friberg gives some tips on how you can improve your play as a CT on the A bombsite on Nuke, touching on the best positions, how you can exploit Hut, and even the best utility to use.
Nuke is a map that has undergone a lot of chances since it was reintroduced back into CS:GO. Although it wasn’t the community’s preferred map during the first year (mostly because the professional teams also avoided it), it has been catching a lot of attention in the last few years and is now one of the most played maps in professional encounters.
It is also a map that is heavily reliant on good team strategy and communication, with very fast rotations that can leave an inexperienced player lost on how fast the opponents can catch up, especially if they know what they’re doing.
Written together with Adam “friberg” Friberg, professional player for the DignitasVIE CS:GO team and a legend at the game, this article will help you improve your play on the A bombsite as a Counter-Terrorist, hopefully allowing you to defend the bombsite better and improving your chances of winning.
It’s important to understand that the A Bombsite on Nuke has become one of the hardest places to defend in the entire game, and there are a few reasons for that - the different entrances that can be exploited at the same time, the flank possibility from Heaven or Outside, the ease that the Ts have to safely throw utility from outside and how effective those flashbangs when thrown correctly. Even friberg agrees with it:
Nuke A bombsite has become one of the hardest places to defend, especially late round if you don't have a lot of utility left - people will just start to walk out a lot more, doing contact plays out of Door and Hut. I think the meta changed a lot the last couple of months on how Nuke is being played. The rafters on A site have also become a bit weaker, a lot of the times we see even AWPers trying to defend A late-round without having Smokes. It's been getting harder and harder since a lot of people are really starting to learn how to play Nuke.
Still, just because it’s hard, it does not mean you should give up before trying. It’s, in fact, one of the reasons why you should focus on learning it.
Let’s start with Hut, a position where friberg likes to play a lot! When questioned about that position, and what it makes it a good one to hold the A bombsite, friberg said the following:
You have elevation compared to your opponents, you can hide on top of it as well - if you position yourself in the middle of it, the Ts have to push out really far to be able to see and kill you from either Hut or Door, which means you can make create a lot of time for your teammates to kill them. Obviously, it's hard to defend the A site on your own, no doubt, but you should always try to beat two players, sometimes even three. Hut is a good position to get first contact or even to get the second contact if you have a teammate watching one of the angles, it's an easy spot to get some free kills or trade your teammate if he dies. It's one of those positions where you can play off your teammates a lot.
Although being a good position for the reasons that friberg stated, it’s also one where you’re vulnerable from an attack coming from Outside, without many ways of defending yourself. And if you decide to drop from Hut to the Bombsite, you might end up dying from another point of entry if your opponents decide to coordinate the push.
Being said that, your strength in Hut heavily relies on your teammates being able to cover you and get you the information as soon as possible.
Nuke is one of those maps where communication is really important. If your teammate is not watching Main, Hut is a position where you can get flanked pretty easily, so you should most likely try to change the position you're playing from. That's just how Nuke is played.
In my opinion, you should always know exactly what your teammate is holding. You also need to understand the timing of the calls - your teammate has a contact on Main, but are they exactly in Main? How much time do you have to protect yourself from that position? 1 second? 2 seconds? It really depends on where your teammate is holding from. Having a player playing Garage is a good counter towards that, as they will always see the players trying to enter Main way earlier than they can actually see you. You really have to play well with your teammates, making sure that your communication is on point and is being relayed as fast as possible.
Communication is the key on Nuke. Not only on A, but on being able to effectively defend both bombsites and taking home the win.
Although you’re playing as a CT and your goal is to defend, you should, from time to time, surprise your opponents and take the fight to them. Let’s say you played passively the past 7 rounds - your opponents will most likely be relaxed when holding positions such as Lobby as they will not expect a surprise. This is a tip that applies not only to the A Bombsite or even Nuke - it applies to every single match of CS:GO, no matter the map you’re playing.
I feel that sometimes it's good to go aggressive on the A bombsite, you shouldn't always just sit back and wait for them to come. You can try to popflash into Hut and try to get a kill if they're getting close, you can smoke the Door and try to find a lurker playing around it, you can even push Lobby if you feel that they're just waiting for the CT's utility to run out, allowing you to, hopefully, catch them off-guard. That also serves as a way to keep your opponents on their toes, making them nervous because you might do something unexpected in some rounds. When you're playing on the A site, make sure to know where your teammates are and communicate exactly what you want to do during these more aggressive plays, coordinate who makes the first contact, who baits for whom, etc. There are several ways to play it and, as I said it, teams are getting a lot better on Nuke and on taking the A bombsite, so if you're playing behind the Silo you can be easily flashed, Molotov’d and burned alive with utility coming from the ceiling. As I said, sometimes it's better to go aggressive and try to take them off-guard.”
Moral of the story - don’t become predictable. But if you do, remember that any round is as good as the next one to start shifting your play style to a more unpredictable one. Don’t focus on just defending on Rafters or above Hut. Play coldzera, play Main, play on Silo or even inside Vents. There’s a whole world of opportunities to be explored on the A bombsite.
We’ve touched briefly on utility, but how important is it? And what should be your priority when using it? Naturally, it depends on the opponents you’re facing and their playstyle, but there are some general rules you can follow, according to friberg:
The two most important grenades when you're playing the A bombsite are definitely an Incendiary and a Smoke. Sometimes you need to throw the Incendiary in both Hut and Door in case they're just trying to rush A, as the round can sometimes be over in just a few seconds if you don't have enough utility to stop that.
I'd say to use the Incendiary in the start and then eventually use the Smoke Grenade on either Door or Hut again - make sure to talk with your teammate to know which one you're throwing. Sometimes you can even use two or three Smokes on the same spot, like Door, just to delay the T's as much as possible. It all depends on the situation and the read you have.
It’s important for you to be aware of how your opponents are playing, since you’ll have to adjust your utility usage to their playstyle. It’s not worth wasting two Incendiaries in the beginning of every round if all they do is wait for you to use them, or even if they’re not exploring A at all in the beginning.
There’s not two rounds in CS:GO that are exactly the same and it’s up to you to understand through trial and error how to make the best of them.
To finish up, I’ve asked friberg for some general tips on defending the A bombsite! Here’s his answer:
Try to have crossfires set up with your teammates and try to save a Smoke Grenade at times - it can be really good for those times where they try to Molotov the back of the bombsite, as you can extinguish it and play around your own Smoke when they push out. Also, don't be afraid to be aggressive sometimes, either by pushing Hut or Door. In fact, you can even play pushing both at the same time with your teammate, or even both pushing Door, for example. Just try different things and have fun!
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