iLLusioN's Guide to beating the AWP - de_inferno, de_season

Last week we went over how to disable an AWP on de_dust2, and I have actually seen some of the things I mentioned in the article put into play on the server... which I am definitely glad to see. Going along the same line as the dust2 article, we're going to go over two more server favorites: de_inferno, and de_season. We'll start with inferno since it's the smaller of the two:

de_inferno:

There are really only 5 key AWPing points on inferno – Banana/car, Mid, library, Pit, and dog hall apartments (long hall CT side). The only one you can't really isolate with a smoke/flash is dog apartments... it's pretty easy to avoid a flash there and you don't have to be able to see to get kills from that side... blind shots will net you some kills most of the time. There's nothing tricky about smoking mid... throw them over the house as you're running out of spawn if you have someone with the balls to AWP mid... I, personally, just recommend having a couple of people preflash/nade it from T stairs.

Banana smoke:



effect:



Couple this smoke with someone throwing smokes/flashes over the building towards CT spawn and someone to stand on the car and jump flash site, and Banana becomes cake to take.

Jump flash/smoke/nade – stand on car and Jump as you throw:


Throwing a flash from there blinds the entire site. I usually angle one to hit just on the other side of the building, and one to go deep into site. Throwing a smoke here smokes in the water most of the time, which keeps any AWP's in the back of site from getting picks, and a nade will damage anyone hiding by the banana crates (left side of site from ct spawn) anywhere from 20-90 dmg depending on which cubby they are in - that is actually a surprisingly effective AWP spot.

The next spot that ends up as an extremely effect kill zone for AWPers is from pit. There's a very easy smoke that will block off the vast majority of pit... it ends up leaving only the crack at the front of truck for them to see, which is easily flashed as you are taking the site.

Line up with this pillar:



Aim here, stand still and throw smoke:



Here's the effect:




Note: this also blocks graveyard's view of apartments fairly well.

The last smoke is for Library. This is a smoke that I've always found extremely useful to use when going through CT spawn to banana, because it also blocks site's view of the arches and anyone playing in pit can't see if someone pushes library.

Smoke:



Effect:

If you have a solid rifler (or a scout/AWP) you can do a quick strafe prefire to the corner of the house by the door at the top of banana, and either get a kill or scare them and make them move back. Luker likes to do this, if you don't know what I'm talking about watch him play T side on Inferno and you'll see it.

You can also use a coordinated flash push, having someone push apartments and flash out towards pit/graveyard and push your team along the right side of mid to take site. The flashes should blind the AWP's, and if you threw the pit smoke all you have to worry about now is the truck gap and the site itself.

A good place to use a strafe jump is going to woodpile down banana. Just do a quick jump+ strafe to land by the woodpile... most of the time anyone picking will not be able to hit you. From there it's easy to smoke up the entrance to A bombsite and/or flash/nade the door corner where anyone picking is most likely to be.

Remember flanks... inferno is a great flank map. Regardless of which site you take or defend having someone dedicated towards some good ole' "C.Y.A." is a good idea.

All of these smokes and flashes are dead easy to incorporate into most strats we call on this server... just take 2 seconds and set it up and you will make life far easier for yourself and for your team. Inferno is more about timing and coordination than anything... AWP's or no.

*NOTE* I know that inferno has been changed a bit recently, I have used several of these smokes since then and they still worked as shown. I would assume that holds true for the rest of them as well.

de_season:

Season and Dust2 are very similar maps and have pretty similar layouts and kill zones. Most common AWP spots on season are Mid (left, right, or generator), CT Upper A, Elbow (A site entrance from CT spawn), Upper B (either outside by the ladder or inside through the door going back to CT spawn), and CT spawn entrance/jail to B watching Lower B.

The most common spot is mid so we'll start there.

The smokes for mid are pretty obvious... throwing smokes over mid is simple and doesn't need a screen shot to show it. There's another easy smoke that I don't see that often here, so I'll show it:


Effect:


Since two more effective ways to beat an AWP are prefires and flashes, there are one of each here:

First I'll show the flash. You MUST crouch or this will blow up after it hits the ground behind generator and won't blind anyone. Crouching, it blows up about head height for anyone sitting in the doorway to CT spawn from mid, and blinds EVERYONE out in mid.

Flash:



These prefire spots can be pretty wicked and I've been called a hacker for these so many times it's not even funny... I rarely use them anymore but they are very useful if you are having problems with someone at generator or doorway. The bullets on the bottom of the box are for generator and the 2 on the bottom of the top crate are for doorway. These spots are both very effective with rifles or snipers.

SS:



Next we'll do A, because smokes in general are more effective at A than B on season.

The 4 common AWP spots at A are the Cat Box, Elbow, and Upper A (CT side) and pit. Catbox and pit are both pretty easy.... you can smoke either of those without ever exposing yourself to an AWP by banking the smokes off the wall on catwalk, from squeaky. Upper A and Elbow are a little bit different. Upper A in particular is difficult to smoke and flash. Here are some easy smokes for it:

Smoke from lower A/horseshoe:

Effect:


This smoke is pretty simple but is almost never used. It's a good way to block the view of AWP's both at CT upper and elbow from seeing people come out of lower A. From Horseshoe, it's fairly simple to nade/flash either AWP spot and to push up and get a good view of any AWPs that might be sitting in pit or on cat.

You can also smoke upper A from mid:


Effect:

This is easily my favorite smoke on this map. CT upper can be a major pain in the ass to clear out for T's trying to take site, whether there's an AWP there or not. This smoke makes that very easy and almost completely eliminates it as a threat so that you and your team can focus on the rest of site.

The other major threat in A site is from Elbow. You can smoke this either from Mid or from T spawn.

T spawn :


Effect:


Mid:


Effect:


That's it for A – there are only 2 tricky smokes that you can use from B. I'm not going to show screens of some of the obvious ones, such as putting a smoke in the upper and lower entrances while your running in – or bouncing one off of the wall or crates in site to block the view from jail/ct spawn.

Make sure you aim fairly high for this one and are running or it won't work – you'll just hit below the window if you aim low and if you aren't running the smoke just drops underneath the window in site... which probably hurts you more than helps.

CT spawn/jail smoke:


Effect:

The next smoke is for the upper B stairs/doorway. Again, make sure you are running or this won't make it.

Smoke:


Effect:

On either side, if you have an AWPer playing in one spot consistently, a good way to get behind him is vents. Season is one of my better maps to play and/or call on and a lot of my success on it is because I use and abuse vents. T's having issues with AWPs in mid can very often break through vents and, with the help of a flash from mid (shown earlier in this article), get a pretty easy kill when the AWPer peeks again. CT's can have some very good success pushing from mid or B to vents and flanking the opposite side. I will probably pay for mentioning that here, but I suppose I'll have to adapt.

T's coming from lower B can strafe-jump the corner to horseshoes to make things difficult for any AWPs sitting upper. You can also use strafe-jumps effectively at cat to get in the cubby near pit and at B to cross the door next to grate and the exit from lower B.

A few good prefires are the ones I showed in mid; prefiring high or low sandbags in A, elbow from cat or lower A, the lower b corner from grates, pit from cat, and upper a from lower a.

There really aren't a whole lot of nifty tricks on season as far as good flash points and prefire spots. It is just one of those maps where there are so many places for people to be, that a good shot and good teamwork is going to get you further than prefires and flashes will.

That's it for this week. If you have any questions or comments, or something you would like me to address next time, please feel free to send me a PM. Next up is de_train - hopefully the article will garner a little more support to play it more often.

If you have any problems tracking what I call things here are some overviews with what my team called everything on pretty much every map. Some are common, others I've never heard anywhere else but still use out of habit.