Playing competitive shooter games supposes constant criticism flowing to you on purpose. I think, CSGO is especially spectacular in this field because a dead team continues talking to you through a voice chat while waiting for the round to end. Four virtual comrades watch you from your shoulder when you are the last player standing for your team and your victory.
I had that experience hundreds of times: I fight till my last breath and a person I’ve never met before tells me what weapon I should pick to retake A on Nuke, or pretends to beat me for using a grenade in 1 on 1 situation. It irritates. But in fact, I’m appreciated for that heavy criticism because it really helped me get rid of many bad habits.
Here below, I would like to present a list of moments when raging teammates really gave me some useful piece of advice.
“No Reloading!”
Shooters, especially single-player FPS games, create that reloading reflex in your mind. And it is what new CSGO players should stop doing as soon as they can. Almost all weapons in CS take 2 to 4 seconds from you to reload: in terms of a firefight, that’s eternity. This time is enough for enemies to check you behind the corner or to pass through the position you need to hold. What’s more important is that the reload will be heard by a foe standing within a close range. What’s better to have: a reloaded weapon and a rival knowing your position or a partially full mag and a frag for the eliminated hostile?
You shouldn’t underestimate your abilities with four or five bullets loaded. You only need three or four precise shots to kill a full-health enemy (no headshot). And a chance to meet a 100 HP foe is even lower when the round is coming to an end.
“Stop Showing it Off!”
A few months ago my teammate noticed this habit. “What the heck are you doing, mate? I bet you’ve seen that on Twitch, didn’t you?”
Well, he was right. I was quickly moving right-left to glimpse out from the corner on Inferno. That thing was pointless and had no tactical value. I was just pretending to do something useful. You can compare that with soccer, when players show cool dribbling techniques even if there is no need in them for the current game moment.
Yes, it is great to test things you’ve seen pro CS players do. But a huge step towards success is next: understand the situation and the value of every move they do during the game. I’ve watched some ESL pro games and started turning out from my flashbangs. Yes, I’ve learned that from pros. But then I found out my grenades were quite average. I just did things I saw, no matter if they were necessary.
“Please, not a Grenade…”
Put it back to your pocket. I’ve frequently witnessed how they overestimate HE-grenades in CSGO, partially because I used to be a guy who starts retaking the position by throwing a grenade in.
All in all, after teammates raged on me, I got the point: my grenade won’t kill anyone. Even if you are a grenade master and can throw it right into the enemy’s face, it can bring only 57 points of damage. If you used to play CS: S for long (there grenades could give 72 damage to armored targets), just think about that: now a perfect grenade throw is equal to 2 shots.
In most situations, especially in one-on-one round finals, a rifle will bring a kill faster and it will be safer that throwing a HE. Flash grenades are good for many situations, but I can’t call them reliable. You can’t say for sure how well you blinded someone. There were many rounds and games I could take if only I left a weapon in my arms instead of taking a grenade.
“Don’t Turn a 3 vs 1 into Many 1 vs 1”
This is a tip I started giving every player after beginning to play competitive games alone. It’s easy to win a round in a 3 vs 1 or 4 vs 2 situation. The easiest way to throw a round is dying alone being caught in the uncomfortable position. When you defend a plant from an enemy team, your main task is to exchange. When the enemy goes in for a kill on a player A, he has to be in sight of a player B.
“Man, Are You Afraid of Your Sidearm?”
Pistols are very useful in this game. For me, CZ75 remains the best in its price/performance correlation. It allows ending a duel with a hostile after a miss with the AWP or when your M4 mag got empty.
“Stop Crouching, Mate!”
This is a very old tip, but I sometimes see casual players continuing to do that. Crouching out from the corner always gives the advantage for a player holding that corner. First, they’ll see your weapon. Then, they’ll see your knees and shoot you even before you see them. If you need to look behind the corner, do that while standing. Just take a quick glimpse without showing much of your body to see the enemy’s position and then go back as quickly as possible.
