Understanding your opponents: A CS:GO Strategy Guide

Introduction:

We've established that Counterstrike: Global Offensive is a tactical first person shooter and requires thorough understanding of the mentality of your opponents at high ranks. When your aim is as good as your opponent's aim, the only way you will beat them is through out smarting them. Here you will now have to understand how your opponent thinks, from rotations and their length in time to angle's and enemy hold (positioning).

Rotation:

An important aspect of out playing your opponents is to understand how many people rotate, how they rotate and how fast it takes them to get from point A to B. When taking a site your team strives to achieve maximum damage at no to little casualties, unless the team decides to run in and use brute force then the best way to enter a site is through creating fakes and force rotations for the other team.

Forcing a rotate is when you either fake a bomb site to achieve a player to move out of position/fully commit to the other bombsite or by getting a frag on an enemy. Fakes are effective if pulled off correctly, the goal of a fake is to sacrifice one or two players to use their smokes/flashes to create the illusion of a push onto a bomb site which you are actually not going to push into. For instance 0n Inferno B plant you can smoke off CT long (vision from CT spawn to B) and wires and possibly commit one player to enter the bomb site to make some noise.

The opponents, at least one, should rotate over into the other bomb site leaving A with a minimum of one less player which means that a certain angle will be left unprotected and swarming the opponents will be much easier, but do not assume that if one player is gone "it is easy to get the bomb site" cause you can still fail, so flashes and smokes should be used upon entry.
 
When you create a fake you should keep in mind that it takes time for a player to get from one site to another. It is not the wisest to run in right after the fake has been created because the rotating player might still be close by, but you cannot over extend either because the opposition might figure that it is a fake. Timing is the key.

Knowing how long it takes from bomb site A to bomb site B is important as well as understanding how the opponents react to situations and asking questions like: Do they take long to react? (By the time you think they have rotated, they only start rotating) Do they over react? (Send a player as fast as possible into the other site) Do they over commit? (Send two or more players to the other site).

Positioning and Angles:

Predicting where your enemy may sit is also a key when pushing onto bombsites. Knowing angles and spots from where you can be shot when coming around a corner is vital. Each corner, each barricade on a map is a potential hiding spot for your opponent. When you come around a corner always keep in mind which angles you are exposed to and in which order. On Inferno for instance when entering from mid into quad's you should keep in mind how you peek corners because even if you look towards quad whilst hugging the left wall the person at arch can potentially spot your weapon. It is vital to check both sides and then use smokes/flashes to your advantage.

Remember, you can dictate enemy positions by smoking off areas or flashing in, these nades can potentially scare off opponents and make them regroup in a new position allowing you to move up. You should also keep in mind that the most obvious place are the once you least expect someone to be in, always double check when you go past. If the first player to walk past an obvious spot does not look there that does not mean that there is no ct/t there, he most likely is just waiting for people to pass so he can inflict as much damage as possible. There are also some unfair angles you can forget about like the small opening between the blue truck on quad and the wall.

Conclusion:

When your aim skill is matched you have to use your map knowledge to your advantage. In the start experiment to see how the opponents rotate and move about, then you can start planning how your team could execute a bombsite entry with maximum damage at minimum cost. Keep in mind as well which corners you are exposed to as you do not want to go red before even executing the entry! Last, but not least try to use your grenades as efficiently as possible, you have four grenades and those can either get you a kill or open up a opportunity for a kill.