Even though the AWP may neither be as mobile as the SSG 08, nor have the fast-firing capability of the Auto-Snipers, it sure has a power to be reckoned with. It has the power to not only one-shot you but, in extension, to destroy a whole team in more than just a one-off round. Its immense power and effectiveness in the right hands will most likely deal you a favourable hand in the everlasting poker game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Basics

There are a few basics you need to know first. The very core of this weapon boils down to immobility with great firepower, and you should treat it as such. None of you are KennyS yet, otherwise you would not be reading this article. To master the AWP like he used to, you first need to grasp the core concept of this weapon. You need to practice the following basics, and learn to do these subconsciously when push comes to shove (i.e. competitive game modes), and this best done on offline servers and community servers, especially AWP and FFA DM.

Keep in mind that you are not just entering said servers to land sick shotz, but to dry-practice the skills you need in your game.

"Stop, scope, flick, fire"

This phrase is not just an empty meme, originating from on old video of TheWarOwl, but it emphasizes the core principle of this weapon: You cannot effectively kill people while moving with it. The inaccuracy is too great to give you a real chance of hitting even mid-range shots and you should be able to reliably hit shots of a standing and moving subject as an AWPer. Do not get fooled by the word "flick" in the title of this paragraph, you should not just flick onto every enemy you see, as this would only cause you to miss too many shots. As I said, you should start with the very basics, which is drawing the crosshair onto the enemy with your own pace. Over time, this pace should get faster and faster. Only when you can reliably hit these shots with a relatively fast pace, should you change priorities between drawing and flicking. A good way to practice this is by practicing tracking shots on moving objects. Your goal should be to stay on your target at all times during its movement. This will be sloppy at the beginning, but will get better quickly. This way you get a good feeling for both, tracing- and drawing-aim. When you practice all three, tracing, drawing and flicking, you should be able to accumulate a lot of muscle memory, allowing you to pull off these kinds of shots without thinking.

Recovery time

Like all weapons, the AWP needs a certain time to reach its peak accuracy after you have moved. Jumping or falling causes the highest inaccuracy for any weapon, followed by running, walking and then crouchwalking. Weapons are most accurate while standing still or crouching, and all of this applies for the AWP as well, but the scope adds a new dimension to all of this. Scoped, the accuracy will always be higher than the unscoped variants. You, therefore, should always try to use your scope when you fire your bullet, even when you are close range. Quickscoping will help you to hit those fast, close range shots, even though you will need time to get used to using your scope before you fire in the kind of situations it would be useful in. Furthermore. the scope can also help you to learn about the time it takes for the accuracy to reset itself. The crosshair of the scope gets blurry with inaccuracy, and becomes stable when you are accurate again. It is an indicator you can use to time your shots.

This becomes especially important when you are moving, and you want to stop your movement instantly by using counterstrafing - which is pressing the opposite movement key of the one you are currently pressing in order to change direction shortly - but be accurate at a certain time of the transition from left to right, for example. You can deduce from the state of the crosshair how accurate your shot will be, which allows you to learn these mechanics with relative ease. Once good at counterstrafing, prefiring spots while counterstrafing should not be a problem anymore.

We got the basics. Now what?

There are different kind of uses you can have for the AWP. You should take advantage of its one-hit kill to the body, on the CT- and the T-side!

Peeking corners

This paragraph will be important for your T-side, but will still be relevant for your CT-side . I already touched on how you can use your counterstrafing skills to prefire angles, but we need to clarify more. People often are clueless on how to peek an enemy AWPer without much utility, and even though you should ideally flash the AWPer, you cannot guarantee that this will always be the case. How do I peek an AWPer then? The answer is simple: Make him miss his shot. This may sound easy, but it is easier said than done, especially in the higher ranks. In order to make him miss his shot, you need to bait his shot. One way to do this is by shoulderpeeking, and in order to correctly do this you need to wiggle your model close to the edge from which you want to peek, and want to stick your shoulder out for him to see moving - and he will most likely shoot to where you would be standing when you would have strafed out, what you are not doing. This will catch a lot of AWPers. Once he has missed his shot, you can strafe out and preaim the spot he will repeek, if he will do so at all.

Alternatively, it is possible to let a teammate jump past the spot which the AWPer is holding in specific cases, which will also make him take his aim off of the angle you will peek from. The idea behind this is that your teammate will likely not get killed, and even if he gets killed, you should get the trade anyway, which is favourable for the Ts.

Holding corners

This paragraph will be important for your CT-side, but will still be relevant for your T-side. I will be covering common mistakes about holding corners and other AWP-related things in a later paragraph of this article. For now, we will focus on the basics of positioning and the angles to hold. The first thing of importance is your position because it should fulfill a few criteria. The first criterion is that you should not be too prefireable, which would make you an easy target. I am not saying that you are not allowed to hold Dust 2 Long from Corner, but rather that you should hold those angles tight, which will make the wall cover up most of your model - which makes prefiring you harder. The next criterion is the availability of an escape route. You should not play one-and-done with an AWP in hand, as the weapon is way too valuable for your team and the dynamics surrounding it. The last criterion the position should fulfill is that it should be likely that you will not be in imminent danger once they have entered through the angle you are holding. This is closely related to the availability of an escape route. This criterion is in place to prevent you from playing angles that have an escape route that is way too open, which will leave you exposed to the enemy team when you want to fall back. Keep in mind that these rules are bendable with a game plan and certain setups!

A rundown of the common mistakes

1. Do not place your crosshair too close to the corner, as people will most likely strafe beyond it. No matter what some people say, letting your reaction deal with the enemy is often the better bet compared to letting your muscle memory do the job for you. Long story short: Let them run into your crosshair.

2. Take your time. I cannot emphasize this enough. People are often wildly flicking their crosshairs across their screen without taking their time, sometimes against enemies which are reloading, and are no imminent threat in that situation. Why would you risk to miss your shot against a defenseless enemy?

3. You are not KennyS. Do not go for hero plays when they are unnecessary.

4. Do not let your ego get in your way. Too often do I see people with an AWP not switch it up for a different weapon during a clutch. Especially in close quarters is it favourable for you to switch the weapons in order to be more mobile. Of course, not every clutch is impossible with the AWP - you still should evaluate the situation you are in.

5. Do not peek without shoulderpeeking or using utility, unless you have an edge with your timing.

From whom can I learn?

Even though GuardiaN and KennyS are the most prominent examples of god-tier AWPers, they are not people to watch for you to learn until you are already playing at a highly competitive level (we are talking about ESEA Main and beyond), as their individual skill and hard work they have put in have elevated them to heights unknown to the average joe. Other AWPers, who have simply perfected the basics, like Skadoodle and Allu, are more fit for you to watch and learn. Both are often coming out on top because of their positioning. Allu is known for his rather slow but precise crosshair movement, and Skadoodle is one of the most disciplined people in the pro scene today, almost never overpeeking.

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