Picture the scene. You’re at your desk, headphones on, unspecified caffeinated drink in your system, and Counter-Strike loaded up. You play one game, then another, then another, until your precious rank has drained away and you resign yourself to the sad truth – you’re simply always going to be hardstuck in Silver.
Don’t worry, we’ve all been there (well, some of us have). Luckily for you, the Silver Star of our show, we’re here to let you into a trade secret. Today, we take hold of your Battle-Scarred Moto-Glove-wearing hand and walk you out of ELO hell and into the light. In the first of our Saving Silvers Series, we will show you how to Refrag your way out of Silver.
Understanding Your Goals
Of course, as with any training, it’s crucial to understand precisely what you want to gain from using Refrag. This might seem like a fairly obvious point, but stick with us. Every CS player under the sun wants to improve. But how many actually crawl out from the shadows of Silver and into the light? So, before you even load up your Refrag server, it is crucial to have a clear list of goals, so you can focus your practice time effectively.
Whether it’s perfecting your crosshair placement, nailing your flicks, memorising all the utility in the world, or understanding precisely how to clear your corners on every map, having a list of achievable goals for your practice sessions will undoubtedly come in clutch for your improvement. Thankfully, you can achieve all of these and more in our practice servers.
So, to understand what you need to practice, let’s jump into our first scenario. You’re left alone, lurking in some forgotten corner of the map, trying to find a frag whilst your teammates are screaming at each other in a language you don’t understand. Classic Silver matchmaking. As you shift around a corner, you’re surprised by a CT in a spot you hadn’t prepared for and, as your name fills the kill-feed, the shouting of your teammates is directed at you…
Angle Clearing (Prefire)
Perhaps the best tool to help you at a basic level on every map is the Prefire mode. Here, you will navigate certain common paths within the map of your choice, with bots placed at every common angle. Your job is simple – keep your crosshair where you know the bots will be, and prefire them.
If you need more confidence in certain spots on a particular map, this mode is one of the best ways to increase your impact and give you the knowledge of common spots that need to be fully cleared. Before long, you’ll find yourself one-tapping enemies, swinging corners with confidence, and clearing rats out of their hidden spots. You will know what to do on a mechanical level when the rounds get stressful, and the anger of your teammates will soon turn to adoration. You can thank us later.
So, now we’ve covered the joys of Prefire, let’s jump into our next scenario. It’s the start of a round on T-Side Mirage. Someone on your team asks you a simple question: “Green, can you smoke Window?” Well, can you? If you’ve ever realised you don’t know a smoke, or feel like you should have flashed for your teammate or mollied somewhere, stress no more! You can load up a NADR server and become the NartOutHere of your matchmaking games.
Utility Usage (NADR)
Window on Mirage. Top Mid on Ancient. X-box on Dust II. These are just a few of the most important smokes in the game. There are tens – hundreds, even – of useful lineups for smokes, flashes, mollies, and HEs (because who lines up a decoy?) that will truly change your game. Especially at the lower end of the ranking system, teams that throw executes and default utility to take map control will have a huge advantage over teams that don’t.
When you load into a NADR server, you’ll notice some rather useful features. Firstly, you’ll see loads of icons for different types of utility placed around the map. If you interact with one of these icons, it will show you how to throw that piece of utility from the best lineup spots, making specific utility searching almost instant. Further to this, you can also lock yourself into any of the spawn spots, allowing you to practice any spawn smoke with 100% accuracy.
So, if you have ever found yourself regretting the fact that you haven’t learned enough utility, you now know the secret sauce behind improving your map control. Pop those flashes and gloat over your crazy lineups – you’re now throwing utility like a Global Elite!
For our final scenario in this first part of our Saving Silvers series, we turn to another classic moment in a typical matchmaking game. Tasked with an unfavorable post-plant, you find yourself alone in a scary 1v3 situation. Unsure where your enemies will come from, you peek for info, and suddenly all three swing from different angles! Of course, you’ve felt this before. The horror of being swung by more than one enemy, the resignation of knowing you’re about to be taken out of the round, and the shame when you hear the sighs from your unhappy teammates. Well, read on, dear Silver. We have just the solution you need…
Fighting Multiple Enemies At Once (Crossfire)
Crossfire is a mode designed to make you a battle-honed expert in the art of fighting multiple enemies in a very short span of time. This mode simulates the complex in-game situations which come about so often, allowing you to practice a variety of common spots, as bots swing you from every possible angle.
By facing multiple enemies at once, you’ll be able to fine-tune a number of incredibly important skills. Decision-making, reaction time, target-prioritization, and positioning will all be greatly improved after spending some time in our Crossfire maps. Plus, the feeling of putting this training into action in a game is unparalleled. When you’re holding down that 1v3 postplant, picking your targets precisely and positioning your crosshair perfectly for the next peek, your teammates will be watching on in awe, and you’ll be feeling like Donk in the server.
So, whether it’s grinding Prefire to get you clearing corners perfectly, learning all the utility to execute every site with ease, or sweating in Crossfire to decimate your swinging opponents, these three modes are the first ingredients in your recipe to Refrag your way out of Silver. Next time, we will look at some more Refrag options which will elevate your game even further but, for now, enjoy the grind!
If you’re eager to keep improving and adding to your warmup routine, you can check out the next article in this series here, in which we cover three more useful Refrag modes to elevate your game and propel you out of Silver! (Coming soon)
