CS:GO: Ultimate Train Smoke Guide
Increase your Train variety with this handy smoke guide!
Increase your Train variety with this handy smoke guide!
Diversifying your utility-pool is crucial to guarantee that you'll be on top of every in-game situation, allowing you to pull out whatever fits the current situation best to claim every bit of an advantage as you can. This guide will help you with that, giving you 19 Train smokes, mostly focusing on the T-Side since most CT-Side smokes are straight-forward and don't need a set line-up most of the time. In this guide, I'll show you the line-up in a video, tell you how difficult it is (Very Easy to Very Hard), insert a small Dos and Don'ts section and then show you pros and cons in a bullet point list to help you fully evaluate what you need and can afford to learn with the time you have.
T-Side
T-Spawn to Sandwich
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i1pI-kYMZfI" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Very Easy
Dos and Don'ts: This loose line-up can help you exit A-Main either early or during a coordinated A-Site take mid-round.
Pros:
Cons:
T-Spawn to the Left of A
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4uQKQLc-RIE" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy/Medium (if intending to throw it early)
Dos and Don'ts: Although smoking off left of A generally eases the resistance from the CTs when you're taking A, this line-up greatly benefits from all of the other smokes around the A-Site.
Pros:
Cons:
T-Spawn to the Right of A
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zPAukd7ITgo" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: Especially good with other A-Site smokes, this one helps your teammates scatter around Ebox or exit Popdog.
Pros:
Cons:
T-Spawn to A-Site
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4rcXAeb1Vok" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: Works only with the other smokes around A-Site, blocking off the final line of sight from A to Popdog and Ebox, not allowing players on the bomb train to peek you above the other smokes.
Pros:
Cons:
T-Spawn to Connector
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/68A2sDDtGsc" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: Blocking off a strong position on A, it is useful basically every round where you don't know if someone is in Connector or not. Especially AWPers will have to look for a different avenue for kills, greatly increasing your chances of a successful A-Site take, no matter if in a full execute or just with a few Ts rushing out A-Main.
Pros:
Cons:
Ivy Left
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pjVGBSLFmVg" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy (takes some timing)
Dos and Don'ts: Although you'll have to cross first, this smoke is pretty crucial when you're trying to wrap Ivy to A. Keep in mind that a lot of CTs will flash into Ivy to peek you when you're advancing, so at least one teammate should be with you and play antiflash while you're trying to gain ground, in order to tradefrag you.
Pros:
Cons:
Ivy Right
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nQKm5x6scjM" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy-Medium (takes some timing)
Dos and Don'ts: The right-side version of the previous line-up, it has the same use but for a surprise A-push while faking the CT go or just for going CT.
Pros:
Cons:
Pop to the Right of A
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1EhqGCBcbnA" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Medium (You need to use both mouse buttons, but release the right mouse button a bit before you release the left mouse button, too)
Dos and Don'ts: You can use this smoke both, as a real execute smoke and as a fake. To effectively do this, your first few executes to A should include utility from above Popdog, since the enemy team could read your fake pretty easily otherwise. Can't be used in normal A rushes, since you have to walk such a long way.
Pros:
Cons:
Pop to the Left of A
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DEaXFX4VljE" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Medium (same as the smoke above)
Dos and Don'ts: Great for both, direct A executes and fakes, this line-up will allow you to exit Popdog easier, but also ease the general impact of CTs towards Stopper or A in any A take, including ones where players enter from A-Main. This smoke isn't really for early rounds, due to the timing.
Pros:
Cons:
Pop to Ivy
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/c_bTP4Db_p8" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: Also good for faking, this line-up allows you to block off Greentrain, as well as Ivy's line of sight towards A-cross, a good tool to keep your enemy guessing if you go A or not. Best used in the later sections of the round.
Pros:
Cons:
B Lower Exit
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Yha_LxadsSc" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Very Easy (just aim at the lower edge of the door on the floor)
Dos and Don'ts: Intuitively thrown, this smoke is one of the most important smokes for B on Train ever, granting you a bit of wallbangable cover when exiting towards B, reducing the line of sights that the CTs have towards you. This one can be used in fast rounds towards B, slow rounds or medium rounds.
Pros:
Cons:
Brown Halls to the Left of B
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/l6WH9Zqo2o8" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy-Medium (requires timing)
Dos and Don'ts: Showing great potential as a buddy to the previous line-up, this smoke blocks off a multitude of strong angles and helps especially against an AWP on B or a CT who keeps playing for picks while you execute. Can be used in mid- or late-rounds.
Pros:
Cons:
Brownhalls to Backline
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/w3uwuo3vFbw" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: Using this line-up will allow you to push up closer to the rotating CTs during or after your plant, generally allowing greater afterplant positions than the smokes on B shown before. This, however, means that you need to be cautious when walking out B since most close angles are still viable.
Pros:
Cons:
Brown Halls to Connector
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/x4VK2o3i_7o" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: This line-up allows you to execute B while blocking off a strong angle and the fastest way to rotate B for the CTs, but also to set up a fake into B lurk, allowing you to eventually lurk out B when your teammates are currently executing A, securing you the round. It is not really viable early round.
Pros:
Cons:
B Upper Exit
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/a0LnCyi2YVc" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: After using this line-up, you'll have much more cover to manoeuvre through Upper Exit and are allowed a bit of a choice of either jumping down, staying up or running through the smoke mid-take. Can also be used to make the CTs nervous or allow you to pre-aim Spools at the back of the platform to have a fair chance against a potential AWP holding there.
Pros:
Cons:
CT-Side
Upper B Smoke
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IloSERswyac" width="600" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: As a great retake smoke, this one will block off B Upper, not allowing the Ts to keep splitting your attention or jiggling to get a kill or two while multiple Ts peek you. Although this smoke doesn't stop the Molotov, it does block off a great position.
Pros:
Cons:
Ramp One-Way
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/tDZizlBWYtc" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: This One-Way is best used early round, where it is likely that a CT will smoke-off Ramp anyway, not raising any suspicion about a smoke coming in. I'd highly advise you to change position after your first kill and wait for maybe one or two, perhaps three rounds before using this again.
Pros:
Cons:
Connector to A-Main
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ySWe6BZpunM" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: With this loose line-up, you'll be able to smoke-off A-Main before you have to get into any line of sight of any T, blocking off any T before they have a chance to exit if used as early as possible.
Pros:
Cons:
A-Site to Popdog
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MNm5qZw6A7w" width="600" height="336" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Difficulty: Easy
Dos and Don'ts: A great way to re-smoke or initially smoke-off Popdog without stepping out of cover, it is especially useful if you have information, maybe from your Ebox player, about Popdog or if you're in a 1v1 or similarly small-number afterplant situations.
Pros:
Cons:
A few closing words
It is always worth it to have a variety of utility line-ups in your arsenal, ensuring that you'll never not know what to do. It is hard to win fair duels if you play on a level that's close to yours, so it should be a top priority to force as many encounters into your comfort zone as possible, making the enemy predictable and therefore consistently kill-able for you.
Like this kind of content? Show your support by following me on Twitter or join our #Digscord!