As a Counter-Strike player, you will undoubtedly know the highs – and occasionally, the lows – of climbing up the Elo ladder. It’s the eternal task of the CS grinder; to improve, and to watch your rank scale with your newfound ability. The ranking ladder, however, is not the only thing you can climb. Sometimes, your teammate is just as useful as a well-placed stepladder. Today, we’re going to take a look at a handful of the most impactful boost spots in the main map pool, giving you a chance to, quite literally, rise higher than your opponents.

Mirage

Bricks

For a Short player, this is one of the most powerful positions to find some impact in otherwise difficult situations. If your opponents have smoked short, for example, you can enact this boost in order to see over the top of the smokes and catch some unwitting enemies in the middle of taking map control.

Whether you’re facing a slow Short crawl, a Con split, or simply an annoying T nestled into Chair, this boost is sure to find you some serious impact in your next Mirage games.

Fast Boost B Apps

Sometimes, you just need to inject a bit of pace into your CT side aggressions. For a B player, being able to pull out a fast boost into Apps can be invaluable in terms of the opening seconds of the round. This boost can be particularly difficult to get right unless you’re well-drilled. The booster needs to be positioned perfectly between the raised curb and the shadow line. Give it a couple of test runs in a practice server, and soon you’ll be beating T timings every time.

B Ninja

This boost is notoriously impactful…if it goes unchecked. Much like many spots called Ninja throughout Counter-Strike, this boost spot requires a touch of laziness from your opponent to reach its fullest potential. If you use this spot against a full-eco B rush, it can have some significant stopping power. However, it’s a pretty scary spot to play against buy rounds, as you have almost no way to reposition.

Anubis

B Site Boost

This boost is technically two for the price of one. The more common boost is on the left side of the obelisk in the centre of the B site. It’s a great off-angle spot to catch unprepared Ts as they walk into Main, and you can see over the usual main smoke if it’s thrown. However, in the 2024 Shanghai Major, paiN Gaming utilised a nice variation on this boost. They boost on the back platform, so only a tiny portion of the boosted player’s head is visible.

Whilst this means the boost gets less information on the entirety of Main, the boosting players are protected by the platform pillar from any lurks out of Connector. Both of these boosts are very strong and can offer some easy defensive frags for the B-site defenders.

Left-Side Mid

One of the most commonly-used boosts on Anubis, this mid boost can be the difference between a slow T-side round, and an early man advantage. When Mid is smoked, you can boost whilst standing on the box on the left-hand side. Providing the bloom of the smoke is kind to you, you can often see the entire of Mid from this angle, catching your opponents off guard.

Dark B

This is one of those strange boosts under the ‘very situational’ heading in the strat book. This boost in the corner of Dark on B site is very powerful for the initial frag, as nobody is ever going to be pre-aiming you. However, the lack of a fallback position means both you and the booster are fully committed to this spot, so be prepared to have to fight hard to get out after the first shot. We recommend playing this boost only on eco rounds, or if you’re feeling particularly risky.

Ancient

B Ramp Boxes

Probably the most common boost on the map, the boxes at the bottom of B Ramp are an excellent spot for an AWPer or even a confident rifler to find some early-round impact. Depending on smoke bloom, you can catch an early pick over a smoke, or position yourself here midround in order to lock down Long rotations from CTs moving back into B site. Just make sure you have a teammate holding for a potential Jaguar walkout!

Tree

This boost is a fun one, and one you’ll doubtless have seen many times. For a CT playing on A site, boosting (or self-boosting) on Tree is often a power position, especially if you’re on a half-buy or eco. Furthermore, if you’re on T-side and find yourself in a post-plant, boosting up on this spot can be a very powerful play, as often you’ll go overlooked for enough time to catch the first retaking CT at least, if not more.

Finding your own boosts is easy

If you want to test out these boosts or even find some new boosts of your own, Refrag makes it simpler than ever. Jump into a NADR server and use .botboost and .bot commands to start cooking up your own nefarious spots. Next time, we’ll take a look at some more cheeky boosts across the other maps in the main pool. Until then, happy grinding!