CS:GO 101 - 5 Tips for playing T-side - CS:GO

Welcome to CS:GO 101, where the very basics of the game are discussed and tips are given to become a real CS:GO professional.

In this article some handy tips for the terrorist side will be shared so you can optimise playing on the attacking side.

1. Embrace the aggression

Do not take this tip too literally. Please refrain from smashing monitors or anything of the sort. What this really means is that you need to accept the fact that on the terrorist side you are attacking. You need to take the initiative. It is an often made mistake to play the wait-and-see game on the T-side; this will lead to you becoming stagnant and just gives the CTs time to gain more ground and turn the element of surprise against you.

Have the audacity to get out there and remember that you have the peeker advantage: You will see the defender before they can see you. Pre-firing is also key here. If you know how to utilise this you can take a bomb site before the defending side will know what hit them.

2. Utility is your friend

Even more so than on the CT side, utility is extremely important. If you can toss out a few well placed smokes on a bomb site to massively reduce counter-terrorist vision and prevent their allies from having any vision whilst they rotate, it will make taking a bomb site far easier. After all, the CTs will normally speaking be spread out over the bomb site. If you can overrule at least two players the site will be in your hands in no time. Flashes are also ideal for this, but these require teamplay more than anything, as highlighted in our previous article about utility.

However, offensive utility should not be forgotten. A molotov can flush a counter-terrorist out of their defensive spot and force them out in the open, leading to an effortless kill. Same goes for regular HE grenades.

3. Mind the timer

Something that even teams at higher levels seem to forget at times is that the terrorists are playing a race against time. The counter-terrorists will be able to run down the timer and just wait out, but the terrorists have to make a move eventually. If they do not, the round is lost. The mistake teams sometimes make in this regard is waiting too long. They let the timer run down to the last twenty or thirty seconds forcing them to hastily move onto the bomb site and try to get it planted. This will only work if your execution is perfect and you manage to take out all the enemies waiting for you to show up. Additionally, the longer you wait, the more time there is for CTs to go for a cheeky flank in the meantime.

4. Map control and knowledge

It is an essential part of the terrorist side that you are playing for map control. Think of a map like Mirage where the middle is a very powerful place to open up. It is often played through and fought over because once a T-side team holds middle, they are offered a lot of rotating power: they can go through connector, dive into underpass or push through short. The CTs are forced way back onto their bomb sites and are a lot more likely to be cut off by utility.

Paired with this is the necessity for knowledge of the map, more specifically the spots you will usually encounter players. Using the same map as mentioned earlier, it is very normal to expect a player in window on Mirage. This is a defensive spot that is almost always taken by a CT player. If you know this, you know that you have to watch out for it, but also how to deal with it. Remember that utility.

5. A bomb plant changes everything

The moment you have put down the bomb, you change the dynamic of the T-side. Where at first you were attacking, you now go on the defensive. The CTs are forced to go aggressive and try to flush you out of your positions, whereas now you can play the waiting game. Let the players come to you and try to take the bomb site; if they are unlucky, they will not even have that much utility left over.

Additionally, they have to defuse the bomb. The moment they try this, they give away their position because you will hear the all too familiar beeping of an attempted defuse. Just remember where you put that bomb, you do not want the CTs to get away with a ninja defuse.

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Image credit: Valve

CS:GO 101 – 5 Tips for playing T-side