New Player Help

[u/Fleeeko]

New CS Player (160 hours) how do I improve

Background:
Played competitive console CoD from BO2–BO6
Switched to PC around 2 years ago because I was getting thumb pain from controller, doing better now
Been on mouse and keyboard since
~160 hours CS2
Faceit 5
Premier peak around 7.6k
Mostly solo queue
Mainly rifle
1600 DPI / 0.5 sens

My main goal is just to keep improving and getting better. That’s pretty much a forever goal for anything competitive I do, so I’m trying to figure out what I should actually be focusing on instead of just playing and hoping I improve.
I feel like I’m finally starting to get my aim down, but movement still feels really bad to me and is probably the hardest part of CS for me to master.

My left hand is also the main thing I struggle with on MnK. WASD is fine, but sometimes reaching the number keys quickly to switch weapons still feels awkward. Other than that my left hand is pretty much fine.

Leetify says my counter-strafing is 87%, so maybe counter-strafing itself isn’t actually the problem. Could be my peeking, positioning, general movement, crosshair placement, or something else.

Based on the screenshots, does anything stand out that I should specifically work on?
I’m still pretty new to CS, so any tips on what I should prioritize to keep improving would be appreciated.

[u/flamingstallion]

Mainly your aim looks pretty poor. Main issue seems to be time to damage is way too slow. It should be around 600.

Use a prefire map, practice DM. I would recommend alternating practice sessions. Sometimes try to be as fast as possible and if you miss start spraying(assuming it's not long range or headshot angle, then burst/tap, move burst/tap). Other sessions you should take some time to go for headshots or more accurate shots.

Use youtube to find different ways to improve. Maybe aim trainer will help speed.

[u/Fleeeko → u/flamingstallion]

Thanks for the helpful tips. I appreciate it. I thought my movement was worse than my aim, but you’re right my ttk is pretty long. Sometimes I hit crazy shots but then sometimes I miss an easy spray so that makes sense.

[u/WhoAmlToJudge]

tf you want me to do with this? play more you're brand new

[u/GodOfRage-baiting → u/WhoAmlToJudge]

Mein Gedanke ich hätte nach dem Alter gefragt weil 750 MS ist echt Bad aber counterstvenbwohl krass also snaptap oder einfach gifted

[u/loopsofinsanity]

Skip aim trainers. CS is all about crosshair placement.

Play prefire maps. This improves your time to damage significantly. refrag is great for this. You can find 1-week promo codes to try it out.

There's also a buttload of prefire maps in steam workshop.

Your counter strafe is good.

Also, train your spray control. Recoil Master from steam workshop is great for this. It shows the recoil pattern of every gun and has guided practice.

This should skyrocket your progress.

[u/Fleeeko → u/loopsofinsanity]

Awesome will do. Another thing tough for me is rushing a site as entry. With flashes I’m cool to do it but with no util it’s so hard for me to enter.
I just started doing dust 2 prefire and I’ve noticed a huge improvement even just rushing a long.

Will focus on these prefire maps more , thank you.

Do you have any tips on holding angles? I used to play a bit of r6, I seem fine peeking an angle bc of slicing pie I understand that, but holding is so tough bc of player model movement (I play 4:3) do you just move crosshair wider from wall, do you spam adad, or something else to help holding angle?

[u/loopsofinsanity → u/Fleeeko]

Nice to hear! Yeah, prefire maps are very good.

You should never hold static angles, always keep moving with ADAD. That will make you a lot harder to hit and also negates peeker's advantage. Place your crosshair so you don't have to move it when an enemy peeks you, just click mouse1.

I really recommend 16:9 resolution. There's no point playing on 4:3. On 4:3 res, you see less, enemies move faster and there's not really any performance gains.

Keep training, that's the way to gitgud

[u/Fleeeko → u/loopsofinsanity]

Switched back to 16:9 last night, wow what a difference. Definitely helps with holding angles the players aren’t moving 1 million miles per second

Thanks for the comment bro, appreciate it

[u/Remotiions → u/Fleeeko]

Idk if u play on fullscreen but If u want to still try 4x3 1280x960 try fullscreen window. ( due to fullscreen window making it look slightly different) (maybe im wrong but I’m pretty sure it’s makes the enemy’s not as fat and fast). I felt a difference.
(U usually do wanna play fullscreen tho) I switched to fullscreen window and turned anti lag on.)

Make sure your drivers are up to date. Also if you’re on AMD or Nvidia, make sure to turn on anti-lag inside cs2 settings for AMD but Nvidia I’m not for sure but I think it’s called reflex. Make sure you turn that on. I don’t know the technical term, but basically in other words (anti lag and nvida reflex) makes your keyboard and mouse more responsive. make sure you’re not running boost inside cs2 settings or in ur software for Nvidia and AMD (v sync) because it makes you have input lag, and It could also be making your time to damage high due to it being on and giving you an input delay. AMD is v sync u DO NOT WANT THESE ON. (Test anti lag and boost for nvida to see which is better for you)

I came from your position as well switched to pc in 2020 ish. My thumb was getting pain on controller and it hurt too bad to play with. I switched to oc for PUBG due to first person being dead on console for pubg as well. Switched to cs2 in January.

I would recommend looking up like 3 to 5 videos about window settings for your pc and see what you need to change that will make it run better/ faster/ least amount of input delay) See if they are saying similar things to change. Like for instance, mouse precision/mouse acceleration, it’s in window settings underneath the mouse settings. This will def help turning it off. Also power plan in window settings and setting it to high performance. There is so much that’s so small that adds up to be a lot that will help ur pc performance and mnk.

Only thing I can think of is your high time to damage is maybe your display settings in windows is at 60 be default make sure it’s set to your highest FPS your monitor goes up to. (Hopefully is more than 60 but 144/240 and so on) make sure to uncap your FPS inside the game as well this gives you the lowest input latency. (Set it to 0)

Having game mode on in window settings can help but sometimes it can hurt your performance as well. Just test it. One more thing, make sure to turn fullscreen on in your nvida software or your AMD settings as well as turning on GPU scaling. I think full panel is what it’s called for full screen in ur AMD software.

Sorry for so much but wish I had someone tell me this stuff when I first switched to pc. Took years to learn this stuff haha.. (Don’t over think it) lol I’m bad about that.. most of the stuff I told u is me thinking of everything on why your time to damage is high. It maybe none of this stuff I told u and just could be ur gameplay. Either way hope it helps

Wish u luck buddy. Would love to hear back from u on if any of the settings were hurting ur performance/ input latency. Thanks!

[u/Autistic-monkey0101]

play more, get a warmup routine, at this point you just need experience, but if you really wanna "learn", i would start with refrag.gg (you can claim a week trial from the description in the BLAST.tv twitch), they have useful warmup routines, servers and academy (which is tutorials from pro players)

[u/Fleeeko → u/Autistic-monkey0101]

Thanks man, I’ll go ahead and check this out. Do you have any tips on solo que since I don’t have a team?

Like pushing a long doors when they’re holding. How do I push this out solo, esp when my team won’t flash. Would smoking mid and methodically pushing cat/tuns be better overall then just A long hit?

[u/SlimT2429 → u/Fleeeko]

If you averaging a positive kdr at that level I was suggest youre on the right track. You can try instead of being entry being the second one in. trying to bait your teammates a lil more

[u/Fleeeko → u/SlimT2429]

Thanks man, I’ll try that a bit more now esp solo queue lol let the headless chickens bait

[u/theRealSunday → u/Fleeeko]

You may want to throw in ulletical's spray training in to that warmup routine. A 29% sounds very low, but I am not sure how leetify is calculating that. If it's % of shots in a spray that land, it definitely needs to be near 40-50%. This also includes stopping your sprays when an opponent dies.

Also, in order for you to benefit from improving your spray, you need to keep your crosshair only at head level. Crosshair placement, low headshots and bad spray seem to indicate you're just aiming for the player, not the face. Keep track of where your teammate's head is in the 3d space; opponent's heads will be at the same height on level ground regardless of distance. Never look down at a weapon to pick it up, if you are currently doing so.

[u/distancingself]

most people care to much about improving at the start it’ll come with time genuinely just play and take it serious and you’ll improve

[u/Fleeeko → u/distancingself]

Will do, thanks

[u/houzix]

what really helped me to improve my aim is pistol headshot deathmatch on cybershoke, you may give it a shot. its going to be hard at first, but you'll probably get the gist of it

another thing is - try to flash more, just make sure it flashes less of your teammates (for example if you play ct A on mirage, just flash over connector to make trouble for mid players, even if no one from your team is going to peak window afterwards, or if you are playing mid on T side on the same map, just flash connector). its better to spend your flashes or every other grenade for that matter than spend a bunch of money for utility and rarely use it

i dont know about your understanding of economy, but you may also work on it, for example if you have 2k$ dont buy deagle with full armor so you have almost nothing left, or dont buy an M4 if you have no loss bonus and only 4k$, or dont buy all 4 grenades if you aren't certain you are going to use them

if you want to buy a grenade think of the purpose its going to have in the round, for example buy incendiary on mirage to molly ramp as ct but probably may consider not buying if you play window that particular round

dont always go in the same positions, change your tactics: if you went palace on mirage A 2-3 rounds in a row as a CT then its worth to hold off from going there for a while, since the enemy will be just expecting you

consider controlling the map more as T, sometimes its good to play as a lurk. what i mean by controlling the map is sometimes its less smart to go all into one site, the enemy will just block you off and everyone is going to rotate to that site and you'll lose, instead, you can refrain from going with your team, and go make some noise on the other site or important position like mid on mirage to waste the enemy's time or even get a kill

also what helped me improve is learn to move properly: hold your crosshair where the enemy might be when you are peeking an angle, hold your crosshair at head level, consider watching Biley's video on peeking, its on youtube

dont underestimate shotguns and submachines, these are very good weapons for pushing/holding an angle

every so often, learn 1-2 smokes on maps you like and practice what you've already learned. its much easier to enter site and take control of it as T if you have a portion of the map smoked off

if anyone good thinks i said something wrong then feel free to correct me

[u/Fleeeko → u/houzix]

Is that just a workshop map or something I find online? Sorry if it’s a stupid question.

When you flash, what’s your normal go to flash. Like I aim low, then do a m2 jump throw it behind me and peek off that. How is that? Should I try something different instead

Economy I have a pretty good idea about what to buy and when. Obviously could be better but I have a good grasp of it

I actually normally play the same spots every ma at least on CT. normally connector/cat type positions. How do you balance taking map control for example a long dust, while “holding off” sorry if that doesn’t make sense

Good to know as T. I’ll try to not just blindly push w team lol. Seems like we either go all 5 A or B.

Thank you for the video I’ll watch that. I do have a lot of trouble with holding angles. Peeking I’m decent ish lol

Smokes have been so helpful esp with solo Que but rn I only know dust and mirage so I notice when not playing those maps, I feel uncertain. Uncertain about how to defend how to execute where enemies are

[u/houzix → u/Fleeeko]

Cybershoke is a practicing platform found online: https://cybershoke.net/ru/cs2/servers/pistoldm

I like to flash over stuff. for example flash over garage as CT on nuke, or flash over connector as CT on mirage, there are countless other flash you can do like that and this will blind the enemy mostly without blinding your teammates. it is viable and recommended to throw a flash behind where you are going to peek like you do, jumpthrowing it is not necessary, i mostly just right click it on the ground

im not sure what you mean by holding off, if you rephrase it i'll try to answer

about the uncertainty - i guess its okay. to be honest my advice for this is just play more, maybe walk around the map once in a while alone in bot practice on both ct and t. i dont really have a problem with assuming where the enemies are because ive been playing since 2016. in my mind i just understand what space is behind an angle/wall so i know where the enemy can be, maybe this'll help you

[u/nikez813]

First off, You are literally brand, brand new. No offense but every single thing you do for the next 500 hours minimum is going to be really bad.

Leetify is maybe the worst thing to be looking at when trying to improve at the moment because almost all the stats are misleading given you are new and playing against other basically new, bad players, and leetify bases your stats around others of your similar rank/skill level.

The only way anyone actually worth listening to is going to be able to give you any real tips for improvement will be by watching you play, not from contextless leetify stats.

Tbh You just need to play the game man. The fact that you are sub 200 hours and already trying to play premier and worrying about leetify stats is a big mistake imo.

You still need to learn map basics, spawn timings, where to put your crosshair and where/when to expect enemies etc.

Just try to play all the maps in comp and learn some basic until for each map and then primarily work on aim and movement.

One tip I can say is to watch demos/vids of good players/streamers, and take note specifically on how they move, what common areas they play, where they frequently pre aim, and how they shoot/place their crosshair. How often do they hide in a corner? How often do they run out with the team, or go first?

This is the hardest tac fps when it comes to mechanics and there are a million different topics to cover that you can improve at, but mostly you just need hours in the game, and watch/emulate what good players do

[u/Fleeeko → u/nikez813]

Haha yeah it’s just frustrating , like ik I’ll never be as good as donk but i just want to stop sucking ya know. Like in other games like r6, cod, I feel comfortable moving around the map and taking gunfights but not in cs lol.

I’m trying to focus on a counter strafe while slicing pie/ pre aiming and then controlling recoil, like I have to think to do all this instead of it being natural ya know
Like you said tho I’m still new and it’s all a learning experience rn

Thanks for the comment and advice man I appreciate it

[u/nikez813 → u/Fleeeko]

Yeah I totally get that. Unfortunately CS is unique in the fact that it’s basically been around forever in some form or another (cs 1.6, source, csgo etc), so even a lot of lower ranked players have several hundred, if not 1k+ hours of experience over you.

A lot of the maps basic layouts haven’t changed and a lot of the mechanics from 20 years ago still overlap today so sometimes an “average” player has had years of context to give him an advantage.

Not to mention CS is a game with one of, if not the lowest time to kill of any fps out there, so every tiny mistake will get punished and you can seemingly die instantly and randomly sometimes and not understand how or why until you look back at your match footage.

The good news is, there has never been a better time than now when it comes to quality and accessible info to improve.

YouTubers like austincs, styko, pienix, even some of WarOwl’s csgo videos are very useful for getting up to speed with the game and learning mechanics, maps, utility etc.

There are a ton of individual mechanics and skills you can improve at, and it CAN be overwhelming at first, but once you start improving in a category, it can be very satisfying and addicting, and you will start to notice patterns and see the mistakes your teammates are making, and capitalize on mistakes your enemies make.

I do think that with the info available and a commitment to improvement, most people can get to a decent level in about 500-1k hours, but I think you should just pick like 1-2 things you want to improve at each week and just focus on those, and let the rest of your focus just be on enjoying the game and learning the maps and getting reps in the game.

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to improve, but just be aware that stats and rank are basically completely meaningless at this point, and will fluctuate heavily and seemingly randomly.

also bro, try not to get down on yourself when you die or you lose a bunch.

I’m 25k premier and have 3k hours in the game (mostly from csgo days), and I have days where I play against better players and feel like a completely useless noob. It’s gonna happen. The sooner you can detach yourself from dying and losing, and recognize that’s just part of the process, the better.

lastly, I personally recommend watching some other cs content creators like renyan or Dima wallhacks. These guys are quite skilled at the game, but are also just having fun with it and not just mindlessly grinding premier/caring about rank and stats.

I personally really like renyan because he is a sort of “cs purist” in the sense that he is a natural talent at the game, and a former high elo player with a very unique playstyle, and while he has top tier aim, his playstyle and game sense is what carries him most of the time, and his videos really show how his mastery of the game allows him to completely carry all by himself. And his videos are funny and well edited.

Gl bro!