I'm a relatively new CSGO player. I bought the game during the Winter Sale of 2015, but only begun playing it regularly during the following March. Since then I have accumulated almost 1,300 hours on the game, have over 500 wins and reached Legendary Eagle.

My first rank was Silver 1, but I reached silver 3 over a weekend. I was then, however, silver 3 for at least a few months. It got to the point where I almost gave up and quit the game. But then suddenly I ranked up from silver 3 to Gold Nova 1 in just over a week. Hopefully I can share my experiences of the CS:GO ranking system with you.

This guide is aimed at lower-ranked players with little experience of the ranking system and are feeling like they are stuck in their current rank. Please note that the information in this guide is mostly based on my observations, so by no means is it complete fact - valve have never really released much info on how the system works. The guide also turned out to be longer than planned, but that's good, right?

I'm sure most players have seen this quite a few times before, but here are the ranks in CS:GO, in order from worst to best:


CS:GO uses an Elo system, similar to professional chess and other games. If you win a match, you gain Elo points, and vice versa. Each rank supposedly has Elo point boundaries, and if your Elo goes above or below the boundary for your rank, you rankup or derank respectively.

It is important to know that you can still rankup from a draw/tie, and in most cases will gain Elo assuming you performed well in the match.

I've always had a belief about the ranking system that I'm not sure is true. I seem to find that rank changes always happen every other match, if necessary. It could be entirely coincidentally, but whenever I've ranked up several ranks in quick succession, the rankups always follows a pattern like this: 2nd match, 8th match, 12th match. I can never remember ranking up on an "odd" match.

I also seem to find that your rank becomes more "stable" the longer you are in it. If you are in your rank for quite a long time - say, for 20 matches - it becomes more difficult to get out of it. If you've had a recent rank change then it becomes quite easy to rank up again within a few matches, yet it could take quite a large win-streak in order to rankup. Deranking also makes your rank more unstable, and I have quite often found that deranking then ranking up twice is much easier than just one rankup.

One misconception made by many members of the community is that ranking up requires a win streak, with no losses. This is completely false. If you are winning more than you lose and/or perform very well even in the matches that you lose then you will most likely rank up pretty soon. For example, if you are close to ranking up, lose 2 or 3 matches in a row but still drop 25-30 kills in each, then win one, you could still rank up.

Abandoning matches can also severely impact your Elo. Getting kicked also lowers your Elo if your team go on to lose the match, although I'm not entirely sure if it works the other way around.

• For silvers, much of the problem with ranking up is getting good teammates. If none of your real-life friends play the game, don't worry. SoloQ a few times and add anybody who is friendly, speaks your language well and is preferably good at the game (for your rank). Finding a few players who communicate well can really help the team.
  
• Watch some informational videos on YouTube. There are many that showcase many ways that lower ranked player smake mistakes, and suggest ways you can become a more successful player. They definitely helped me to get out of silver.
  
• Pay attention to your team's economy. If your team can't fully buy, consider playing an eco for one round in order to have a much better chance during the next round.
  
• Learn different maps than de_dust2 and de_mirage. It gives much more variety to the game, and the lesser-played active duty maps often have better players. I'd suggest starting with de_train as it has an easy-to-learn layout and allows for quick rotations.
  
• Download practice maps from the workshop and spend some time warming up before you begin playing competitive.
  
• Enjoy the game! Getting angry at your teammates can impact their performance. Show encouragement, suggest strategies andgive good callouts.

Getting stuck in a rank can be very frustrating, particularly if you consistently play well. Follow the tips mentioned above and you should be able to climb the ladders and reach a higher rank. Please also note that CS:GO requires a lot of time investment.

This was my first ever guide, so I hope I did okay. If you have any tips on how to improve (or skin donations ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) feel free to suggest them in the comments. Thank you.