Dust2 is arguably one of the most played maps in CSGO. So there is a big chance you and your team are going to play it a lot. Knowing the basic T side set-up, strategies and how to take map control will greatly increase your chances of winning against a good team. In this guide we are going to focus on the default set-up and executes for de_dust2 for you and your team.

The Default Set-up – Long

At the start of the round one of the players in your team goes towards outside long. He can wait outside long or in long doors, but be careful of the pre-nades that the CT’s throw into long doors. This player needs to gather information for the team. How many footsteps does he hear? Are there grenades being thrown? How many? All this information is critical for deciding what site to take and where to execute later on. The long player can also try and bait a reaction from the CT side by throwing a grenade over long doors himself or shooting a couple of times. If the CT’s respond to this your team gets more information and if they throw grenades, you lower the amount of utilities on the CT side.

The Default Set-up – Tunnels



Three other players make their way into the tunnel area. One player stays behind in upper tunnel while the two others go to lower tunnel/mid. The upper tunnel player has the same kind of job as the player who went long. He keeps the CT’s from pushing and gathers information. This player can sometimes take a peek into the B site, but it’s advisable to keep a passive angle for any CT pushes. The two other players go to lower tunnel and peek towards short to see if any CT is holding aggressively. Once they cleared that, they need to move up towards short. When you have control over short, you can decide where you want to go and execute.

You can also change it up and send two players tunnel, the third player can then go short via mid or watch short from greenbox. The default set-up can be very dynamic, so change it up if you feel like some things aren’t working. This applies to every position.





The Default set-up – Mid



One player, usually the AWPer, stays T spawn and spots how many CT players cross mid. This knowledge can help you decide where to hit later in the round. In lower ranks it’s usually 2 B and 1 mid, but once you play against better teams it will most likely be 1 B and 1 mid or 2 B and mid left open. The AWPer can also go for an early pick mid, but this requires some skill so most of the time you will just do some additional damage to the crossing players. The player spotting mid also needs to call if he sees smokes and where he sees those smokes. Are the smokes in front of xbox? Then watch out for a CT trying to push lower tunnel. Do they throw a smoke to cross lower mid? Watch out for an A stack. When he has spotted all the players cross and waited for the CT AWPer to peek him, he can push up to upper mid to help out his team and get a better angle for some kills.

Once everyone has his positions (1 upper tunnel, 1 outside long, 1 mid and the other 2 on short), you default set-up is done. From here you can decide where to go and how to execute.

Executions



Before you execute, try and run down the clock a little bit. Wait for any CT mistakes or pushes and try to get an easy opening frag on a CT player. You can decide to do a fast strategy, but you can get an easy first kill if you wait a little bit most of the time. It also depends on what your team is feeling like doing and what kind of players they are. If you get a quick kill somewhere, you can decide to push there and take the CT’s by surprise. Or wait a little bit, see if someone from the CT side rotates and possibly get an easy kill on him. Counter-Strike is very dynamic like that, it’s all up to you on how you want to play.

Usually what you’ll do as a team is work off of the kills you get in the beginning of the round, or respond to what the CT side is doing. Dust2 is very unique in this way, since there is a response for everything the CT side does. Are multiple Counter-Terrorists pushing upper tunnels? You can do a fast mid to B, because you know their mid is very weak. The same thing applies to long. Are they pushing? Go take A from short. Usually that’s the weak point.





Smokes and Flashes



A good use of smokes of flashes is recommended to execute quickly and effectively onto a site. Here are some of the most used smokes for site takes on dust2.

- CT drop smoke

Put your back against the wall on short and move sideways until the vent is lined up with the two walls (aligned with red on this picture). Then place your crosshair in the middle of the air conditioning unit and do a normal throw.

- A site popflash

With your back against the same wall, line up the corner of the pillar on short with the left side of the first window (the first window on the right wall). Then place your crosshair a little bit above the balcony and do a normal throw.

- Mid to B smoke

Put yourself in the corner of xbox, then place your crosshair on the small black window above the mid doors and do a normal throw.

- Mid to B flash

In the same corner as the mid to B smoke, place your crosshair a little bit above the right corner of xbox. Do a normal throw. This popflashes anyone close to doors or in CT. Throw the mid to B smoke and this flash quickly after each other to really surprise the enemy.

Good luck with your next time on dust2. Keep in mind that the default set-up can be very dynamic, so change it up every once in a while if things are not working out. Have fun!

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