One of the most coveted and popular games inside the video game industry is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Its deadly mix of precise gameplay and addictive action makes it a game that has thrived in an industry where games can get boring quickly. The pure adrenaline rush players feel when they’re either viewing or watching a game makes it something that all viewers can enjoy especially since it feels refreshing to watch a new round, no matter how long you’ve been watching.
This game is no longer a regular first-person shooter though. It’s evolved into one of the only FPS’s that requires precise roles and extreme mechanics, mechanics that outmatch that of League of Legends and Overwatch. That being said, it can be hard to understand how the Counter-Strike system is working, especially whenever you’re a newcomer to the stage and want to get started on the betting scene right away. The first thing you’re going to want to know is how the positions work inside Counter-Strike so that’s what I’m going to teach you.
I’m going to teach you the different roles players take inside one of the most popular esports right now.
If you already have a sense of how the CS:GO professional scene works, then you can skip this part but if you’re a newcomer, then I highly recommend you read this because understanding the basics to this game is extremely important.
The professional Counter-Strike scene works such that, whenever two teams are pitted against each other, you usually play to the best of three rounds but sometimes, in the finals, you can play to the best of five and these don’t usually happen unless you’re in the finals of a Major tournament. (Majors are the biggest tournaments throughout the season)
Here’s where it gets weird. Inside each of these rounds, players play to the best of sixteen for each round. So basically, you’re playing different rounds to a round of sixteen and you have to win two out of three of these rounds in order to win the match. Inside each of these rounds for the best of sixteen, a team is placed on the Counter-Terrorist side and Terrorist side. If you’re a Terrorist, your job is to plant the bomb and have it detonate before the CTs reach you and defuse it.
If you’re the CTs, then you need to make sure that the Terrorists don’t plant the bombs at the plant site and if they do, defuse the bomb. Each of these best of sixteen are played on only one map that is chosen for that round. The team who wins that round of sixteen will win one round in the best of three and if they do so again, then they usually win the entire thing. I know. It’s like Inception but this time, with rounds. But trust me. If you watch enough Counter-Strike, you’ll understand how it works.
In order to give each team the highest efficiency possible at winning a game, teams like to incorporate different roles into their setup so that each player only has to focus on one part of the game. This makes it easier to understand what’s going on as well as more efficient.
Here are the major roles in every team.
I wish I could say this role is the “first guy in, last guy out” but he isn’t. He’s actually the first guy in and the first person to usually die. Entry fraggers are the first of the team to enter into a Bomb Site or a fight so that they can figure out the position of the opposing team.
They can also use this as a way of getting the first kill or being the first to initiate the fight, regardless of whether they die or not. Their importance lies in the fact that they’re the first person to find the information that the team needs in order to have a shot at winning the fight in the first place. The players who play this position tend to have very fast reactions as they’re going to be either exchanging gunfire first or taking it. That being said, they’re not going to put up pretty numbers since they’re either going to be dying fast or exchanging deaths fast.
This means they also need to have a strong mental game to keep themselves in check. Dying a lot isn’t appeasing to anyone so their mental toughness needs to keep them from breaking down mid-match because their score isn’t as pretty as their teammate’s. Furthermore, they need to have clear communication and listen to what the captain of the team is ordering them to do. If they can do their role well or near-perfect, then the entry fragger can open up several opportunities for the team to take a fast victory.
As I’ve said before, CS:GO is a very high-intense game that can come down to some last second decisions or one crucial shot, meaning that players have to be very precise when it comes down to the smallest of margins.
They’re also usually the ones that follow in on the entry fragger, exchanging kills just in case the entry fragger dies on his way in and can. When he does so, he usually comes in with a smoke bomb or something of the sort. By doing this, he essentially cleans up what the entry fragger could not finish. (Remember that I said entry fraggers tend to die first?) During this time, they can usually come up with some pretty big openings for their team if they play it right.
Like the entry fragger, they need to have fast reflexes and superb aim because they’re not going to get a lot of time to come in and take someone out. If they hesitate even half a second, they’re going to be the ones dying first. They need to also have a lot of trust and awareness of the map. They need to trust that what the entry fragger said was correct and that they didn’t mess up. The entry fragger essentially starts the fight first and tries to put it in his/her team’s favor.
The AWPer is usually the person who holds the best sniper rifles in the game. Because of this, they need to have extremely good aim—better than anyone else’s on the team—and a strong reflex on the gun. But the list doesn’t just end there. They also need to be extremely aware of their position and the enemy’s position and then they need to know where they need to move in order to provide ground for their team to either keep pushing or defending.
Furthermore, with AWPers usually have the most expensive weapon out of the group, they need to be the compensate for the hefty purchase. Therefore, they need to fit all the requirements insanely well which is why it can arguably be said that the AWPer is one of the hardest positions out of all of them. On top of all that, you still need to be able to change playstyles a lot. Sometimes, you need to be static, holding down the fort and playing a passive playstyle while other times, you need to go all-in and start firing like your life depends on it—because sometimes it does.
A lot rides on the AWPer because they’re one of the main roles when it comes to getting the crucial kills throughout the middle of the fight. If they shoot right and land a kill, they can instantly pull the momentum towards their team’s favor. If they miss more than they hit, then there’s a good chance they’re going to lose the round. That being said, AWPer is a high-risk high-reward type of playstyle. It’s definitely a hard role to learn too. You put the risk on a player that has proven to show results in the past on an AWP, then you’re definitely going to get the results you want.
A lurker is very comparable to being the spy of the team. The lurker is the one who branches off from most of the players and looks to assassinate and kill players that pose a threat or are cut off from their team. They’re the ones working behind the scenes, looking to make a spot available where their team can come in and gain an easier entry way into the fight. Keep in mind, though, Lurker’s are usually only a terrorist position whereas counter-terrorists tend to favor having their players defending the different sites.
In order to truly excel at this position, Lurkers need to be quiet and they need to be fast. They can’t have the enemy seeing them and if they do, then Lurkers are in trouble as they’ll usually have no backup since they’re the spy of the team. Their job consists of taking down players that are critical to the enemy team or providing information as to where the team is in regards of their placement. Therefore, a Lurker’s information or kill can be the winning piece of the game. Either that or they’re the reason they lose the game.
Therefore, most teams put a Lurker that has strong knowledge of the ins and outs of each map. However, Lurkers also need to know how their opponent is going to react. That way, they can do something completely different. Lurkers play scrappy and they play unpredictable which is what makes them so deadly. With a strong Lurker, teams will be able to gain an easier entryway into the fight and this allows them a higher chance of winning the round.
The support of the team is the player who usually sacrifices strong weapons and highlight plays for more utility and craftiness. They’re the ones that are usually more in contact with the leader of the team than the others largely due to their importance throughout the game. Supports are the ones that create opportunities because they are the ones that hold the grenades and in CS:GO, grenades are very important. Grenades are a means of helping a team gain vision or control of an area for a brief period of time.
CS:GO currently has five grenades in the game. Each of these serves a unique purpose in the game and are used by teams in different ways. For example, a flashbang can be used to open up a gateway for a brief period of time so that an ally can look through to get an idea of where the enemy is located.
The decoy grenade can be used to opponents off guard and give the team a chance to rush or bluff. More expensive and with more utility, the smoke grenade is like the decoy grenade only it clouds the area with smoke for a large period of time, meaning it can easily hold off a rush for the site or cease gunfire.
A HE (high-explosive) grenade is great for looking to kill during fights since it explodes on impact. Finally, the Molotov—if you’re on the terrorist side—or the incendiary grenade—if you’re on the CT side—is a grenade which lights a specific area on fire after hitting the ground.
This is perfect for zoning and can keep enemies from advancing too far or even lure them into one of their traps. With the high utility from grenades, it’s obvious that the support needs to understand the game extremely well and they need to be able understand how to throw well.
Their craftiness needs to show in their throws since they’re going to have to use walls and different objects to deflect their grenades to a desired area. Plus, since grenades like the smoke grenade and Molotov—or incendiary grenade—are limited per round, the support needs to be able to use them efficiently. If a support can communicate well with the team leader and use their craftiness to open up opportunities for their team, their sacrifice will be worth it. A good support plays a large role in setting up the team early in order to win.
The team leader isn’t really a set role since it can be any of the roles mentioned above but team leaders are perhaps the most important piece to each team in the end. Without a distinct team leader, even the best of teams fall into chaos. A team leader’s goal is to create a plan to follow by for the round and sometimes, this is formulating a very elaborate plan that needs to go perfect or sometimes, this is playing purely reactionary. Both have their pros and cons but the one that unites them both is communication.
The team leader is the keystone behind all the communication. They’re the ones calling the shots and using the information from the entry fragger and lurker to figure out where to go and what to do. Therefore, the team leader needs to be able to rise up to pressure but also know when to play conservative.
They need to have a strong basic understanding of every role while also being proficient in their own role. The team leader is what brings every unique role together to create something beautiful. Under a strong team leader, amazing things can happen and that’s why CS:GO is such a unique game: because it takes unique elements from different parts of the game and combines them into one masterpiece.
The game of CS:GO is so complex that even today, some pros don’t understand it fully. With so many maps, roles, and weapons, it can be hard to make a strong entry into the betting world. Luckily for you, I’ve given you a guide to the different roles inside Counter-Strike.
Of course, these roles can change between players since the CT (Counter-Terrorist) and T (Terrorist) have different playstyles but this is the basic understanding of the roles. Plus, roles tend to come organically meaning no matter what happens, the player will still hold that type of playstyle.
If you’re able to understand the different roles inside CS:GO, you can use this knowledge to your advantage. You can create a portfolio of players who are the best at each respective role and this can lead to you finding the teams that play extraordinarily well at tournaments. We all want that betting edge but it starts from the basics for any game. You can’t start playing big before you start playing big and this applies to every game, including CS:GO.
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