Terrorists play aggressively and Counter-Terrorists play defensively, everyone who plays any Counter-Strike game knows this is a fundamental rule of the game. However, used in the correct way and at the correct time CT-Side aggression can be a great way to gain early map control or just to get an early pick on an unaware terrorist. CT Eco rushes are a great way to do some economic damage to the terrorists and are a pretty common strategy in MM games. However in this guide I am only talking about using smaller more calculated moves of aggression on full buy rounds. I will highlight my single favorite place to play aggressively on 3 of the active duty competitive maps but you can transfer the concepts onto any map in the game.

Inferno

On Inferno there a many places for CT’s to play aggressively, like banana, which has became the most favored place for CT's to rush on eco rounds. However, I don’t think it is the best place to go aggressive on full buy rounds, as it leaves you very open to attack and most times the T's will shut you down with ease. In my opinion the best place to play aggressive is at the bottom of stairs in the apartments. This spot (shown in image below) provides a good spot to get an early pick on people entering aps from second aps or from second mid. Make sure you run straight from CT spawn to this spot if you are planning to play for an early pick because if you take too long to get there the terrorists may have already pushed into a good position and can take you out with ease. The position also provides good cover as you can quickly duck behind the wall and easily fall back to A site if you get overrun. If no terrorists are pushing and you hear no movement you may want to push further into second mid. This is highly risky as it leaves you open to lots of angles but it can catch terrorists unaware and give you the chance to get some easy kills. However, this spot does leave you open to players boosting into window room, so make sure you keep an ear out for them as it can ruin your day.

Mirage

Mirage is different to many other maps as there are many more places to enter each bomb site and both A and B are very open with few small choke points. Personally, my favorite place to play aggressively on Mirage is Palace. Much like the apartments on Inferno this is another long, confined space with lots of choke points and hiding places. At the round start you should run straight there and hold from just inside (picture left) however if you don’t immediately see anyone you may want to push into palace and hold from the immediate left (picture right) keeping your crosshair on the entrance to palace and wait for any terrorists to push in. If, after a while nobody pushes, it may be a good idea to push into T-Spawn, as you may be able to catch some terrorists preparing to push through A main. Again this is just my personal favorite spot but you can apply the same principles to any choke point on any map.

Cache

On Cache pushing squeaky is a great way to catch terrorists unaware but you have to rush straight there or they will have already pushed up to the door and be able to take you out with ease. More than any other spot I have recommended, this one is high risk and reward. Risk, it is very difficult to get to as you have to get there as soon as possible or you risk being peeked from A main or from terrorists already inside squeaky. Reward, pushing into squeaky and holding from inside is a fantastic way to get spray downs on multiple players or just catching out the lurk player. If nobody is pushing squeaky it is a good idea to push further towards T-Spawn as you can catch out any players boosted up or pushing into A main. Cache is a unique map as its one of the few that are very well balanced and the score is often very close, so it’s the small tricks like this that can give you the advantage you need to get over the line.

CT-side aggression is all about playing smart and playing safe. I have just provided the positions because they have worked well in my experience but the same concepts can be applied to many other spots. To sum up the key to CT-side aggression is taking it slow and not rushing or forcing a crazy push that gets you no where. As long as you play it smart and use the maps angles and choke points to you advantage there are no limits to what this simple but hard to master trick can yield for you.

Thanks for reading!

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