Counter-Strike General Guide and Tips

          Here are a few general tips on some things you can do to improve your game individually and as a team:

   *Watch Demos: One thing that will help you and your team to improve is to watch demos. Before a match, it is always helpful to watch a demo of a top team. By doing this you can see how the pros play the CT position you would be playing and how the pros approach Terrorist side. Also, after the match is over, it is also helpful to watch your own demo to see where you made mistakes and where you can improve.

   *Improve Your aim with DeathMatch: Get into and play in deathmatch servers often. I would recommend doing this multiple times a week with all the weapon s you would use in competitive play. I would concentrate on the AK, M4, AWP, deagle, USP, and glock. However, if you have some time, it is not a bad idea to work on your MP5, TMP, SCOUT, and maybe even the Shotgun.

   *Scrim often: This is obvious and the best way to improve as a team. Work on your teamwork, communication, and execution of strats. 

   *Learn the maps: Knowing the maps can give you a huge advantage over the other team. Know the angles and the timing to choke points. Also, try to find creative ways to flash and smoke certain parts of the map. By knowing the maps, you will also know where some good places to hide are and where some the Counter-Terrorist might be hiding as well.

   *Learn the money system: Knowing or suspecting when the other team has to save or eco could help your team avoid losing a round in which the other team has only pistols.

   *Buy as a team, save as a team: You don't want to have 3 guys on your team with pistols and the other 2 with M4s. Coordinate so you can all buy at the same time, save at the same time, or deagle save at the same time.

   *Crush the other teams economy: Their are a few things you can do that can help you win the money battle. Obviously, winning rounds is the best way to do this. However, you can even do some damage to the other teams economy or help your own teams economy with the things you do in a losing round. One thing you can do is to save your weapons when you know you can't win the round. A good example of this is when it is a 2V5 situation and their is no way the 2 alive on your team can win the round. It is better to have them save their guns then to try to win and end up only killing 2 of the Terrorists. If they live, the next round they will have guns, and may also be able to drop a weapon for another one of your team members. Also, to go along with this, these two guys can try to get an easy kill before saving their guns. The key is "easy kill". They don't want to put themselves in a situation in which they good easily die. A good example of this is when the Terrorists plant the bomb with 5 members left and only a few members left on your team. Your remaining players can wait for the Terrorists to try to exit the site and then get an easy kill on one or a few of them. On the other side of this, if you are winning a round, you want to try to win the round with as little deaths as possible. If you have a huge advantage like a 5V2, expect the other team to be saving or trying to get easy kills on your team. Try to exit a site with the bomb planted together to avoid deaths.

                                               Counter-Strike Counter-Terrorist Guide and Tips

          Here are a few general tips on some things you can do to improve your game individually and as a team as a Counter-Terrorist: 

   *Communication is Key: Their are a few aspects to a team that makes the team strong on the Counter-Terrorist side of a match or scrim. One of these keys is good, efficient communication. One important part of this is making efficient and specific calls over ventrilo. You want to try to call the number of enemies, guns used by the enemies, and specific locations of the enemies with as little words as possible. One huge mistake I have seen is a team member calling "ALL B! ALL B!" when only 4 where in B. This can be a big mistake because one of your teammates may try to flank and not be looking out for a Terrorists who was waiting in a great spot for your teammate to flank. Also, your team should decide on specific names to call certain places and hiding spots around the map. This will help the whole team to know exactly where the enemies are when one of your teammates makes a call. Another thing that can be helpful is to call out flashes, smokes and the HE nades thrown by the enemy. This is another way to let your teammates know what is going on in your side of the map. One more thing is to cut the unnecessary talking on the mic. Try to refrain from talking about non-cs things in a serious scrim/match, and try to refrain from letting your whole team know how pissed you are every time you die. Lastly, let your teammates know when you are falling back, when you need backup, and when certain choke points have been compromised. 

   *Solid Teamwork and rotations: The other major key to having a good CT side is great teamwork and good rotations. This teamwork is based a lot on good communication, however. Good calls will allow your teammates to make good decisions on when to rotate and how fast. You want to rotate fast when you know the enemy is coming to a certain bombsite or choke point. You want to try to meet them before they can even get into the site and plant. This is not always possible though. In cases where you can't help your teammates in time, you want to wait for the rest of your teammates to get into position to re-take the bombsite instead of trying to take the bombsite back one by one. Your in game leader can help out with this by trying to get everyone coordinated and grouped up. After you are all ready to go, you should flash the bombsite and all try to retake the bombsite at the same time. 

   *Using HEs, flashes, and smoke grenades: All of these nades can have big advantages if used correctly. Using a flash is pretty easy, you want to use it to prevent rushes and to delay the other team while you wait for help from your teammates to help. Be careful, however, not to use your flashes wastefully. Good teams will try to delay their strats and get you to use up your flashes. This will leave them with a bunch of flashes and you with none. The HE, as a CT, is often misused. A lot of players try to use it to get kills. You should use the HE to suppress the Terrorists. This will give you another nade to hold of the Terrorists when they make their move and also buy you a few seconds for your teammates to rotate and help. An exception to this is that I have seen many top teams use the HE to secure a vital choke point. An example of this is a two player nade stack on the long A doors on dust2 right at the start of the round. Lastly, the most underappreciated nade on the CT side is the smoke grenade. The smoke grenade can be very usefull when you are trying to guard a small choke point for several reasons. The first reason is because the smoke may force the Terrorists to waste flashes because they are afraid of what is on the other side of the smoke. The second, and most important reason to use a smoke is because you can see the Terrorist in the smoke before they can see you. A good example of this is the back alley or Ivy part of de_train. If you use a smoke in the little alley, you will see a part of them when they are still lost in smoke.