The AWP is one of the most powerful weapons in CS:GO - it can change the tide of a round or even an entire match by itself. Get a few well-placed bullets and you’ll turn a disadvantage into a sudden advantage. By being such a crucial part of a team’s match, it’s also important that some players know how to make the best of it without actually using it.

By playing support, you’re committing to putting your teammates into the best position possible to frag and carry your team forward, while most of the time being the one that gets put into the hardest positions, or at least the one that shines less. Still, it’s someone that does the dirty work and helps the team immensely, and true CS:GO fans know the value of a true support player.

In this article, I will give you some tips that will help improve your support game around your AWPer and what you can do to make sure he gets the most out of the “big green”.

You’re not there to kill, you’re there to allow your teammate to kill

This is the most important thing you need to have in mind when adopting a support position to help your AWPer. You need to understand that, although it’s good that you kill opposing players, the big part of your job is to make your teammate’s life easier.

That can sometimes even mean risking your life by baiting a shot from your opponent that allows your AWPer to get the trade kill. But avoid that if you can.

Utility is your best friend

As a support player, you should prioritize buying utility over other things, even weapons sometimes. Sure, if you have money, you should be equipped with not only the best supporting utility but also the best rifle.

You want to have Flashbangs, Smokes, and Incendiaries/Molotovs. Although important, HE Grenades are not as important to a support player, since they can’t directly help your teammates, as they serve mostly for direct damage.

If your AWPer wants to peek somewhere that you’re not sure it’s safe, use a Flashbang. Is he in a difficult position to get away from? Use a Flashbang and cover him up with a Smoke that allows him to pull out of that position.

In fact, playing as a support player is all about utility! Think about that and make sure to get into a server to practice your Smokes and Flashbangs.

Also, you can now have more utility than ever to work around your AWPer and other teammates - the last big update Valve released allowed for the utility to be dropped, which means that players can drop Flashbangs, Smokes, and all the other grenades. Talk with your teammates and understand what’s the best way to make use of this giant update.

Be Prepared to Get into Action

Let’s say you’re playing CT and your opponents are pushing into a site. An AWP can be a very surprising and damaging gun if used fast in a myriad of scenarios. Imagine this scenario - they’re pushing Long on Dust2 and smoke out the CT passage. An AWPing crossing the smoke and trying to go for a quick frag before pulling back can turn a round into your favor, especially if your opponents are busy with possible players on Site or Short.

Let’s say the AWP does this play by himself and then pulls back - your opponents will be looking out for him, paying more attention to the smoke. That’s when you throw a Flashbang that will allow the AWPer to take a second peek. This seems easy while reading, but this is something that has to work really fast to be effective. Good communication is the key to making things work - it comes easier and more naturally if you play with the same friends for a long time.

Recognize When the AWPer Needs Support

It’s also the job of a support player to look at the round situation at any given time. If you identify that your AWPer needs support, whether that is with utility or just plain help to get away from a certain situation, you have to be there without being called. When facing a dangerous situation, most players will only focus on themselves, making it harder for them to see what’s happening around them - this is all something that differentiates the good players from the bad ones.

If your player needs support, your role is to provide for it. Understand their needs, what can be done and what’s the best way to do it.

You can also serve as a simple bait to get an opponent distracted and give the AWPer an easier and safer frag. Remember to use utility when doing that or to, at least, ask for one of your teammates to help you with that.

Reminder: being a support player and an entry fragger are two different things. In fact, a support player shouldn’t kill himself just to help the AWPer (or any other player) get a kill. The entry fragger is there to do that kind of dirty work, just make sure he uses or drops every utility before starting the attack.

Bait & Switch

This is a more aggressive approach to supporting and shouldn’t be used every single round, as your opponents will figure out what you’re doing if you tend to be repetitive. A “Bait & Switch” strategy is when a player positions himself in a position to kill an opponent and after baiting out some kind of reaction from the adversary, he switches positions with another player.

One very effective way to use this strategy that I love to do is to get the AWP in a position, have him shoot and then quickly trade the positions with someone using a rifle. Why is this good? When you’re AWPing, you can only shoot so many bullets in a few seconds, and good players know that - as soon as you shoot your first bullet, they’ll rush you because they know your weapon is still not ready to shoot again.

If you switch with your AWPer as soon as he shoots, you’ll catch unaware opponents that won’t be expecting a rifle to appear so soon and will most likely not be ready to counter it. If you get pushed by several players, you’ll most likely die, but you’ve already taken one or two victims with you. Since CS:GO is, in my opinion, a game of trades, it’s a win, right?!

Being a support player is an art in itself. You need to understand that you are not the star player, you’re probably not going to be the one to shine with 30 kills at the end of the match. But you’re one of the main reasons why your teammates found the kills needed to win the match in the end. Be proud to be a support player!

Thank you for reading this article! You can reach out to me for suggestions or feedback via Twitter!

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