lethal cs guide vol 1

11

Preface Me and my purpose..... 1 Origins..... 2 Statistics..... 3Chapter I - Starting to play and natural evolution 4Chapter II - The Basics 6 Getting comfortable..... 8 Mouse acceleration..... 9 Rates..... 10 Monitor Refresh-rate..... 11 Miscellaneous Commands..... 12Chapter III - Aim, shooting, and move-ment 13 Basic Movement..... 15 Finding your sensitivity..... 15 Shooting with the AK..... 16 Shooting with the colt..... 16 The de..... 17 The awp..... 18 Shooting with pistols..... 18 Grenades.... 18 Putting it all together..... 19Chapter IV - Consistency 20 Bad habits..... 21 If youre caught in a slump..... 22Chapter V - In game strategy 23 Buying up pistol round (T and CT)..... 24 Buying up in general..... 24 Setting up to hold a bombsite (CT)..... 25 Setting up to hold a bombsite (T)..... 26 Using stacks effectively..... 28 Other in game tips..... 29 When not to play..... 30Chapter VI - Joining a good clan and getting noticed 31Chapter VII - Somethign a litttle more advanced 33Chapter VIII - Some advice for teams 35 Creating a default strat..... 36 Making things work..... 36Chapter IV - The 10 things a CS player should know how to do 38Chapter V - Closing statements 45Index 46

Lethals Guide to Playing Competitive Counter-Strike

Table Of Contents Preface

Me and my purpose

I, Kevin Rosenblatt, am 19 years old and have been playing Counter-Strike for over 4 years. Over this span of time I have gained many innovative insights into the game, as well as insight at how to be better at things in general. About 8 months ago I decided to give private CS lessons, and am currently one of the most successful instructors in the history of the game. I like to think it is because I actually care about making people better at CS and have found a successful way of accomplishing this. You can read my testimonials as well as view my past clans and experience at the Complexity page (http://www.complexityclan.com/index.php?le=cota_teacher&id=16). Please keep in mind that I am not an English major and I apologize in advance for any grammatical or spelling errors that you may nd. I also appolo-gize in advance for the low quality of the video. Although all the videos get my point across and aid the learning process, they are not all of the highest quality. This is due to le size issue as I have tried to keep the book as light as possible. My goal is to be able to offer my insight to a larger group of people by writing this, so because of this I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. I also would like to tell you that mostly everything I go over in this guide is covered in the private lessons that I give. These lessons are roughly $23/hour and I understand that not everyone can afford this, which is yet another reason I am doing this. I truly hope this is a cost effective solution to all of you out there that wish to improve your game. So rst lets get started with a little back-ground about the game and myself.

Copyright warning

I, Kevin Rosenblatt of InventorSpace LLC own the original copyright to this material, any unauthorized distribution of this guide will result in legal recourse.

22

Origins

Counter-Strike, the online multi-player phenomenon that burst onto the scene nearly 5 years

ago, remains the number one online FPS today. With nearly 2.5 million people playing a total of 3.84

billion minutes a month, CS can truly be crowned the most poplar multiplayer FPS game of all time.

Why do so many people play it? What does it have that other games dont? What does it take to

be good at it? These questions I have strived to answer over the last few years of playing this game,

consequently this guide is a compilation of the conclusions I have drawn.

To become good at CS you must have the mental strength, the patience, and above all, the

stomach. CS is deantly not a game that is easy to pick up and play a top level. Only a handful of

individuals from each country have achieved high levels of success in a relatively short amount of

time while the rest of us have been playing for years. This is one of the rst things you should con-

crete in your mind before you take on the task of becoming a good CS player. Rome wasnt built in a

day. Its going to take months of practice, maybe even years. It all depends on your drive and com-

mitment to what youre trying to do. Some people in life will focus all their time, energy, and power

to one specic goal, no matter what it is. I believe these are the kind of people that play at a top

level the quickest, the truly driven. The fastest way to pick something up is to become obsessed.

You also have to realize that the more people that participate in a given activity, the better you

must become. For example, it will be harder for someone to make a nal table at the world series of

poker when the starting player count is 2500 rather than a player trying to make a nal table when

the starting player count is 500. Seeing as how counter-strike is growing everyday, it will in theory

become harder and harder to become and stay successful at it.

Tips for reading

- I recommend using 75% zoom. 118% is default.- Click the buttons to watch videos- Zoom in to look at pictures in higher detail- Re-read foreign concepts

33

Statistics

League Number of teams Number of players % of CAL playersCAL open 2103 10,515 68.3%CAL intermediate 757 3,785 24.6%CAL main 138 690 4.4%CAL premier 58 290 1.8%CAL invite 20 100 .65% Total Players * : 15,380

Statistics and Graph

*A conservative gure, calculated by multiplying the number of teams by the minimum amount of players (5).

As you can see from the table, today a mere .65% of all CAL players actually make it to the much

sought after CAL invite. In this next chart, I have plotted Number of players as a function of skill. 1 =

CAL open, 2 = CAL im, 3 = CAL main, 4 = CAL premier, 5 = CAL invite.

44

Chapter I - Starting to play and natural evolution

Here is a natural timeline of the stages the average CS

player goes through in the span of their career. Please keep

in mind that these are simply the conclusions I have drawn

from speaking to numerous students, and these timeframes

WILL be different depending on the person.

1. The pub stage This is where everyone starts, at the

bottom of the ladder. This stage occurs normally right after

the game has been purchased until about a maximum of 4

months later. In this stage a player is just learning the basic

objective of the game and user controls. During this stage a

player has little or no desire to play with a team.

Timeframe : installation 4 months

2. Structured play interest After about 6 months a player a player normally becomes curi-

ous about structured game play. It is around this time that players join ladders like OGL or perhaps

even entry level leagues like CAL open. Most players are fascinated when they nd out they can

play competitively, and if you complete this stage, there is a good chance you will be playing CS for

a while.

Timeframe : 4 months 1 year

3. Progression In this stage, players acquire the drive to play to the best of their abilities. When

you see posts on E-sports sites like How addicted are you to CS? and I cant stop playing, it is

more than likely the player that posted the thread is in this stage.

Timeframe : 1 year Indenite

4. CAL Invite and beyond For a long time, playing in CAL invite has been B major goal and sole

driving force behind many team. To even make it to that level is a huge accomplishment in itself,

forget sponsorships and other nonsense. Playing in CAL invite has been a cornerstone for CS play-

ers for a long time. As you will see, less than 1% of CAL players currently play at this level.

Timeframe : No guarantees

This Chapter Includes...

- The basic mechanics of aim

- How to nd your sensitivity

- How to shoot each individual gun

- The famous DE trick

Basic useful information for beginners as well as more ad-vanced players

Lethals infamous pre-lesson speech transcript

How to get comfortable with your setup

Mouse accelleration and refresh rates (pictures)

Miscellaneous commands

How to setup your rates

This chapter includes

55

Stage Timeframe % that achieve* DescriptionPub stage 0 4 months 100% Bottom of the ladderStructured play interest 4 months 1 year

(CAL open )68.3% Drive to gain experi-

enceProgression 1 year Indenite

(CAL main +)6.2% Drive to play at a top

levelCAL Invite and beyond N/A

(CAL invite/CPL)< 1% Playing at a top level

* Players in the given CAL league compared to total CAL players

This table is based on extremely rough estimates, and only takes into account the CAL gaming

league. The reason I did this is that CAL is a good example of proportionality in this game (number

of players versus skill see graph above). The higher the level of play, the less people involved, this

will still hold true even if you take in to account every league in the world.

66

This Chapter Includes... Chapter II - The Basics

Lets start at the beginning. In my lesson plan, I normally

start with an introduction and ask the student to give me

their information. I usually ask for their name, age, location,

experience, past leagues, past teams, and just about any-

thing else I feel like drilling them with. This marks the start

of my 5 minute speech. In my speech I cover a few impor-

tant topics. The rst of these is consistency. Players often

ask how does one stay consistent? Most people are looking

for a secret word or answer that will make them play well

100% of the time, and to be honest if that is what you are

looking for you will be disappointed by what I have to say.

All players have off times. There is nothing you can do about

that. What you can do is play at such a high level, that when

you do have off games youre still holding your own.

One way to stay consistent is not to change up your settings. Your resolution, sensitivity, crosshair

size and color, zoom sensitivity, all of these things, keep them constant! The mind likes consistency,

so please do not change your sensitivity after a bad half in a scrim or a lousy missed shot. Dont

mess with your resolution either because its not going to help you. In fact it may end up putting

you deeper in a slump. Best case scenario is you get a quick skill increase for a few hours but then

youre worse off. Im a rm believer that the only time you should ever mess with your settings

after having them already set is after you take a break from the game. Taking a break from the

game is a big part in overcoming slumps. The rst piece of advice I give to people that are in a

horrible slump is just to walk away from the game for a few days. The frustration you feel during a

slump is worse for you psychologically in the realm of CS than taking a cold break from the game is.

After you come back from your break and youre STILL in a slump, or feel as if your sensitivity just

doesnt feel right, I believe it is then time to change your sensitivity.





Basic useful information for beginners as well as more ad-vanced players

Lethals infamous pre-lesson speech transcript

How to get comfortable with your setup

Mouse accelleration and refresh rates (pictures)

Miscellaneous commands

How to setup your rates


77

The next part of my speech talks about being ner-

vous. If youre the person that gets nervous before a big

match or scrim, there are a few things that you should

know. First of all, its ok to be a little nervous. In fact,

Ill even go as far as saying youll play BETTER when

youre a little nervous versus when you arent nervous at

all. Its a term in psychology called the Yerkes-Dodson

law, and I suggest reading more about it here http://

www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/arousal.html. If

you are having trouble staying in control of your nerves,

and are frequently passed the stage of being a little ner-

vous, then there are a few tricks I

have learned to help you out. First you want to picture in your mind the emotional state you would

like to be in. Next I recommend breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly, letting your body relax.

Physical activity is the next step in calming yourself down. I recommend at least 5-10 pushups. This

will relieve a lot of the nervous energy that you have built up and combined with the breathing, I

guarantee youll be able to get your emotions in control. If your hands become cold because you are

nervous, warm water can be used. I remember when I rst started playing I would run my hands

under warm water so when it was time to play, my hands were steady and calm.

The third and nal part of my speech has to do with the fact that no one gets good overnight.

Everything that you learn must be integrated with your normal play, and practiced over and over and

over again. If you can do this, you are on your way to CS success. I tell most of my students, there

However, I do warn against changing it by too much too quick. If you want to change your

sensitivity, start out in small increments. Change it by .1 to start, and if you feel no difference,

move up to .2 until you have found your perfect sensitivity. You will know this sensation when your

crosshair no longer bounces around as you try to shoot. You will feel completely in control of every

movement of your crosshair. It truly is a great feeling once youve pegged it. I will cover consistency

more detailed in a later chapter.

Yerkes-Dodson Bell-Curve picture 1999 Donald Clark

88

is a natural timeline on which each player will eventually achieve their goal. My goal as a teacher is

to help people achieve their goal, but in half the time.

Now that weve gotten that out of the way, we can start the good stuff. If youre a relatively

new player, go ahead and nish out the rest of this chapter. If you feel like youve heard enough,

skip on down to chapter three.

Getting comfortable Since being comfortable is closely related to how well someone plays, this is the rst thing I

suggest to everyone. You need to nd a natural feeling, comfortable setup for you to play on. I rec-

ommend placing your hands on your keyboard with your eyes closed and feeling the natural position

of your hands. This is the position you are naturally most comfortable in. Many times players tell me

that they are in a slump, and later I nd out it is because they are too uncomfortable while they play.

I personally need a pillow in the back of my chair to make sure my back doesnt start to hurt. Its the

small things like this that will gain you a small edge consistency wise.

While playing, dont become mesmerized by the cross hair. You want to view the entire screen

as a whole, not just the center of it. There are people that have trouble taking their attention away

from their cross hair and heres a tip for those of you that have this problem; the cross hair is at the

center of your screen and will always be at the center of your screen. It isnt going anywhere, so

take your eyes off of it. Also, dont sit to close to your monitor.

Tips for a good setup

Position the mousepad for your wrist

Dont drag your thumb

Roll up your sleeves

Click above to view my tips for a good setup

99

Mouse Acceleration For all those of you that are still reading, go ahead and load steam. The rst thing we want

to do is make sure you have mouse acceleration turned off in game. If you arent sure you can go to

control panel > mouse > pointer options and make sure mouse acceleration or enhanced pointer

precision is unchecked. If you are NOT running Windows XP, then you have completed the task and

you can skip down to Rates. However, if you are running Windows XP, you arent done quiet yet.

There are two ways of doing this. The rst method is the registry x method. I must warn

you, if you use this method you will turn off mouse acceleration in Windows XP and it will turn your

mouse acceleration off for all applications and programs. The second method is a bit more compli-

cated, but will only affect your CS in game settings as apposed to all of Windows mouse acceleration

settings.

Method One. Go to ftp://ftp.thecpl.com/mouse_x.zip and download the le to your desk-

top. Unzip the le, double click mousex.reg, and click ok which adds the values to your registry.

You will need to restart your computer before the changes take effect.

Method Two. To use this method open steam, select games, right click on counter-strike,

select properties, launch options, and input the following commands without quotations : -noforcem-

parms noforcemspd noforcemaccel. Click ok and open CS.

If mouse acceleration was on, you will notice a drastic difference. Your sensitivity will

seem a little slower, but I promise it is better for your aim in the long run.

1010

Rates Next thing we need to do is check your rates and other settings in game. Load up CS, open

the console, and input the command cl_cmdrate. The ideal command rate is 101, and is what

I recommend setting this value to. Next type in cl_updaterate and set that to 101 as well, hitting

enter after each change. Next command is rate. Please make sure this is at least 20,000, if not

you will probably notice choke when playing. If while using these rates you are experiencing heavy

ping spiking, lower your cl_cmdrate by 20 to cl_cmdrate 80. Keep lowering this value until the ping

spiking goes away. If you are experiencing choke, lower your cl_updaterate by 20 until the choke has

gone away. The way you can see if you are getting loss/choke in a server is by enabling your net-

graph. To do this, type the command net_graph 3 into the console and hit enter. You will be able

to see your choke and loss at the bottom right of your screen. See g 2.1

Fig 2.1

The two main things you are worried about is choke and loss. You can also quickly view your ping and fps with the net_graph commands.

Command Default CS setting Recommended Choke/Loss valuecl_cmdrate 30 101 cl_cmdrate 101/80*cl_updaterate 20 101 cl_updaterate 80*/101rate 2500 20000 Ensure your rate is

20000* = keep lowering this value by 20 if choke or loss continues

1111

Monitor Refresh Rates Typically if youre running in

800x600 or lower and your monitor is

fairly new (but NOT an LCD display), you

should have no problem running your re-

fresh rate at 100Hz or greater. There is

a big advantage to playing with 100Hz or

greater, the game seems more uid and

it isnt as choppy. Please keep in mind

though, the more you change your moni-

tor refresh rate, the more your sensitiv-

ity is going to change. I strongly rec-

ommend that you play with the same

refresh rate at home as you do on lan.

If you wish to change your re-

fresh rate and youre running Win XP you

will more than likely need the help of a

tool called Reforce which is available at ftp://ftp.thecpl.com/reforce.zip. The program is ex-

tremely easy to use. You simply open it, nd your in game resolution, and change that set-

ting to 100Hz. Be warned, only do this if you know for a fact that your monitor can dis-

play 100Hz @ the given resolution. Failing to do this could result in failed hardware. Once

youre up and running at 100Hz you can turn V-Sync on, and enjoy uid, tear-free graphics.

If you cannot turn v-sync on for whatever reason, dont worry about it. I have had numerous

PMs since the pre-release in which people are worried they are missing out because they are playing

with v-sync. All V-sync does is ensure there is no page tearing, which isnt that big a deal to begin with.

Resolution Refresh rate (in Hz)

1212

Miscellaneous Commands Here are some commands that I recommend using. To enter

these you must rst bring down your console using the ~ and hit en-

ter after each change is made.

Fps_max 101 this will ensure you are getting the maximum

fps possible

Hud_centerid 1 this will place the enemy/friend text in the

center of your screen, making it easier to see (see picture right)

Brightness 5

Gamma 5

Zoom_sensitivty_ratio defaulted at 1.2, make sure you do

not overlook this great tool. This variable sets the zoom sensitivity and

is done by ratio. For example if your in game sensitivity is 2, and your

zoom_sensitivty_ratio is 3, while zoomed in your sensitivity will be 6

(2 sensitivity multiplied by the ZSR). This works for any zoomed gun

including the AUG and SIG assault ries.

Old vgui menus I recommend using the old vgui menus to

buy. If you like clicking the icons to buy, that is your deal. You You can

toggle this option on and off in settings > advanced.

hud_centerid 1

Click on the above picture to see my personal setup

1313

Chapter III - Aim, shooting and movement

The goal is for everything to feel natural. I often tell

people, when you dont have to think about playing anymore

and just automatically do it, that is the place you want to be.

The time it takes you to think about something prolongs the

time that it takes you to accomplish a task. The shorter you

have to think about something, the quicker youre going to

be able to do it. Whenever I turn or peek a corner I already

assume that an enemy will be there. If there happens to be

one I have already made up my mind that I will shoot him

before he shoots me. I dont have to think about it at all,

I just have to react. I like to call this intuitive playing and its a big part of CS. Intuitive play is di-

rectly proportional to experience and is all about being in different situations and knowing instinc-

tively what to do. Different situations require different skills, whether it be your long range game or

perhaps your AWPing abilities. Believe me if your CS career is long enough, youll see most situa-

tions pan out to their end. This is what experience is. Experience is taking all of these situations that

you have seen and making sense out of them. Unfortunately, I cannot teach someone experience. It

would be impossible for me to go through every single situation that could possibly occur. Instead, I

offer you insight on how to make the correct choices.

I will start off with showing you the correct way to shoot. You can view assorted media includ-

ing live action videos of me playing in the Putting it all together section below.

This Chapter Includes...





Instructions on how to shoot each individual weapon

How to move correctly

How to nd your sensitivty

Lethals famous DE trick

Tips for throwing grenades

How to bring it all together (with media)


Tips for this section

This chapter will take a lot of time and practice to master and may require multiple reads.

Watch the media and put what you see into practice. 1v1 with someone would be the best thing to do, while pubbing would offer a better-than-nothing alternitive.

Dont get frustrated, you will get it. Just be sure to keep at it.

1414

The close up shotExamples : This is pretty self-explanitory, and is the easiest shot to shoot. I recomend crouching at extremeclose ranges and ring rapidly while pulling down on your mouse slowly.

The Medium Range ShotExamples : Nuke ramproom to radio room, train courtyard

Strong medium range maps : de_nuke, de_cpl_mill, de_inferno

The long range shot

My method of teaching breaks down aim into three parts (or components).

Please see the gure below.

- The close-up shot (standing right next to an enemy)

- The medium range shot (on Dust2 from T side long A DD to the pit/ramp)

- The long range shot (on Dust2 from the A bombsite to the pit/ramp)

All three of these components play an equally important part of your normal playing. I listed

them in order from easiest to hardest, the long range shot being the hardest. You probably have

already come to this conclusion, as someone that is farther away from you is smaller, making them

harder to shoot. After all this time, the long range shot still gives me trouble sometimes.

Examples : Aztec CT middle to T DD, Dust2 DD to DD, anyrange you would have to double zoom with an awp.

Strong Long range maps : de_aztec, de_dust2, de_cbblede_train

1515

Basic Movement Before you can learn to shoot correctly, you must rst learn to move correctly. This is often

the hardest part for a player to pick up. The good news is once youve practiced for a solid day

movement becomes a lot easier.

Medium and long range shots each have the same movement associated with them. Basically

all it is is a combination of strang back and forth while at the same time shooting while not mov-

ing. Sounds complicated at rst, but let me walk you through it. Create a lan server and buy an AK.

To rst get the feeling for the movement I want you to hold left strafe for 1 second, then switch to

holding right strafe for 1 second, then start over again. This gives you the basics of the movement.

You will be strang from left to right at medium and long ranges. The length of your strides depends

on the length of time you hold each strafe button. Now lets throw some shooting into the mix. You

want to shoot when you are completely stopped. Failing to do this means your bullets shooting inac-

curately and is not the goal here. Start your strang left, then at the exact time you let go of the

left strafe button and hit the right strafe button to strafe right, re. When you switch strang (left

to right or right to left) you stop for an instant. This is the window of opportunity when you want

to shoot. It will be hard to do at rst, but I recommend a good solid 15 minutes of practice if this a

totally new subject to you. Once you get it down, you will be able to do it without thinking.

Finding your sensitivity Finding your sensitivity is a key part of playing well and overall consistency. By now you

should have been playing with a general sensitivity that you have used for some time. We can use

this as a starting point. First I want you to make sure mouse acceleration is off, you can nd ways to

do this in Chapter I. The next step in nding your sensitivity is lots of 1v1ing. While playing observe

your play and ask yourself this question :

Do I have trouble putting my crosshair right on someone? If yes, does my crosshair

seem to jump over the enemy, or does it seem to lag behind the enemy? If it jumps over an enemy,

your sensitivity is probably just a little too quick. Try lowering it by .2 .

1616

If the situation is the opposite, raise your sensitivity by about .2. Keep using .2 increments until you

have found your sensitivity. You will know this feeling when you are nally able to put your crosshair

directly on someone with no extra movement or lag behind. It will take some time, but it is worth

nding, trust me!

Shooting with the AK47 The close range shot is pretty easy and self explanatory, so Im not even going to cover it in

this section. I recommend just crouching and holding down re while pulling down on your mouse

slightly. The medium range shot with an AK however, is the rst thing I recommend working on.

Most players burst the AK at medium range doing a 3-4 shot burst at times. I dont fully agree with

this. In order to keep AK recoil at a minimum, I recommend doing a thing I refer to as tap-shoot-

ing. Tap-shooting involves tapping mouse1 as apposed to holding it down to re a burst. The ideal

medium range shooting should be a tap followed by a burst, followed by a burst and more tapping.

This will keep the AK recoil low, while allowing you to be extremely accurate with your shots. As for

long range with an AK, I do not recommend bursting at all, and think the best strategy is to tap ex-

clusively. 1-2 shots of tapping at a time at long range should sufce.

Shooting with the Colt (M4A1) Once you have the AK mastered it is time for the Colt. This ne piece of machinery will al-

low you to shoot bullets faster and more accurately than its T counter-part, the AK. The rate of re

makes up for the fact that the colt is weaker than the AK. Shooting a colt medium range is a dream,

all you have to do is point and click. Hold your mouse button down long enough so that you do a

three shot burst, while simultaneously pulling your crosshair down to compensate for recoil. This

will ensure that all of your burst will hit the same spot, and have maximum efciency. Long range I

simply recommend 2 shot burst, and lots of quick moving.

1717

One thing that I highly recommend is that you play silenced OR un-silenced. Please do not

switch back and forth between the two. The reason behind this is that both silenced and un-silenced

have different spray patterns, and I believe it would be a good idea for a person to master one before

using the other. Like I stated earlier, the mind likes consistency.

The Deagle (DE) This is one of the best kept secrets of my lessons. I tell

my students to guard this tip closely. If you notice, all guns

shoot in the exact same position relative to the crosshair. This

position is the center. The only gun that does not obey this

rule is the DE, making it truly one of the most unique guns in

the game. It is cheap, is able to shoot through walls, and also

has another big secret. The DE does not shoot directly in the

center of the crosshair; it actually shoots lower than that. The

DE bullet res at the very top of the bottom crosshair.

By this I mean out of the four individual crosshairs that are each horizontal or vertical, the very top of

this bottom vertical crosshair. Try it, go into a server and test it out. I think youll be very surprised

to see that you havent noticed this sooner.

What this logically tells us about the DE is that you have to aim just a little higher to get a

headshot. Since now you know exactly where every shot you shoot with the DE is going, you should

now be even more accurate with it. I do recommend shooting slow long range, and as the enemy

becomes closer, you must increase your rate of re. This is true for all guns.

1818

The AWP Once you have found your zoom_sensitivty_ratio (z and tab in console, see Miscellaneous

Commands above) you will notice a big difference in your AWPing. I recommend practicing with

scouts to improve your AWPing abilities. There are a few really nice advantages in practicing with

scouts. One good thing is that they are a lot of fun to practice with, so playing for a long time nor-

mally isnt a problem. Another advantage is a scout takes two shots to kill an enemy normally, so

you get twice the practice without having to respawn. I also recommend not having an AWP without

armor and at least a USP, but a DE if possible.

Shooting with pistols I have one thing to say that will help a lot of you out there. Aim, and shoot slow. That is

pretty much all there is to pistols. Keep your glock off burst too unless you are super close range or

expect to be. Dont spam your USP either, youre not going to hit anything.

Grenades Ill admit that when I rst started playing, the only thing I could consistently do was throw a

lousy grenade. I would always seem to TK and ash myself so bad that Id have to wear sunglasses

when I played. Well it wasnt that bad, but it was pretty atrocious. Im still not the best grenade

thrower to ever grace this game, but there are a few things that helped me throw better nades along

the way. Good grenade throwing is an art form, and if you havent already gotten it, I promise you

will. Once you have played for a good amount of time you will start to think in angles, and the ways

to bank a good grenade will just come to you, but if you would like some extra practice, try this

simple exercise.

Go to dust2 and try throwing a grenade through the B bombsite window from every position.

While you are inside the site, outside, running, walking, just do it all. Spend some time and make

your grenade throwing skills better than they were, because I guarantee this is one skill you cant af-

ford to not learn.

1919

Putting it all together In theory, you now know how to shoot properly and move effectively if you have read the

previous sections. Now the question is how do you put it all together? Well the answer is practice

and hard work. Whenever you need to work on something, I recommend going into a pub with no

more than 10 people and playing for at least an hour. Use what you have learned and try to make

it muscle memory, that is see if you can do it without thinking. Make sure your movement is uid,

not jerky. Also be sure you are shooting only while stationary, NOT moving. If youre trying to shoot

while running, you probably wont be hitting much of anything.

Media

AK47 Colt

How to tap the AK(Live action)

In game AK long range sample(in game footage)

In game AK medium range sample(in game footage)

In game Colt long range sample(in game footage)

In game Colt medium range sample(in game footage)

Movement

How to move corrently(Live action)

In game how to move correctly(video)

2020





Chapter IV - Consistency

The question on most everybodys mind is consisten-

cy. This key part of the game allows you to play your best,

always. Great players like tr1p, storm, rector, volcano, and

others all have the great ability to have incredibly consistent

games. They often put numbers up and can be found to be

#2 or #3 on the scoreboard every single match. They rarely

have bad games but on the ip side, rarely have MONSTER

games. It is my opinion that it is better to have more con-

sistent good games than it is to have a monster game every

once in a while. Success follows the consistent players. So

of course the question is, how does a player stay consistent?

I have my own theory on this.

Here are the rst steps to becoming a consistent CS

player.

The keys to staying consistent

Bad habits and how to avoid them

Slump - sl-um`p (n) - dened.

How to get out of one


Play often. The more experience you have, the better youre going to become. There is no

way around that. The amount of time you spend playing is directly proportional to how good you

become.

Play correctly. I once heard the statement, practice doesnt make perfect, perfect practice

makes perfect. I could not agree with this more. As you see yourself progressing and getting better,

make sure you start playing against people that are better than you. This helps ensure your skill pro-

gression. Also, make sure once you are set with the correct way to do things and make them habits.

Do not allow yourself to create new habits out of existing bad habits (ie: panic crouch spraying).

Dont change your settings. Changing up your settings

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(ie: resolution, sensitivity, interp, etc.) too often is one of the worst things you can do. I know you

think itll get you out of a slump, but trust me on this one, its just going to put you farther behind in

the long run. Stick with one set of settings. If youre in a bad slump, take a break from the game for

a few days, and if when you come back you STILL think you need to change your sensitivity, change

it by no more that .2 or .3 at a time. Small steps.

Stay calm. Staying calm under pressure plays a big part in consistency. Performing well in

those 1v1 situations is what will get you noticed. Techniques for staying calm can be found later in

Chapter IV.

Focus. I know it sounds obvious, but it is overlooked a lot of times by players that are in

slumps. You need to be focused on the game 100% if you plan to play well, do not divide your at-

tention up between other things.

If you follow these tips, youll nd yourself becoming more consistent. Of course, there will

be times when you go into a natural slump. Often there is no avoiding this, so when it happens you

know what to do. As Ive said before, I strongly suggest taking a short break from the game even if

its just for the rest of the day. The tendency is when youre playing bad to get frustrated and angry.

These are two things that hinder your game play greatly, and I suggest being able to control your

anger in game. Another reason that a break might do you some good is the fact that the longer you

play without a break, the more bad habits you to pick up. Taking a short break is refreshing, and of-

ten times when you play again you get back to basics. Those bad habits dont seem to be as preva-

lent anymore.

Bad Habits I suppose now is as good a time as ever to talk about bad habits. We all have them, or have

had them in the past, and they sometimes can be extremely hard to overcome. Here are some of the

most common bad habits

Crouching panic spray I think we all know what this means. I know it is hard to over-

come, but in the long run it will make you better. Only time you should panic spray is in extremely

close range situations, and normally when there is more than one enemy involved. If you are having

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trouble breaking this bad habit I suggest unbinding your crouch key for a little while.

Peaking when you shouldnt When youre practicing this bad habit you seem to peak

when you shouldnt. For example you try to peak a known AWPer long range with an automatic.

Just dont do it!

Calling everyone a cheater Sure there are un-legit players out there, but until someone

does something REALLY worthy of being called a cheater, you should probably keep your opinion to

yourself. It hurts your team play as well as your own and seems to have the power to put people in

slumps.

Baiting There are times when you need to bait to get a kill. For instance if your team has

two players, the opposing team only has one, it is ok to bait your teammate as long as you get the

nal kill. However, it is not ok to constantly bait your team to improve your personal score. Some-

times it is hard for a player to realize they have a problem with baiting, which is why I suggest

watching your own demos. When you watch them try to pick up your mistakes in order to make

yourself better.

Over talking - Talk about necessary things in game on voice com, do not spam voice up with

nonsense. It makes it harder for everyone to concentrate as well as hear rushes.

If youre caught in a slump If you dont need this advice now, youre going to need it later. Everyone goes through times

where they cant play to their full potential and they dont know why. It is the equivalent to a writers

block to a novelist. Nothing seems to register, your aim is horribly off, and you nd yourself getting

more and more frustrated. These are all signs that you are in a natural slump and there are a few

things you can do to ensure your time spent in a slump is at a minimum.

My rst piece of advice would be to take a break from the game. There are natural times

players go into slumps, there is just nothing you can do about it. As you gain experience and play

for longer, you will notice the frequency of the slumps starts to slow down. They also become less

powerful and last about half as long. These slumps just happen, and it is best if you walked away

from the game for an entire day.

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Next I would advise you to watch your emotions. Normally if youre in a slump you tend to

get frustrated the more you play. Its sort of a cycle because the worse you play, the more drive you

have to play to prove to yourself youre not really in the slump. This just leads to more and more

frustration. It is never a good idea to play when you are frustrated, and could end up putting you

deeper into a slump.

Sometimes change is good. If you have taken your break from the game and you come back

and still nd yourself in a slump, you might need to change something up such as sensitivity or posi-

tioning. However, dont be drastic. Make one or two minor changes at a time if you can. For sensi-

tivity I recommend a change of no more than .2.

You might just have to wait it out. I know it sucks, but there have been times in every good

players career when they just dont play to their full potential for sometimes long periods of time.

Sometimes there is just nothing you can do except sit back and wait for the slump to be over. I do

however think that if you are in the correct mindset of muscle memory instead of active thinking, you

can overcome slumps much easier.

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Chapter V - In game strategy

Here are some things that will help you that arent

directly related to aim.

Buying up pistol round It may be confusing at rst when knowing exactly

when or what to buy. Generally, in a scrim on CT side you

would want to buy whatever makes the most sense for the

position youre playing. Two common rst round buying set-

ups for CT are :

1. Armor + Ammo

2. Kit + HE Nade + Flash

If you are playing in an area alone, I suggest going

with setup number one and using the armor to your advan-

tage. If you are playing with a partner in a spot (ie : catwalk

on dust2) I suggest going with setup number two and buying

Buy setups for the pistol round

How to buy up correctly

Thinking in game

Holding a bombsite as CT

Setting up to hold a site after planting as T

Ways to use stacks effectively(pictures)

Useful ingame tips


a kit and valuable nades.

On T side there are different setups depending on the strategy that is going to be run. Here

are a few common rst round buying setups as T.

1. Armor + ammo

2. DE + ammo

3. Flash + HE/Smoke

More often than not you will be buying the rst setup for T side on pistol round. A glock +

armor setup is very effective when rushing. An example of a time when you might want a DE over

a glock is on de_nuke. Perhaps the strat is the team will rush outside and get to the lower bomb-

site.

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It would be a good idea to have DEs so that you can setup behind the doors lower, giving your team

a huge advantage because the CTs USP wont be able to penetrate the doors without them being

opened. The last setup listed you would only want to buy if the pistol round strategy your team is

using requires it.

Buying up in general At the beginning of each round is a good idea to type your money in to team say. For exam-

ple, after I respawn if I have $5400 I type 54 in team-say notifying my teammates that I am able to

fully buy for the next round. NEVER buy within the rst 5 seconds of a round unless you are 100%

sure everyone is buying. The normal freezetime is 15 seconds so there is no reason you should buy

within the rst 5. I would also suggest you pick one person on your team that calls a team buy or

a team save based on the amount of money everyone has. You do not want to have a round where

half of your team buys, and half saves. If this were to occur and you end up losing the round, your

team will have to save again. This effectively gives the opposite team 2 free rounds. Dont buy up

unless you have enough money to buy two rounds in a row or unless told to by the team in game

leader. Also be prepared to drop a weapon for needy teammates. If you are in need of a weapon,

while in spawn spam a radio command to let your teammates know your position. This helps ensure

the process of buying up goes a lot smoother.

Setting up to hold a bombsite (CT) Finding good setups in bombsites is an important part of having a successful CT side. I rst

recommend watching lots of demos. I have a feeling if you are the slightest bit serious about this

game, you probably already watch a lot of demos, but I want to emphasize the importance of paying

attention to them. Look at the spots the good players use, look at their setups, their rotations, and

take note when two people play a site and try to emulate their play style with a partner. Here are

some tips for good setups in a bombsite on CT :

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Cover only one spot at a time. Cover one spot at a time and make sure you are complete-

ly covered from all other areas unless you have a teammate watching them. It is a common mistake

for players to split their attention between two different areas of a map.

Think ahead. What will you do if a teammate dies? How will you ank if they take the op-

posite bombsite? Have all these questions answered in your head before they happen, that way

when they do nally occur you wont have to think, and you can simply react. This will save time and

eventually make your in game instincts stronger.

Be creative. Use stacks and spots that are rarely used and seen. Keep your opponent

guessing; try not to be too predictable.

Use nades to your advantage. If the Ts are ashing the site on entering, ash back! You

may be blind, but getting the last ash off could mean the difference between holding and losing the

bombsite.

Use stacks and crossres. Youll more than likely see a lot of these in demos, take notes.

Hold it at all costs. Do what you have to do as long as your partner knows about it. If you

play a bombsite with a teammate, make sure to communicate, and let him know what you are doing.

Setting up to hold a bombsite (T) If you have successfully entered a site and planted the bomb, you have completed the rst

step in winning the round. The next step is physically holding the bombsite. In order for the CTs

to win after the bomb has been planted, they MUST defuse. It is your job as a T to stop this at all

costs. It doesnt matter how many people on your team die, if you are able to successfully stop the

CTs from defusing for 30 seconds, the round is yours. Never feel bad after winning a round, even if

you were killed by entering CTs. Here are some tips to help ensure you wont give up your bombsite.

Crossre. The most common of all the holding setups, the crossre is also the most effec-

tive. To setup a crossre all you need is a teammate and good positioning. The objective is to setup

on opposite sides of the site, but watch the same area (ie : the bomb or DD).

Hide. Do NOT peak out of a bombsite unless the opposite team is saving. This is a common

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mistake and is one of the reasons why bombsites are lost after the bomb has been planted. Once

your team has planted the bomb make sure each team member still remaining calls the positions

they will be watching. Be sure to watch only your spot and not to over peek. Communication is also

a key here.

Waste time. Do everything in your power to make sure you can hold the bombsite for the

30 seconds you need. Flashes are a good way to slow the enemy down. There is nothing worse

than getting ready to take a bombsite back over as CT and getting blinded for 5 seconds. You can

also stay hidden until you hear the diffuse, make a footstep as if you are coming to kill the diffuser,

and then stay hidden. More often than not the diffuser will come off the bomb to try to kill you. Be

warned though, this normally works in a 1v1 situation only.

Have preset positions. Go over the bombsites with your team before you play each map

and make sure all entrances will be covered.

Dont plant until the site is clear. This is a good overall tip. If you have just entered a

bombsite, make sure there are no hiding CTs before you plant.

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Using stacks effectively Stacks are a good way to hold an area, but there are a few common mistakes people make

when stacking that makes them ineffective. The rst thing players tend to do is stack in the wrong

places. You want to pick a place that wont be visible to a large amount of enemies at any given

time. For example, stacking on the ramp as CT on dust2 to watch Long A is a horrible stack. How-

ever, stacking on the boxes as shown in the picture can be quite effective. The next thing you want

to do is make sure both you and your partner are directly inline with each other. If you do not, you

could run the risk of both you and your partner being killed without taking out any enemies. If you

are not perfectly inline this could mean that an enemy sees you or your partner before he sees the

other stacked player, which in essence ruins the whole point of a stack. The point is to engage a

single enemy at once from the same position, not to bait your teammate.

Good Stack. Both players see the enemy at the same time.

Bad Stack. The person on the bottom runs the risk of being shot rst without killing a CT.

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Other in game tips Here are a few other good in game tips that will help your overall level of play.

Know the map. I sometimes joke with people that if you can walk through the map back-

wards while hitting a minimal amount of walls, you probably know the map well enough. Make sure

you know each one like the back of your hand BEFORE you start to play.

Move out from walls. If you are watching a corner of a wall, it is suggested that you take

a few steps out from the wall. This helps ensure you get the rst shot off on anyone coming around

the corner. Please see g 5.1 on the next page.

Communicate the correct things. Dont spam voice with useless gibberish. Call things as

you see them, but be sure not to say too much. Also make sure you arent fooled into calling a rush

when there are only 2 opponents there. Just because a team nades doesnt necessarily mean theyre

going to rush your way.

Use good nades. Never underestimate the power of a few smokes or a few ashes.

Smokes can be effectively used to cut off part of a map. If you smoke off an area of a map, you do

not have to worry about that area while entering a bombsite. You can also use a smoke in a 1v1

situation as a ash, making the opponent turn their head while you peak them. This move was rst

made famous by HeatoN (of NiP at the time) vs X3 on nuke.

Know your opponent. Theres a big difference in playing a team that is straight out of

CAL-open and playing a team that has been around for a while and is CAL-main in skill. You need to

adapt your game depending on the team. Sometimes when you play a lower league team you can

get away with things you normally cant. For instance its a good idea to push CT side on teams you

know just dont have the aiming abilities to stop you. Dont let them group up and rush you all to-

gether. You can also out-smart these players easier. One thing that does commonly happen is what

I like to call being out-dumbed. This occurs when the opposite team is so clueless they win the

round due to their own lack of in game experience. Overall lesson here, know your enemy.

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In this picture, a CT is watching middle on Dust2. This is a good position to illustrate how far you should move out from the wall in order to have the angle advantage on your opponent.

Fig 5.1

When not to play If you have to play a CS game to the best of your ability, it would be a good idea to avoid do-

ing so while any of the following conditions are met :

You are tired. Sleep deprivation slows down reaction time and often times makes me feel

like Im being hypnotized when I watch the screen.

You are angry. Being angry isnt a good thing when youre playing competitive CS. You

want to be as clear as possible.

You are frustrated. This one will hurt you, stay away from playing seriously when you are

frustrated. It will just make the situation worse.

You are hungry. Normally when I play and Im hungry, I have a hard time concentrating.

Not a good thing when you need to be focused.

Try to avoid serious games when if any of the preceding conditions are met, as you may cause

yourself more grief than it is worth.

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Chapter VI- Joining a good clan and getting noticed

Next to how do I play well? and how do I stay

consistent?, this is probably next on my list of all time most

asked questions. How does one REALLY go about joining a

good team? This is not an easy question to answer, but I will

share with you my views on this touchy subject.

First you need to decide what your goals are and nd

a team that has goals similar to yours. You want to stay

away from pub clans that sit in their public server all day

and ban people for cheating. These clans wont get you

anywhere in this game, and if you plan on taking things seri-

ously, I highly advise staying away from them.

Where to start

How to get your name out there

What you should look for in a clan

Ways to align your goals


The next bit of advice I have to give to you is to work your way up. Nothing will come easy, so dont

expect it to. If you have to start in CAL-im to work your way to invite, then do it. I have played ev-

ery league CAL has been able to come up with, from open to invite. The absolute best way to make

it to CAL invite is to work your way up with a team that is dedicated and practices. All your skill lev-

els will increase at about the same rate, and when you nally make it to CAL invite you will be able to

look back on the months of hard work.

People get too caught up in trying to walk before they can crawl. Do NOT overestimate your-

self. If anything underestimate yourself. Be humble about your abilities, and do not get arrogant.

Every good player has paid their dues, you will be no exception. If you truly wish to make it in the

CS scene, you need to work your way up the ropes and gain respect.

Finding a team to play with can often be a chore. I recommend getting yourself into as many

pugs and scrims as possible. I think the ESEA pug idea is a great idea, and it gives players a chance

to play with others of a higher caliber. If you want to get better you need to be playing against peo-

ple that are slightly better than you. After a while, you will make connections with the right people,

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and if your skill level has increased to the correct amount, people will start to notice you. Getting no-

ticed wont happen right away, so please dont expect it to. Also, dont be bashful. Ask to scrim with

a team if you want to.

Networking skills is a big part of this game. Its not only about how good you are, but also

the people you know. Be nice but not pushy to players of a higher caliber. Never expect them to do

anything for you, especially answer your messages on IRC, but still be polite. This will win you favor

in the long run and it is always a good idea to have a nice-guy image, especially when youre rst

starting out.

Never talk about your CAL-I+ experience, as this is the biggest turn off to a good player. You

should never have to talk about your CAL invite or CPL experience, because if the person youre talk-

ing to doesnt already know youve played in CAL invite or CPL, there is a good chance you havent.

It makes me sick to see all the CAL open players out there looking to join the next CAL-invite reform

clan. These teams seem to last about a month when everyone nally realizes theyre not as good

as they made themselves out to be. Be sure to stay away from these types of clans as well. When

youre rst looking for a team channels on IRC like #ndclan can help you nd recruiting teams, al-

though this way of nding a clan is hardly ever successful in the long run.

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Chapter VII - Something a little more advanced

In this section Im going to throw in some more ad-

vanced tips, and also run through a few scenarios. Lets start

out with a general scenario rst. It is easier for the Ts to win

a round 4v5 than it is CTs to win 4v5. Why is this? Each CT

is watching a specic part of a map and each time one dies

the other CTs must compensate for his death. The most

common way of compensation is rotating, which often leaves

a bombsite with only a single CT in it, or even totally open.

The more CTs that die, the harder it is to watch both bomb-

sites on the map, thus valuing the CT life over a T life. Think

of it this way, a team still has a decent shot on T 4v5 or even

3v5. The 3 Ts can rush and bombard the CTs in a given site

Advanced situations and what you should do

Baiting

Natural rythmns

How to time your opponent

Ways to avoid being timed


and over run them with sheer strength. So what should you logically deduce from all of this? Well

look at it this way, every time you are watching an area you want to position yourself so that if you

die, you can take at least 2 with you. For every one CT death, ideally you would want 2 T deaths.

This would keep the odds in check, not making the CTs such an under-dog to win the round. Basi-

cally if you are a CT, try hard to stay alive, and in those situations when you have to die, try taking

out more than one. Never let your goal be to shoot just one enemy, think big.

Lets say youre CT on inferno, you normally play left bombsite with your partner, and the T s

overrun the right site with ease. All three of your other teammates die, what do you do? First you

need to ask yourself some questions. Do we need this round? If the round is do or die, of course

you have to go for it. If you do not need the round, the better option may be to save and try to

buy the next round. It is never a good idea to try to take over a site where the odds are so stacked

against you and you know you will probably lose both guns + kits. It is of more value to the team to

have those saved colts next round than to have absolutely no money or guns to work with.

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If youre calling strats on T, try to always think about where the enemy is the weakest. If your

team killed the enemy AWPer the previous round and won, it may be a good idea to attack his posi-

tion again because there is a chance he wasnt able to buy another AWP. Same goes if you killed two

consecutive players that play a spot, the next round there is a chance they might not have full armor.

Another advanced tactic would be the bait. Although I put this down as a bad habit, it can be

extremly usefull at times. The situation goes something like this : lets say you are in a 3v2 situation

on terrorist side. Your team has the 3 man advantage, but the bomb is being gaurded by the remain-

ing two CTs. You can use a bait tactic to draw out the CTs and eliminate them, even if you lose a

T life. In order for the tactic to work, you need to send a person in to pick the bomb up, while the

remaining two Ts cover the entry ways.

Another example of a bait would include having a teamate with you, and while you spam 20

bullets arbitrarily at a wall where you think a CT may hear you, your teamate watches the entry ways.

If a CT is near you he may peak you thinking you are out of ammo. This is when your teamate gets

the bait kill. This works well as a T side tactic for de_inferno in apartment halls.

A bad example of baiting would be letting your teamates rush before you just to get one kill.

This tactic is often unsuccessful and doesnt do much good and doesnt earn you much popularity

with your teamates.

Something else I would like to mention quickly is timing. Newer players tend to disregard this

all together. It is a huge advantage to be playing against someone predictable. Predictable players

(usually new) get into a natural subconcious rythmn when they are behind cover, and often peak at

the same time intervals. This puts the player at a huge disadvantage. You should always be weary

of your natural rythmn, because from time to time we all tend to slip into it. Try to be as random as

possible, not letting others get your rythmn down and use it to their advantage.

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Chapter VIII - Some advice for teams

Since most of the leagues and lans you will probably

ever play in or attend will be in 5 versus 5 format, it is proba-

bly a good idea that you gel with a team. Youre not going to

get anywhere in CS playing 1 on 1. There are some players

out there, no matter how hard they try, will never be able to

play well with a team. They are so focused on their individ-

ual frags and attention from the community that they forget

what is really important. If you do well in a match and your

team doesnt end up winning, you contributed to a whole lot

of nothing. On the other hand, if you played bad and your

team wins, you apparently didnt play bad enough

How to work as a team

Ways to succeed as a team

Creating a default strategy

How to make it all work


to make your team lose. You win as a team, and you lose as a team. If you want to enjoy any level

of success I suggest you learn to both give and receive constructive criticism and please keep your

mind focused on winning, not your individual status.

You must like the people you play with. Playing with people you dont like is like eating glue

then wondering why your stomach hurts. If you dont like the people you play with there is a good

chance you will not work well with the team.

Here are some practice tips that will hopefully help your team.

Be online a lot. To play a lot you need to be online a lot, active teams are winning teams.

Have players attack the same spots as T and CT Let me explain. If you and a partner play ramp

room on Nuke as CT, when your team is T a good default would involve you two picking off at ramp

room while the others work their normal positions. When you play an area on CT you become ex-

tremely familiar with all the setups, and it is logical to have the same two people that played an area

on CT to attack that same area on T.

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Communicate. Not just in game, but out of game as well. Some of my best online friends

are former teammates. I treat them as I would any friend in real life, this helps solidify a team atmo-

sphere.

Dont be a hero. Team effort over individual domination is what will win matches. A player

putting up 20 frags a half and winning no matches has nothing to show for himself.

Dont be intimidated or trash talk. Make sure you steer clear of these two things. Trash

talking goes around, and it will certainly come around. I have seen many times players call other

players bad on lan, and when it came time for them to perform, they choked just like all the other

players they had ridiculed. Trust me, what goes around will come around. Also, dont be intimidated

by another team. They are only human. There are limits to their reaction time as well as yours, they

will never be better than you can be.

Creating a default strat Defaults come in all shapes and sizes and are tailored custom t for each team. The ideal de-

fault strat would be to have each player picking off where they feel most comfortable. Try scrimming

a few times trying different default strats until you nd one that your team can consistently win with.

Out of a 15 round game, you should probably run the default about 7 times. Try a strat that involves

your T team picking off the same areas they covered as CT. If all else fails, have everyone pick off

their strong spots, and meet up in a bombsite at a preset time.

Making things work As Ive said all along, you win as a team and you lose as a team. Although there will come

times when not everyone on a team remembers this statement. Throughout your CS career you will

see tempers are, egos grow, and friendships break. All of this happens in the name of CS and its

a natural part of the game as well as life. Whenever you get 5 people together that play for long

enough, there is bound to be conict. Im sure everyone is familiar with the Real World; its the same

concept. You must remember that to win you have to work as a team, and if you cannot look past

your differences, you will never go anywhere. It takes discipline to fall in line sometimes. The quick-

er you learn your place in this game the better things are going to be for you.

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The best thing to do is not let your anger take control of you. I have seen people succumb to

their anger to many times and its detrimental to the overall team mentality. If you are angry, you

have a great tool at your disposal, walk away. The good thing about playing games on a computer is

that you can walk away from it any time you wish. I have seen clans fall apart, friendships shaken,

normally loyal people backstab each other, and like I said if you play long enough, theres a good

chance youll see most of these things as well. CS, like every team competition takes heart, stomach,

and a lot of patience.

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Chapter IVThe 10 things a good CS player should know how to do, and how to do them.

10. Time your opponents

Why should I know this? Earlier I dened timing. It is a big part of the game, and once you

have it down you will notice a skill increase.

How to do it : Use all of your senses. Listening for you opponents peak times and footsteps can

give you valuable information as to when hes going to peak next. If you hear an awper shoot, you

know you have a split second to move if you need to because the awp takes a few seconds to load

the next bullet into the chamber. All of these things will help you with your timing. You also need to

avoid falling into your natural peaking rhythm. Stay conscious of this.

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9. How to throw a grenade from de_train ladder to smoke CT mid

Why should I know this? This is a metaphor for every good grenade in the game that you are

able to throw. If you know how to do this, you can see how you dont necessarily have to peak a

spot in order to grenade/smoke it. Thinking in angles will help with your grenade throwing.

How to do it : Position yourself in ladder room, and throw

directly off the spot shown in Figure 1. As you can see, the

smoke lands right infront of the CT z hall (aka middle). This

is illustrated in gure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 3 - The black line follows the path of the smoke grenade

Figure 1

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8. Quick jump through the window in B bombsite on de_dust2

Why should I know this? Knowing the quickest way to enter a bombsite is always a good thing.

This is one of the quickest ways to enter B.

How to do it : Run at the window from a good distance. Before you get to the window press jump

while holding crouch and forward. You should y through the window. Its hard to get at rst but

timing is everything. Keep practicing.

7. Double jump boosting (inferno window, nuke rafters, inferno roof)

Why should I know this? Double jump boosting saves time and man power.

How to do it : If youre the jumper, jump once while on your teammates head, and while you are at

the very top of your jump press jump again and hold crouch + forward.

If youre the person on the bottom, your job is to jump when the jumper is at the very top of his

jump. At the same time he is going to jump again and hold crouch as described earlier. Timing is

everything here as well, only way to get this down is to practice it.

Click above to view a successful window jump into B

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6. Do a believable fake defuse

Why should I know this? Everyone knows that there will come a time when you will need to do

a good fake defuse. Fake defuses are crucial in 1v1 situations when the bomb is down and you are

a CT. The idea is to defuse (to play the defuse sound clip) and then release the defuse on the bomb

and wait for the T to try to kill you defusing. Overall, its pretty easy and pretty effective if done cor-

rectly. However, there are a few crucial mistakes that people make.

How to do it : Start by crouching at the bomb and hitting your use button. Right after you hear the

sound, release the button and wait for the hiding T to try to kill you. Sounds easy right? Here are a

few things you should avoid when fake defusing.

- Making footsteps after doing a fake defuse - Making a footstep means you arent on the bomb

anymore. The T will hear you. If this happens, start the process over again.

- Zooming in after doing a fake defuse Zooming is as bad as a footstep.

- Pressing the use key many times before fake defusing Normally when I hear this I know a

fake defuse is coming. Try to stay silent up until the point of the fake defuse.

- Trying to do a fake defuse when there clearly isnt any time Make sure the bomb isnt beep-

ing quickly. If it is and you have a kit it is best just to stay on the defuse. The best that can hap-

pen is the T ran away from the bomb fearing losing his gun, giving you just enough of a chance to

defuse. Worst that can happen is you get shot or the bomb blows up, which would have happened

anyway if you did a fake defuse.

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5. Fall from a good height and lose minimal health

Why should I know this? There will be situations (especially on de_nuke) that you will need to

fall to lower ground without losing much health at all.

How to do it : If you have low health, rst determine with your best judgment if the jump is too far

and will actually kill you (IE jumping off Aztec bridge to dry land). If the jump down isnt too great a

distance, I suggest holding your crouch key while you are falling. Right before you hit the ground re-

lease your crouch key. Test this by trying to jump from rafters to the top of hut as a CT on de_nuke.

You should be able to fall without losing any health.

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4. Boost de_nuke ramp rafters quickly

with only two people

Why should I know this? Double boosting at ramp

quickly gives your team the ability to cover ramp with

only one person, freeing up the second teammate that

normally plays that position.

How to do it : First throw a smoke into ramp hall and

listen for a quick rush. If there is no rush, go ahead

and try to boost quickly. The person boosting needs to

be on the very edge of the box while the person jump-

ing stands on his head. The jumper is in position when

he can hold the forward button and not move anywhere because the rafters are blocking him. When

you are in this position, proceed to do a normal double jump and remember to hold crouch on your

second jump. I recommend practicing this for a good 15 minutes before ever trying it in a scrim or

match.

Correct position for booster

Smoke ramp hallway before boosting

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2. Pick out good spots on any map

Why should I know this? One of the biggest parts of a team game is nding good positions in

which everyone works well together.

How to do it : First, know your type of play. If you are aggressive and like to ank, make sure you

put yourself in a position that you will be able to capitalize on your style of play. Also, remember the

rules of cover. Whenever you are watching a spot you need to be covered from all other areas un-

less a teammate is actively watching that area. Make sure all choke points (pathways to the bomb-

sites) or the bombsites themselves are covered.

3. Quick jump into hut through window on de_nuke

Why should I know this? It may be one of the most devastating moves if done right, but it

doesnt come without some risk. You must know how and when to execute this jump.

How to do it : Get above the squeaky door to upper and face the hut window. Walk off the small

platform and continue to hold forward. As you are falling hold crouch and your body should stick into

the window.

1. Win 75% or more of your 1v1 situations

Why should I know this? Perhaps the most important of all 10 things listed, winning 1v1 situa-

tions is a big part of Counter-Strike. If you can win 1v1s consistently, you are on your way up.

How to do it : Never be intimidated and have faith in your own abilities. Even if you are at a point

in your career where you dont have much condence in your shot, think of it this way. There is a

50 percent chance that youre going to win, it is either you or him. Id take 50/50 odds over 40/60

or 30/70 any day. Just remember that no matter who you are facing, you may still have a chance to

win. Remember everything you have read in this guide and review often and youll be on the right

track.

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Chapter IV - Closing statements

Lets do a quick review of some important things you have learned.

Mental strength, dedication, and stomach are the three things that make-up the

foundation to your CS career.

Practice correctly

Stay consistent in everything you do to achieve overall consistency

Play often

Dont shoot while moving

Focus on your own individual game play

Try not to be the hero of every round

Learn to take and give good constructive (not destructive) criticism

Know each map before you start to scrim it

Most of all, have fun.

If you can follow everything I have outlined for you in this guide, you should be able to see a

skill increase fairly quickly. It is my hope that the actual good of this guide wont come sooner, but

rather later as your long-term game should improve dramatically. If you have any questions you can

nd me on IRC at #NAU or #complexity. Thanks to everyone out there that read this.

2005 InventorSpace LLC, all rights reserved

Any unauthorized distribution will result in legal recourse, any questions regarding this please e-mail

[email protected]. Any companies or products mentioned in this guide are registered

trademarks of their respective companies

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Index

CT Counter-Terrorist faction

CS Counter-Strike

Cong - conguration le, usercong.cfg or cong.cfg

DD Double Doors

CAL Cyber Athlete Professional League ( www.caleague.com )

CAL invite Highest league you can play in which consist of 20 teams, invite only. .65%

of CAL players are currently playing here.

CAL premier Next league under invite

CAL main Under premier

CAL intermediate Under main

CAL open Entering league for teams

FPS Acronym for First Person Shooter

Frags Kills in game

Ping Relative to the connection speed to the server. The lower the ping the better. Lan is played at

about 5 ping.

Ratio K/D Ratio

Scrim Refers to 5v5 structured play

Strat More commonly used name for a strategy

T Terrorist faction

Button 11: Button 6: Button 10: Button 24: Button 25: Button 4: Button 5: Button 15: Button 16: Button 17: Button 18: Button 19:

lethal cs guide vol 1

Documents

chapter v

game strategy

game tips

private cs lessons

cs player

private lessons

origins counterstrike

lethals guide