First off, i aint an ex-invite, but i did many seasons of competitive CS:S, on esea, cevo, eco, twl, xpl (Open to Main). So here are some tips for new players who wants to improve a bit.
Basic communication and teamwork :
Always call your spot on ct side from the get go, first arrived first served policy when nobody called their spots, if everyone but you called their spots, you are playing the empty spot left.
If you want to switch spots during the match, always call it (if for a good spawn) or ask prior to do so.
If you flash with teamates near you, always call flash prior, if you smoke do the same, in case they think its a flash, if you want to prenade a spot on any side, ask in spawn prior to buy, because teamates in pugs do not have a strict money management.
When you are close to teamates, give them some space to move around to prevent blocking, but that doesnt mean to bait them 100 meters away.
Follow strategies that your team (pug) agreed to do, if they want to rush b in de_season, do not go under a without bomb to lurk for frags on a save round . You can propose changes or new strats too, but lurking around the map far from team is a receipe for defeat, except if you know what you are doing (in that case you wouldnt be reading this right now).
Please have a mic, its not an obligation, but it helps so much for calls ! And when you make calls, say 1 2 3 4 5 or bomb is there, not its B or A, because without a bomb seen, it can be a fake. And say it max 2 times, spamming mic when other people are playing won't help them.
Generally, ct's need to be passive until bomb is planted, and t's need to be aggressive until bomb is planted, roles are reversed then. But sometimes its useful to be passive on t side if cts are aggressive and vice-versa, or simply to surprise the enemy with a good spawn or a good lurk for rotates.
Do not failbhop in spawn, or be afk with good spawn, or fail run, your gonna block every1, which gonna costs seconds that are crucial in pushes to get in before presmokes and preflash.
If you see teamates without guns drop em something, its good for morale, they get better chances of killing stuff, and you get a better chance for a good RWS. That being said, if som1 wants to deag only (me), do not drop them anything, cause they will be aggressive, if they die other teams get no rifle to work with.
Guns :
You see that cute gun list ? Well, nearly half those guns are useless in a pug/scrim/match, do not use em except if you wanna troll or if people facing you are low rws.
Useless/wasteful guns : 5-7, tmp, mac10, ump, shotgun, auto-shotgun, aug, krieg, both auto snipes, m249.
5-7 isnt a bad gun, but usp does the same job and is the basic gun for cts, deagle is far superior to the 5-7, same for the p228.
tmp/mac10 : imprecise, same caliber then pistols that cost less, weak mid and long range even compared to pistols.
ump45 : worse then a glock. Complete waste of money, because of slow rate of fire
shotgun/auto shotty : extremely good at short range and thats it, not very efficient mid range and useless at long range, damage is related to spread, waste of money when you consider that deagle costs 650$, shotty 1700$ and auto shotty 3000$.
aug/krieg : like the 5-7 they arent bad guns, but m4a1, famas, ak47, costs way less for the same or better results.
auto snipes : aren't bad guns in any way, but awp costs less then t auto snipes and ct auto snipe is much weaker. A great deal of money to trigger your opponents to frag you down even more.
m249 : this gun costs the most in all of em (5750$), yes there is 100 bullets to spray, but its highly imprecise except at short range when you do so, its a m4a1 with a big clip without a silencer. Even a galil/famas would be a better buy at 2000$/2250$.
How and when to use the other guns :
Usp/glock : basic guns for each side, should be used as a main weapon only in first round (or in save rounds for ct's), some old school players likes to buy a usp on t side first round, which can be a strat same goes for buying p228. But money would be better spent on armor/defuse/nades, in my opinion.
p228 : if you slow spam its great, and if you fast spam it goes auto-hs every 3 or 4 bullets, some buy it round 1, which is useless if you are a ct, since you already got an usp. Still a decent secondary weapon for after round 1, but not an almost obligatory buy like the deagle is.
Deagle : please, never buy deagle round 1, its great in ecos, its great if you armor up and got good reflexes, you can take down 5 enemies if your aim is good enough in 1 clip, only spam if there is max 2 enemies in front at mid/short range. My personal strat with it, is to get guns from the enemy by playing deag/armor only a couple rounds, if it works it saves me money for my teamates and myself. At 650$, its the most cost effective gun in the game. You can also run and shot easily with it, drop shot, ladder shots and do amazing flicks if you practice enough.
Dualies : Try not to buy em in round 1, if you play vs good players its a trap, buy em for 2nd or 3rd round if you win round 1 on t side, it is a better version of an mp5 in every aspect (more precise, 1 taps, hits more, etc.) and cost less. If you are a ct and killed someone with duals in round 1, pick em up, it gonna save you money from an mp5 which cost 1500$. If you are used to it, you can even try to play 4th round with it, if you succeed you got a shit ton of money saved and you played with the enemy team heads.
mp5 : Only useful for ct side (on 2nd round only), since t's got dualies, its way more accurate then the tmp for a bit more money. Never buy one outside of 2nd round.
p90 : this gun is cancer, i mean, its over powered like none, barely even need to aim, if you do its an m4a1 which you can run and shot with it. Aim for chest, the guy is dead in 0,5 sec no hs, you can prefire way more then with rifles since it got 50 bullets. But try not using em vs good players, you're gonna make em rage and out to get your ass, every round for using p90.
galil/famas : a great way to save money, for cts, and both guns are great for 2nd round buy, do not upgrade for 4th round, it gonna save you a ton of money if your team wins the round. Famas is great since it cost way less then the m4a1 and a bit less then a p90, do not use burst fire, try to spam 2-3 shots at a time, and if there is a surprise push you can always spray down with it. After 4th round never buy galil again, but famas is still an option
m4a1 : since it costs 3100$, i like buying 2nd round a famas or a p90, so i can stack up money for m4a1/awp buy in the future rounds. Always put on the silencer, its great to tap or spray down, but always try to get the head, since it doesnt do much damage with chest shots.
ak47 : great 1 tapper, cost 2500$, best rifle. Never ever buy it on 2nd round, if you die and a ct with armor gets it, your team gonna hate your guts, if your team planted on round 1 and 2, you can force it and try getting the 3rd with ak's.
awp : 1 shot killing machine, please let good players buy it or use it, do not over buy awps if you cant frag with it, it gonna be a huge handicap for your team if you do so, max 2 awps same time, cause it gonna be hard to take sites without rifles to entry.
Why do i exclude deagle and dualies from first rounds ? Deagle because you wont have enough for a nade/flash/defuse and if you die, you give an enemy the possibility to have a deagle + armor/nades on round 1 which is great for clutches, and its useless to buy a deagle ct side, since you got a usp which is a great 1 tapper without helmet. And dualies, because if you die you are giving a better version of an mp5 to the enemy team + armor/nades = great for aces/clutches. Some people like to drop dualies to a person with armor round 1, but you'd make a player almost useless by doing so, + only 3 players will have nades if they buy nades.
Outside of round 1 : always buy armor, except for save rounds. Helmet isn't an auto need buy for cts (after round 4), its a good way to save bits of money to compensate for the high cost of awp and m4a1, since t's gonna use deag, ak47, awp which are all 1 tap weapons even with helmet. But t's should try to always buy 1, since the m4a1 isnt a 1 tapper with helmet on, which can save your ass 1-5 times a pug.
Nightvisions : useful to troll
Basic strats for pugs (nothing fancy) :
1-2-2, 2-2-1, 2-1-2 for t side, its player dispositions for main spots to work picks, if someone gets a pick, there is a hole in the ct setup, which now your team can use. If there is good spawn for a fast attack do it.
4-1(bomb) everyone knows that 1, 4 fakes a rush 1 site, since some noobs will call its b or a, people gonna rotate without bomb being seen, your gonna have site clear, most of the time for bomb to plant other side of the map, do not do that vs good players, because they know.
3-2(bomb) same strat but going safe, with having someone with bomb.
1-4(bomb) : the 1 throw stuff in 1 site, his flashes, he grenade, smokes and try to rambo, as soon he dies or kill people, the 4 others starts walking up/rushing the other side.
4 (bomb) - 1 have 1 guy lurking next to other site, when your 4 teamates work/rush 1 site, most ct's gonna try to rotate by pushing the other site, which will get them killed by the lurker waiting for them, from there your teamates can rotate or the lurker can.
Spawn related strats : in maps like de_inferno, or nuke, or de_contra, or de_dust2 ... in every map. There is spawns each side that you got to use at your advantage, some player can bhop like a god to make those spawns over powered, but generally it gonna give you 1-2 sec of advance over your other side counter part. But at the same time, do not make it 2 obvious cause ct's can know when you got good spawn if they are experimented.
Smokes and Flashes:
If you cant frag become the nade guy, every1 gonna love playing with you :
dust2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5G_zAXs_Ic
inferno : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhFi6a1DBqU&t=668s
tuscan : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8ql5a2ruc4&t=1061s
season : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK-o8nW5nmw
nuke : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSmpoenHJeU
train : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3E5hmkRZMo
contra : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H7S3PGKnDU
im pretty sure you can find the rest yourself on youtube !
Entry fragging is also important and strategic, if you're not the fragger of your team, nor the clutcher on t side, push first, its not for other people to bait you, its strategic.
If you die, they didnt lose the fragger or the clutcher, so round is still doable.
If you kill someone and die, they can trade kill the guy who killed you and take site.
If you kill every1 on site, you effectively won the round, by taking a site without risking major assets.
But if you do not do it and bait, your gonna always end up being last alive and cant clutch, making your team effectively losing by your fault.
Tip for free RWS : be the bomb carrier/planter and or defuse a lot of bombs.
My teamate for the tournament, 250, clutches a lot or kill the last 1 alive a lot, he gets a lot of bomb because of that :
RWS : (15,67) FRAGS : (62) ASSISTS : (10) DEATH : (57) KDR : (1.09) AC% : (17,53) HS% : (11,47) ADR : (70,3) FPR : (0,6) CLUTCHES :1 1vs1, 1 1vs2
With barely 70 adr, he hits 15,67 RWS. Why ? Bombs and clutches.
Positions on ct side :
Most maps were made with competitive in mind, on every map, on every site, there is at least 3-10 different spots to play, look carefully, watch what pros did on youtube or ask questions to good players while in pregame. Look on google, i bet there is 10s of old forum who talked about all the spot ever used.
Some maps only need 2 cts on 1 site at the beginning of the round in case the t's make pushes (A site de_inferno, B site de_dust2, ramp de_nuke), some maps like russka or nuke have an extra fast rotator who can switch spots every single round to fuck with the other team minds.
What spot you are playing can determine also what guns you should be using, if you are boiler in de_inferno, having an awp is almost suicidal, like trying to play mid d2 with a deagle or playing outside on nuke with an mp5.
Maps
Maps like it or not, are sided, this isnt an extra precise information, tried to find it on google, but there is csgo everywhere ! So using my old esea memories, but keep in mind that league play and pug play are way different. On (wL) part is from Bison with the official stats.
de_contra : 9-6 / on (wL) : 6.5 - 8.5
de_season : 9-6 / on (wL) : 6.5 - 8.5
de_dust2 : 8-7 / on (wL) : 7.0 - 8.0
de_cache : 6-9 / on (wL) : 7,5 - 7.5
de_tuscan : 6-9 / on (wL) : 7,5 - 7.5
de_cpl_strike : 5-10 / on (wL) : 7,5 - 7.5
de_inferno : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8 - 7
de_nuke : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8,5 - 6.5
de_russka : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8,0 - 7
de_train : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8 - 7
My little nerd opinion about it : ct side is a lot weaker in pugs then league, for obvious reasons (no practice, no teamwork, no setup), explaining why ct-sided maps in league are ties in pugs, but t-side maps are still t sided in pugs.
Little extra :
An optimal crosshair, is a crosshair which isnt 2 big for good long range aim, but not too small so you dont lose it when someone is close range. It needs to be a color you can see easily on any map, like pink or fluo green. Dynamic crosshair should be off, dot or no dot is your preference. It should not be too thick too.
Finally, get auto pick up off, thx me later . And always buy a kit on ct side outside of round 1 !
Basic communication and teamwork :
Always call your spot on ct side from the get go, first arrived first served policy when nobody called their spots, if everyone but you called their spots, you are playing the empty spot left.
If you want to switch spots during the match, always call it (if for a good spawn) or ask prior to do so.
If you flash with teamates near you, always call flash prior, if you smoke do the same, in case they think its a flash, if you want to prenade a spot on any side, ask in spawn prior to buy, because teamates in pugs do not have a strict money management.
When you are close to teamates, give them some space to move around to prevent blocking, but that doesnt mean to bait them 100 meters away.
Follow strategies that your team (pug) agreed to do, if they want to rush b in de_season, do not go under a without bomb to lurk for frags on a save round . You can propose changes or new strats too, but lurking around the map far from team is a receipe for defeat, except if you know what you are doing (in that case you wouldnt be reading this right now).
Please have a mic, its not an obligation, but it helps so much for calls ! And when you make calls, say 1 2 3 4 5 or bomb is there, not its B or A, because without a bomb seen, it can be a fake. And say it max 2 times, spamming mic when other people are playing won't help them.
Generally, ct's need to be passive until bomb is planted, and t's need to be aggressive until bomb is planted, roles are reversed then. But sometimes its useful to be passive on t side if cts are aggressive and vice-versa, or simply to surprise the enemy with a good spawn or a good lurk for rotates.
Do not failbhop in spawn, or be afk with good spawn, or fail run, your gonna block every1, which gonna costs seconds that are crucial in pushes to get in before presmokes and preflash.
If you see teamates without guns drop em something, its good for morale, they get better chances of killing stuff, and you get a better chance for a good RWS. That being said, if som1 wants to deag only (me), do not drop them anything, cause they will be aggressive, if they die other teams get no rifle to work with.
Guns :
You see that cute gun list ? Well, nearly half those guns are useless in a pug/scrim/match, do not use em except if you wanna troll or if people facing you are low rws.
Useless/wasteful guns : 5-7, tmp, mac10, ump, shotgun, auto-shotgun, aug, krieg, both auto snipes, m249.
5-7 isnt a bad gun, but usp does the same job and is the basic gun for cts, deagle is far superior to the 5-7, same for the p228.
tmp/mac10 : imprecise, same caliber then pistols that cost less, weak mid and long range even compared to pistols.
ump45 : worse then a glock. Complete waste of money, because of slow rate of fire
shotgun/auto shotty : extremely good at short range and thats it, not very efficient mid range and useless at long range, damage is related to spread, waste of money when you consider that deagle costs 650$, shotty 1700$ and auto shotty 3000$.
aug/krieg : like the 5-7 they arent bad guns, but m4a1, famas, ak47, costs way less for the same or better results.
auto snipes : aren't bad guns in any way, but awp costs less then t auto snipes and ct auto snipe is much weaker. A great deal of money to trigger your opponents to frag you down even more.
m249 : this gun costs the most in all of em (5750$), yes there is 100 bullets to spray, but its highly imprecise except at short range when you do so, its a m4a1 with a big clip without a silencer. Even a galil/famas would be a better buy at 2000$/2250$.
How and when to use the other guns :
Usp/glock : basic guns for each side, should be used as a main weapon only in first round (or in save rounds for ct's), some old school players likes to buy a usp on t side first round, which can be a strat same goes for buying p228. But money would be better spent on armor/defuse/nades, in my opinion.
p228 : if you slow spam its great, and if you fast spam it goes auto-hs every 3 or 4 bullets, some buy it round 1, which is useless if you are a ct, since you already got an usp. Still a decent secondary weapon for after round 1, but not an almost obligatory buy like the deagle is.
Deagle : please, never buy deagle round 1, its great in ecos, its great if you armor up and got good reflexes, you can take down 5 enemies if your aim is good enough in 1 clip, only spam if there is max 2 enemies in front at mid/short range. My personal strat with it, is to get guns from the enemy by playing deag/armor only a couple rounds, if it works it saves me money for my teamates and myself. At 650$, its the most cost effective gun in the game. You can also run and shot easily with it, drop shot, ladder shots and do amazing flicks if you practice enough.
Dualies : Try not to buy em in round 1, if you play vs good players its a trap, buy em for 2nd or 3rd round if you win round 1 on t side, it is a better version of an mp5 in every aspect (more precise, 1 taps, hits more, etc.) and cost less. If you are a ct and killed someone with duals in round 1, pick em up, it gonna save you money from an mp5 which cost 1500$. If you are used to it, you can even try to play 4th round with it, if you succeed you got a shit ton of money saved and you played with the enemy team heads.
mp5 : Only useful for ct side (on 2nd round only), since t's got dualies, its way more accurate then the tmp for a bit more money. Never buy one outside of 2nd round.
p90 : this gun is cancer, i mean, its over powered like none, barely even need to aim, if you do its an m4a1 which you can run and shot with it. Aim for chest, the guy is dead in 0,5 sec no hs, you can prefire way more then with rifles since it got 50 bullets. But try not using em vs good players, you're gonna make em rage and out to get your ass, every round for using p90.
galil/famas : a great way to save money, for cts, and both guns are great for 2nd round buy, do not upgrade for 4th round, it gonna save you a ton of money if your team wins the round. Famas is great since it cost way less then the m4a1 and a bit less then a p90, do not use burst fire, try to spam 2-3 shots at a time, and if there is a surprise push you can always spray down with it. After 4th round never buy galil again, but famas is still an option
m4a1 : since it costs 3100$, i like buying 2nd round a famas or a p90, so i can stack up money for m4a1/awp buy in the future rounds. Always put on the silencer, its great to tap or spray down, but always try to get the head, since it doesnt do much damage with chest shots.
ak47 : great 1 tapper, cost 2500$, best rifle. Never ever buy it on 2nd round, if you die and a ct with armor gets it, your team gonna hate your guts, if your team planted on round 1 and 2, you can force it and try getting the 3rd with ak's.
awp : 1 shot killing machine, please let good players buy it or use it, do not over buy awps if you cant frag with it, it gonna be a huge handicap for your team if you do so, max 2 awps same time, cause it gonna be hard to take sites without rifles to entry.
Why do i exclude deagle and dualies from first rounds ? Deagle because you wont have enough for a nade/flash/defuse and if you die, you give an enemy the possibility to have a deagle + armor/nades on round 1 which is great for clutches, and its useless to buy a deagle ct side, since you got a usp which is a great 1 tapper without helmet. And dualies, because if you die you are giving a better version of an mp5 to the enemy team + armor/nades = great for aces/clutches. Some people like to drop dualies to a person with armor round 1, but you'd make a player almost useless by doing so, + only 3 players will have nades if they buy nades.
Outside of round 1 : always buy armor, except for save rounds. Helmet isn't an auto need buy for cts (after round 4), its a good way to save bits of money to compensate for the high cost of awp and m4a1, since t's gonna use deag, ak47, awp which are all 1 tap weapons even with helmet. But t's should try to always buy 1, since the m4a1 isnt a 1 tapper with helmet on, which can save your ass 1-5 times a pug.
Nightvisions : useful to troll
Basic strats for pugs (nothing fancy) :
1-2-2, 2-2-1, 2-1-2 for t side, its player dispositions for main spots to work picks, if someone gets a pick, there is a hole in the ct setup, which now your team can use. If there is good spawn for a fast attack do it.
4-1(bomb) everyone knows that 1, 4 fakes a rush 1 site, since some noobs will call its b or a, people gonna rotate without bomb being seen, your gonna have site clear, most of the time for bomb to plant other side of the map, do not do that vs good players, because they know.
3-2(bomb) same strat but going safe, with having someone with bomb.
1-4(bomb) : the 1 throw stuff in 1 site, his flashes, he grenade, smokes and try to rambo, as soon he dies or kill people, the 4 others starts walking up/rushing the other side.
4 (bomb) - 1 have 1 guy lurking next to other site, when your 4 teamates work/rush 1 site, most ct's gonna try to rotate by pushing the other site, which will get them killed by the lurker waiting for them, from there your teamates can rotate or the lurker can.
Spawn related strats : in maps like de_inferno, or nuke, or de_contra, or de_dust2 ... in every map. There is spawns each side that you got to use at your advantage, some player can bhop like a god to make those spawns over powered, but generally it gonna give you 1-2 sec of advance over your other side counter part. But at the same time, do not make it 2 obvious cause ct's can know when you got good spawn if they are experimented.
Smokes and Flashes:
If you cant frag become the nade guy, every1 gonna love playing with you :
dust2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5G_zAXs_Ic
inferno : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhFi6a1DBqU&t=668s
tuscan : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8ql5a2ruc4&t=1061s
season : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK-o8nW5nmw
nuke : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSmpoenHJeU
train : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3E5hmkRZMo
contra : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H7S3PGKnDU
im pretty sure you can find the rest yourself on youtube !
Entry fragging is also important and strategic, if you're not the fragger of your team, nor the clutcher on t side, push first, its not for other people to bait you, its strategic.
If you die, they didnt lose the fragger or the clutcher, so round is still doable.
If you kill someone and die, they can trade kill the guy who killed you and take site.
If you kill every1 on site, you effectively won the round, by taking a site without risking major assets.
But if you do not do it and bait, your gonna always end up being last alive and cant clutch, making your team effectively losing by your fault.
Tip for free RWS : be the bomb carrier/planter and or defuse a lot of bombs.
My teamate for the tournament, 250, clutches a lot or kill the last 1 alive a lot, he gets a lot of bomb because of that :
RWS : (15,67) FRAGS : (62) ASSISTS : (10) DEATH : (57) KDR : (1.09) AC% : (17,53) HS% : (11,47) ADR : (70,3) FPR : (0,6) CLUTCHES :1 1vs1, 1 1vs2
With barely 70 adr, he hits 15,67 RWS. Why ? Bombs and clutches.
Positions on ct side :
Most maps were made with competitive in mind, on every map, on every site, there is at least 3-10 different spots to play, look carefully, watch what pros did on youtube or ask questions to good players while in pregame. Look on google, i bet there is 10s of old forum who talked about all the spot ever used.
Some maps only need 2 cts on 1 site at the beginning of the round in case the t's make pushes (A site de_inferno, B site de_dust2, ramp de_nuke), some maps like russka or nuke have an extra fast rotator who can switch spots every single round to fuck with the other team minds.
What spot you are playing can determine also what guns you should be using, if you are boiler in de_inferno, having an awp is almost suicidal, like trying to play mid d2 with a deagle or playing outside on nuke with an mp5.
Maps
Maps like it or not, are sided, this isnt an extra precise information, tried to find it on google, but there is csgo everywhere ! So using my old esea memories, but keep in mind that league play and pug play are way different. On (wL) part is from Bison with the official stats.
de_contra : 9-6 / on (wL) : 6.5 - 8.5
de_season : 9-6 / on (wL) : 6.5 - 8.5
de_dust2 : 8-7 / on (wL) : 7.0 - 8.0
de_cache : 6-9 / on (wL) : 7,5 - 7.5
de_tuscan : 6-9 / on (wL) : 7,5 - 7.5
de_cpl_strike : 5-10 / on (wL) : 7,5 - 7.5
de_inferno : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8 - 7
de_nuke : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8,5 - 6.5
de_russka : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8,0 - 7
de_train : 5-10 / on (wL) : 8 - 7
My little nerd opinion about it : ct side is a lot weaker in pugs then league, for obvious reasons (no practice, no teamwork, no setup), explaining why ct-sided maps in league are ties in pugs, but t-side maps are still t sided in pugs.
Little extra :
An optimal crosshair, is a crosshair which isnt 2 big for good long range aim, but not too small so you dont lose it when someone is close range. It needs to be a color you can see easily on any map, like pink or fluo green. Dynamic crosshair should be off, dot or no dot is your preference. It should not be too thick too.
Finally, get auto pick up off, thx me later . And always buy a kit on ct side outside of round 1 !
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