Hello, Counter Strike fans! Welcome to our newest article about the game – today we are going to present you guys with a guide and tips on how to get better at CS: GO, allowing you to climb the ranks and eventually reach Global Elite status.
The top of the pyramid
Valve doesn’t disclose the percentage of players in each rank, but some online analysis have shown that Global Elite consists of roughly the top 2% of the player pool. When you consider that there are many professionals on this tier already, it leaves even less spots open for us, casual fans and gamers (and people who want to become full time professionals as well).
Knowing this fact, before you read further down this guide, you must understand that to reach the highest tier in the rankings you will need to have discipline and a lot of dedication to train and put in the required hours to succeed.
The road might be filled with obstacles and might even frustrate you at times when you think you’re not improving, but you need the mental strength to push through all this and keep going strong. Believe me, it will all be worth it in the end when you reach your so desired goal. You can even aim for 1 or 2 tiers below Global Elite, if that’s all you want to achieve in the game. You will already be in the top 5-10% of players – that’s already quite a feat.
General tips
Let’s get to the main section of the article – the tips and steps to follow. You can apply these in any particular order to your style and training schedule, it makes no difference on the end result.
Peripherals and their configuration
This is something you should do some research if you’re serious about the game. It is not necessary, but a good mouse, keyboard and monitor will surely give you an edge while playing CS GO. If you’ve got money to spend, grab a nice set of peripherals – Zowie, Razer, Steelseries, HyperX are some of the brands you should be looking at – and a good monitor (BenQ produces quality products) with a high refresh rate.
Once you’re done with your setup, you need to configure it in order to play the game in the most efficient way. Many professionals have released their configs on the internet, so you can start by downloading a few from players you look up to (and those who have a similar playstyle to yours, so you can try and copy them).
Configs are a very personal thing (you’ll rarely find 2 people with the same setup), so as you play some rounds and matches with your downloaded specs, don’t be afraid to alter them a little to fit your playstyle a bit more (such as raising the mouse speed slightly because you like to do flick shots now and then).
Play DeatchMatch mode
One thing that can certainly help you improve in CS GO is playing rounds in Deathmatch mode. For those unaware, in this mode, you spawn instantly when you get killed, and you can choose whichever weapons you want with no cost.
Deathmatch is widely used for training because you get constant action – you’re always shooting at someone (and getting shot), working angles, quick aiming, flicking, etc. You get to experience much more “play time” than a regular game.
As a result, this will help you greatly with your aim in very different duel scenarios across many different map positions. While in a ranked match you might get 20 or 30 frags, in a single deathmatch round you’ll get 100+ kills easily.
Start every day by choosing 1 weapon and only playing with it, until you’re good enough, measuring by the shots fired / hit ratio combined with the headshot percentage you’re achieving. Once you’re done with one weapon, pick another and start the training again. A good CS GO player must be able to play well with most weapons (some are not used competitively, so you can skip training with those).
Playing a few rounds of deathmatch before hopping into a ranked game is also what many good players do as a way to warm up. DM will help you with your reflexes and listening skills, as guys for the opposing faction can pop up from literally anywhere on the map (you will also improve your mini map awareness due to this).
Focus on less maps
CS GO maps are very complex and add a lot of depth to the game’s strategy. Understanding a map fully is a very time-consuming task (and also a hard one), so limiting your ranked matches to 1-3 maps is a wise choice.
By doing this you can focus on learning everything there is to know about them and then focus on improving your mechanical skills. You need to learn all the grenade spots: Where to smoke offensively if you’re on T, defensively if you’re on CT, where to throw a Molotov to close paths, etc.
You also need to learn all the best angles to peek, the noises each surface makes when someone is walking through them, the rush timings for both bomb sites (and the time it takes to go around the map from one bomb to another) and much more. As I said, CS GO maps are very complex!
I would recommend you to play on Dust 2 (a classic and the most played on matchmaking), Mirage (a close 2nd in terms of popularity and very balanced). The 3rd can be whichever you prefer: Inferno, Train, Nuke, Cobblestone, pick the one you think you play better overall.
Download and watch competitive demos
Watching a professional player in their own perspective is a must if you’re serious about improving. This will give you so much insight and knowledge that it is probably the most important tip on this entire article. In fact, doing this is so good that even pro players do it themselves while studying and preparing for specific opponents and teams.
But remember to keep in mind that just watching won’t magically improve your aim and game sense – you need to put into practice what you’ve been watching if you want to see yourself progressing.
There are a few sites and events that offer plenty of demos for anyone who wants to look them up, do some research and find the players you want to learn from and get started on this step!
Keep your head strong
This isn’t a gameplay tip but it applies a lot to online games like CS GO. Mental strength is very important in all Electronic Sports titles, and it is much more important in a FPS, where games can become very tense and nerve wracking towards the end of some rounds or the entire match.
It is important that you’re able to maintain a cool head in order to make the best decisions constantly (even when you only have a split second to decide). Mental fortitude will also stop you from tilting easily and will help you focus on the truly important aspects of the game.
This is a trait that comes more easily to some, but don’t give up hope if you’re not one of these select few. This characteristic is also something you can train to acquire and improve over time, it is just a bit more abstract and hard to keep track of. Keep a positive mindset throughout your gaming sessions and with experience (dealing with frustrations, losses, etc) will come greater mental strength.
Conclusion
We hope this list can help you during your journey climbing the ranks on the CS GO ladder. Don’t let whiny and toxic teammates stop you from reaching your goal, and also treat your team nicely during your matches (remember to always keep a positive mindset as discussed earlier).
Thanks for reading and good luck in your path to Global Elite!