How to get better at Counter Strike, explained

It should come as no surprise that it takes some effort to get good at the game, and there are many tips and tricks to try so that you can take advantage of to improve.

The competition is fierce, and players are looking to get better all the time, so if you want to keep up with them, you will need to put effort into your Counter-Strike gameplay abilities as well. Luckily, there are many ways to do so. Getting better at the game will also let you better appreciate what the pros are doing in the big tournaments – who knows, it might even set you on the path of becoming an esports athlete yourself!

What is Counter-Strike (and why is it an awesome game)?

Counter-Strike is an objective-based hardcore tactical team shooter that started out as a Half-Life mod in 1998 and turned into an official Valve product that’s been topping the charts ever since. The game is known for its visceral graphics and brutal, precise gunplay, where one or two bullets can end a gunfight and mastering the complicated recoil patterns is a big part of the experience.

Its primary game mode is bomb defusal, where teams of five go up against each other. The attacking side wins either by planting a bomb on one of the two designated bomb sites or by eliminating all opponents. The defenders, meanwhile, can either secure a win by eliminating all players on the opposing team before the bomb is planted or by defusing it after it has been armed on the site. The first team to 13 rounds wins, with the teams swapping sides after 12.

With a unique combination of fast and furious gameplay, rapid shooting action, and many tactical decisions, Counter-Strike has been a mainstay of competitive gaming – and CS esports has been one of the most popular titles to follow for fans and esports betting enthusiasts alike.

Which is where we come in.

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Getting better at Counter-Strike: five top tips to improve your CS match win rate

Practice your aim (and warm up before you play)

Shooting in Counter-Strike is not like shooting in other first-person shooter games. The recoil patterns are merciless, and simply aiming your crosshair at an enemy will only guarantee you a hit for the first handful of bullets at most. (A new setting in CS2 called “follow recoil” lets you visualize this easier by having your crosshair physically move on the screen as the recoil begins to impact your accuracy – it is a great new tool to have.)

This means that you should rely on short, controlled bursts whenever possible, and to take the time to practice and learn each weapon’s unique recoil pattern so that you will better know how to stay on target in case you do have to go for a spraydown in a heated engagement. Crosshair placement is also a big part of the puzzle: aiming at head height will give you better chances to immediately end a firefight with a headshot, and if you keep your crosshair around corners and locations where an enemy might pop out, you will save yourself the time and the variance of having to make a flick before you engage.

Counter-Strike matches require great reflexes and precision when it comes to the shooting side of things, and one of the easiest ways to improve your performances is to stop going in cold. So many players simply just boot up the game and immediately queue for a competitive match, and they can’t quite get their shots right in the first few rounds. By the time they warm up, they could have already cost their teams multiple rounds and potentially the entire game along with it.

Don’t be one of these players – you should do some warmup exercises, much like how you do in the gym, before heading into the heat of battle. A quick round of DM or one of the aim practice workshop maps should do the trick – and you might end up hitting that pistol headshot you usually end up missing otherwise. It could make all the difference!

Learn the maps and the callouts

As G.I. Joe said, knowing is half the battle, and this maxim definitely also holds true in the world of Counter-Strike. In a game with split-second decisions, you can’t go wandering around the map without getting your head popped. To have a good chance in competitive play, you need to have a strong understanding of every map’s layout in the competitive pool, as well as the fastest methods of traversal between the bomb sites for effective rotations. Also, knowing which team will get to certain points of the map first (think Long on Dust 2 or Mid on Mirage) will have a huge effect on your strategies.

If you have no idea what those bracketed terms refer to, then it’s time to book up on the map callouts as well. Not the in-game ones courtesy of Valve, no: the community has its own terminology, honed over the course of decades of gameplay, and you need to have a good understanding of all map location names in Counter-Strike if you want to be able to quickly identify what places your teammates are referring to and how you can tell them yourself where that guy who just killed you (but who you really definitely almost had dead to rights) will be coming from.

MOBA players have ability priority lists and item preferences for each hero. Counter-Strike players have map callouts and grenade lineups.

Yes, grenade lineups.

Check out some grenade lineups

While you can’t predict in advance how a mid-round will play out and how you will use your remaining utility in the middle of a chaotic firefight, there are many set-piece plays and round-starting locations where you can and should practice ideal throws to help your team push into a specific part of the map or to cut off certain sections of a bomb site.

Smokes are the most important pieces of this puzzle, especially at lower levels of play, and with CS2’s new volumetric smoke grenades, they are much more reliable and predictable to throw as well. (All those gimmicky one-way smokes are also gone, too, thankfully.)

You know all those times your team keeps losing Mid control on Mirage because their AWPer is just a bit too good in those reflex tests at the beginning of the round? Well, it would be very useful if you knew how to throw a smoke grenade from spawn that blocks off the window, giving you and your teammates a better chance to combat their exploits.

Here’s also a good selection of basic smokes to learn in CS2, and we will let you explore the rest of the grenade lineups for yourself as homework for extra credit.

Watch esports matches and study demos

There is nothing like the summit, so the highest level of play offers insights and knowledge that you will not find anywhere else about Counter-Strike matches. While you cannot realistically expect to be able to hit an AWP shot like ZywOo can or to make a NiKo-esque spray transfer, you can still learn a lot by watching the greats play the game in their own unique way.

From positioning to timing, optimal crosshair placements and grenade lineups, CS esports offers an up-to-date look at the best practices for many of the elements we’ve discussed above, and the innovations at the highest levels of play always trickle down to pub play over time, making it very useful to remain up to date on professional play and the players’ latest exploits.

You can even take advantage of the pro CS esports players’ weapon loadouts and crosshair setups to find minor edges in your own play, and if you can find a pro or two whose playstyle resembles yours, you can glean some great ideas from their approach by following their gameplay at the biggest Counter-Strike events in the world of competition.

Enhance your involvement via betting on CSGO

Betting on Counter-Strike esports lets you put real numbers and real excitement behind your powers of prediction, and it forces you to watch and explore the pro matches with a real analytical approach so that you can properly evaluate which players and teams will triumph in the context of a Counter-Strike esports match at a big tournament.

It is the perfect motivation to truly dig into what the pros are doing and how each small element of play can impact the outcome of a CS match – and not only that, but it is a ton of fun, too. Your winnings – and the fun Bitsler promotions you can snag along the way – are really just the cherry on the cake!

Improve your comms

You would be surprised at how important your interpersonal skills can be in a game of Counter-Strike. After all, if it were all about shooting heads, it would not have lasted over two decades as one of the most popular competitive pastimes in the world of video games. On a technical level, providing crisp and accurate information to your teammates can be the equivalent of a do-it-yourself wallhack in some scenarios, not to mention the benefits some added coordination can have on the timing of a site retake or the throwing of those nades that you have definitely learned since you have read that earlier entry in this list. (Right?)

But there is another, even less-appreciated element to good communication in Counter-Strike – and really, it also holds true for any other competitive game and many other walks of life as well. Simply put: be personable and work on your soft skills. You can’t overestimate the impact of maintaining good vibes across a team: it can well and truly break your Premier match or your CS esports game. There’s a reason why toxic characters are looked down upon even at the highest levels of play: no matter how good a shot you are, causing a foul mood across the team is such a large detriment that it is almost impossible to compensate for with your in-game performance. People tense up and go quiet, or they stop trying entirely: the death knell of any competitive Counter-Strike effort.

So if you can stop yourself from raging into the mic or even defuse a situation or two between your teammates alongside a bomb, you will help keep morale up and greatly improve your winning chances along the way. Scream into a pillow if you have to, but not into the mic – this is, of course, easier said than done, but it is definitely worth working on it. Being chill and kind are good personality traits to have, even in those exotic scenarios where you go out and touch grass.

As the saying goes, the opposing team has five randos, but yours only has four because you are the fifth player. Even if you are not having a good day when it comes to your fragging output, you can still make a difference by ensuring that you’re not the reason the team spirals into Tiltville, population five, when a clutch goes wrong. Wait for your opponents to self-destruct and reap the rewards with a smile on your face!

The five top tips to get better at Counter-Strike, explained

So let’s quickly recap what we have just learned about Counter-Strike, alright?

• Improve your aim. Counter-Strike is a rich and rewarding game, but you need to get the fundamentals right. From proper crosshair placement to recoil patterns, much more goes into nailing that perfect headshot than mere reflexes. You should also take the time to play a warmup game or two before heading into competitive play so that you are ready to roll from the pistol round onwards.
• Learn the basics. Map layouts, callouts, grenade lineups: a lot goes into Counter-Strike, and you will be at a definite disadvantage if you haven’t taken the time to get the basics right before you head into a competitive match. You would do your teammates a disservice if you didn’t know how to throw basic smokes or the ways to give a crisp callout – but if you do your homework, it will be reflected in your rank and your win rate over time.
• Watch competitive Counter-Strike and immerse yourself in the action. Excellence always trickles down from the top, and the best way to stay up-to-date on the Counter-Strike metagame is to watch what the pros are doing. From new grenade lineups to interesting timings and unique crosshair settings, you will always find something new to note and to copy when watching Counter-Strike esports.
• Get more involved through esports betting. The best way to get the most out of watching Counter-Strike esports is to put your money where your mouth is and start betting on the pros’ matches. This way, you will be extra motivated to get your predictions right and to deeply study what goes into winning a match and a tournament. Not only will this help you get better at analyzing CS and figuring out the elements that truly matter, but it will also make following the tournaments a whole lot more fun!
• Focus on your communication. Counter-Strike is a team-based game, and crisp comms are a key part of your toolkit. But it goes into so much more than relaying the right information and paying attention to what your teammates are saying. You can take advantage of your soft skills (and use CS matches as an opportunity to further develop them) by taking responsibility and leadership, clearly and actively communicating what’s going on in the server, and defusing any tense situation to avoid arguments and tilt. You would be surprised at how big a difference this can make in competitive play!

There are so many more things we could discuss here about improving your Counter-Strike performance in the server, from optimal graphical settings and crosshair selection to the optimal weapon loadout, but we will leave those vistas for you to explore. We hope, however, that this selection will help you supercharge your CS experience, and that it will also help you get better involved with the exciting world of Counter-Strike esports!If you are looking for more esports insights and gaming discussion, and the best ways to get involved with crypto casino games and betting, be sure to check out the Bitsler blog for a steady stream of content that is sure to get you further ahead on your path to gaming greatness!