Introduction

Establishing a strong T side and effective team work in PUGs can be a difficult prospect especially when solo queing and it can seem impossible to win if your teammates fail to correctly follow up on trades and picks to take map control at a vital moment. Therefore, I find it is best to keep things simple and use one of three options to put together an effective offense: 1. Rush, 2. Play for picks, or 3. Execute. Each style of attack has its pros and cons but all can be adapted to work for you given the CT style of play and the skills that your team mates have to offer.

The Rush

Rush B no stop has become a meme in the CS community over the years, an attempt to force your team into a bombsite when people are baiting and things aren’t going to plan. However, despite the joke that has grown from this idea, the traditional rush can be an effective play when executed properly. The basic idea of this plan is to take an area by force of numbers, pushing into a bomb site before the CTs can set up their defenses and giving the other CT players around the map less time to rotate and retake. The premise is simple to understand for players at all skill levels and from different countries which makes it easier to communicate and execute. Furthermore it is an effective strategy on eco rounds and force buys with SMGs and Pistols that have greater running accuracy than rifles and a flash to help enter the site. Winning a rush round can net you more money and also better guns from the defenders you overwhelmed. On the other hand the tactic is reliant on spawn location as this idea can only work if you reach the site before CTs with their rifles can set up in a defensible position. Furthermore if you fail to execute the rush properly you have essentially lost the round, it’s mostly an all in strategy. Finally if you don’t trade evenly it can be difficult to hold the site after planting the bomb. Some of my favorite places to rush include B site Dust 2, Nuke, Cobble and Mirage that all allow a quick T side with good spawns to pressure CT’s before they can comfortably get into superior positions. This kind of play is directly countered by a stack or a quick rotation where the CT’s can minimalize the numbers advantage early.

Playing for Picks

In my experience the call to ‘Play for Picks’ comes after a few rushes or executions have failed and players are on tilt causing them to miss shots and make poor decisions. However when this strategy comes together I feel it is an effective play that can not only give the terrorists a numbers advantage towards the end of the round but also provide scouting information to decide where the best course of attack lies. The strategy is really simple in reality, players split up into areas where their weapons are most effective and work to find out where CTs are positioned and take them out. Generally this is most effective with the AWP as it ensures any player that is hit in the body or head is taken out of the round quickly as well as having a scope for those precision pixel shots. This strategy is also a simple one to understand and relies primarily on the shooting ability of you and your team to get kills rather than nades and map knowledge. On the other hand this makes it difficult to trade if you fail to kill a player as generally you will be more spread out as a team. Furthermore as the strategy is so reliant on shooting if you are consistently getting outplayed and out shot it can be impossible to get an advantage and win rounds. Personally I like to pick long A and mid on dust 2, mid on mirage and B site on Cache as these can all be reached quickly with an AWP and used to get map control and knowledge of where the CT’s are playing. This strategy is most countered by a counter rush of CT’s, as you will be spread out 5 players can easily overwhelm one and get a gun either retreating back to defend sites or continuing to push behind you leaving you in the dark as to their location and constantly watching your back.

The Execute

The execution is effective on every map to varying degrees of difficulty. The execution is a coordinated attack that can come at any time using traditional smokes and flashes to take control of a site efficiently. Executions like A on mirage require at least 3 smokes thrown at the same time as well as flashes to take the site whilst executions such as Dust 2 A site simply require a person to push long and short at the same time to catch the CTs in a crossfire. The advantage of this kind of play means that you don’t have to necessarily out shoot your opponents to win the round as you can push them into disadvantageous positions and catch them off guard in crossfires with your nades and positioning. However things can go really wrong in an execution. If a smoke is off point a gap could leave you exposed to an AWPer you thought was blocked off. Your team mates may be slow to push meaning that smokes evaporate and players rotate removing your advantage. Additionally executes are really easy to spot, if you see smokes flying down from the sky it’s really easy to call a rotation and back out from the site preparing to retake. Finally it is also the most difficult method to pull off in a solo que PUG where you have to hope your team is able to correctly smoke various areas of the map and be able to take over the site efficiently. Finally this strategy generally requires a large investment, rifles, AWPs and various utility are must haves to properly execute onto any site. I would argue however that in a situation where you can communicate with and rely on your team the execute can be the most effective strategy allowing you basically free access to plant the bomb at any stage in a round without any frags. There are plenty of videos on YouTube and articles on the internet that explain various executions in depth but for me the best execution is the aforementioned A site mirage execution where the 3 smokes line up perfectly to allow the terrorists into the site. Really the only counter to the retake is if a player manages to against all the odds take you out and that’s more your fault than their success. Play safe and smart and the CT players will not only have you to worry about but also the clock.

Conclusion

These 3 techniques can be adapted to great success on any map and any bombsite. What you choose really depends on a few things, your knowledge of the map and smokes, your team’s knowledge and skillset and how your enemies react to your plays. Most importantly communicate with your team, be a proactive leader and make them support your plans because your best chance at winning is getting all 4 people onside with you. Counterstrike is a strategy game as much it is a first person shooter, spend some time learning strategies, especially regarding proper executions, and you will see your winrate skyrocket.

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