Every player makes mistakes and I guarantee at least one of them is on this list. Organised in categories for your convenience.

Aim

- Missing shots? Make sure you aim before you shoot. A simple tip but arguably one of the most helpful. Aiming before you shoot allows you to accurately target your opponent before you actually open fire, preventing failed spray-downs and missing shots unnecessarily.

- Crouching as you spray can be somewhat effective, especially for lower-skilled players. However, it is important to note that you shouldn’t crouch as you begin to spray and instead wait a few bullets and then crouch. This will help you bring your crosshair down quicker, meaning that you don’t have to move your mouse as much. By crouching as you spray, you are committing to the spray. If there are multiple enemies, then it is likely that you will be traded as you will be left, unable to move, as a sitting duck. This will be poor for your aim and may cost you the round.

- Learn your spray transfers. You most likely find yourself only being able to spray down one opponent at a time. Learn to transfer your recoil pattern over to a second, or even third, enemy. You should practice this along with any recoil training.

- Reset your aim. Yes, it can be that simple. Spray transfers aren’t always viable and, in fact, most of the time they won’t be, so you should remember to reset your aim between targets when possible. All you need to do is stop spraying after you kill the first opponent and wait until the inaccuracy has reset.

- Tapping and burst-firing are the keys to successful aim. Too many people spray when tapping or burst-firing is the best option. Aim for the head and tap. It may take a while before you can do this consistently, but it is important to develop this habit as early as possible.

- Crosshair placement. Every player has been guilty of bad crosshair placement at some point, but be sure to hold angles where players will run out rather than first-contact/pixel-edge angles.

Movement

- Do not, and I repeat, do NOT jump around when an enemy is nearby. You will leave yourself more vulnerable than before and you won’t be able to fight back. If you are jumping around, try to reach cover, otherwise you may cost yourself your life or even the round.

- Learn how to strafe jump. As simple as that. Most people struggle to get to more advanced positions because they don’t know how to crouch-jump or strafe jump. I heavily recommend playing KZ maps to practice this.

- Do not overpeek or overcommit to the peek, it may result in you losing the round. A small mistake to make, but one with big implications.

- "Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee" – Muhammed Ali. Be mobile, don’t be static. Hit hard, move quick.

- Master the jiggle peek. Need I say more? If you can learn this, then you will eliminate so many movement issues, you will feel like a better player, and you will be handsomely compensated on the scoreboard too.

- Understanding how to aggress and when to aggress. Aggression can be good, but movement is extremely important when making aggressive plays. An example of this would be Nifty on Inferno against Mousesports (May 4th 2018). Here Nifty is often seen strafing, hopping, and moving around the map to make aggressive plays that simply work. A quick reminder to watch demos of pro players where and whenever you can.

Communication

- Don’t blame your team. Blaming your team can create a toxic environment. Do not force your team into this toxic cycle and instead encourage positivity in the team.

- If playing against an eco, make sure to work in groups rather than facing it alone. You could quite quickly get outnumbered and lose your gun and, in the worst-case scenario, lose the round.

- Be positive with your team. It’s important to establish a bond and try to make friends. This can help you find friends and teammates in the future but also to create an active team environment.

- Try not to discuss past rounds, failed clutches or missed shots. This can bring down the morale of the team. An unhappy team can lead to a huge loss. Save your constructive criticism until after the game and be open to criticism from your peers.

- Friendly advice, try not to taunt the enemy team. It may seem fun at first, but they will quite happily rub it back in your face if the tides turn.

- Make decisions and be confident with them and follow through with them. Indecisiveness will lead to poor decision-making and, ultimately, losing the round. This is more relevant for the in-game leaders or the shot-callers when calling strategies, but this goes for most decisions in Counter-Strike.

Utility

- An unused grenade is always a wasted grenade. Make sure to use your utility but make sure you use it effectively. You can practice grenade line-ups on several community maps. Search for the map name plus “grenade practice” and you will find an abundance of helpful maps.

- Throwing a pop-flash for yourself is an effective way of picking up an easy frag or two, but pop-flashing for a teammate is more than ideal and is the best way at stealing frags from your opponents while not having to put yourself in danger as you don’t have to pull out your own flash when you’re close to the enemy. It is important to learn basic pop-flashes and you can simply practice by running around a map by yourself playing about with flashes. The key to a good pop-flash is that it doesn’t bounce and it doesn’t make any sound.

- Learn some one-way smokes. They may help you clinch a few frags but be certain that you know a consistent line-up. That goes for any smoke thrown, you may end up giving a one-way to the opponent.

- When you’re playing on the CT side, reserve your utility until it’s needed. Throw molotovs to delay pushes.

- When you’re playing on the T side, try to bait out utility and use your own utility to formulate an execute onto a site and/or isolate the CTs.

- Use flashes and smokes to advance your position and to put yourself in fights where you feel more comfortable as this will maximise your chances of winning the duel.

Strategies

- Never trade one for one as a CT unless this is your only option.

- Watch your own demos, watch for your mistakes and think of ways to fix them.

- Plant for your teammate and do not go onto a site to plant if you do not have teammates there, unless you are sure there are no enemies nearby.

- Force buy, but only when necessary.

- Create a default set-up to the start of your game. This makes you unpredictable in the later stages of the round and could help you avoid executing on CT stacks.

- Anticipate counter-nades, peeks, and enemy utility usage. This can mean that you avoid taking damage, take the advantage in aim duels, and can find yourself preparing the perfect execute.

Mentality

- Statistics don’t always matter. Be a good teammate before you get greedy and try to boost your statistics. The win is more important than your kill/death ratio.

- Take every game seriously to gain consistency. Always try to win and play your best. This is something that many pros do, including Marcelo "coldzera" David.

- Every round is winnable, play to win. Always do your best. You’ll remain focused and you’ll become a more consistent player.

- If better players are outaiming you, think about outsmarting them. Many players, when playing against smurfs, get angry and feel as though they cannot win. Instead use this as an opportunity to learn and try your best to outsmart the smurf if you cannot outaim them.

- Whilst it’s good to play confident, don’t be overconfident. When you are overconfident, you will often lose your respect for the opponent and you may catch yourself dying unnecessarily and allowing a comeback to happen.

- Play seriously, play to win. While I’ve mentioned this before, it should be noted that this will reflect your play and may result in you struggling to play seriously and/or developing bad habits.

These tips, although some may seem simple, are very important to keep in mind. I can't stress this enough, players from silver one (matchmaking) to level ten (Faceit) make these mistakes. I guarantee you will improve significantly by implementing these in your game. Have fun and keep fragging!

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