How to get better at CSGO – 9 simple steps to double your skill and rank

Counter Strike: Global Offensive can be one the most fun and exciting games to play. Plays require a certain skill to succeed such as getting a nice entry kill, killing the bomb-planter or holding your site and can be extremely rewarding. This inevitably leads to wanting to get better. 

One of the best things about CSGO is the lack of skill cap; the level of skill you can have in this game is infinite and with that comes constant improvement. Fans can play this game for 20 years and continue to improve. The depth to this game is unparalleled. However, it can make for a very intimidating experience for someone who is just starting out.

For those who want to get a better handle on the game, here are a few tips to help steer you in the right direction. We have listed these items in order of priority.

1. Practice your aim daily

The most important thing in this game comes down to one word: aim. Pretty much everything else in CSGO is secondary. You could have the best gamesense in the world but if you can’t aim, none of it matters and this is something the best CSGO players know all too well. 

There’s good news though! There are multiple resources to help you with your aim. If you go to the Steam workshop and search for “Aim Maps”, you will be met with several options to choose from. One classic workshop map is Aim_botz. It spawns enemies in a 360 degree radius around you so you can practice as much as you want without retaliation. It’s good to warm up with this map before you play.

Another way to practice aim is through Deathmatch servers. They serve two purposes: 

1. Allowing you to practice aim against opponents who behave unpredictably. It allows you to focus solely on how quickly you can adjust your aim. 

2. Allowing you to practice taking fights on maps you’ll be playing in competitive game modes. If you’re constantly in gun fights on Dust 2 in Deathmatch servers, these skills become second nature when you are playing 5v5 competitively.

Finally, download a non-distraction reflex developing tool like Aim Lab. Free on Steam, Aim Lab will exponentially increase your response time the more your practice. Twenty minutes a day through various challenges will improve your flick accuracy, rotational wrist control and vertical cross-hair placement by huge orders of magnitude.

The most important thing for your aim is to play every day you have time to play. Aim is very much just muscle memory. The more you do it, the better it will get. Playing every day is the best way to improve your aim.

2. Learn the maps

Learning the maps is a great way to improve. If you know where you’re most likely to see your opponents at certain times, you’ll have an incredible advantage. This comes with playing the maps frequently. Knowing where your opponent could be at any given time will mean you’re not caught off-guard as frequently. With this knowledge, you will better understand what you need to practice as well. Learning CSGO maps is not only about knowing the callouts and what the map looks like. Take the time to learn how long it takes to rotate from one position to another using walk or run.

The next step would be learning psychology as an attacker or defender.

Let’s say you’re defending B site on Dust 2. Your highest focus and awareness is during the first 20 seconds of a round as you anticipate a potential B rush. As time progresses, you could lose the edge and focus on potential callouts from your teammates or other positional cues. As an attacker, if you have the sense of when a defender loses that little edge of focus you can peek and tap them before in the second when he loses focus.

Knowing the maps can also mean knowing how your opponent will behave on them, giving you the advantage.

3. Utility is king

One aspect of Counter-Strike that makes the game so complex is the utility aspect. With the different grenade types, you can manipulate situations as they unfold during the game and move up the CSGO ranks. 

For example, flashbangs are one of the most common utils in the game. They can blind temporarily opponents, which allows you to push opponents off of angles or even get an easy kill. 

Smokes, on another hand, allow you to block vision and take map control as well. If you combine these two utility items, there are limitless strategic possibilities. Now add in grenades and molotovs/incendiaries and the game becomes even more complex.

Proper utility usage can win games. Take support players on pro teams for example. In the Major winning runs, Luminosity/SK had their top fraggers supported by Taco. He would use utility in order to help his teammates shine to the detriment of his own stats. The implication here is that utility can be just as, if not more, useful than shooting your enemy. If nothing else, it improves your efficiency. You’ll need to learn how to use utils to your advantage on both offense and defense teams.

Sites like CSGO Nades can help you to learn utility on the different maps. Additionally, watching streams from esports matches can teach you a whole lot in how utility is utilized to the best potential.

4. Master the Angles

Angles are similar to utility in the sense that an understanding of them will facilitate getting kills and taking map control. Learning which angles to hold, which angles to push and where to fall back to if you are pushed is a massive part of the game. One way you can practise this is by watching pros play and making a note of where they are holding and watching. You can also take note of where opponents are playing when they are beating you in fights. It can be good to learn from what you have been beaten by, despite a bruised ego!

The higher the quality of games and the more sophisticated your opponents, the more obvious angles are successful. This comes from your opponents only expecting more sophisticated angles and camp spots. Instead, going for the most obvious spot can catch a Global Elite off-guard.

Master your angles, but remember that your opponents are only human.

5. Know your sound cues

Being able to hear footsteps and pins on flashbangs can play a huge role in the game. Knowing where your opponents are is great information to pass along to your teammates. Knowing this can allow you to set traps and use utilities efficiently. We’d definitely recommend learning what sound cues you can hear through your headset and adjusting your setting accordingly.

CS:GO can be a quiet game for a substantial part of each round. Being able to identify the directional sound, the number of footstep sets, utility thrown count and bullets fired can go a long way to understanding how to play a certain situation to your own advantage.

Read next: Best CSGO Crosshair and how to set it up

6. Keep an eye on your radar and clock

Knowing what is going on around the map is crucial. If you’re aware of where the opponents are, you can push in certain areas as well as know when to expect the opponents. It’s worth remembering that oftentimes, your teammates will not communicate efficiently. This can be countered by keeping track of the radar. Your radar can be altered to your preferred specifications in the settings menu.

Additionally, you’ll need to know how much time you and your enemies have left at all times.  While attacking or defending, it is important to know how much time there is on the clock. The amount of time can determine what your opponents and your teammates do.

7. Manage your economy

If you’re wondering how to get better at CSGO, understanding the economy will give you and your team an advantage. If you and your team can coordinate so you all have the best weapons and utility, it will make it much harder for your opponents to stop you. If your buys are uncoordinated, your attacks will always be mediocre.

Granted, when playing pubs, this is increasingly difficult as there is always that one guy saving for “AWP” and ends up getting 1-tap’d. Yet, overall, having a good sense of how the game economy works, how much you are set to gain each round and how the enemy team economy is going is crucial to identifying advantages on the fly.

8. Keep it fun

One of the most important parts of progressing in something is keeping it fun. At the end of the day, this is a video game that you should be playing for fun. For some, that fun comes from playing with friends and learning together. For others, progression is most fun when solo queueing and playing alone. Find out what you have the most fun doing and stick with that!

We all have the ability to tryhard and be toxic. Learn to set your mind before each match. If the goal is advancing in rank, bring your A game to the table, and if the game goes sideways, use the time to practice certain aspects of your gameplay and get better at CSGO while taking an L.

9. Take breaks

Lastly, you’ve got to take breaks. Some people play for hours on end without standing up or taking some time to breathe. It has been shown that breaks play an important role in information retention. Simply stretching or doing some wrist mobility exercises can reset your body and mind for the next match. Exercise and being fit is also a key factor in ensuring you keep your mental focus longer.

In the end, using these tips as stepping stones for learning will help you improve over time. The great thing is that this game is fun at all levels and is very rewarding when you climb the ranks. Now get out there and start fragging!