Overpass has gone through a variety of meta-changes, partly due to map updates, and I went looking for the most useful meta, but also interesting off-meta, line-ups that can help you win a close round or break apart the defence or offence of your enemies.

In this article, I'll show you ten smokes - five on each side - and they will help you either deepen your line-up knowledge or start off your new Overpass approach. The line-up will be shown via a video, so be sure to watch them to learn the smokes. Please note that all of these smokes are performed on 128 tick.

The smokes will also be provided with a difficulty rating technically ranging from very easy (intuitively throw-able with no practice) to very hard (you will need to invest time and be mechanically sound to throw the smoke reliably), but since this article is about painless line-ups, you will not find anything harder than your typical PUG smoke. We will start off on the T-side, giving you a basic foundation when executing or taking map control.

T-Side

T-Spawn Trash to Bridge (B)

Difficulty: Easy (with jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Usage: Good for early-round usage and fakes. Can also be used when attacking B later in the round and you're the last rotate from A to B.

Pros:

Fast

Takes away a horrible cross your B-Short players would have to navigate otherwise

Okay for faking, since the rotation time to A isn't too bad

You're pretty safe when throwing this smoke

Cons:

If you are an integral part of the B-site execute, you're too far away to effectively take advantage of the smoke

Since a smoke isn't a wall, you can expect the CTs to spray the smoke when they think your players will cross

T-Spawn Railing to Toilets

Difficulty: Easy (with jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Usage: A strong map control smoke that is best used early and when your team intends to take A-Short/Mid. Can also be used to accustom the CTs to the smoke followed by Mid aggression to break up this pattern later in the map.

Pros:

Fast

Helps you take map control early

Is thrown from a safe distance

Good for faking when you're going B fast

Cons:

If you intend to take Mid together with your team, throwing this smoke can take off a valuable second when rushing Mid, which can be a deciding factor

This line-up uses a shadow, which can look different on different settings

Club to Site B

Difficulty: Easy-Medium since it requires to stand at a finicky, invisible corner (with jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Usage: Really good for fast B plays since it blocks off the incredibly strong Water position for Short. Can also be used later in the round, but your team should take map control in front of B first since you'll have to run quite a bit before you can take advantage of this smoke.

Pros:

Fast (with a bit of practice)

This line-up allows you to stand at a safe distance

Blocks off an incredibly strong position

Cons:

Leaves a bit of room between you and B, which means that, if you do not have the necessary map control, using this smoke can end with you running into an aggressive CT, if you use this line-up later in the round

Since a smoke won't block bullets, your team should choose an unpredictable timing when going out Short, since they are still in danger of getting spammed

In Front of Con to Green (A)

Difficulty: Easy-Medium since this line-up can be hard to remember (with jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Usage: Can be used for pretty much everything, like an early A take, a late-round A take, faking A and going B, baiting out utility, or getting a player towards the flowers right at A for a lurk or entry attempt.

Pros:

Is thrown from a pretty safe distance from A

Once learned, it's a quick line-up

Is deep enough to not to give the CTs the chance to sneak out at the left or right of the smoke

Blocking off Green can be incredibly helpful when taking A

Slow rotation to B, meaning that it's a great fake smoke

Cons:

When your teammates didn't take map control properly, there is a chance that a CT will peek you from Mid

If you didn't check Con correctly, you can also be met with a surprise from down there

Long to Swat

Difficulty: Easy

Usage: Can be done rather early in the round, right after taking Long, or later in the Round to execute with a set-piece. Works really well with a molotov at Sign.

Pros:

Once you got Toilets control, it is very unlikely that you'll get surprised when lining up this smoke

Helps you cover the incredibly dangerous path from Long to A

You can throw this smoke and then change to Mid to fake that you're also coming through Long

Cons:

The infamous Sign position won't be blocked off and can still peek you with an AWP

People can still jumpspot from behind Swat and spot how many players are Long

CT-Side

CT-Spawn to Monster

Difficulty: Medium (with jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Usage: Especially useful early-round to stop an A take but can also be used later in the round situationally.

Pros:



Blocks off Monster really well and allow for your teammates on B to flash Monster and peek into it to either get free kills or be sure that there is no Monster rush

Thrown from an incredibly long distance, which can help you fake presence on B

If your teammate cleared out in front of A and you're nearing the end of the round, you can throw this smoke before rotating to B to help with defending B already

Cons:

Requires a bit of work to pull off consistently since it is a rather exact line-up

If your teammates aren't near Monster fast enough the Ts can still rush out Monster rather easily

A-Long to T-Entrance of A-Long

Difficulty: Easy-Medium (with jumpbind/two-key jumpbind)

Usage: Really good early-round, especially when you have trouble holding Long and you have a teammate to boost you on Flower, for example.

Pros:

Off-meta enough to work out the first few times

Will help you catch Ts coming out through the smoke, especially with an AWP, AUG, or SG553

Is thrown from a safe distance

Cons:

If you are holding the smoke late after throwing using this line-up, you can be met with a bunch of Ts already out on A-Long

Ts can flash you off rather easily when holding the smoke, especially if you have no back-up

Jungle to B-Short Tunnel

Difficulty: Easy

Usage: Really only useful early-round, but it is quite strong for exactly that use and has been used extensively by different high-level teams.

Pros:

Can help you take map control without wasting an incendiary so early on

Once you get countered, you can simply keep throwing this smoke and flash for your Connector player to peek B-Short and mix it up

Cons:

If the Ts called a B-rush and around three Ts are coming through Short, they're gonna push through the smoke and will most likely overrun you if you are alone

B Sandbags to B-site towards Monster

Difficulty: Very easy

Usage: Everyone knows this situation: You're holding B-Short close and you hear a Monster rush. And this is where this smoke will come into play. You'll be able to delay the Ts and hold B better when you can't get double-peeked as easily

Pros:

Very easy to throw and to remember

Fast enough to block off the position before the Ts leave Monster

Gives you a lifeline and a chance to hold B until reinforcements arrive

Cons:

If you aren't quick on your feet, you can get caught off-guard by a T rushing either Monster or Short

You can get smoked off in return and will probably lose B anyway if that happens

Should the Ts kill your teammates on B early enough, they'll probably molotov or HE you out of Short

Back of A to A-Site (retake entry smoke)

Difficulty: Easy (requires the outer dimensions of your crosshair to line up, which differ from crosshair to crosshair)

Usage: This is a retake smoke that can help you win an almost impossible retake against multiple enemies on A. Can also be used during a bombsite take by the Ts, disrupting their execute by allowing you to re-enter A-site.

Pros:

Blocks off the view from strong positions in Mid (for example Flowers)

Allows you to navigate onto A and clear out positions without instantly getting shot in the side

Helps a teammate hiding in Long to surprise the enemies

Cons:

If the Ts are aggressive, they can catch you off-guard when lining up this smoke

There is no guarantee that a T is even in Mid

Use them wisely

Not one game in CS is the same as the one before. Enemies are thinking, breathing players that can adapt and power through the most intricate and well-thought-out defences and offences which means that you will always need to be ahead a few steps in order to consistently secure the round win. I only gave you the tools and context of said tools to help you figure out yourself when the right time has come to deploy any of these smokes.

If you liked this article and want more content of this kind, feel free to take a look at my Vertigo smoke guide, written in the same style, here.

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