Amongst the battles in the vibrant green overgrowth and divine brickwork, lies a map that has become a favorite amongst Counter-Strike players: Ancient.
Some of the most entertaining professional CS2 matches in recent memory have happened on this very map. While CT aggression is encouraged heavily, boosts are not. Head-stacks are quite limited to the T side on the de_aztec-inspired map. In this blog, we’ll cover the three boosts we consider essential on Ancient.
Bottom B Boxes
This boost is commonly done to go for early picks on T side. It gives you vision all the way to the deep angle on Long B, and is best peeked with an AWP. To boost here, it’s important the person on the bottom is tucked into the corner, and you jump on their head from their left side, as that side of the ground surface is a bit raised, making it possible to easily crouch jump onto them.
Tree
This is a boost that is commonly done by both the T and CT side. On the T side, it’s done to get a better angle for an opening kill on the player deep in the site, or for a better position to hold from during an after-plant scenario. For the CTs, it’s utility is obvious as a defensive position. The angle is awkward to clear for the Ts, as their shadow and/or feet can be visible before they peek.
Outside of Cheetah
This boost, done right outside of Cheetah, is a bit of a novelty. You’ll commonly see players use this angle as more of a jump-spot, but it’s possible to boost here, as seen above. Keep this one in your back pocket.
How to find your own boosts using Refrag
It’s incredibly easy to craft your own clever head-stacks with Refrag.
In an empty server running the NADR mod, you can use the .botboost command to spawn a bot directly below you. Simply go to a position you’d like to test a boost in and type the command.
To see what it would look like from the enemy POV, from the top of the boost, aim at the spot you would peek from as the enemy and type .bot. Then, type .bring to teleport that bot to your current position. You’re now free to noclip out from the boost and see what it looks like from the enemy POV. For a complete list of commands, see the Refrag Wiki.
