Blogs
Ultimate Dust 2 Grenade Guide
Utility is a big part of CS:GO. It can help you win duels by blinding the enemy, taking strong positions away from him, forcing him out of cover, or hurting him before he can even see you. That is exactly why you should spend a few minutes every month to go over the grenade line-ups you know. This guide will help you use your utility to maximum efficiency on Dust 2, one of the oldest and most popular CS:GO maps!
A few words before we get into the actual line-ups: If you want your crosshair to extend to the edges of your screen for easy line-up, be sure to head over here. In the paragraphs of the line-ups, you will find a description of what the line-up does and where to stand as well as where to aim. Further down in the paragraph there will be a video since that is way easier than trying to deduce the actual line-up from the written part. I will also talk about if you are in danger while lining the grenade up, so be sure to take those factors into consideration, too!
Note that all smokes are performed on 128 tick.

Smokes
T-Spawn to X-Box
This smoke should pretty much be the first one you learn on Dust 2. By standing in the corner of the T-Spawn, you will be able to place your crosshair above the small broken part of the roof in front of T-Spawn and jumpthrow. The smoke will then proceed to bounce off the stair steps in Mid before landing on X-Box, preventing the Mid player from watching Short, leaving an information vacuum for the enemies and allowing you to get on Short rather safely.
Since you can instantly get into the corner and throw the smoke, there should be no danger for you to get killed at all.
Outside Long to Long Corner
Just as much of a basic smoke as the X-Box smoke, this smoke you will line-up from the corner at the pole in front of Long by aiming above the right leaf of the palm tree and on the level of where the roof of the right side tower meets the pole in front of you. This will smoke off the angle commonly held by AWPers in Long, allowing you to spam the enemy if he dares to peek beside the smoke if you go into Long. This limits the available spots for the CTs to wait for you to exit Long and is another basic smoke that you will need every Dust 2 match.
Since you are kind-of open to a pushing CT, there is a slight chance that you get killed if your teammates are not watching Long.
Long to (CT-)Cross
This smoke will allow you to cross from Long to the A-Site easier and is lined up by standing in the corner of the barrel and the wall next to the Long entrance. You should line up your crosshair with the corner of the orange building to the left and the small knob on the sunroof right in front of you (see video). You will then need to run and throw when your horizontal crosshair line hits the part where the orange and the white building to the left are meeting (again, see video).
Keep in mind that this smokes will never fully block off Cross, which is why this smoke will land more to the left of the Cross, not allowing the CTs to watch the right side and track you through the smoke when you get across. You should also be aware that CTs like to wait behind the smoke you threw at Long to surprise you and swing around the corner just as the smoke disappears, so this line-up is dangerous if you or your team didn't properly check Long.
Outside Tunnel to Window
This one may seem weird to you at first since you are pretty exposed to everything on B, but hear me out. By going right next to the elevated spot outside of Tunnel on B, you can aim at the corner of one of the bricks and smoke off Window. I got this idea after playing a bit of Dust 2 and realising that AWPers from Mid like to fall into the Window and watch B-Plat and Onspot from outside Window to catch your team sleeping. After clearing B-Site, you can just line this smoke up and ensure that no one gets killed by an AWP waiting outside of Window and delay a proper retake.
If you get into the corner too quickly, you will most likely get killed by a CT hiding on B, so be sure to wait for the right time.
Lower Tunnel to X-Box
This line-up is the mid-round equivalent to the T-Spawn to X-Box line-up. Get right next to the big box in Lower and aim just above the upper edge of X-Box. This will smoke off X-Box and allow you to climb it while not being seen by the Mid player or allow teammates to get up into Short from Top-Mid. This line-up can be as important to you as the Spawn line-up since you can quickly react and you are pretty safe in Lower unless B or Short is pushing, although Short is rather likely if the CTs didn't have success with other methods of playing Mid before, so be aware of that.
Short to CT
First, you will need to find the big white spot on the ground right next to the stairs on Short and stand centered on it. Then you will need to aim below the dark spot on the left end of the window frame and then pull to the right until you are lined up with the windows edge, as seen in the video. Then you will need to jumpthrow and you will throw a versatile smoke that will allow you to drop into CT, make jumping down to Elevator and flanking the Slope player easier or allow the Long players to cross into A.
Since you should've taken Short and cleared it out, there shouldn't be too much danger of lining up this smoke. However, if the CTs feel fancy, they might try to take back Short, so there is a chance of you being killed.
Mid to CT
The most crucial line-up for splitting B, for which you will need to stand in the corner of X-Box and the wall of Short before lining your crosshair up with the biggest dark spot on the wall above the double doors separating Mid and CT-Mid. The smoke will land centralised in the exit from CT to CT-Mid and block all of it off, although people can jump or boost on the boxes and look above it, catching you off-guard, so be sure to listen for sound cues and maybe spam the smoke! Also, this smoke will give your gameplan away 95% of the time, so be sure to act quickly after deploying it.
Since you are hidden behind the X-Box, you should be fine unless you have lost control of Mid in general, Short, or Tunnel.
CT to (Mid-)Cross
Since the double doors in Mid are now wooden again, you will suffer a lot of damage if you get shot while crossing, one of the favourite activities of AWPers on the T-Side. To counteract this, you can deploy a smoke to bridge the gap between the double doors and, unless you cross on the far right, you will not be visible to AWPers in T-Spawn, making their spam shot through the Doubledoors a gamble and (almost) pure luck. To do this, you need to stand at the corner of the big box near the exit of CT and aim at the big dark spot on the wall. Good luck crossing, buddy!
Since this is at the start of the round you should be safe, unless the enemy suddenly teleports behind you.
A to Short
By standing in the corner of Singlebox on A and aiming at the upper right corner of the orange building, you will smoke off Short without leaving any gaps. To properly deploy this, you will need to wait for the call that the Ts are coming up Short, then wait two or three seconds after the call before throwing the smoke. The good thing about this line-up is how you are not visible to Ts peeking from Short or even rushing out to a certain extent, giving you cover while smoking off an important chokepoint! Feel free to push up to the smoke or reposition to the popular drop-off spot right at the wall of the white building if you feel like an adventurous person.
If you miscalculate the time the Ts will take until they push out, you might be caught off-guard while lining up, so be careful.
Mollies
Long to Car (right side)
Stand in the corner on the barrel outside of entrance to Long and aim at the left edge of the door at the height of the door handle and simply jumpthrow. This molotov will land on the right side of the Car, lighting the whole right part of the Car position on fire, pushing out any enemies hiding there. Together with the following line-up, you will get to decide which kind of molly to throw to push out a certain player who played a certain way behind Car.
Since you are out in Long, you might get pushed if you didn't properly clear it or the CTs try to gain real estate again.
Long to Car (left side)
This is the second line-up to fully molly car, although you'd need to be fast if you want to deploy both since they're thrown from the same position. To throw this molly you will need to aim above the left side of the control panel right next to the door and walk-jumpthrow. This might take some practice, but don't be discouraged! Once you've got it right, it's kind of hard to mess up again. This molly negates the car as cover and will help you clear the Car position properly!
Since you are out in Long, you might get pushed if you didn't properly clear it or the CTs try to gain real estate again.
Short to Onspot A
Stand on the stairs on Short and aim at the top of the palm tree right next to Goose and runthrow. This molly will land behind the Doubleboxes and push out anyone hiding plainly onspot. Keep in mind that, if you have an unlucky spread, you might not quite reach all the way into A and a CT may still be hiding between the boxes.
Since you are on Short and pretty open to a guy coming back to Short, the danger can be quantified as medium, depending on the proactiveness of the CTs.
A to Short
Similar to the smoke line-up for A to Short, you will need to stand in the same corner but aim at the left corner of the orange building. This will disrupt any A-push set-up and push Ts back deeper onto Short, delaying the Ts significantly. You will even hit the spot on the small box at the edge of Short that will normally allow Ts to jump down to CT and either push him out alone or make him back down through the flames and lose 20-or-so HP.
Since you are rather hidden, unless you misjudge the timing, you should be alright in most cases in terms of danger.
Outside Window to Sniper Nest
Stand in front of the bricks outside of the B-Window and aim centralised at the left edge of the window above Sniper Nest and throw to push out any CT player hiding in there. Keep in mind that, depending on the spread of the molly, you might not catch the guy hiding right in front of the box, as seen in the video. However, around 4/5 times the molly reaches far enough to hit him too.
Since you are exposed to CT, you should go quickly and not spend too much time in between CT and B, which makes this line-up rather dangerous. It is, however, very useful if you have a teammate around CT or there is a smoke in CT.
HEs
Mid to CT-Mid Corner
Crouch behind the X-Box and hug the wall to your right. Go back until you see the small window in the building behind CT-Mid, and line up the lower edge of said window with the X-Box. Now aim centralised in front of the window and hold left click. Just before you let go, you need to press the right mouse button as well, which will shorten the distance your grenade will travel, which will result in a perfect hit on a player holding from the corner.
Since you are in Mid and behind the X-Box, you should be safe unless you gave away a lot of map control to the CTs.
Flashes
Outside Long to Long
Stand in the same spot as you did for the Long-Corner smoke and aim at the top of the right palm tree leaf. Simply left click and your flash will pop above the right-side wall of the Long entrance and blind anyone who's peeking ranging from the Corner to Pit. There is only one batch of blind spots in the middle of nowhere, where people only are when they are currently transitioning to Pit. People also won't be blind if they are directly beneath the flash and close to the doors on Long. Since you can begin to peek Pit without being flashed, throwing a second one sometimes helps your team a ton when clearing out the beginning of Long without blinding them!
Since someone should be ready to peek Long, there should be no way you get picked off unless the CTs rush Middle.
Short Rush
Simply run up Short and from the shadow on the right side wall onwards you should aim centralised under the wooden window cover and below the level of the small window on the left-ish side of the tower in front of you, as seen in the video. Run and jumpthrow to push back any CT trying to get up short with a bad spawn or holding there. If you are fast enough, you can get a peek in while they still are blind.
Since you are rushing up Short, I'd hope someone successfully smoked off X-Box for you. Otherwise, you are pulling a pretty risky move. If the CTs get boosted on Short efficiently, they may not be blinded by your flash and peek you just as you come around the first corner on Short.
Short Peek
This popflash is lined up with the first step of the stairs on Short and the small balcony at the top of the white building in front of you, as well as the corner of the door frame of the red door on the same white building. Not only does this flash not blind anyone waiting on Short, it also blinds the entirety of onspot A, a CT peeking from Goose, and people holding from Slope. It does, however, not blind Car, so you must be aware of that, although one guy sitting at Car shouldn't be a problem for a proper Short push.
Since you are up Short, you could get pushed from A and get caught off-guard.
Goose Peek
This flash is lined-up by standing in front of the Goose's legs and aiming at the higher wall behind you. The flash will fly up and in front of the palm tree, where it is hard to see any movement due to the texture of the palm tree and the many shadows on it. The leafs are slightly moving, which causes people to ignore movement around the palm tree sometimes! With this flash, you can peek a Short push rather safely.
Since you are in Goose, unless they are pushing you from Long you should be fine if you do not miscalculate the Short timings heavily.
Conclusion
These line-ups help you tremendously in mastering Dust 2 and limiting the opponent in his movement and positioning, allowing you to properly support your own playstyle as well as that of your teammates. Just be sure to properly evaluate the risk of using any of the line-ups in specific situations and you should be good to go!
Want to discuss this article or anything else with the writers? Feel free to head over to our #Digscord to meet the team behind Team Dignitas!
