Beginners guide to staying alive in CS:S

[brianfantastic]

Ive been playing css for a while now, and i get asked a lot how i stay alive for so long. Yes some of it is to do with luck. But dont leave it all down to that. I thought it might be a good idea to point out a few techniques in this thread for beginners to learn, and intermediate players to sharpen their game up a little. So lets begin;

PART1

1: Kevlar and helmat.

No brainer. Buy the kevlar and helmat and it will take more bullets (most of the time excl. AWP) to kill you. Kevlar and helmat divide the damage the bullets do to you between the kevlar and your hp. So providing you react as soon as your getting shot, it should be enough to save your bacon and get out of there intact.

2: Know when to throw the towel in.

Good players know when to back off a potential kill and play it safe. Getting fewer deaths is essential to get a high kill death ratio. Avoid 2 or more enemies facing you especially if they see you. It is best to move backwards and slip away around a corner. Never turn your back on the enemy!
When retreating, do what you have to do and then get out of there, FAST. always run around corners and through doors. Always periodically turn around in a quick manner. You should then quickly turn back and scan the area. This way you can see any enemies approaching you. So many deaths happen because players do not scan their sides and behind them while retreating, and in general. Know your map well. Know which corners have cover awaiting you and which probably have more of the enemymlaying in wait. Remember Your not running away to hide, your relocating to fight another battle.


3a: Fire from cover.

Pretty self explanitory. Boxs and doors dont constitute cover. Solid stone, pillars, corners and walls are all good. If you imagine where the enemys head is going to be when you pop out, you can get a few shots off and then head back to cover before he knows whats happening. Remember ducking improves your aim tenfold. But choose your time's to duck, dont do it if your in a rush to get back to cover. And let your aim settle before you pop out again. Dont always pop out in the same place because the enemy will learn your habbit and pop you in the head by the third or fourth time.

3b: Reloading.

You dont have to reload when youve fired a few shots from your clip. Theres no need and more people get caught in the head while reloading than a little. always reload from cover and never do it when you dont have to.

4: Hitboxes.

Knowing the hitboxes is essential in css. But utilising them gives you an advantage. We all know the head is a one shot kill most of the time. Chest and body for high damage shots. legs and arms do the least. But think a little more. If you have a problematic awper and your using the cover fire stratagey, above. You have to remember that the enemy has a severe advantage. He has magnification, so he is aiming for a big target. while your probably aiming for his head. Think a little more. Instead of aiming for the awpers head, try and hit his chest area, specifically the arms. Hitting an awper in the arms while hes looking down the scope hinders his aim. It knocks it off target to be more precise. If you do this once or twice, your more than likley to worry the awper and make him change position, because while hitting in the arm causes relativley low damage, it makes the enemy think that they are incurring more damage than they really are. And that they are too exposed. The average player will tend to lose his confidence and re-locate. Which is when you smash him through the skull with a few rounds from your M4A1/AK and bobs your fathers brother. Next target. It might be worth mentioning that its a bad idea to take on snipers with SMG's unless your in close quarters. Althought thats a no-brainer.

5: Which gun should i use?

This is a big one, get your glasses on and make yourself a cuppa.

*M4A1: This is the primary weapon for the Counter-Terrorist side of matches or scrims. This is a very solid and versatile weapon. This weapon if very accurate at long range, but still very lethal at close range. When using the M4 at long range, you are going to want to use 2-3 shot bursts. It is very helpful if you are able to either use cover at long range or to strafe then burst then strafe again then burst again. At medium range, you can take the burst up to a 3-5 shot burst. Yet again, you are going to want to try to use cover or use the strafe and burst technique. One importante note is that you should not try to outpick an awper from medium to long range with the M4. At short range you can use 3-5 shot bursts again or you can even just spray at the other team's players. As mentioned before, the M4 is a very accurate gun at all ranges, this means that you can aim for the head and connect often. One weakness with this gun is that a headshot only does 82 damage when your opponent has a helmet. So you have to hit your opponent at least twice when they have a helmet.

[brianfantastic]

PART 2

*AK47: This is the primary weapon for the Terrorist side of matches or scrims. This, like the M4, is a very solid and versatile weapon. This weapon is somewhat accurate at long range, but most deadly at medium or close range. When using the AK at long range, you are going to want to use 1-3 shot bursts. It is very helpful if you are able to either use cover at long range or to strafe then burst then strafe again then burst again. When using the strafing technique, you are going to want to make your strafes a bit longer than you would with the M4. This gives the AK recoil time to settle down. At medium range, you can take the burst up to a 2-4 shot burst. Yet again, you are going to want to try to use cover or use the strafe and burst technique. At short range you can use 3-5 shot bursts. One thing to note is that the AK spray is tough to control without practice. I would suggest trying to stick with bursts at close range. One strength of the AK over the M4 is that the AK is a one shot to the head kill gun. Even if the other team bought helmets, you can elimate one of them with a shot to the head. Another strength is that this gun is much cheaper than the M4, which will allow your team to be able to buy more often.

*AWP: Many players believe this is the best gun in the game. In my opinion, this gun ranks right up with, but slightly behind the M4 or AK when used for competition. This gun, when used right, can dominate an opponent. Their are a few things you should know about the gun that can help you use it to its fullest. The first thing is that it is quicker to just let the gun rescope on its own than to switch to your knife/pistol and then switch back to the awp ("known as quick switching"). Another tip is that if you are seen picking from a certain spot, take your shot then switch positions. Most teams will have their awper lock onto the spot you were just at and you will get picked if you re-peak that spot. Their are exceptions to this rule depending on the map and whether or not you have flashes. To go along with this, if you want to re-peak the same angle, it is a good idea to flash before you re-peak. This will blind any members of the other team trying to pick the spot you are about to re-peak. Another important thing is to give yourself a place to fall back to. The awp is very poor at close range battles when the other team is halfway decent. Due to this fact, you need to be able to pull back a bit if a group of AKs/M4s try to push you. Lastly, make sure you are good with pistols, and use your pistol when moving on close range choke points.

*MP5: This gun is usually only used when your team won pistol round. This is the only time I suggest using this gun. If your team can't buy AKs/M4s, then you should save or deagle save. This gun is an SMG, so it is pretty accurate at medium to close range. The key with this gun is to keep moving around while firing. This gun is just as accurate while running around as it is when you are crouched. At long range, you are going to want to burst with this gun. Since I suggested only using this gun on the rounds following pistol round, make sure you work together with your teammates to stop the saving Ts or CTs. The last thing you want is to give the other team a gun while not fragging many of them.

*USP: This is the standard CT pistol. It is pretty solid at all ranges. At long to medium range, it is helpful to use 2-3 shot bursts while strafing. At close range, you can pretty much spray with this gun and have it be accurate. Improving your ability with this gun will give your team a better shot at winning CT pistol round, save rounds, and will also help you out a lot if you are an awper.

*GLOCK: This is the standard T pistol. This gun can be surprisingly powerful during pistol or save rounds when used well. One of the big advantages with this gun is the accuracy at close range and the 20 bullet clip. A prolonged fire fight with a deagle/usp will usually end up with you winning it if they can't kill you with their initial clip. A few keys is that you don't want to take any USPs or deagles on at long range. Try to get into situations when you can be at medium to short range. Also, it is only helpful to use the burst at close range. Stick with the single shot setting on the glock for medium or long range shots.

*DEAGLE: This is the best pistol in the game due to the amount of damage it can due with one bullet. This gun is very useful when you are the awper and need a good sidearm for clearing choke points. One shot to the head from the deagle will kill, except at extremely long range. The key to using the deagle is to make every shot count. You only have 7 shots, so you don't want to spray these shots. Also, if you have a good angle, try to go for the head shot.

*GALIL: This is a pretty solid gun, but I would recommend the AK if you have the money for it, however. This is a useful gun when your team is buying, but you are a bit low on cash and could use an extra flash and HE or head armor. This gun can also be useful in certain situations early in a match in scrim such as a surprise buy round. Usually on a surprise buy round, you are only going to have around 3K, so a galil may be a good option since you can then afford armor and a nade or flash. When it comes to using it, the galil is very similar to the other rifles in that you want to burst at medium to longer ranges. At closer ranges, this gun is a bit more accurate than the AK, so you can try spraying with it.

*FAMAS: This gun is good to use when you don't have the money for an M4. It is accurate at all ranges, but it has a small clip, causes you to move slower, and has a lot of recoil. Due to these disadvantages, you should try to burst almost all of the time when using it. The first shot from the famas is very accurate, so try to make that one count. I would recommend a 2-4 shot burst while strafing in between bursts with this gun. Also, make sure you take into account the fact that you move very slowly with this gun out. Try to utilize good cover and positions in which you can retreat quickly.

6: Choke points.

What is a choke point? i hear you cry... well...

Basically a choke point is an area where a lot of players are going to be at once. There is no other route so the map forces players through the choke point at one time or another. So you can see why using this to your advantage will greatly improve your technique. Just to make this ultra simple: If you know where someone is going to be, based on statistics or nessecity, then its easier to kill them.

I hope this mini-guide has been helpful, ill upload a few more tips on strafeing techniques when i get the chance.
Feel free to comment with extra tips, further explanation or anything else of relevance

[brianfantastic]

Sorry for the dual post, wordcount wouldnt let me post more than 10,000 words

[sulli456]

Why did you have to post part 2 in your part 1 thread and in its own. That makes no sense.

[RAZR]

pretty good guide mate, thought it was another '' to hit the ennemy be sure to aim and fire '', but this is one of the best I've seen.

[Raven]

I've merged the two threads and deleted the un-needed post for you.

[MyComputer]

great info +rep for you!

[brianfantastic]

Originally Posted by sulli456

Why did you have to post part 2 in your part 1 thread and in its own. That makes no sense.

- It was my first post and i had to wait for an admin to verify the post before it could be uploaded. So me not being all to familiar with forums, thought i had to post the second part as a new thread. But the other post has been deleted now[Thanks raven]. Sorry for the confusion!

[Archeval]

the FAMAS is doesn't have that much kick for me (considering i usually only have it in burst mode unless someone gets close).