Long on Dust 2 is one of the most iconic places in Counter-Strike, coming back from the 1.6 days. It is famous for its quick and straightforward engagements, with its lack of spots to hide or play around. Most of the time, the player with the best and/or fastest aim wins.

To learn how to defend it, first you need to understand its timings. When a CT get the best spawn for Long - the one closest to it, obviously - he will reach the corner before the T with the best spawn, but only by a fraction of a second. If he has a different spawn, the timing advantage is lost. As you can see, the timings in Long are pretty easy to know, but that does not mean it will be an easy spot to hold just because you get there fast. In fact, I personally think that it is one of the hardest spots to hold when playing against decent players and teams.

The way you should defend it really depends on how many players you have defending the A side of the map. But there is one very basic rule that you should always follow unless another very specific strategy calls against it. Always have 2 players in Long in the early moments of the round. Never try to defend Long alone at the start of the round. This is probably the biggest mistake I see players doing in MM or PUGs and they keep doing it round after round. But why shouldn’t you do it? Because Long is a very easy spot to rush and you can be flashed very easily, leaving you exposed. If it is only you defending it, you instantly lose the position, which leaves you with two options: run back to CT (and hope that you get there before the Ts get to the corner) or risk peeking and killing 1 player at most before getting instantly traded. But those two options have something in common: you lose Long control.

To avoid that situation, you should always have two players on Long at least in the first few moments of the round. Most of the CT strategies consist of playing with 2 or 3 players defending the A site. Let's take a look at both situations.





When defending A site with TWO players

Always start the round with both players on Long. The main objective is that you are there to support each other, mainly with kill trades. One easy way to do this is putting one of the players in Pit and the other on the Corner. Naturally, the player on Pit needs to have the best spawn and use smokes to get there safely because if a T player rushes Long, he will get caught off-guard on their way there. Try to understand how your opponents approach Long and adjust your way to Pit accordingly. That is the hard part but when you do it successfully, defending Long gets easier. The Corner player can bait for the player in Pit. They can make the Ts focus on them, giving the CT in Pit easier kills. The player in Pit can also throw Flashes, Smokes and Incendiaries to slow down the approach.

You can also play safer with both on Corner, having one player with their back turned to Long to counter Flashes that may come and blind the player on first contact.

After the first seconds of the round have passed and you know that there will not be any initial rush, at least one of the players should go back to A site so he can hold Short in case the T's decide to attack from there or even do a split to A.

Don't forget to use your Smoke and Incendiary Grenades to waste as much time as possible, which could make the Ts approach rushed and naturally sloppier.

When defending A site with THREE players:

When defending one site with three players, you gain a lot more freedom. But the basic rule is the same: keep two players on Long. Freedom is gained because you won't need to worry so much with the possible fast approach on Short, because there is one extra player covering it that can burn some time for one of you to rotate and support him.

You can also play with a "line" setup. Have one player on Long and one on Site. The remaining one is halfway between both players (around Mid Long) ready to help both when needed. He can throw Flashbangs and other utility, help in case of a push to trade the kill, or even help cover a retreat.

There is also another option to forfeit Long control in exchange for a better Short and Catwalk control. Let’s say that two teammates decide to aggressively defend Short, pushing all the way until the stairs. As I said before, don’t go Long alone. Instead, cover it from CT Cross or even A site. That way you can make quick calls to your teammates if you see any Terrorists coming Long, giving them time to throw a Smoke on Short and help you cover the push from Long. In case the opponents were trying to do a Split to A, they will probably wait for that Smoke on Short to dissipate, burning even more time. If you’re caught in that situation, you should push either Long or Short to avoid confrontations from both flanks. That way you have already messed up their Split strategy, avoiding gun fights where you would be in a major disadvantage.

Surprise your opponents

Don’t put yourself and your teammates in the same positions round after round. Doing so will make you predicable to your opponents, which you should avoid at all costs. Surprising is the key to a successful match. This tip doesn’t only apply to Long on Dust 2. In fact, this tip applies to all maps and spots. Position yourself in different spots each round, preferably spots where your opponent is less likely to expect. Learn new ways to defend and learn how to make the best use of your utility. Even the slightest advantage can be the difference to having a good or bad outcome of the round.

After learning how your opponents usually play, you can try to be more aggressive. You can try to gain Double Doors control or even stay behind its wall, if they don’t push. Make some noise to make them doubt themselves about a possible Long push or even stay dead silent while waiting for a possible unaware Terrorist to appear in your crosshair, offering you a free kill and numerical advantage.

Long on Dust 2 is a position that can be explored in so many ways that even the best article can’t cover all the possibilities available to you. It can, however, give you some basic guidelines, helping you to perfect the basics, allowing you to gain more freedom and confidence to learn and experiment new strategies and positions.

Note that writing and following a guide with such a subjective theme can be hard and sometimes the guide will seem "wrong". CS:GO is a game where two rounds will never be exactly the same, so always take these tips with a grain of salt. Read them, understand them, and adapt them to your playstyle and opponents. Everyone has their way of playing and that unique style can make all the tips I’m writing obsolete or at least not as useful as I would like them to be.

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