Whilst solo-queuing Counter-Strike is an experience most of you will be most familiar with, the purest experience of the game comes from playing team CS. A five-stack with clearly demarcated roles and responsibilities can go on to do incredible things, and CS2 truly comes alive when you have a deep understanding of the nuances of the game when played at a slightly higher level than disorganized pugs.

In this short explainer, we’re going to run through all the roles in a Counter-Strike team. You’ll learn what each role means, what their respective responsibilities are, and how they fit into the broader picture of a CS2 team.

Before we get started, here’s a handy list of all the roles:

• IGL
• AWPer
• Star Rifler
• Entry Fragger
• Support
• Anchor
• Lurker

IGL

Let’s start with the mastermind of the team. The shot caller. The boss. The In-Game Leader. Every team needs a focal point – the loudest voice in the server, calling the strats and reading the midgame. This is precisely where the IGL comes in.

Being an IGL is a little more complex than calling rushes and saves, though. A good IGL will plan new strategies for the team to dry run, or practice in scrims. They will watch demos from the team’s games, identify mistakes, and set up practice sessions to iron out flaws. They will watch their opponents’ demos before big games, identifying weaknesses and anti-stratting.

A good IGL is also a leader, both in and out of the server. Inside the server, they can calm tilting players, maintain the team’s focus, and inspire the team to push through rough patches and round deficits. Outside of the server, they can help individual teammates with scheduling issues or personal mechanical weaknesses, and generally be the linchpin of the team.

The IGL is the strategist, the voice, and the leader of the team. Often, IGL’s will suffer statistically due to the range of things they have to focus on in a game, but don’t let that fool you – they are often the heart and soul of their team.

Examples of pro IGLs are:

• Finn “karrigan” Andersen [FaZe]
• Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen [NAVI]
• Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo [FURIA]

AWPer

This role needs little introduction. The AWPer of the team is the player who wields the Big Green. Depending on their style, they will either be used to hold down important areas of the map, catch rotates, and take advantage of overzealous or careless opponents, or as a flashy, aggressive, explosive power piece to crack open rounds and lock in crazy clutches.

Typically, due to the importance of the AWP in Counter-Strike, a team’s AWPer will have a fair amount of say in where and how they play. It is fairly common to see a team’s philosophy built around the playstyle of their AWPer, as if your AWPer is comfortable and performing well, that’s good for everyone. 

Examples of pro AWPers are:

• Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov [Falcons]
• Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov [Spirit]
• Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch [MongolZ]

Star Rifler

Another big-money role in team Counter-Strike is that of the Star Rifler. These are the top of the scoreboard, hero-rifle carrying, round-defining players with some of the best mechanical skills on the team. Similar to the AWPer, the Star Rifler will often have a big voice in the server, and will be able to dictate how they’re going to play a lot of the rounds. They tend to be given some of the most important positions on both sides, with the team and the gameplan relying on their mechanical prowess and ability to turn rounds and games around with their individual play.

It can be a tricky role to define, as some teams don’t have a set-in-stone Star Rifler, and some teams have Star Riflers who are Rifle/AWP hybrids – such as Vitality and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – but generally speaking most teams have a player that gets the most important spots based on their sheer firepower alone.

Examples of pro Star Riflers are:

• Nikola “NiKo” Kovač [Falcons]
• İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş [Aurora]
• Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa [G2]

Entry Fragger

Entry Fraggers are some of the hardest-working players out there. It doesn’t matter how good your strats are, or how flashy your AWPer is – if you can’t break into a bombsite, you’re going to have a tough time on the T-Side.

To simplify it, Entry Fraggers have one job – to take space on a bombsite. As an Entry, you will be jumping out onto a bombsite, clearing angles, and attempting to kill the CT Anchor on site. The basic philosophy of the Entry roll is to take space – if you can path into a bombsite, kill the Anchor, and then get traded, you’ve done your job.

Being an Entry can be a pretty brutal task – more often than not you’ll end up trading your life for a round win. But it’s a very important part of the T-Side ecosystem, and one that takes a lot of practice and gamesense to truly perfect. Also, due to its fight-heavy playstyle, a lot of Entry Fraggers are also the team’s Star Riflers…so it’s not all bad!

Examples of pro Entry Fraggers are:

• Danil “donk” Kryshkovets [Spirit]
• Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski [FaZe]
• Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis [FURIA]

Support

This role is probably the hardest to define in black-and-white terms. Oftentimes, you’ll see a player with another role (say, the IGL or the AWPer) also picking up the support role. It’s fairly easy to understand, though.

A Support player has a few key responsibilities in the team. Firstly, they are the ‘utility guy’. A large proportion of the set utility for a team – whether that be execute utility or default map control util – will be thrown by the Support player. They will know the most smoke lineups, and will often be flashing for other players to get their picks.

The Support player will often be trading, also. They could be the second player in an engagement, looking to pick up the trade and cement the map control that their more aggressive rifling partner has taken in their opening engagement.

The Support player is kind of like the glue that keeps the team together – they often go down as an unsung hero, and it is a role that can be difficult for newer players to truly appreciate, but a great Support player doesn’t just win rounds – they win games.

Examples of pro Support players are:

• Nicholas “nicx” Lee [Complexity]
• Rasmus “sjuush” Beck [NiP]
• Sodbayar “Techno4K” Munkhbold [MongolZ]

Anchor

When it comes to unforgiving, stressful, and often brutal roles, there is one that stands above them all. On the CT side, the Anchor has one job – defend their bombsite. Whilst, on paper, this might not seem too bad, in reality it can be an absolutely disgusting task at higher levels.

The mark of a good Anchor is their capacity to stay alive. Often, you’ll hear a reference to an Anchor as having “got his one kill”, which can sometimes be the difference between a won round and a lost round. When the Ts come swarming into your bombsite, as an Anchor you’re going to want to throw some defensive utility, play around it, stay alive, and generally be an absolute nuisance. You are the arch-enemy of the Entry Fragger, and the thorn in the attacking team’s side.

As an Anchor, you need to know your bombsite inside out. Every angle, timing, rat spot, utility play, and piece of cover needs to be second nature to you. More often than not, when the opposing team turns up, they turn up in a blaze of molotovs and flashbangs and smokes and gunfire. You need to know how to survive for as long as possible, because ten seconds of staying alive and forcing the Ts to hunt you down is, more often than not, what allows the rest of your team to win the round for you.

Also, as an Anchor, you’re going to have to get used to retaking the other bombsite, or saving without seeing much action in the round. Like I said earlier, it’s not the most enjoyable role to play, but it certainly is one of the most important.

Examples of pro Anchors are

• William “mezii” Merriman [Vitality]
• Keith “NAF” Markovic [Liquid]
• Emil “Magisk” Reif [Falcons]

Lurker

Now it’s time to get all sneaky beaky like. The Lurker is a role that has undergone many peaks and troughs in popularity, due to its late-round activation and occasional slightly-too-passive nature. The Lurker is a very solitary role, as the name suggests. Typically, as a Lurker, you will be playing on whichever part of the map isn’t being targeted by the gameplan of the rest of your team. You will be a late-round piece, cutting off rotates, taking space for last-minute rotations, and closing out postplants when things are getting hairy.

For this role, you need a great deal of patience, an exceptional understanding of timings, and the ability to perform late into the round under high pressure. This role can be unforgiving as, whilst a Lurker on perfect form can be unbeatable, a poor-performing Lurker can merely look like they’re baiting the team, saving a lot, and finding practically no impact in the server.

Examples of pro Lurkers are:

• Robin “ropz” Kool [Vitality]
• Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač [G2]
• Lotan “Spinx” Giladi [MOUZ].

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Whether you’re an Entry looking to grind your opening skillset, an IGL in the middle of building the next world-dominating stratbook, or a newer player looking to discover which CS2 role fits you the best, Refrag is here to help. Load up a practice server, get grinding, and keep an eye on our blog for more insights, guides, and updates!