Counter-Strike is a great game where everyone can find something for themselves. People can spend hundreds of hours in matchmaking, simply enjoy watching professional tournaments, or collect and trade skins. The game’s community is diverse, and CS.MONEY Blog has prepared a list of various slang terms that will help both absolute beginners unfamiliar with the deep-level specifics of the game and some old-schoolers who might’ve missed some vital stuff.
And one of Counter-Strike’s most essential parts is skins (we will explain this term further, too). They make the game more exciting and allow players to showcase individuality. Indeed, CS.MONEY Trade is an easy way to update your inventory! Click to learn!
CS:GO Terms For Newcomers
Let’s start with the most basic terms and slang in CS:GO and explain it as much as possible. The following list suits those who occasionally watch professional CS or just making their first steps in the game.
- Attack, T, T-side means Terrorists or the Attacking team. To win a round, they must eliminate all the Counter-Terrorists or plant the C4 and protect it until it blows up.
- Bomb plant, Plant is a spot where the C4 can be planted. Competitive maps always have two bomb sites: A and B.
- Cheats are third-party programs used to gain unfair advantages. CS:GO rules prohibit using them, obviously. Players who use cheats are called cheaters. They get banned.
- Defuse kit, kit is a tool that help you defuse the C4 significantly faster. Only available for purchase by Defense (CT) players.
- Defense, CT, CT-side is the Counter-Terrorists, the Defense teams. CS:GO’s main mode will require CT players to defuse the C4. CTs basically must defend two bomb sites (plants) and prevent the opponents (T-side, Attackers) from planting the bomb or must defuse it to win a round. Or kill all Attackers.
- Frag means kill. It’s a measure of dead opponents. One kill = one frag.
- GL HF means Good luck and have fun. Just casual gaming etiquette, friendly behaviour.
- Headshot speaks for itself: a shot to the head that deals additional damage to the opponent. For some weapons, a single headshot is enough to kill.
- Round is “one lap” played on the map. Ends after time ends, one team gets eliminated, or the C4 explodes/defused.
- Overtime means additional rounds in case of a tie after 30 rounds.
- Silver is the lowest rank group in the game. It’s usually used to refer to people with low in-game skills.
- Skin is an in-game item that changes the appearance of weapons. They are also called weapon finishes. It doesn’t provide any gameplay advantages but pleases the players aesthetically. Counter-Strike has thousands of different skin variations.
- Smurf is a player who creates additional accounts to play against weaker opponents. Usually, this is discouraged by the community and developers (recently, Valve officially prohibited smurfing) since it leads to unfair imbalances in matches and, consequently, less enjoyment for other players.
- Spray means 1) shooting your auto rifles by holding down the left mouse button; 2) graffiti applied by pressing T while playing.
- Tap means shooting brief single shots with LMB using semi-automatic weapons. A lower rate of fire boosts your accuracy. Typically, different weapons and situations favour spraying in some cases and tapping in others.
- VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) is an anti-cheat system made by Valve. It detects cheaters and bans them from playing. If you get a VAC ban, you won’t be able to play matchmaking on Valve servers anymore and trade skins. It’s also a shameful mark on your account and a loss of prospects to become a professional. Don’t cheat; it’s not worth it.
Terms for Casual Counter-Strike Players
Here’s a list of advanced CS:GO terms and slang. It includes something you might hear during the matchmaking or esports streams. Useful stuff to know!
- Boost means using the in-game mechanics to reach certain spots that can only be accessed with your teammate’s help. For example, getting onto a high box that is impossible to reach by your own. It works as follows: your teammate duck before you; you jump on their head (yes, this is possible) and then jump again to reach an upper surface.
- Bunny hop, Bhop is a movement technique that involves a series of jumps, allowing the player to move faster around the map.
- Config is a .cfg file containing game parameters. It usually stores all the necessary settings for comfortable gameplay, from keybindings to sound settings. Read more about configs here.
- Device is a weapon in your first slot, usually referring to a rifle.
- DM (Deathmatch) is a game mode where you respawn instantly at a random point on the map after dying. It’s popular as a pre-match warm-up and as standalone entertainment.
- Drop is a request to give a weapon to a teammate who doesn’t have enough money to buy one.
- FaceIT is a platform for competitive matches, an alternative to in-game’s matchmaking. Top-levelled players prefer playing on FaceIT instead of regular MM.
- Flickshot means quickly killing an enemy who suddenly appears at the edge of your screen. Flickshots usually depend on the player’s reaction time and how often they train their aim.
- Jumpthrow is a technique of throwing a grenade while jumping, allowing for longer throws.
- Ninja Defuse is a situation where the Defense player defuses the planted bomb without the Attackers knowing. This often happens when Ts plant the C4 and leave the site searching for kills.
- No-scope means killing an opponent with a sniper rifle without using the scope. Obviously, shooting from sniper rifles without scoping would be wildly inaccurate, making it nearly impossible to hit anyone. Therefore, getting a no-scope kill requires a lot of luck. Or skill.
- NT (nice try) is a phrase used to encourage teammates after a lost clutch.
- Prefire is a mechanic where you start shooting in advance at a position where you anticipate an enemy based on information.
- Wallbang means hitting an enemy hidden behind a wall. In CS:GO some textures are penetrable, which surely reduces the damage from your weapon, so it may require more bullets to kill the enemy.
- SWAG-7 is a meme reference to MAG-7, a shotgun.
Skins & Trading Terms
- Case is an in-game item that contains a random skin from a specific collection. To open a case, you need to buy a key. Cases can also be investment items themselves. Cases can be earned after matches or purchased on the Marketplace.
- Craft is a combination of skin and stickers on it. There are popular combinations for crafting, but they can also be used to showcase individuality.
- Float is a measure of a skin’s wear. Each skin has its own float value, which determines its quality. Usually, the closer the float value is to 0, the higher the skin’s price.
- High-tier are the most expensive skins, the luxury segment.
- Liquidity is how easily an item can be sold or purchased. Investments in high-liquidity skins are generally considered more reliable.
- Patina is a thin layer that forms on the surface of copper. In Counter-Strike, skins with a patina effect do not significantly lose their appearance as they wear out. It can save you some money.
- Pattern is a variation of how skin could look. Some skins patterns do not affect their appearance, while for others, it can be significant.
- Set is a combination of gloves and a knife.
CS:GO Esports & Competitive Play Terms
- ADR, Average Damage per Round, is one of the key indicators of a player’s effectiveness. The more damage a player inflicts, the more effective they are, even if someone else gets the kills.
- Captain, IGL (in-game leader) is the leader and brain of the team. They make critical decisions and are tactical-oriented mostly.
- Clutch is a crucial moment in the game when one player is left in a 1v1 situation or against multiple enemy players.
- Eco round is a round of “we don’t buy anything, we save money for the next round”. Basically, a team either won’t buy anything or purchases the minimum set of items so that all players have enough money to buy rifles and grenades in the next round.
- Entry is the first kill in a round.
- Fake is an individual or team deceptive manoeuvre aimed at luring the enemy or diverting their attention from a specific site.
- Farm gun is a weapon that provides an increased reward for kills. Typically, submachine guns are referred to as farm guns.
- Force Buy is a deliberate decision to buy weapons in a match when you don’t have enough money for a full buy, but you must take action.
- Gun round, buy round is a round in which both teams purchase primary rifles and a set of grenades.
- One-way is a cleverly thrown smoke grenade that only provides visibility from one side.
- Peek means exiting from cover to engage in a firefight with an opponent.
- Pistol round is the first round of each half in a competitive match. Players do not have enough money to buy rifles, so they all play with pistols.
- Pop-flash is a flashbang grenade throw, so the opponent doesn’t have time to turn away from it.
- Push, Rush is an aggressive attack often carried out without prior preparation.
- Retake means attacking a specific bombsite on the map after a retreat. For example, if you are playing on the Defense side and the Attackers have planted the bomb at A, you and your teammates must retake it. Often, this happens even when you are outnumbered, making retakes particularly tense moments in matches.
- Rotate is when a player moves between a map’s distant positions. For example, rotating from Site A to Site B through the Connector.
- Save is an attempt to avoid duels and preserve weapons for the next round when the current round is highly unwinnable.
- Split-push is a tactic when you attack a bombsite from multiple directions.
- Timing is a specific time interval in which certain actions take place. After a couple of thousand hours in CS:GO, you no longer need to look at the round timer to understand when the enemy will attack your positions. To have bad timing means to miss an encounter with an enemy or turn away from a crucial point just as the enemy emerges from it.
- Utility is basically grenades and defuse kit.
Knowing CS:GO terms and slang will help you communicate effectively with your teammates and win games. Counter-Strike can bring immense joy in various aspects. Surely, one of them is skins! Jump to CS.MONEY Trade, choose whatever you want, and upgrade your inventory easily!
