How to Get Better at CS2

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of those games that you can learn how to play in the afternoon. If you want to get better at CS2, you will need many thousands of hours. However, there are shortcuts that you can use.

How to Master CS2

If you get better at CS2, you need to break down the game into its major components and then break down those into even smaller ones. You can’t master CS2 all at once. It would be best if you worked on each aspect of your game.

One week, you might want to focus on learning how to shoot with an AK-47 and achieve perfect control of its recoil or spray pattern. The week after, you might repeatedly play on just one map until you understand everything about it.

No matter what you’re trying to learn, you must know it thoroughly. And it’s easier to achieve this if you work on a tiny thing at a time.

get better at CS:GO
get better at CS:GO

Learning CS2 Maps

Fortunately, CS2 allows you to choose what maps you want to play on. And if your goal is to become good at the game as fast as possible, you should deliberately ignore most maps and pretend that only a few exist.

In the beginning, you should pick one of the most played maps, such as Mirage, Inferno, or Dust II, and then play it for at least 3-6 months without bothering with the rest. Doing this will help you achieve a high understanding of this map. And after several matches, your mind will be free to think of more profound aspects of the game.

Instead of being focused on angles and hiding spots, you’ll be able to focus on how you aim, how you use grenades in various situations, what you do in 1v2 scenarios, how you synchronize with your teammates, and so on.

The goal here is to automate certain parts of the game so that you can focus on others. If you change the CS2 map each round, your mind will have difficulty picking up patterns and lessons. Imagine this: two players who are both beginners play 100 games. One plays 10 maps ten times each while the other plays one map 100 times.

When the two players face each other on the map played 100 times by the second player, who do you think will have the advantage?

Of course, if your goal is to play professionally, you’ll need to learn how to play each map. But if you only want to climb the ladder and become a Global Elite, you shouldn’t bother with more than 2-3 maps.

Get Better at CS:GO
Get Better at CS2

Learning CS2 Skins

There are more than 30 CS2 weapons that you can use. But only a dozen of them will be truly useful to you. And around 5 of them will be essential. If you master these weapons, you’ll do perfectly fine.

The most critical guns you should learn immediately are the AK-47 and the M4A4 or the M4A1-S, depending on which one you prefer. These are the rifles used most often during matches; the ability to hit headshots with them is crucial.

You’ll also want to master three pistols: the default one for the Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists and the Desert Eagle.

Other useful guns are the Galil AR, FAMAS, a cheap SMG (whichever you choose), and the AWP. This last weapon is probably the hardest to master, and only a few players specialize in it. You need thousands of hours of practice to become competent with the AWP, and teams usually have just one AWP player.

It’s much safer to focus on becoming a skilled rifler who can get kills from any position with core weapons like the AK-47 and the M4A4. Unique training maps facilitate aim training you can find inside the game.

Also view: Best rated platform to buy CS2 skins.

Get Better at CS:GO
Get Better at CS2

Learning Tactics and Strategy

In CS2, the difference between the good and the fabulous teams is made by tactics and strategy. You will fail if you don’t clearly understand how you can win rounds and make random moves on the map without a clear goal in mind.

CS2 is like chess. You need to maximize the utility of your moves if you want to gain an advantage over the opponent. In a CS2 Major Final, star players often perform crazy activities. These CS2 players have developed an amazing game sense that allows them to play CS at an entirely different level.

They don’t see what we see. Their mental maps are so sophisticated that they would win almost every round if you asked a casual team to compete against them.

When the round starts, your in-game leader should know the plan. The whole team must execute this plan. Professional players train almost exclusively as part of a team. For them, the random action that takes place in pubs is meaningless. And that’s because, at the highest level, CS2 is won through tactics and strategy.

Ranked play has its limitations. But it will still teach you many core skills and is the natural place to start. Pay attention to the key moments inside your game, watch the replays to evaluate what you could have done better, and learn as much from other CS2 players.

Watching the battle for a Major title from the perspective of your favorite players can teach you a lot about the game. You can also watch YouTube videos about the best players, but you’ll learn a lot more by having their personal view of the game.

Also view: Discover the highest rated CS2 trading site.

Posted by
William Westerlund

William is an author, editor, and an avid gamer with over 10.000 hours in CS:GO (Counter-Strike 2). He also enjoys playing Rust, Dota 2, and TF2 but never became a top 1% player in any of those games.