CS:GO Tips for Beginners to Become a Pro

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multilayered gaming experience. At first sight, it’s just a shooter – get a gun, run all over the place, and kill every opponent you meet on the way.

Then, new dimensions open up: differences between weapons, lots of map details, deep team communications, various playing strategies, and exciting social activities.

CS:GO is a cultural phenomenon so let’s have a closer look at its gameplay! Beginners might open new layers of this great shooter, and even advanced players might deepen their understanding of the endless battles between Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists.

For those, who is willing to play Counter-Strike like a pro - read our advanced guide for begginers. This CS GO tutorial will be useful for pro players as well.

Two Teams, Two Goals

Unlike many other games (Team Fortress 2, Paladins) that divide virtual characters into classes with individual abilities, CS:GO creates the same starting conditions for all players. Only your skills matter and how you use them.

Players in CS:GO can choose teams of Terrorists or Counter-Terrorists. These characters look different and have varying sets of available weapons. But the main difference between them is in playing goals. The main goals are:

• To plant the bomb or to defuse it (Bomb Defusal scenario);

• To keep hostages or to free them (Hostage Rescue scenario).

Teams start rounds in their special spawn zones. Bombs can be planted in other zones, called bombsite A and B. Hostages are kept in the terrorist spawn zone and should be delivered to the safe zone. In both of these scenarios, one more winning condition is possible – killing all the opponents.

Bomb Defusal and Hostage Rescue can be played in various modes on various maps. In addition, Deathmatch should be mentioned. This is a fast-paced mode for warming up in the game – with constant re-spawns and weapon changes.

Most players prefer Bomb Defusal and only this scenario is included in Esports competitions.

Maps and CS:GO Game Modes

Every CS:GO map is a unique location with lots of small features. To be successful in the game, players should learn the maps and very well, know their hidden details and, such as shooting CS:GO positions, spots for smoke, fire and flashes, and expert paths to bombsites. In addition, the map callouts will definitely come in handy for you in order to achieve better results.

The number of maps in CS:GO is huge, and developers regularly add new, community-made locations. Knowing them all is a super difficult task, and such efforts are unnecessary.

Most CS:GO players choose a few of the most popular CS:GO maps (usually for the Bomb Defusal scenario), enjoy them and develop their playing skills in these locations.

Here’s a list of maps every player should at least try:

• Dust II – a town somewhere in the Middle East;

• Mirage – a Moroccan location;

• Inferno – a beautiful place in Italy;

• Train – a Russian railway depot;

• Cache – territory near Chernobyl Power Plant;

• Overpass – a part of virtual Berlin;

• Cobblestone – a castle-like country farmhouse;

• Nuke – a German Nuclear Plant.

These and some other maps are playable in two main modes: Casual and Competitive. The first one offers matches with an increased number of players and with no influence on in-game rankings. Competitive matchmaking is the place for glory – players battle for CS:GO ranks here.

Also, the game contains some other modes with unique conditions, such as only one bombsite active or unreal gravity. These modes and maps for them are listed in the special sections: War Games and Wingman.

Rounds. Matches

CS:GO matches begin with choosing a team, T or CT. After that, players delve into separate rounds, each starts in the spawn zone, and each finishes with the victory of one team.

To win a match, a team should take 16 rounds. If both teams get 15 victories in a match, they play overtime…

These are the conditions of Competitive Matchmaking and most CS:GO Esports tournaments. In Casual matchmaking, you need to win fewer rounds for victory. In some Esports events, overtime conditions may be changed.

In-game CS:GO Team Roles and Team Strategies

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a team-based game. This means a lot for every player – you can’t succeed here on your own, you should act as a team with your comrades. Still, such team cooperation is developing gradually.

First, players adapt to the game rules, virtual weapons and maps. Then, they try to improve their personal performance, looking for good teammates on the way. And only then, at last, they try to find their best roles in the game.

Some gamers play better with sniper rifles. Some are just brilliant in checking places and giving information to others. Someprefer demolishing opponents with assault rifles…

Trying different in-game roles and looking for the best for you is a part of the process of mastering CS:GO. Players with different roles unite, organize teams, and have fun together.

From an individual perspective, the game turns into active social communication. At this moment, new aspects of CS:GO become clear – various team strategies.

The sky’s the limit here, so playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive becomes an art and a science, with vast space for creativity and innovations.

Diverse Weapons and the In-Game Economy

CS:GO weapon arsenal is vast. Each gun here has its specific characteristics, and you should feel them in practice to shoot accurately in the game.

For example, AWP is super powerful, but has quite a long reload period – after just one shot. Negev becomes more accurate in long shooting sessions, but it’s super heavy, slows players and in a way limits their movements.

AK-47 and M4A4 have excellent fire rate, low recoil, and high accuracy, but still, you should get used to them – and this comes only with practice.

At the start of the game rounds, players have time for buying weapons and equipment. First, both teams have the same amount of money, and they can purchase only pistols for the first round.

Then killing, planting or defusing the bomb, winning and even losing a round brings money to teams. How will they use these funds?

The answer here is the basis for in-game economic strategies, which open additional possibilities for advanced teams – like buying only pistols to save money for the following rounds.

Secrets of Success

CS:GO was released in 2012. It’s a continuation of the great Counter-Strike series and one of so many shooters that appear annually.

Why does it remain one of the most popular games in the world? Why such powerful competitors like Rainbow Six Siege can’t defeat CS:GO on the gaming market?

Here are a few reasons:

• The game seems simple.

Nothing stops beginners from trying it and enjoying it. No classes for characters, no vehicles or destructible environment. You get the point from the very start, and that seeming simplicity leads you further, to new layers of excitement.

• The game turns out to be amazingly deep.

The more you play, the more you discover in CS:GO. Every map is like a new experience, and there are lots of them in the game.

Various weapons open new possibilities for individual play. Countless CS:GO strategies in team play make each new gaming session an amazing adventure and a challenge for your skills.

• The game is very realistic.

Of course, players just sit in front of their computers, press buttons of their keyboards and move their gaming mice on the table.

And still, the developers can convey unique, realistic feelings, especially from the weapons. Blood on the walls, dead bodies all over the place…

That’s not Fortnite with its colorful customs and fun dances. CS:GO is a super realistic shooter, and that’s the beauty of it. If you want realistic CS:GO Battle Royale - Danger Zone is what are you looking for!

• The game is flexible.

Players can choose many modes to refresh their experience. Also, they can try different settings to make the game comfortable for their personal demands.

• CS:GO community is great.

It’s not boring to play this game, and it’s not boring at all to be part of this game community. Players create new skins, new maps, and amazing CS:GO wallpapers.

People gather on online platforms to share fun, and they gather in reality to enjoy incredible mastery of CS:GO Esports.

• The developers care about the game and update it regularly.

For the years of its existence, CS:GO remains modern and actual. Graphics and in-game mechanics are regularly improving, bugs are fixed, and various improvements are added.

New maps, new interesting features, changes to the economy and even to the gameplay core. CS:GO is fresh as new, and at the same time, it’s well-elaborated and deeply thought-out, as any great gaming masterpiece should be.

Esports and Skins

Two more aspects of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive should be highlighted here.

CS:GO Esports are amazing competitions that demonstrate the highest CS:GO levels of skills in this shooter. Many CS players know the game from their own experience, and they know perfectly well how difficult all those professional tricks are.

Watching Esports tournaments is a way to get even more motivated in the game. It seems like Valve understands this perfectly well and that’s why it supports Esports.

CS:GO Skins are strictly cosmetic features for in-game weapons. They have no influence on the gameplay, but they positively influence the mood of players and their reputation in the community.

The role of skins is so significant that they’ve got their own value in real money – you can buy CS:GO skins cheap on DMarket - one of the biggest csgo trading sites, of course.

Skins give two motivations for CS:GO players:

• Get skins for free from the game itself and sell profitably. To do so, many guys return to the game again and again, enjoying revenue from time and energy invested in playing CS:GO.

• Buy skins and find a nice use for them in the game. If you have such amazing items as AK-47 | The Empress or M4A4 | Asiimov, you’ll have a strong desire to enter a match with them. And of course, you will not want to look like a noob, so you’ll practice a lot, adding hours and hours to your in-game counter.

Aspects of skins and Esports are the same winning strategies that Valve uses with another great game – Dota 2.

CS:GO is a classic multiplayer shooting game, one of the best ever made.

It’s a vast universe – just try it and let yourself get carried away.

16 Advanced CS:GO Tips for Beginners

Are you one of those guys who are ready not to just shoot all over the place but use valuable CS:GO tips and tricks to boost your progress? And you don’t know how to get better at CS:GO? Then this post is precisely for you!

Such tips are born from the game, so you should transform them into your game practice to get real benefits out of them.

1. Don’t Stomp Like an Elephant!

That was one of the first CS:GO tips I ever heard, and using it brought me quite a few brilliant victories.

Your in-game character makes noises, and normal players around you listen to them. Sometimes you have no time to press Shift and walk silently – the game is so fast-paced.

Still, in so many cases, silent movements allow bringing sudden death to virtual opponents or saving the life of your guy.

2. Don’t Take Guns You Can’t Use!

At the very start of my CS:GO adventure, I took to the matches anything I liked visually. That mighty Desert Eagle and glorious AWP turned out to be useless in my hands.

Practice is needed to shoot properly with CS:GO weapons, and it’s better to get this practice beforehand, for example, during offline matches with bots.

In Competitive and even Casual Matchmaking, teammates expect from you the best performance possible. It’s not the time for getting acquainted with new pistols and rifles. You should take firearms you have enough experience with.

3. Drop the Bomb if You Aren’t Confident in Your Skills.

For the T team, keeping the bomb is quite a significant task. Your teammates won’t be happy if you lose it at the start of the round – for CTs to keep an eye on that precious thing. In many cases, it’s better to press G when you’re holding the bomb to drop it for more experienced players to take care of.

Many guys drop the bomb in a safe area and pick it up when the situation on the map is clearer and the T team is able to mount a proper attack on a bombsite.

4. Shoot a Bit Lower!

CS:GO rifles and SMGs try to copy real weapons, and this is what makes the game so fascinating. You can’t expect all bullets from a spraying gun to hit one only dot in the virtuality.

CS:GO spray patterns make quite a good topic to explore in the game. To simplify things, try to shoot just slightly lower – quite soon your victim will be in the most dangerous area.

Of course, that’s true about spraying, not about one-shot mode. Short spraying is often more accurate – it’s smart to make breaks in your shooting.

5. Reload in Time!

Facing opponents when you have one bullet in the magazine is not the best situation in CS:GO – your character might be dead before the reload finishes.

On the other hand, adding bullets to your gun when it’s not necessary creates the risk of being caught in the middle of the process with the same result of sudden death.

Don’t start attacks with a couple bullets left. Don’t reload when you still have lots of ammo to battle with. Always reload in a safe place.

6. It’s not Necessary to Play on All the Maps.

Some beginners only want to join multiplayer shootouts after getting significant experience in the game – mostly, to not look like total noobs. That includes learning maps.

It’s really a very significant aspect! If you know the location, you will know how to build your in-game behavior and be effective in the matches. Still, you don’t need to know every map in the game – there are too many of them.

On the DMarket blog, we’ve described the best CS:GO maps. Even this list is rather long for beginners. Many players prefer playing on just a few favorite maps and getting to know them perfectly rather than trying each and every location and feeling timid on all of them.

7. Don’t Become Upset if They Kick You!

You can’t call CS:GO players the most friendly community ever. Gamers here have their specific humor, and their attitude towards the playing process might be intolerant.

Someone might get a negative impression from your style. As a result, they might try to abuse you in the voice chat and kick you off the match. It’s ok to be in such a situation!

Most of the people in the game know nothing about you, so their attempts to be rude are just a way to communicate and have fun. Mute them and don’t follow their example if you don’t like such a style of interacting with others. Don’t copy them if you don’t want to have such things in your world.

If you were kicked from a match, just forget this and move on. Play with a relaxed mind and a calm heart – it’s not so easy to find better CS:GO tips! It will make your skills and CS:GO rank grow, so you’ll get less negative feedback from teammates.

8. Use Grenades Wisely!

Most beginners in the game entirely ignore any sorts of CS:GO grenades. Then, they start throwing smoke, flashes, and Molotovs in huge amounts without any understanding of what they are doing.

With experience, players decrease the quantity of grenades in use and become more careful in throwing them. Advanced guys know every spot on the maps where smoke can hide their actions and where fire can push the opponents back – they again use lots of grenades but do this wisely.

Follow their example! Reaching mastery here is a difficult task. Even if you listen to many CS:GO pro tips, time is needed to absorb them into your playing style.

Still, some steps toward gaming perfection should be taken here and now – don’t forget to buy various grenades, don’t forget to use them in the game, and think properly how to do this. Even if you do something wrong in one round, it will teach you a lot for many matches in the future.

Of course, watch where you throw flashes and fire – teammates are never happy to become suddenly blind and burnt away just because of “that noob”.

You might be interested, as well, in our Advanced CS:GO scripts list, which might help you to dispose grenades faster.

9. Don’t Rush to Plant! Don’t Rush to Defuse!

Although CS:GO is a very fast-paced game, you will often need time for attentive observation, not for quick actions. That’s totally true for the very goal of the Bomb Defusal scenario.

Don’t plant the bomb without watching around you and looking for opponents. Players nearby can hear how you do this, so find the most hidden place for this – with practice, you’ll remember them on each bombsite.

Don’t defuse the bomb if opponents are around. Someone might sit and wait for you to make that sound. Start defusing and then stop the process to see the reaction. Repeat this to make Ts show themselves.

10. Learn to Switch Weapons Fast!

Knives are good for quick movements. Then you should quickly activate your primary weapon. If it’s a sniper rifle, you might need to get a pistol even after one shot to remain competitive in the round.

It’s better not to use the mouse wheel for this. Take time to develop the skill of switching weapons with the 1–4 key buttons.

11. Move! Jump!

Standing on one spot is a great way to kill your in-game character. When you move him around, it will be much harder for opponents to perform a nice headshot. Jumps on the way give even better chances to avoid bullets.

One of the ways to improve your control skills is CS:GO surfing. It’s a fun mode of surfing on special ramps.

12. Play as a Team!

There are different steps to mastering CS:GO. In the earlier stages, you try to become a better individual player. Then you should learn to play as a team – without this, further success will be very difficult.

Take a look at the mini-map during any CS:GO match. Those dots are very similar to chess pieces. The skills of the players determine the abilities of these pieces.

Then, a human, an observer is needed to move chess on the board. The best choice is to get a coach. For most amateurs, playing with the same guys regularly and discussing your team strategy will be totally enough.

13. Watch Esports for the Best CS:GO Pro Tips!

Professional players demonstrate the game to the highest mastery level – there are lots of things to learn from them. To do so, it will be enough just to watch such tournaments as Faceit Major in London or IEM: Chicago 2018.

You will need to have some amount of in-game experience to understand CS:GO Esports properly. Observe the performance of various players to pick up their tricks. Watch the mini-map from round to round to feel different strategies of team play.

14. Distract Yourself from Time to Time!

Most of the CS:GO competitive tips are all about the game itself. Let’s not forget about the natural functions of our brain – it needs rest to work properly.

Long playing sessions are not the best for everyone. It’s much better to play for a limited time, have a proper rest and then repeat your in-game practice.

15. Play with Skins!

Beginners play with the default appearance of CS:GO weapons. That’s not cool. Then, players use anything they get from the random drop. That’s also not the best attitude – it can’t create a thought-out style.

Advanced players choose designs for their guns quite carefully. It is a way to express their personality in the game – those things that will differentiate your character from all the others.

Skins don’t give you any real advantages, but they influence your game in other ways. With nice skins, you will get increased confidence – that’s quite a strength in gaming. With nice skins, the community will see a decent teammate/opponent in you. This also gives a boost to your confidence.

Getting skins from the game is a long process with uncertain results. It’s hard to get something you really need to express yourself. There is a better way – sell excess CS:GO skins and buy something you really want. DMarket is a great service for csgo skins trading! Often, prices here are lower than on Steam Market.

16. It’s just a Game, Man!

The game is meant to be a source of fun. Don’t become too serious about it! Enjoy your matches and your skills will develop automatically.

Don’t be tough with other players – this spoils the experience for everyone, including you. Just play the game and be happy. Leave it with a calm heart if it stops being enjoyable.

It’s quite useful to remember – not every CS:GO tip from your teammates is worthy of your attention. Keep your right to make the ultimate decisions in your own gaming life.

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