Improving in CSGO: The Basics

Introduction

Improving is one of the most challenging and main objectives of the game, but often players will find it difficult to improve, why is that? Before I discuss tips on improving what you may think are your fundamental skills (eg. aiming, tips and tricks, etc.), it is essential even before being able to execute in the game to understand the types of games you will be getting yourself into. By this, I mean knowing what atmosphere to expect when you enter alone or with people you know.

Matchmaking

The most appealing thing about CSGO is the competitive nature this game holds and often new players may want to launch themselves straight into this after watching professional teams such as Team Dignitas completely obliterate and outsmart the opposing team. In the in-game matchmaking system, you have a choice of entering by yourself or with other people. Entering by yourself means that you will be put in a team with 4 strangers who may or may not speak the same language as you. Due to the fact Valve has not yet separated these 2 types of queueing, you may find yourself either against a premade team or be part of a group of friends queueing together which may give you a disadvantage. This brings me onto the very first thing you need to establish with your team before actually playing, communication.

Communication

Communication is just as important as moving and shooting in CSGO as without it, you will have a severe lack of information to work with. Even if you’re an incredible aimer with inhuman reactions, this can be overcome by the other team by cooperating; you can’t shoot in front and behind you at the same time. Like previously said, if you go into a match by yourself, you’ll find yourself in a game with complete strangers to you who despite having the same objective as you, may or may not even speak to you. To avoid this problem, either play as a premade team or be the first person to speak out to your teammates and see if they are willing to respond.

Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) are an amazing team who are known for consistently reaching top placements in tournaments. One of the main reasons for this is their outstanding teamwork, it's true that they have more than a few monster fraggers but without each of their deaths providing ample information for each other, they wouldn't be able to do as well as they do. In this video from their recent performance in the final of ESL Katowice 2015, you can see that in the last moments of the game in the 2v2 situation, Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and Adam “friberg” Friberg co-ordinate their attack so that f0rest enters slightly before that of friberg which not only draws the attention away from the possibility of friberg entering but then allows f0rest to tell friberg exactly where the remaining players are and how much hp they have left.               

From this video, you can see how important communication can be in order to win the round, especially in a high-risk situation such as this, at the final of a major tournament. For yourself, if you enter alone and find someone who communicates well and you enjoy playing with, try adding them as a friend so you can queue up together next time or enter with a few people you already know and communicate well with. Once you have the communication part down, you can move on to the next fundamental of CSGO, teamwork.

Teamwork

Communication is almost as important as being able to move and shoot merely because without it, teamwork becomes much more difficult. As stated previously, anyone can be easily beaten alone if up against a group of well co-ordinated players. If your team can communicate effectively, you can execute stratergies and help each other much more easily. Often people only focus on the numbers which only affect them (ie. kills, deaths and assists), but some players go that extra mile and support players which involves baiting yourself out or setting up for your team with grenades. Although this usually leads to their deaths and low scores, they can benefit the team quite well. There was a lot of controversy over former NiP player Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson because his KD (Kill:Death ratio) was much lower than that of his teammates due to solely playing this support role. However, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund once mentioned in an interview that he would not look as strong as he did if it had not been for Fifflaren. You don't need someone to strictly play this role, but showing concern by doing small things such as flashing out a teammate or dropping a weapon for them can really benefit the team and your overall chances of winning.

In this video presented by Daniel "DDK" Kapadia, he explains why Virtus Pro were able to take control so easily. The team initially send 4 members towards A and 1 to B in order to cause some confusion, once ready they throw smokes to obscure the vision of NiP players and begin attacking the site. Notice how one player flashes out for the other in order to secure the kill and how the main bulk of the team occupies the attention of the enemies while the 1 player that went around to B comes back in order to flank them. A very nice take by Virtus Pro.

Hopefully this guide has helped you understand why commucating with others and ensuring teamwork above all else is so important in the game. If you feel uncomfortable with anything, tell your team and maybe swap positions with someone or if a certain player is just not feeling it, tell them to step back and play more cautiously. The main thing to take away from this is that good teamwork is greater than good skill.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you will read the next instalment as well which will be about gamesense. In the mean time, you can check out this article by another one of our writers which also covers some tips on how to keep motivated.