Thread: iLLusioN's Guide to beating the AWP

iLLusioN's Guide to Beating the AWP

I know this probably looks like it's in response to the thread we currently have but I've been working on this on and off for a couple of weeks and finally had the time to finish it up today since we got sent home early from work.

A couple of disclaimers - I apologize for the load time;there are a shitload of SS's for this. You can't just give general idea's of where and how to throw a smoke so I threw in screens to show them. Included in those are several flash spots and a couple of prefire spots as well. At the end I give a few tips that don't need screens.

If you notice any typo's, think I need to add something or think I'm just plain wrong on something, please let me know and I'll try and fix it asap.

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. Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

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Over the past several months playing on the amazing servers that we call TPG, I have noticed that there is one thing that very few people here do well. That one thing, is beating the AWP. A lot of people start bellyaching the second it's been bought, and a couple of rounds later it's banned because they consider it an unfair weapon, or it completely destroys the game, or it's wrong, or maybe they just don't like it because it's obnoxiously loud. I've seen dozens of reasons why people don't like/fear the AWP.

Well folks, I'm here to show you that there's nothing to be afraid of. All it takes to beat it is a little bit of thinking.

Keys to think of when you think the other team might be AWPing:

Where is he most likely to be?

Which approaches run into that choke point?

Will that affect the strat?

If so, How can you get to where you can disrupt his play without dying?

How difficult of a shot is he going to have?

If it's a hard shot, you can probably get some people through if you send more than one.

The easiest way to make an AWPer useless is smokes. There are tons of nifty smokes you can find in CS:S and I'll show you a few of them here. I'm sure that you will have seen some of these before, but most of you probably haven't seen some of the others. Most of these are smokes that I learned/found/used playing competitively with Unkind Gaming in CAL/CEVO.

I'm not going to give smokes for every single map we play here at TPG, but I'll give examples in some of the more common maps.

de_dust2:

Common AWPing spots for this map Are mid/dd, A platform, Pit, and the ledge on B platform.


We'll start with the first one you encounter: Mid/DD

The easiest smoke for this is straight from T spawn. Whenever possible I like to line up my smoke with the corner as show in the SS because doing so will make sure that smoke ALWAYS bounce of the right door and bloom directly between the DD's.
Thrown from:



Effects:



The next, and more effective smoke, is from lower b tunnels onto the mid box. This smoke takes a little longer to setup but a CT AWPer trying to pick mid becomes completely useless with this smoke. They can't see anything past the doors, even if they are on the rock CT side.

Thrown from:




Effects:





Next I'll show some smokes for B starting with 2 smokes from t spawn that are great for rushes – they block off pretty much every effective AWPing spot in B site.

This smoke blocks of the back of B site, and getting it at the right angle will also block the ledge. Make sure you throw this as you are jumping over the ledge on your way to B or this one won't make it.

Throw from:

Effect:


This next smoke will block of B plat and anyone trying to play crate whore. Make sure you are running when you throw it or it won't make it:

Thrown from:



Effect:



This next smoke does the same thing as the last one but from inside B tunnels....this works well for a delayed rush or if you recently called a b rush and used the smokes I mentioned previously:

Thrown from:


Since we're on B I'll show the 2 flashes that I recommend to use when taking B. The basic goal of these 2 flashes is to get a flash back of B plat without exposing yourself and then to bounce the 2nd flash off the top of the big box on B plat. This flash sequence blinds everybody in B site. Make sure you turn from the first one to avoid flashing yourself:







Moving on to A; the 2 major spots people have to worry about an AWP at are taking long with an AWP on A platform and crossing from long to A platform with AWPs watching mid. I'm not going to show the obvious throw smokes over long...everyone does that whether there are AWPs or not. One thing you can do that I don't see very often is smoke up the entrance to CT spawn from mid. This either makes the AWPer go around to short or long, or makes them push into CT spawn, which is easy to flash out.

CT spawn from mid:


Effect:



This coupled with the long crossover smokes(which I won't show because it's obvious) works pretty well. The smoke here forces the opposing team to either go around or push through the smoke into an easy kill for you(assuming you have someone drop to CT spawn).

The other place to worry about at A is an AWP on A plat. Make sure that along with the smokes down here you throw flashes over as well. A running-jumping flash over that wall blinds anyone on site and can also get people trying to play aggressively at crossover:

left side of plat:


effect:



right side of plat:


effect:


Those 2 smokes and just throwing flashes over the wall should clear out any AWP's for you. Of course the most effective way to clear plat is to pinch it from short and long with short throwing flashes over the wall to clear site and bouncing a flash off the back wall to land somewhere in site. Thats pretty much all the effect smokes for dust2. As I mentioned, you can pretty much make an AWP useless on any strat provided you have a couple people drop smokes in the proper places. If you are doing an A split...think of the other half of the team; flashing over the wall of short can make the people at long have a much easier time pushing up; if you are at long those 2 smokes over the wall give anyone short a TON of cover, and then of course you have your crossover smokes.

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. Theres nothing tricky about smoking mid...throw them over the house as your 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. Theres a very easy smoke that will block of 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 site.

Line up with this pillar:


Aim here, stand still and throw smoke:



Heres the effect:


Note: this also blocks graveyards view of apartments fairly well.

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

Smoke:


Effect:



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.

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.

Obviously 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. Theres another easy smoke that I don't see that often here so I'll show it:



Effect:



Since 2 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 effect 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 smokes pretty simple but 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 theres 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:

Thats 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:



de_train:

Train is probably the most complex and difficult map in the game. It is absolutely impossible to win T side train without very good use of smokes and flashes. CT's have a plethora of choke points to catch you at, AWP or not. Other than port there isn't a more AWP friendly map in all of CS. The most common AWP spots on train are Z connector(A and B side), Track 5/6(in the back of the map by over by ivy/bomb train), ladder train, and upper B( up close by the ladder).

We'll start with smokes outside(A):


Z smoke from t spawn:

Effect:

This smoke is pretty self explanatory. It smokes up Z to force an AWPer to move or be useless. Depending on what bounce you get with this smoke it can land on the 4 track and give anyone coming out ladder some cover from anyone on/near bomb train.

T spawn track 5 smoke:

Effect:

Usually this smoke will get an extra bounce and land directly in front of 4 train to block off track 5. This will help not only against awps but from anyone on top of the train or underneath 4 & 5 train.

Z/4 track smoke from T mid:

Effect:

This is another good smoke to use to block off Z. I tend to use this one when I need to make sure that ladder has cover. If anyone is picking from the cubby next to bomb train you can get picked when throwing this though. Also, make sure you crouch or you will hit the top of the doorframe.

Ladder smoke for bomb train/track 4:

Effect:



5 track smoke from ladder :

Effect:

Another good smoke for delayed rush. Has the same effect as the other track 5 smoke but is a little more reliable.

Upper B smoke:

This smoke will make anyone trying to play upper B aggressively fall back or try and push forward. If you aren't sure you can make it through the railing don't throw it or you'll screw the rest of your team over.

Upper B ladder smoke:

Effect:



Lower b smoke:

Effect:

This makes it somewhat safer to come out of lower B. Awps by Z can't see you and rifles under/behind trains will be less effective. You can still get hit from in site or by an AWP on CT ramp.

CT Ramp smoke:

Effect:



This smoke is what my team always called the cloud smoke. In the 2nd screen the smoke is already fading but that smoke will basically cover the entire left side of inner from anyone sitting on CT ramp. Great if you are having problems with the bomber getting picked while planting, and gives your team plenty of time to flash push the back of site.

Those are all the smokes I have, finding new smokes isn't too hard. Create your own server or play on a private server with sv_cheats 1 on so you can give yourself more smokes and use noclip to follow the smoke and see the path it takes to get there. You would actually be amazed at some of the funky paths some of these things take.

That being said, smokes are not the only way to beat the AWP. There are several other ways – flashes, prefires, baiting(not baiting a teammate, barely showing yourself to make them shoot and then pushing them after), Nading them(most awpers will move if they take any serious damage), and lastly: AWPing the bastard back.

Generally speaking if you think an AWP might be somewhere, prefire it. A couple of really great places to use a prefire is as a T on season coming from lower A. Any time I'm coming from lower A I'll prefire CT upper – it's an easy kill and the angle is almost always the same. Same thing for Z awpers on train. Pick up an AWP, Scout, or AK and jump prefire the dumpster there...it's an easy kill that I can make 80% of the time.

Another good way to beat it is with a quick flash push. If you want the perfect example of this go watch the Madster. Him and that god damned P90 of his are amazing for this...I don't know how many times I've singled him out to flash somewhere that I knew an AWP would be, and to great effect. It works amazingly well in mid on D2, left side mid of Inferno(arch side), and Z connector on train. Actually, this works even better on inner train(b bombsite) than anywhere else in the game. Once you are in site, keep a steady stream of flashes going to the back of site and you'll make life difficult for anyone back there.

Strafing. DO NOT STAND STILL. If you run in a straight line against any halfway decent sniper, AWP or not you're going to die. There are also a lot of good places to do a quick air strafe to make it hard for an AWPer to get you – coming out of T mid on train if you do a quick air strafe right coming out(not bunny hopping, 1 jump and that's it) Z awps can't see you and 6 track AWPers have a hard shot because you land behind the oil car. Also works well at horseshoe on season and jumping to woodpile down banana on inferno.

The 2 absolute biggest parts to beating an AWP, or anything that is giving you a hard time: Flanks, and being random. Flanking just means to get behind him or come from where he isn't looking. AWPer's tend to be behind the rest of the team(they are sniping after all) so if you leave 1-2 people to come back push behind the ct rotation you'll often find the AWPer there. Hell, you should be trying to get flanks no matter what, but I've always found that flanking an AWP is the best way to beat it. By random I mean be unpredictable... if you keep going in the same area, or if your strats continuously put people in one spot, good players will key in on it. Good players with an AWP will destroy it. Keep them guessing and keep them moving.

AWP's can be game changing; they force the game to slow down, and for people to not run out in open spaces without some sort of cover. They are by no means unbeatable. The biggest about the AWP is that you have to account for it on strats and take some more time to develop them. Not doing so leaves people exposed to easy shots. Smokes and flashes are your friends. Make the bastard move...AWPs playing mid on D2 rotate to B pretty quickly with some noise...3 people hitting B can move him and let you execute an A split without having to worry about him.

And for God's sake, if you have Mad Mardigan, use him and that damned P90. He hates AWP's so I'm sure he'll thank you.

edit: fixed a couple of typos and reworded a couple of things

very good, thx for contributing sir =]

Awesome smoke spots. If used well, I think smokes can be the single most important thing towards winning a round (awps or not), which is why I buy one every round. Mind if I add some more smoke spot SSs? They are some fairly easy ones, but important.

Also, you should apply for this to be made an article. Free reserved slot for some amount of time!

nice work man. you told me you were working on this a few days ago and I must say its better than what I was expecting.

Originally Posted by DuDDy

nice work man. you told me you were working on this a few days ago and I must say its better than what I was expecting.

That's what you get for being a negative Nancy!

Reminds me of Yung, Sambo and I figuring out how to smoke spots on Aztec for a TPG tourny a few years back. I think half way through that match we went from "pro smoke will win" to "shoot the fuckers first"

Good post, I wish people would listen to this. But as it stands the standard anti-awp strat is bitching

Which is exactly why i stopped playing source.