The Counter-Strike series is one of the pillars of competitive FPS games. In Counter-Strike 2 players are matched by their skills thank to a new matchmaking rating system. Surely, CS2 requires you to win and progress. But to win, you need to become stronger. So, tracking your progress is invaluable because only this way you can see your weak and strong sides. CS.MONEY Blog explains main players’ skills and show how to track stats and progress in CS2.
Obviously, one of the best ways to track your progress is to get StatTrak skins! You can buy them cheaply on CS.MONEY, just go in, select a StatTrak filter, and buy some!
Skills and Circumstances
Before highlighting personal skills, let’s separate important aspects of CS2 skill progression. Today, we won’t be talking about anything that does not directly depend on skill. Yes, a good player communicates with the team, but in pubs teammates can just ignore even the most sociable player or simply do not understand your language. Therefore, we consider only skills that you can directly convert into rounds won.
Aiming: The Must Have Skill
You win Counter-Strike 2 round in two ways. Either to complete the task (install or neutralize C4), or to destroy the enemy team. So, decent aim is essential for the latter and quite helpful with the former. This term includes several points, namely:
- Crosshair Placement
- Reaction Time
- Recoil Control
- Aimimng Accuracy
- Flicks & Pre-Fire
This whole pack of skills forms a good aim. It’s impossible to overestimate its importance. Decent shooters make impact in every round by successfully entering with openfrags, performing quick trades and simply being annoying.
And although some may think that aim is only about reaction, it’s not right. Theoretical knowledge is vital. A skilled player needs to understand where to aim, when to prefire, how to place the crosshair, and other nuances that cannot be learned in a deathmatch. Therefore, good aim is a product of mechanical skill and theoretical preparation. And experience, surely.
You can track these CS2 stats if you play FACEIT, for example, or by using third-party services.
Utility (Nades): Try To Do No Harm
The second important thing is how good are you utilizing your nades. In buy rounds, Utility can take up to a quarter of all expenses. That’s a lot! Just throwing away a couple of flashes means you will lack funds for a helmet in the next round, for example. Good if these flashes were impact-less; sometimes, poorly thrown nades can do harm (blind your teammate or block your entrance).
During a match, you can track two metrics related to grenades at once: overall damage dealt and the number of blinded enemies. Using these stats in CS2, you can estimate how successfully you are using the utility. At a distance, however, it is better to turn to other statistics. For example, scope.gg tracks various stats, including skill in handling grenades.
Here, you can see how many smokes you buy, how much damage you deal HEs or Molotovs, and the average blinding time with flashes. More importantly, these values can be compared with the players’ average. Moreover, you can watch and learn nade throws and other stuff. Quite useful for tracking your progress and improving yourself.
Teamwork: The Cornerstone of CS
Teamwork is not just about communicating with your crew. As Caesar from one specific blockbuster movie said, “Apes Together Strong.” And Trading is one of the cornerstones of teamplay in Counter-Strike 2. Trading means fragging an opponent who killed your teammate. Basically, you trade your teammate for an enemy. Harsh, but that’s life.
Trades, also known as Exchanges, are a very important for winning rounds. If you’re outnumbered, it’s much more difficult to achieve victory. Even the best teams in a 4 vs 5 situation take 30% of the rounds at best. To make a successful Trade you need two things. First of all, decent aim. Second, a teammate nearby to perform a Trade.
Try to act as a team in every round. Lurking is surely an option and an official esports role, but let’s be honest, just wandering around the map solely could be more harmful than useful, while joint attacks and enters often bring you to victories.
Clutches: Wininning When Outnumbered
A clutch is a situation where a player is left alone against the opposing team, basically being outnumbered. This term includes both duels, situations against duos and trios, and even all five opponents at once.
Clutching is a separate skill. It’s the time of Glove and Valor. If you’re good enough. Here, you need to skillfully handle weapons, read the game, and remember everything that happened in the round in order to catch your timings. Winning a clutch often leads to a change in the game’s dynamics. Therefore, it is important for a skilled player not to get lost in clutches and not waste them. Surely, you always can save!
Counter-Strike 2 does not have any handy tools for tracking your progress or skills except for StatTrak skins. Rating points only show the approximate level of your game and do not in any way suggest how to get better. Therefore, think about using third-party services like scope.gg. These sites extract data from match demos, analyze them, and help you with tons of stats and advice. That’s a much easier to improve your skill!
