The new and improved Nuke has been out for a few weeks now and a number of changes have made it easier for the T side to take and hold the bombsites on the map. With changes to some the the map’s geometry and a major rework of outside, there are now a variety of options for the terrorists to push onto and hold B site.

Vent Drop

An effective rush or eco strategy, the classic vent drop is now more viable than ever with the roof of hut making it more difficult for CT’s to hold vent than before. The strategy is simple, if you spawn close to the front of the Terrorist spawn location you are able to rush into lobby, push through squeaky and drop into vent. Depending on where the CT players elect to play you should be fast enough to rush into vent before they have a chance to react unless they play someone at MINI. This is why it is a fantastic eco strategy as the first one or two players should be able to trade with the CT and keep their momentum running into vent so that heaven and rafter players are unable to assist. From here it is easy to split up the remaining players and hold from any of the angles I will discuss later.

Ramp

The second classic strategy for taking B is through radio into ramp. Here you have to worry about the possibility of both AWPs and rifles but there are very few spots the CT players can actually hold safely. The first step is to take control of radio and examine where the CT players are, if they haven’t smoked you off be aware an AWPer may be sitting at headshot box so jumping across may be a smart idea. From here due to the angles a self-explanatory smoke can be thrown to block off ramp and allow access into the room. Watch out for players playing top of ramp and hell before eliminating the player headshot with a nade/molly and take B site. Be aware that a player may be boosted to the right which is impossible to see unless you jump on top of ramp, however this is a time dependent strategy and if you execute quickly the CT players should still be boosting and thus vulnerable.

Outside

The biggest change and also biggest advantage for the T side is outside. Now that the catwalk runs all the way along the outer wall from silo, the CT’s have more angles to watch than ever and thus it is generally the case that two players will be positioned to defend it. Not only does this make other attacks more viable, but even when having two players outers it is still a T sided position. There are two strategies you can attempt here, going for picks before pushing secret or smoking key areas and flashing yourself through. Due to the changes to silo and rafters it is now easier than ever for a T AWPer to take control of outers as CT AWPers now have 3 locations to watch from Garage. If you’re an AWPer switch it up, grab Silo or catwalk and try to pick him from above, push aggressively lowers and peek him at the large box or even boost on top of it. After warehouse is taken care of you have to worry about mini, lockers and heaven. Be aware that it can be hard to see a player through the crosshatching of catwalk so look closely.

The other strategy is to smoke off outers and push straight into secret. Firstly, to smoke garage, run to the big blue container and get on top of it, line up with the top right hand corner then look over silo. It should land perfectly to block off an AWPer.

Secondly, to smoke off lower outers, push onto T roof and run to the catwalk that allows you to jump onto silo, look up to the railing on the roof and line up the top rail with the kink in the corrugated iron to block vision from lockers and CT outers. From this point you just have to worry about mini and heaven, you can eliminate either position by pushing a player up catwalk and peeking them while the rest of the team crosses into secret.

Holding

Now you have access to B site the key is holding it, interestingly you can plant on any area of the floor that has glass paneling so take that into account. My favourite position to hold is from decontamination room from here you can watch vent while having the door closed and use sound cues to your advantage. If you hear the door open you know someone is trying to push you and if you hear the CT diffusing you can either open the door or try to kill him quickly by spraying the bomb through the door.

Another position you can play is control room. From here you can kill any CT pushing ramp and easily jump out onto site and kill the defuser. This is a very similar position to vent, but in place of ramp you can kill players quickly rotating from A or through outers and secret. Finally you can sit in toxic. If you put your head down, you will not be visible to the CT players from outside and you can easily peek them if they begin defusing in the middle of site.

Conclusion

With Valve’s changes to Nuke, it is clear that the map is now in a more equal and competitive state. Now that CT players have to place two people outside to effectively hold it, the map has opened up a lot for T’s and made B takes all the more viable. Hopefully these adjustments will be enough to allow the map to re-enter the competitive pool and continue being a fan favorite for years to come.

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