A popflash is a flash that gets thrown with such precision and with such a good line-up that it is (almost) impossible to dodge. Although most flashes that get called popflashes are less than perfect, most of them fulfil two of these three qualities:

Makes no sounds or sound source is too far away for the enemy to hear
Pops (basically) as soon as the enemy sees the flash
The enemy has to choose between being flashed and catching you or your teammates peek with the flash or turn away and risk getting killed while you or your teammates peek with it

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that a popflash is hard to dodge and in this guide, I will show you a bunch of flashes on both CT- and T-side that allow you or your teammates to peek with a clear advantage. So, without further ado, here are the flashes I'm talking about:

CT-Side
Around A
A-Long Peek

Stand at the wall to the right of the entrance to the dentist (a graphic on the roller shutter next to car says "DENTISTE") and aim centered below the Sun. The flash will fly over the building at the Corner position and blind everyone between Corner and Double Doors except your teammate who has to peek close, where a sunroof will stop the flash from blinding him while peeking. This allows a bit of leniency on the exact timing of the peeking player.

This one is perfect to line-up for your teammate when you play two A and your mate got outdueled a lot in the earlier engagements. If you get the slower spawn, you can walk right to the wall and throw it whenever your teammate wants to peek, either when the enemies are holding the corner or when they're already out of Double Doors and he wants to destroy them with an aggressive peek. Since you won't have a long way to Car, you are pretty safe after throwing the flash, even after potentially losing Short control or even CT-Mid.

Goose Self-Popflash

Stand at the wall in Goose and line yourself up with the legs of the goose mural. Now place your crosshair above and to the right of the part where the lower wall meets the higher one behind you and throw.

We all know the situation: You lose the guy in Mid or the Ts just straight up rush Short without him having much time to intervene and you are forced to hold A against five angry guys on Short. What do you do? You throw this flash to let the trajectory be covered up by the slightly moving leaves of the palm tree, most likely blinding anyone who has their eyes on A-Site and Goose!

A-Long to CT

Stand centered in front of the left-most window behind Slope before aiming at the lower right corner of the window in the small tower at Short. Then simply throw the flash with a left click.

This flash will pop in such a way that everyone who would be able to see you peeking CT from Slope will get blinded, which makes it the perfect flash to start gaining back some map control in a really cluttered round or when you want to help your teammate cross or any other situation where you'd want the player in CT to be blind. This makes it a valuable flash for the T-side as well!

Car Self-Popflash

Stand in the deep corner of Car and aim at the roof above you. You will see different darker spots, but try to find the elongated dark spot that starts on the outer left and leads a bit more inward of the roof. Place your crosshair at the deep end of said dark spot and use your right mouse button to throw the flash.

This flash will help you to stay alive or get a favourable peek in when you already have been spotted (for example, after you flashed for your buddy to peek Long and he got killed). This flash will pop right in the AWPer's face if he's holding the corner of Car and blinds anyone trying to close the gap to you, allowing you to stall for more time or even peek proactively and try to thin out their numbers.

Around B
Window Peek

Stand on top of the boxes right at Window before finding the wood that sticks out upwards and stand on top of it. Now crouch or shiftwalk towards the inner part of the A-Site and stop walking as soon as your character drops a few inches. Now find the merlon that, from your perspective, looks like it is above the door frame of the door in B and aim below the left edge. Shiftwalk and throw, and enjoy your overpowered flash to peek Window!

If you get pushed out of Mid and you have to fall back to B or your teammate has been killed in Mid and you are lacking crucial information and map control, this flash is perfect to peek in (preferably with the AWP if you do want to hold the angle afterwards) and get that info, a bit of map control, and maybe even one or two kills. Keep in mind that you are incredibly open to Tunnel, so if you do not have a buddy on B, you should be aware of the fact that you will be dead if they push Tunnel at the wrong moment.

Car to Tunnel

Stand right at the bigger rusty dent in the rear of the car and aim slightly to the right of the edge of the crane that is barely visible when you look towards Tunnel and up into the sky before pressing both mouse buttons. Now let go of the left button before letting go of the right one, too.

This flash will blind anyone perfectly who is holding B-Plat in the early round, allowing your mate to get a peek in with their AWP or M4 and get the first kill in the round, taking out a crucial part of the enemy team before the round even fully began.

Window to Tunnel

Stand on top of the lowest brick-box thing at Window and place yourself right into the corner of the three brick-box things. Turn around and find the fourth merlon from the left on top of the Tunnel exit before pulling your crosshair above said merlon. Then move it to the left third of the merlon and simply throw with your left mouse button.

An alternative to the flash before, you will be able to reliably blind anyone in Tunnel both late- and mid-round. You can either use this line-up to give your teammate on B-Plat a chance to peek safely or for him to stand right at the exit of Tunnel and just wait for your flash before advancing into the Tunnels, getting info which is especially important if you've been pushed out of Mid, which may be the reason you were at Window.

T-Side
Around A
A Long Entry

Stand in the corner of the store behind the car near T-Spawn, in front of the Double Doors, before finding the palm tree between the Double Doors and Pit. Find the highest reaching, right-sided leaf and point your crosshair at the end of it before you pull up until your horizontal line is at the level where the tower and the wooden pole on your right meet.

This flash is pretty much perfect for Long, except that it doesn't blind anyone playing close. Still, this flash will be more than good enough against 95% of your opponents and will find its best use in the early round, without needing to rush to run into the CTs prenades. It will just be early enough for there to be no good chance that a CT is close. This flash pops in a way that the Corner player, especially with a zoomed in AWP, has abysmal chances of dodging the flash meanwhile the Pit position, which is the second most popular spot on Dust 2 Long, will get blinded as well.

Double Doors Self-Popflash

Stand in the corner of the boxes and the wall in Double Doors and face the wall that is further away from you. There are splices in the brickwork and you will need to find the darker vertical lines that are in the right third of the middle segment in the wall. Your crosshair will go on the lower right corner of the brick that is surrounded by the splices and you will run and jumpthrow.

This flash pops similarly to the one shown above while allowing you to peek with it instead of needing a cooperative teammate to take advantage of, however, that comes at a price. Due to you needing to bounce the flash off of the wall, you will involuntarily make a bit of noise that may cue the opponents to turn around. However, since the Corner player will be quite a bit away from your position, as I have experienced it, he will often not turn away as people tend to not to notice faint sounds as much, allowing you to reliably take him down when peeking with this flash!

Barrel to Long

Stand on top of the barrel just outside Double Doors and crouch while looking towards Long. Look at the Arabic writing on the white wall in front of you and aim where the big Arabic letters almost meet and slightly to the left, as shown in the video, and crouchwalk-throw your flash.

This is a perfect set-up for your AWP that is already in Pit to get a peek in towards Long and A-Site or for you and your buddies to get the first advantage in the conflict that will ensue as soon as you turn the corner on Long to get closer and eventually take the A-Site.

Cross flash

Stand at the right corner of the building where the lower half is painted red and aim at the lower right corner of the sign with the medical plus on it towards Cross.

This is a perfect flash that will blind any AWP holding the cross from either CT or Short, as well as people hiding closer to surprise you through a gap in your smoke or just wait for you to cross without one. This one should be standard procedure for all full teams who want to be someone someday since the set-up is easy, reliable, and incredibly powerful.

Short to A-Site

Position yourself right at the corner of the orange building on Short and aim at the closest part of the green-ish metal fence around the mini-balcony at the white building in front of you to jumpthrow and land a perfect flash.

For the majority of the air time on this flash, it will be hidden behind the big white building in front of Short and catch off-guard any AWPer looking towards Short from the positions of Onspot, Goose or Slope, while people who are not scoped in on Goose or Car might have a chance, albeit slim, since the flash will fly a bit when it enters their peripheral view before popping. All in all, this is a very good flash that doesn't even blind your teammates who are waiting to go out Short!

Mid Self-Popflash

Stand at the right pillar at the exit of Lower and aim above the part of the door where the door and the wooden door frame overlap from your view. Pull up until you line up your horizontal line with the corner of the white building on your left before pressing both mouse buttons, letting go of the left mouse button before you quickly let go of the right one, too.

This flash will mostly fly behind the merlon above the door in Mid and will catch any AWPers off-guard since their scope will completely black-out the path of the flash that would normally be visible for riflers. A big plus of this flash is that, when compared to conventional left-click jumpthrow line-ups or bounce line-ups, this one produces no sound that might cue your enemy, except for the sound of a grenade being pulled, which can mean anything, like a CT smoke.

CT-Mid to Window Peek

Stand on top of the elevated part of Short and line up the door with the orange-ish pillar in the white building to your left before pointing your crosshair on the barely visible part of the roof of a different building behind the one in front of you. Pull to the left until you won't hit the corner of the building to your right anymore before using both mouse buttons and letting go of the left mouse button before letting go of the right one.

This one is to help your teammates clear out the path to B in order to split B easier, flashing anyone holding the corner in CT-Mid from Window or Door and eliminating the biggest threats when turning the corner in CT-Mid.

Lower Peek

Stand centered in front of the pillar right next to the stairs and line-up your crosshair with the stick-ish shadow on the door frame towards lower, pulling to the right until you are where the darker and lighter, more orange, spots on the wall meet. Now click both mouse buttons and let go of the left one before letting go of the right one.

We all know it: No one is watching Mid anymore, no one is up Short, and we are probably down a man or two. Now, playing without map control isn't easy and, to aid you in your quest for information and map control, I present to you this flash, which will blind anyone holding you from Short, peeking you from X-Box, or who is already pushing Lower, taking the advantage back and opening up a different route from B to A and from A to B. Keep in mind that you should peek as close to Short as possible, as the flash will not blind anyone holding the very back of Lower.

Upper Exit Combination

Stand at the side of the pillar in Upper that allows you to stand closest to the Upper Exit and then use the shadows for visual guidance like I do in the video presented below, starting off by aiming at the upper left corner of the shadow and jumpthrow before lowering your crosshair to the end nearest to you without moving your crosshair horizontally at all.

This combination is rather effective against both kinds of players, the AWPer in B-Plat and the player playing close waiting for you to push. By combining two obvious flashes, which they almost have to be in order to be useful for exiting Upper, you increase the chances of people getting blinded and allow you and your teammates an easier entry into the B-Bombsite.

Mid to B Self-Popflash

Place yourself into the right corner at the Double Doors and aim where the removed brick in the facade of the orange building in front of you lays a big shadow before pulling to the left until your crosshair meets the edge of the darker and lighter spots in the building, like in the video. All that is left to do is to jumpthrow.

Popping above the building where you just stood in the corner, this flash allows for you to be safe against the Window player who will either have to look away just as you peek or will be blinded just as you peek, giving you a very strong advantage in the fight without having to rely on the utility of the teammates. Keep in mind, however, that this flash pops rather far away, allowing the Window player to quickly get off of the effect of being blinded.

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