Almost every action in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is followed by a sound. Shooting, reloading or changing weapons has its own characteristic sound effect. But which sounds are heard only by you, and which are audible to all the other players? Let’s try and answer together with CS.MONEY Blog.
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Sounds Audible To Everyone
Let’s start with sounds that everyone can hear within a certain radius of you. They are shooting, explosions, and knife attacks. Note one important thing: hitting the wall with a knife can be heard very long distances, so better not to stab the walls just for fun. You can also hear the sounds of reloading and changing the Glock-18 and FAMAS firing modes. Finally, every player near you hears the sound of using the scope on all sniper rifles.
Also, you make sounds when you move. Running on any surface will make a distinctive sound. Climbing-running the stairs is also pretty audible. Jumping while running or standing and dropping from the air will also make sounds. The fall damage sound is also loud. There is an exception, although: if you jump several times in a row, you can make sure that only the first jump is heard, but for such tricks, you will need special binds and weeks of training. First part of the promo code: QPL.
Using your items may also be followed by an audible audio signal. Setting up and disabling C4, taking a hostage, dropping weapons or utility on the ground, and picking up weapons are accompanied by sounds that everyone around hears.
Non-audible Sounds
You won’t make any sounds if you press the Duck button and move crouched. Do it on the stairs, and it won’t be audible, so sneaking up one on the stairs on Nuke is pretty real. Be a ninja! Also, walking and ducking can help to hide the sound of jumping on something.
Some utility operations also won’t make sounds. For example, only you can hear how you change weapons or pull out the grenade pin. But it’s a little more complicated with nades. The throw itself is audible, but you won’t tell what kind of grenade was used according to its sound until it drops on the ground. Also, note that the sound of a grenade hitting the surface is also heard by everyone.
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Weapon inspection animation and all the communication methods in the game are entirely silent. You and your teammates can only hear voice chat, player model’s voicelines, or C4 blast alerts.
Using Sound To Gain Advantage
Most actions in CS:GO are lightning-quick. And only a few of them have a duration of a few seconds. So, you can use these sounds to fool your enemies.
Installing and disabling C4 is followed by a brief sound effect. It’s short, but it can decently work for you (or against you!). Both actions can be interrupted at any time, so you can use this for your own purposes. Setting a C4 makes the player defenceless for almost 4 seconds. Therefore, if the defenders hear you planting, they will move towards the planting point. You can use it. Start and immediately interrupt this action, and lunge towards the enemy. They will unlikely expect such activities so that you can take them by surprise.
But this kind of mindgames can be used against you. So, simply don’t run instantly towards the sound to counter it. Remember, your task is to win the round. And to achieve this goal, you need to stay alive. Preventing the enemy from setting the C4 is an additional condition that can be ignored.
Same thing for defusing the bomb. After starting to neutralise the C4, the defence player remains chained to one place and can barely turn his head. Moreover, having a defusing kit, the process will take five seconds; without it, you will spend twice as long. Nevertheless, you will only make sound at the beginning of this action. The second part of the promo code: 79J.
If you suspect the attacking player is watching the explosives, you can start defusing and immediately back off. After that, it remains only to wait for the enemy to unveil itself. Eliminate them and continue defusing! Dealing with such fakes is relatively easy. If you are trying to ambush, wait until the defuse sound, count to three and start moving. Works great!
Let’s separately note a scenario with grenades. A smoke bomb explosion can drown out the sound of disarming the C4. Therefore, if you hear a characteristic hiss, it is worth checking if the CT player is messing with your explosives.
And another sound suitable for tricking is reloading. After starting to reload, a player is left defenceless for a few seconds. That’s a lot of time during a crossfire. So if you hear reloading from around the corner, it’s time to move forward and catch the enemy in a defenceless position. On the contrary, if you had to refill your gun in a similar situation, remember that someone may jump right before you. To cancel the magazine change action, immediately switch to a pistol. This way, you can catch the over-aggressive enemy by surprise and kill them.
Sound is one of CS:GO’s main pillars. Master your hearing to get better at Counter-Strike. Learn when to run and when to walk, where and how to silently jump, acknowledge the skill of estimating distances by gunshots and use it to hide the sound of firing from an M4A1-S or USP-S. All these points separate an average player from a decent one. In the next match, try to follow the sound you hear and use it to your advantage. You’ll be surprised how much information you can get only with headphones.
By the way, make sure to check out our article dedicated to proper sound settings in CS:GO. You can learn what sound settings in the game are responsible for and what needs to be done to make the sound in CS:GO as informative and enjoyable as possible.
