Against All Odds: A Guide to Winning Your CT Force Buys

Force buys are very common in the current meta of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and it is important to know how to increase your overall chances at winning them. Before we go into increasing the odds, we will take a look at why winning force buy rounds is so important, and why you should consider doing it.

While submachine guns run rampant with their $600 kill bonus, lacking armour makes you a minimal threat. Their SMGs tear through you like you’re nothing and make your opponent’s pockets rather hefty. The investment in armour and pistol or a scout in the second round will not only allow you to take a few more hits before dropping to the floor, but also offers you a more powerful weapon to disrupt their economy. The worst that occurs is that you cause no damage, and your team has invested $7500 overall across all players. Ultimately this simply means that you end with the $1900 and $2400 gained from the force and the following round, which is enough for an M4A4/M4A1-S, kevlar and no helmet, along with a smoke grenade or a HE grenade and a flashbang. This still leaves you with utility and a strong weapon, therefore it shouldn’t hinder you that much.

On the brighter side of course, there is a high chance that you cause some good damage to your enemies. If we imagine that your opponent has no grenades on them during their death, an MP7 and armour being their only equipment, then killing them takes away $2700 from their pockets, and adds an additional $300 to yours for an extra grenade, a kit or a helmet. This means that with a total of 3 kills in the eco round you have caused more damage than you have invested. It doesn’t necessarily put you ahead of your opponent in the economy, but it offers you a chance to very quickly put your opponents on an eco round should you take control of the first couple rifle rounds. Of course your opponents could have invested more or less, but in the end 3 kills gives you a far greater chance of getting ahead on rounds.

However, my aim with this article is to help you do more than cause some economic damage; I want to help you win more force buys as a whole and take complete control. Winning these rounds offers such a major advantage in context of the actual game, especially on the Counter-Terrorist side. Winning these rounds will allow you to retrieve the weapons of your opposition, gaining a huge economic advantage and setting your opponents back to square one.

Counter-Terrorist Advice

As a Counter-Terrorist you will have more difficulty than the Terrorists winning a force buy. Very few teams at the professional level make it work to their advantage, but one particular team stands out above all of the rest; Team EnVyUs. Of course we have all seen Vincent “Happy” Cervoni Schopenhauer’s Deagle ace, but it’s unlikely that any of the rest of us could replicate this, so we need to look deeper into what makes EnVyUs, and other professional teams, so proficient in winning these rounds. While you could say it’s a simple matter of their individual skill shining, it is untrue that this is the only reason. As you are likely aware, the pistols are still less powerful than the submachine guns and all of the rifles available, and since at the top level they too are playing against incredibly skilled players there must be something more that the team is doing to make them so effective.

 

Stacking

Stacking a bombsite is always a tough decision, and very few people want to do it. It’s far easier if you are playing with a group of friends rather than being in a matchmaking solo queue game with people who are uninterested in your opinion and would rather scream at you than do what you say. Ultimately though, if you can stack a site, I highly recommend it. Your passive positioning gives you an advantage with the pistols; bring your opponents into one-shot headshot range, or even just shoot them four times in the body. If your opponents commit to the site, it is difficult for them to get out of that situation once you have picked off one of more of their players.

Of course it is likely that they go to the opposite bombsite; you’re taking a 50/50 chance here, and it is unlikely that you will assume correctly every time. While this often leaves people frustrated, don’t let it affect your mentality. From here, it is unlikely you will win the round, and so you should not attempt the clutch towards the opposite site. I strongly recommend playing for exit frags as the opponents hunt for you. This way you can still get the frags to deal economic damage and give yourselves a fighting chance for the next round, with armour and potentially the weapons from the hunting opposition.

So my advice for stacking is to keep 4 people on a site, while 1 player goes passive on the opposite site and plays for information; waiting to see if the opponents start using their utility grenades, start to peek and eventually if and when they push the site he can call, retreat into an off-angle position and wait for an opponent to hopefully walk into his crosshair. There are a number of places on all maps, but I have indicated a few of my personal favourites on this map of Dust 2; these may not always be effective, but will offer a good chance at getting exit frags.

Some effective locations for exit frags from the A bombsite.

Rushing

Rushing is a far riskier strategy, and the success or failure of it will often depend on the individual skills of your players. It is sometimes worthwhile, but should only be used when less confident in your ability to hold the site. It is also often worth considering if only a few of your teammates are willing to listen to your calls, unsure of whether all of them will stack the site when called, leaving rushing as a viable option.

It is important that when rushing, you keep pushing until you reach contact with the opposition. For example if you rush B tunnels on Dust 2, you should focus on pushing lower tunnels to mid and T spawn in order to surround them, rather than just retreating to a bombsite. If you can pick up one or two kills, it is recommendable that you do fall back on to sites though, as it will allow you to force the opposition out onto a bombsite without the man advantage, giving far better odds against their push.

Popflashes

Popflashes, and just utilising flashes correctly, are incredibly important to winning rounds in CS:GO in general. Learning all kinds of popflashes for unique locations from the spots you’re hiding in can greatly assist you in getting a free kill on a blind enemy. Flashes are possibly the most important piece of utility for winning force rounds and so you have to know how to use them correctly and effectively, rather than prematurely, leaving you with less of an advantage than you had while holding the flashbang.

A popflash, for those who are not aware, is a flashbang used to allow yourself or a teammate to peek towards the enemy and will pop almost as soon as they are visible to the opposition. The almost impossible opportunity for the opposition to look away from the flashbang provides you with invaluable seconds, depending on where the flash was in their cone of vision, and give you the opportunity to take out your opposition. I highly recommend you use videos from YouTube, the youtube “Trilluxe” has his own popflash video series, which is very helpful for coming out on top of pistol rounds.

A popular and highly effective popflash for long A.

Scouts

Scouts as it stands in CS:GO, despite the recent patches to the jumping hitboxes, are still incredibly powerful. The ability to tag an opponent for upwards of 75 damage is invaluable and allows for Five-Sevens to finish off your foes and bring the odds in your favour. On top of this, if you can hit a headshot with the scout you can take a kill straight away, bringing you the advantage you might need to win the entire round just off of a quick pick.

Despite the lack of armour you will have, if you get picked off your teammates can still collect the scout you lost, allowing them to inflict further damage and take more of a punch. The passing of the scout is another great way to allow for a win in the round, giving an armour, pistol and scout on an forcing player.

 

Positioning

When stacking or rushing, your positioning is absolutely vital. While stacking, your positioning needs to be “off”. By this I mean you need to be in a location that, should you have a rifle, it would be far less viable. One-and-done spots, where you can grab a quick kill and will then likely be traded upon, are very effective as they almost always guarantee you at least a single kill when the enemy enters a bombsite. If trades like this keep occurring, mathematically you should come out on top and win the round, however it is unlikely to be that simple.

When rushing, you need to hold angles very close, as to remain within close enough distance to one-shot your opponent in the head, getting a quick and important frag. Good positioning could be the difference between living and dying, winning or losing.

 

Of course it is important to note that there is no set way to win a force buy. It is always going to be difficult and will take a certain amount of luck and skill on your behalf and some slight misplays from your opponent, however if you use these tips effectively, I can guarantee you will pick up more force buys than you did prior to having information contained within this guide.

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