Counter-Strike can be a very patient game of push and pull, constantly clearing every angle slowly and meticulously with utility before you ultimately take a bombsite or defend one with either a bomb explosion or defusal.

But sometimes, we don’t want to stand around and wait anymore, we want to win the round as fast as possible with a fast B-Rush and a couple of quick kills, proving to the enemy team that you are the better player by far. But as you try to squeeze out onto the A Bombsite with no flashbangs or smokes, you get clotheslined by a nade, and then another one. Within ten seconds, everyone is dead, and your only thought is to try it again.

Aggressive plays are always a promising idea in CS:GO, and in this guide we will talk about the most straightforward ways to improve how you approach these plays, and what to look for to keep you from dying every round for no good reason

“Smart” Aggression Defined

Before we go too far into this topic, I first want to define what I mean when I say “smart” aggression. “Smart’ aggression in this context is simply using aggression in any map on any side in order to gain a surprise advantage by taking your opponent off-guard with your timing. This can come from pushing a smoke because you don’t think your opponents will be ready or just holding ‘w’ to try and beat your opponent to a part of the map. This may seem redundant, but it is important to first define this here so there is no confusion later on down the line.

Active/Reactive

The two main types of aggression that I want to talk about today, along with the most vital to using aggressive plays dynamically, are that of Active and Reactive Aggression. Simply put, Active aggression has you on the offensive, taking the fight to everyone and forcing them to react to your actions.

This leads to reactive aggression, which despite the basic rules of CS:GO, is not just reserved for CT players. This is shown when you are only committing to aggression in direct response to something that the enemy does. This tends to be harder to define, as being able to properly decide when to reengage is a skill to learn on its own.

Active Aggression

Active Aggression is pure high-octane action that has you constantly at the head of the attack, forcing your opponents to feel as uncomfortable as possible as you beat their own mental timings. However, as I am sure many know, this is not as easy as it looks, as I’m sure we’ve all been on the other end of an aggressive push gone bad, making you look like you went to die for no reason at all.

The “smart” way to approach Active Aggression is purely from judgement, as you are essentially making educated guesses at the beginning of each round, hoping that your enemy won’t be set up perfectly to match your aggression. However, there are very clear red flags that you should watch out for when you make these kinds of aggressive plays. For example, making an aggressive play should be made with regards to how you know that your opponents are playing the map. If you are on T-Side Mirage and you know that the Cat player doesn’t really play too far into mid, using mid smokes to allow you to rush up Cat might allow you to take the player off guard and crack the site open. If you’re on the CT-Side, taking active control of a part of the map you know that the Terrorist players like to take with one player might lead to an easy opening kill.

Also, don’t overplay your aggression. If shown too much, it is really easy to counter an aggressive play when you know it's coming.

Reactive Aggression

Reactive Aggression is the exact mirror of Active Aggression by definition. This form of aggression comes in direct response to anything that your opponent does, hence the term “reactive.” For example, if you push Mid on Mirage and notice that they have completely stacked the area, your A player should know that the appropriate aggressive reaction is to push through A to take advantage of an empty site.

You could also use this type of aggression to mess with the timing and tempo of your opponent's death. If you get your first pick B Apps, maybe it would be a good move to immediately rush the site to take the opponents off guard without a B-Site player. Being able to master the timings of Reactive Aggression can prove to be a very successful tactic as it punishes every mistake that your opponent makes.

To Tilt Push or Not To Tilt Push

As an aggressive player, the speed at which your push commonly contested areas of the map may increase to an unfavorable amount when you are already having a bad game. I’m sure that plenty of us have been caught in this mindset before: You have just died three rounds in a row to terrible timings and decide that you’re tired of dying slowly, why not push them fast and show them how insane I am, before quickly getting destroyed in the complete open without any possibility of your teammates getting a trade kill. Being able to control your own tilt push tendencies is challenging but important, as it can help you to become a more well-rounded or “smart” player.

But sometimes, using an aggressive play as a mental reset may be a very helpful tool to have. CS:GO is forty-percent a mental game and getting that strong mental boost by getting an aggressive kill may help you roll into the next rounds with ease.

The Art of the Trade Kill

Speaking of trade kills, I wanted to take a moment to talk about another aspect of “smart” aggression that isn’t always taken into account. Trade kills, which is the process of trading a kill with your opponent right after they kill your teammate, can be used with aggressive plays to open up a part of the map with ease. If you want to look for new ways to implement aggressive plays, using that very aggression to set up your teammates behind you might be another way to win. Although, sometimes finding trustworthy teammates to help trade you if you die might not be easy.

Simplicity is Key

Sometimes, the simplest ways to play CS:GO are often the best, with aggressive plays being among the easiest plays to overthink, when in reality sometimes you really do just need to go brain dead and hold ‘w.’ Getting caught up in trying to do something crazy that your opponent won’t expect might get you killed more than trying to just push something really fast. Sometimes all it takes is a single pop flash and a whole lot of selflessness to get a crazy aggressive opening. This section speaks for itself but it is important that if you want to play aggressive that you don’t overcomplicate things.

Crosshair Placement

In the same category of simplicity, we find ourselves at crosshair placement. Unfortunately for most of us, we will never be the kind of godlike Counter-Strike player that can run into a bombsite and kill five people with five shots. But fortunately for all of us, we have a lot of utility to work with that will limit the number of angles we need to clear in order to take gunfights.

In order to guarantee that you get the easiest kills possible, you should be using your utility to divide up the amount of people that can kill you, and allow you to focus your crosshair on the one fight that you know you will be taking, as opposed to quickly flicking you crosshair all over the map to watch six places at once.

Play the Spawn

The magical spawn locations of CS:GO can prove to be a useful tool when you want to turn up the dial and play aggressive. As a matter of fact, sometimes it is a complete necessity to get these spawns in the first place to even consider taking an aggressive peak. The most common spots that fit this section are mid Mirage, Long Dust 2, or T-Main on Train. These spots are major choke points and aggressively taking control of these spots with favored spawns is a great way to call a quick play to win a round for your team. Although, be careful to always Rush B if you get the spawns.

Sometimes, it just isn’t worth it, no matter how promising it might seem.

Watch the Pros

As always with learning how to play “smart” CS:GO, watching the people who get paid five figures to play the game is always the most direct option to get “smarter.” Not every pro player is an “aggressive” player but lots of them will incorporate aggressive moves or styles into their own play. You might also get to see what professional teams do when they do a full team execute with a lot of aggression. Looking at individuals or teams is a great and solid way to improve your aggressive plays because they have to make the best plays in order to win on a daily basis.

You should always try watching demos of the pros you like, but if I could give some recommendations, I would start with players like Stewie2K, arT and Aleksib.

Demo Review

But watching other people play can only help to a certain extent, as you ultimately need to fix your own mistakes. Whenever you play a PUG or MM game and you make an aggressive play that you feel like should’ve worked but didn’t, or did a play that worked and you just want to understand why so you can use it later, watching your own matches can always be of use. If you want to understand how to change bad habits or get better in general, watching your demos will always help.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

And finally, you can learn new tactics, fix mistakes, or even play more pugs, but at the end of the day you need to put in the practice to get better. There are a few ways to do this, but it well depends on how each player plays. You can try aim training, or even going into your own servers to practice your movement routes to make sure you get to your spots as aggressively and precisely as possible.

Practice makes perfect and is what makes the extra ten percent of your style that much better. So practice your headshots, practice those nade lineups, but most importantly, practice thinking before you rush the B-Site for the fifteenth time.

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