantly call of duty-running around, I mean actually holding spots, angles, and when you move, preaiming spots and so on. You only get better in competetive play if you train in a way that would be similar to a scenario in a comp game, if you are just "training deathmatch" you are doing it wrong. For example, DM on dust2: Fight your way to A site and just hold there as long as you can, playing around with the cover of the boxes and goose (the wall) until you feel confident in that spot, then move to another and so on.


Hope this guide helped you out guys!
May be updating in the future. It is my first guide so please don´t get toxic at anything you strongly disagree with, im happy to discuss things in the comments.