How to rank up in CS2
I’ve spent 3,360 hours so far in Counter Strike: 2 and I often get asked how I gained my rank. As I was playing today with my silver ranked friends I figured why not give them a help in hand. At the height of my career in CS2 I was a legendary eagle master moving up and down the ranks as time goes on.
One of the most common problems I see new and old players do is not aiming their weapon in the correct locations or at the correct height. At all times the cross hair height should be located between the upper chest and head depending on how confident you are with holding your cross hair at the height and hitting the enemy. Never should it be aimed at the floor, roof or your team mate unless you would expect the enemy to be in that location. This is especially bad when people are running around, they’ll watch the floor to see where they’re going and then have to look up at the enemy when they appear. If they’d already been looking where the enemy is going to be or even just at the right high they’ll end up winning a lot more firefights.
How to use sound to your advantage
Sound in a key aspect in CS2 as it gives you the not just the location of enemies but also important intelligence. I’m going to use my favorite map Office as an example as you’re able to hear the counter terrorists on almost half the map when you stand near the terrorists spawn. Enemy can be heard braking windows, walking through them and running down hallways all giving you a pinpoint position of where their location is. If an enemy throws a grenade when it bounces it makes a sound specific to what type of grenade it is letting you know what to expect. Whether it’s a flash grenade and you need to look away or a just smoke grenade and there is no threat. Talking about using sound even more to your advantage with smoke grenades, if an enemy smokes you in but you hear them run down a hall next to you it mean you can move through the smoke into a better position if there is one. Lastly if you know an enemy should be close but there is no sound it means that he is walking. You shouldn’t expect him to be moving fast across your screen if he turns your corner, you may even get to see his gun before he even sees you.
When to spray
Knowing when to spray is an important skill to have which will let you get those essential kills when you need them. Starting your career in CS2 you will find yourself spraying a lot if not all the time. As your playing with others you’ll notice that they’ll be shooting only one bullet or a small burst fire, there is a very good reason for this. When using a rifle such as an M4 or AK 47 your first bullet is super accurate, so tapping your mouse at the opponents head at a distance is a very good strategy. Especially if you’re using an AK as it’s a 1 hit kill when you hit a head shot. A burst shot is fantastic for both the M4A4 and M4A1-S as the bullets are a lot more accurate compared to the AK and that it takes at least 2 shots to kill an enemy with one of them being a head shot. So knowing that when should you start just spraying your bullets at an enemy? The times you should spray your weapon at an enemy is when their full upper body is exposed and they are close. This gives the the easiest opportunity to hit as many bullets on the enemy before they can hit you. This works extremely well with an SMG as you move fast, don’t get a huge spray penalty when moving around and have a high rate of fire. If you’re using a rifle though I wouldn’t ever move when spraying as your bullets will go all over the screen and not at the enemy you are trying to kill.
How does the economy work
When playing competitive matches you really need to think about you and your teams economy. When playing you’ll hear phrases said by other players like “eco” and “force buy”. Eco lets players know that the team should save their money for the next round as a few or all of the players on the team are poor. They cannot afford to buy their preferred weapon and need to save up for it. Saving isn’t the only option though, on a force buy many people attempt to buy cheap weapons such as SMG or shotguns in an attempt to win the found and take the enemy weapons. Shotguns earn a large amount of money per kill making them a very good force buy if you’re able to use them correctly.
Overall there is some easy ways to save money in CS2:
- Don’t buy pistols: The default pistols are very effective. If you have a primary weapon such as an SMG or Rifle their is no point in buying a pistol as it’s extremely rare you’ll pull it out before you die. In the off chance you do want a pistol if you have a scout or AWP the P250 is a good choice as it’s fast to pull out and very cheap.
- Use weapons you’re good at: Some people are extremely bad at certain guns, for me it’s a shotgun. I never seem to kill the enemy in one hit but others do it like pros. So buy the weapons you can get kills with and that are decent in the map you are playing. There is no point in buying a shotgun if you’re going to be on a wide open map.
- Flashes are useless: Don’t get me wrong, flashes can be extremely good in certain circumstances but if you’re here reading this you’re not at the point to know what spots to throw them to be effective. Think of all the times people have thrown flashes out at you and if you have you ever been effected by them. The majority of the time it’s a no, but the ones in which you say yes are the the flashes you should learn to do.
- Smokes are also useless: The amount of people who smoke stupid spots and it just allows the enemy to push their team astound me. Smokes should be used to stop the enemy from spotting you AND pushing. Smoking long helps no-one when you’re sitting on A site in Dust 2 when it just lets them jump into the ramp without being seen.
Communication is key
Imagine being able to know where the enemy players are all throughout the round, with great team communication this can be achieved. By letting your team know where the enemy is when you can hear them, get hit by a smoke or flash grenade and when you can see them is a great help to your entire team. If you see the entire enemy team rushing a bomb plant location and you let your team know they’ll be able to back you up and watch they ways they can try and retreat giving your team a big advantage. While on the terrorists though if you take out 2 enemies on a bomb site that means it’s most likely clear and your team can move in.
When do you rank up
You cannot see when you’ll rank up next however you can get a good idea looking at your competitive games history tab. If you’re on a winning streak any of the games you play could see you rank up. You can also see your opponents get harder as your hidden elo rises. You’ll be start to verse players of the next rank or higher. Don’t get discouraged though if you’re about to lose a match though. Friends and even myself have ranked up after losing a match but it is extremely rare.
Using these tips you’ll start to see a great improvement in your skills and will be able start getting higher in the ranks a lot faster. Practice also helps as you play more you become more confident in your skills and understand the game more. Good luck!
