Popflashes, that is flashes that are hard (if not impossible) to dodge, are incredibly useful and a great asset in everyone's utility arsenal. Since we want to make sure that everyone will take something away from this article, we'll present two flashes per map, one per site, making sure that you'll be able to find a few that suit your map pool.

We've also added a difficulty rating going from very easy (intuitive) to very hard (requires lengthy practice and fundamentally good mechanics) to make it easier for you to tell where to apply your resources.

Dust 2
Goose to Short Aggro (CT)

Difficulty: Easy-Medium (requires you to press and release both mouse buttons at the same time)

It's not uncommon to feel incredibly pressured in Goose once you know that the Ts are coming through Short to A, allowing you no easy exit and also, more than likely, peeking you with multiple people at once as soon as they reach A. To get ahead of them, throwing this flash right into the leaves of the palm tree right at Goose will allow you to throw a hidden and silent flash, one that will more than likely not be seen by the Ts as you'll blind them and then get an easy pick-off on multiple blind targets.

Long Popflash (T)

Difficulty: Easy (requires jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Although just chucking a flash above the wall to the right works OK a lot of the time, I've sat down and created a close-to-perfect Long popflash, one that will not be visible to the CTs on the other side of the wall until it is too late to turn around. This one will allow you to exit Long a bit later than with the earliest timing easier, relying on the fact that the CTs won't be prepared for a flash take then since they could otherwise have a teammate wait in the anti-flash position. This flash is almost guaranteed to catch the CTs off-guard!

Mirage
Short to Mid (CT)

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Using this flash will allow you to cover most of its travel with the building around Mid and Short, giving the Ts no time to react. This will cause them to be blind once a CT peeks from Short, Window, or Connector, greatly disturbing the T-side plan for Mid control. Since Mirage is Mid-centric in today's meta, this flash should be in the arsenal of every veteran Mirage player, especially the ones playing the crucial position of the B rotator.

Top-Mid to Connector (T)

Difficulty: Easy

This popflash is a helpful tool to help your teammates successfully exit Underpass or enter Connector, and can alternatively be used to just get Ts up Short or to peek Conn to gain more safety for Mid. It is quite easy and therefore a good and uncomplicated tool to have in your arsenal for Mirage, where most teams play Mid-centric on both sides.

Train
Connector Popflash (CT)

Difficulty: Hard (press both mouse buttons, then let go of the left one first before also letting go of the right one mid-transition)

This tricky, yet versatile, flash will allow you to play A with more variety, as, most of the time when you're smoked out of A either with a smoke in Connector or to the right of the bombtrain, you're pretty much out of the round until the afterplant. This changes with this flash, as you can either throw two to delay and disrupt the bombsite take by the Ts or grant a fellow CT an aggressive peek. Alternatively, you can run behind this flash and peek with it, giving you a favourable duel against blind Ts, maybe turning the tide into your favour.

A-Main to Green (T)

Difficulty: Easy

Blinding anyone holding A-Main from the general vicinity of Ivy/Green, you'll be able to exit A-Main more easily after learning this popflash. Trains are obstructing the view and the flash bounces only as it is about to explode, giving CTs absolutely no time to react at all, giving you a chance to gain some serious ground either early or late in the round.

Overpass
Monster Popflash (CT)

Difficulty: Easy

One of the most important, yet easiest and most versatile, pieces of utility in my personal Overpass utility arsenal, this flash has great success in:

Granting your teammates an (early or late) aggressive Monster peek
Stopping/Crippling a B rush
Stopping/Slowing down a B take
Drawing attention to Monster while your teammates push B-Short

B-Short Popflash (T)

Difficulty: Easy

While you barely-walk-throw this flash, your teammates should already be entering the Sidetunnel to B-Short. Once this flash pops without giving the CTs who are running into B-Short aggressively any time to react, your teammates will explode out of Sidetunnel and get the drop on the blinded CTs, probably making this round 5v3 or 4v3, greatly heightening the chances of success in this round.

Nuke
Heaven to Outside (CT)

Difficulty: Medium

Helping Outside as a non-Outside player can be difficult. It doesn't take too much to push any CT side away from Outside on Nuke. However, with this popflash, this insurmountable task will become more tangible. Hide a player close to A-Main, prepare the flash and throw it like shown in the video above to blind anyone moving towards Red or A-Main, getting the jump on them while they can't react to the flash that is barely, if at all, visible to them.

A Popflash (T)

Difficulty: Hard (requires jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

After opening the windows on the right part of the roof, running up the ladder and lining up the popflash fast (and also running a bit more than me in the video to actually blind players in Heaven) you'll be able to support your A rushing or executing teammates with a pretty much un-dodgeable popflash that doesn't run the risk of flashing the teammates that are coming through Hut. Exploding out onto A with this flash will disorientate the enemies and more than likely grant you access to a favourable afterplant.

Vertigo
Ramp Peek (CT)

Difficulty: Easy (but you need to be precise)

Utilising the same crane-obstruction tactic that is used in the flash below, your flash won't travel anywhere in the Ts' sight without covering its tracks with the steel beams of the crane. This will make it horribly difficult to spot, especially if you've never seen this one, and allow your more forward teammate to peek into Ramp, more than likely into more than just one blinded T, allowing you to peek aggressively without risking too much.

Ramp to A-Site (T)

Difficulty: Very Easy

Not just will the CTs be much more focused on the Ramp instead of the crane, you'll also obstruct parts of the travel of your flash via the crane, making it even harder to spot. This will allow your teammates to peek blind CTs or, in the worst-case scenario, push forwards while the CTs will still have to turn about around, gaining valuable feet towards A.

Inferno
Second Mid Flash (CT)

Difficulty: Easy-Medium (requires jumpbind/double-key jumpbind)

Getting aggressive on Inferno isn't quite easy once the Ts get a hang of shutting down Banana and the classic Mid peek, which is where this flash comes in handy. With a good spawn, an AWPer or accurate CT may feel like he can rush Boiler and peek into Second Mid via Lightroom, which is where you need to come in and flash for him, making it pretty much impossible for the Ts to react and securing you an early advantage in the round.

Banana to B-Site (T)

Difficulty: Very Easy

After taking Banana control, this flash will blind a lot of important spots on B, including CT, and will allow your teammates to gain ground and get closer to B more easily. It is soundless and especially deadly against AWPs, who have no chance of seeing this flash once scoped in, making it impossible to dodge for the most dangerous B players, allowing you to increase your chances of success greatly.

Keep it up!

Expanding your knowledge and utility arsenal is very important in CS:GO, as you always need to be ahead of the curve. Using new pieces of utility or newly optimized versions of old ones will leave even veteran players confused as they've been outplayed by you the second before. Mix it up and don't always rely on the same three pieces of utility to keep you winning the games, as that will eventually not be the case.

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