Introduction

Getting the bomb down on the terrorist side in Counter-Strike is part of the fundamental core of the game. It begins the ticking clock for the counter-terrorists and their efforts to defuse it will decide the round; success either way is a round win for that side. A lot of new players will plant in what they feel are the easiest or safest positions after taking a site. There is nothing inherently wrong with this; however, they do not always provide the best angles for your teammates to watch after the plant.

The Purpose

In this series of guides I will be highlighting some of the best bomb plant positions on the current collection of competitive maps, with an explanation of how they will help your team. This is the third guide in the series, focusing on the ever popular De_Mirage. The bombsites on Mirage are fairly rigid in the positions that they allow you to plant beneficially, more so than most other maps. Therefore, knowing the difference between the default plants and the advanced ones is fairly important. Hopefully this guide will provide newer players with a better idea of what makes a good plant and how to utilise player positioning in after-plant situations as well as get them comfortable with weighing up the pros and cons of safer positions.

Previous Maps Covered
De_Dust2 Competitive Planting Positions
De_Inferno Competitive Planting Positions

De_Mirage Bombsite A
The Default Plant

The default plant on Mirage’s A site is not the absolute worst but can be problematic. While it is often the quickest plant to get down, assuming you have entered and taken control from either Palace or T-Ramp, the after-plant options it provides are less than optimal. It does provide good cover from Jungle and Connector while being planted, but is slightly vulnerable to CT Spawn, even if there is a smoke.

Most post-plant angles and positions require you to expose yourself fully in order to peek a defusing counter-terrorist, with the exception of CT Stairs. It is hard to keep an eye on this plant from Jungle, Connector and T-Ramp. The boxes and crates are also awkward to shoot through and provide the same cover you received while planting for anyone defusing. This plant is perhaps at its most useful when you absolutely must get the bomb down as fast as possible, such as during eco-round strategies where getting the extra money would be a big economical help.

The Danger Box Plant

This is arguably the strongest planting position on the A bombsite if you are able to pull it off, it is the epitome of high risk/high reward. Located on the outer face of the Danger Box crates it requires you to not only cross the bombsite in the open, but also plant in the face of any Counter-Terrorists rotating through connector and jungle. It needs smokes and good entry kills to get done, with a lot of faith put in your teammate’s ability to cover you. It is simple enough to physically plant, just make sure you are pushed up against the gap between the crates as the areas around this small area cannot be planted on.

Once the bomb is down in this position the after-plant options for watching from Connector, Jungle, Tetris, Sandwich and T-Ramp are very good. It is even possible to have a teammate watch from as far back as Catwalk and Cat. If the situation allows it and you trust the rest of your team enough then this is an ideal plant to employ. Just as you have to plant in the open, the counter-terrorists face the same problem when they attempt to defuse it. It also creates a nice tricky angle that makes it impossible for counter-terrorists to defuse and watch connector or jungle at the same time. This plant does not allow you to peek easily from CT Stairs, Palace or Balcony, so be wary of that.

The Triple Stack Plant

This is very similar to the Danger Box plant, but instead finds itself located on the outside of the crates known as Triple Stack. It provides a few different post-plant options over its counterpart, but also comes with its own drawbacks. It poses a similar level of difficulty and risk in the open nature of the plant, with CT Stairs being added to the angles that you can be hit from. It does benefit from being fairly simple and quick to get down, with a little more leeway in the size of the area that you can physically start planting in.

The only after-plant benefits that this position can provide over the Danger Box equivalent are clearer vision from CT Stairs and slightly better for watching from further back in Jungle. It is worse for watching from Palace, Connector and T Ramp. The defuse positions that counter-terrorists are forced into with this plant require them to be facing either CT Stairs or T-Ramp, unless they want to be staring straight into the crates. This can provide useful to a small degree, depending on your teammates after-plant positioning. Planting here in a smoke on an eco-round would not be out of the question, but in most situations the Danger Box plant will prove to be more beneficial than this one.

De_Mirage Bombsite B
The Default Plant

Due to its layout and square design there are not many unique choices when it comes to planting the bomb at B. The default plant for this site is relatively quick to get down, assuming that you have dropped out of the end of B Apartments or through the window. With a good take and entry kills at Van or Bench it is relatively safe position, especially if you are protected by a smoke from any counter-terrorists rotating through Kitchen.

The angles that this provides for after-plant situations are particularly weak, with B Apartments being the only real option to get any distance from the site whilst being able to peek from cover. However, because it is a rigid bombsite with very limited possibilities it is not massively worse than the other options, but the other two options at least provide a more obvious choice for peeking anyone defusing. The area around the bomb means that it does at least make spraying through a smoked off defuse a little bit easier. In all the speed at which you can get this plant down should not be ignored, especially in eco situations.

The Corner Plant

This position is used often enough to be considered almost a default plant in its own right. It provides a good amount of cover assuming you can cross the site safely and aren’t picked from Cat while doing so. Because of the extra distance it is obviously not as fast to achieve as the default, but due to the simplicity of being able to run or jump straight into the corner and not have to align with anything specific it is only marginally slower at a full knife out sprint.

Similar to the default plant this one is also really hard to watch effectively from most after-plant positions; however it does at least provide a better angle from B Apartments. This plant location does have the benefit of forcing the defusing counter-terrorist into turning their back on most locations, including B Apartments - which works nicely in your favour should you have control of that part of the map. In most other after-plant positions however the walls can work heavily against your own team, especially if you have people posted on Cat or Kitchen Door and they are unable to react in time to somebody sticking a defuse.

The Cat Plant

This is arguably one of the more versatile planting options for the B bombsite, yet it is still very limited by nature. It can be achieved in roughly the same time as the Corner Plant if you have dropped through B Apartment window and are not interrupted. It is more open than the previous two plants, which means a push from Cat or through Kitchen Window from rotating counter-terrorists is a real threat. As well as this it also requires Van and Bench to be cleared and checked by your team before you are able to get it down in safety.

This is one the few options available if you want to be setting up in after-plant positions to watch from both Cat and B Apartments. Being placed up against a solid structure also forces at least a marginal degree of difficulty in the defuse angle, with the counter-terrorist struggling to watch more than one angle at a time while on the bomb. The open space in front of the bomb and away from the site makes this one of the most open plants available on this bombsite. The angle created by the structure that the plant sits against also helps reduce the possible range that a counter-terrorist could be hiding in smoke in, making a spray through it fairly simple if you know where the bomb was put down. A combination of these three plants should give you enough options to consider and knowing about each one is definitely a benefit for your team, regardless of if they are utilized or not.

End Note

Hopefully this short guide has provided some useful information for anyone new to the game and looking to make some small improvements to their play on the terrorist side. It is worth noting that you should always do what you feel comfortable with on a round by round basis, but it will not hurt to be aware of different planting positions as well as being confident with the defaults. Next up in this series we will be looking at planting on De_Cache, a map favoured by a lot of North American teams. As always any feedback is appreciated, both positive and negative. You can direct any comments to me on here or through my twitter @dig_Serenity and I will endeavour to get back to you.