Efficiency, a word that signifies how easily you can do a certain task. May that be doing dishes, working on a big school project or playing a match in Counter-Strike. All these things have one thing in common, and that is it is easier to accomplish these feats with an equally hard working, smart thinking person next to you.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a game made for teamwork, but sadly it does not always show in your normal matchmaking adventures. Bad communication and downright toxic behaviour can easily ruin a game. Not everyone has enough friends who play Counter-Strike to consistently form a 5-man. This guide is for the players who want to excel in matchmaking.

Basics

Counter-Strike is way easier to play when you have a friend to play with. If your duo is a well-oiled machine, the game will feel much smoother and you’ll have more fun playing it. This is clearly visible in the professional scene. Pairs like Krimz and Flusha from Fnatic can shut down sides with ease. Their bombsite B-hold on Inferno is famous for their superiority over almost any team. What makes this pair so effective you might ask? They have uncanny and almost unspoken communication. They’ve played with each other for thousands of hours and have a complete understanding of the game styles of their teammates. In combination with pre-defined strats and practice makes them a near-unstoppable force.

Tasks that you can perform conjointly are abundant. Pop-flashing your teammate around the corner is a viable way to clear out certain hazardous spots. Smoking and re-smoking chokepoints is another key task you can easily do together. Two-man boostspots can be key to holding or taking any bombsite and double nadestacks can deter, or in the luckiest case kill, any enemy from pushing a certain position. The possibilities with a good duo are endless.

Forget the ranks

If you don’t already have a dedicated friend to accompany you to the gates of hell that is called matchmaking, don’t pay too much attention to the ranks. If you’re Legendary Eagle and your buddy is Master Guardian this would be no reason not to work together. You will get significantly better at the game when you often play with the same person. Even when you have three teammates that don’t know what they’re doing, you can still work together and try to make some god-tier plays.

The reason being that you can plan out strategies with just the two of you. On the Terrorist side you can choose which part of the map to hit. You can throw set smokes to block off certain spots on the bombsites and you can flash each other into the site and plant the bomb once you cleared out the site. Your other teammates will follow.

But where the two man set-up really shines is on the Counter-Terrorist side. Before the pistol round starts communicate clearly which site your duo is going to defend. Often your teammates will grant you your desired spot when they notice you’re premade. If other people won’t budge from “their” bombsite just go to the other one.

When holding the bombsite with two men, you can lock it down with ease. Flashes and smokes and two man boostspots are easy to pull off with the right communication. When you have enough experience playing together with your friend, most things happen automatically. You know what to do when the site’s being smoked off and flashes rain down on you. And more importantly, you know what your friend is doing so you can work off each other’s qualities in holding the site and hindering the incoming Terrorists.

Some final tips

First and foremost, communication is key. We’ve established that already in this article, but communication with the rest of your team members must not be forgotten. Quite often players who’re premade forget to call spots to their other brothers in arms. As a duo, you’re most likely on an external voice-over-Internet Protocol-program (VoIP) like Teamspeak or Skype. This gives you less of a reason to call in-game using the voice-chat. When your friend is only calling on the external program remind him of this.

Be nice to your buddy and other teammates. Everyone has a bad day once in a while and when two premades start belittling him and calling that person names, he will not likely play better afterwards. The same thing applies to your partner. Sometimes either you or him will do something stupid and that might cost him his life or even worse the round. There’s nothing wrong with telling him that but it’s important not to dwell in the past as this little feud might stretch out during the entire game and put a strain on your teamwork. Forgive and forget is the best thing to do in this situation.

And the final tip: if you’re done with the match, you can always analyse what you did well and what went wrong. You can rewatch the demo from the previous match or you can discuss new ideas and strategies for an upcoming game. You don’t have to plan out every single second of the round, but some general timings can be of good use. Now try to find that perfect friend and happy fragging!

Are you into fantasy leagues? Then check out AlphaDraft and put together your allstar lineup!