Counter-Strike is most-known to be a competitive shooter game, where players who have good aim will dominate their opponents. However, there’s more to the game than just shooting. Movement is a crucial aspect in the game, as it allows players to get to advantageous positions and dodge bullets during engagements.
In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about CS:GO movement to climb the ranks at a rapid pace.
Basics Of CS:GO Movement
Before we get into advanced movement techniques, let’s first have a full understanding of what movement is in Counter-Strike, along with the different types of movement in the game.
Running
Running is the primary method of moving around. Normally, other FPS games require you to hold an extra button to start running. However, in CS:GO, running is the default method of moving. This means you will always start running when holding down your “WASD” keys.
As it may suggest, running is the fastest way of going from one place to another. This helps you scale through the map quickly. However, running creates footstep noises, which can reveal your position to enemy players, so be mindful of your steps in deeper areas of the map.
Walking
Walking is a slower movement method than running, but it conceals your presence. A player can walk by using their “WASD” keys, but the “SHIFT” key must be held down.
The player will move at a significantly slower pace compared to running. However, walking will ensure that no footstep noises will be made, allowing players to sneakily get into positions.
It is crucial to walk in highly-contested areas, as you don’t want enemy players to know your positions.
Crouching
Crouching is essentially how you “duck” in Counter-Strike. When crouching, your player model height is essentially halved. Crouching is mainly used to take cover behind boxes or obstacles.
When crouching, players become incredibly slow in movement – much slower than walking. However, similar to walking, moving while crouching will not produce any footstep noise.
Still, it is important to note that players are extremely accurate in shooting while they are in a crouching position. However, they are also more vulnerable to bullets since they cannot dodge any with the reduced movement speed.
Jumping
The final basic movement is jumping. The primary use of jumping is to get into elevated positions that can catch enemy players off guard. Whether it is jumping on top of a box, or jumping to other positions around the map.
However, jumping creates noise when landing, so enemy players might be alerted of the positioning so that it won’t be much of a surprise anymore.
Jumping can also be used to gather information. If a player is behind cover such as boxes or walls, they can jump to see the positions of enemies temporarily.
Advanced CS:GO Movement
Now that we’ve gotten the four basic types of movements out of the way, there are advanced CS:GO movement techniques that usually require a combination of these four movement keys, as well as proper mouse movement.
Movement Inaccuracy
One thing players must remember is that they are inaccurate when moving. This means your bullets will go all over the place when you’re running and gunning.
That being said, try to minimize your movements when you start to open fire. You can still perform movement tactics such as counter-strafing (which will be discussed later), but try your best not to run or jump when shooting unless you are equipped with an SMG.
Jump Crouching
We talked about how jumping can help you get to elevated or surprising positions that will give you the upper hand on an upcoming duel. However, some boxes and positions cannot simply be reached by running and jumping.
Sometimes, you must crouch at the end of your jump to make it to certain heights. This is because your player model will shrink, allowing you to get to elevated positions easier since less player height must be accounted for.
Air Strafing
Air strafing is primarily used for movement purposes. When running and jumping forward normally, you can only go so far. This distance might make you fail certain jumps on various maps due to a lack of distance.
When strafing in the air, you are essentially spamming your “A” and “D” keys and moving your mouse slightly left and right to gain momentum in the air. This ensures you will have more speed and will land further in a single jump.
Counter-Strafing
Counter-strafing is a very underrated technique that not many casual players know about, but it is extremely potent in the higher levels of Counter-Strike.
The idea of counter-strafing is to move left and right while you are taking a gun fight. This makes it much harder for the enemy players to hit your player model since you are constantly moving in the fight.
However, you must coordinate your “A” and “D” movements when counter-strafing, as you will need to shoot back. The idea is to counter-strafe your own movement so your player model immediately stops, allowing you to fire your gun with precise accuracy.
Boosting
Boosting is a movement technique that requires the assistance of your teammates – it’s literally impossible to do it yourself. Boosting in Counter-Strike refers to standing on top of a teammate to get to elevated positions that are not possible to reach alone.
In a boost, the teammate at the bottom must crouch. The other teammate will jump on top of the crouched player. Then, the player on top will jump to allow the player at the bottom to stand up. Now, they are essentially a human tower.
Advanced players can also perform a runboost, where both players will start running at the same time, and the player on top will be launched to the other side to surprise the opponent waiting for them.
Shoulder Peeking
Shoulder peeking is a micro movement technique that is primarily used to gather information and bait out shots.
The idea is to stand right next to a corner where enemy players could be waiting behind. All you have to do is slightly peek out with your shoulder, then quickly return back to cover. During this period where you are peeking, you can see where the enemy players are on one side.
When shoulder peeking, you might also encourage your enemies to shoot a bullet at you, which will give you a general idea of where they are. Feel free to shoulder peek multiple times to gather information and bait out shots.
Jump Spotting
Jump spotting serves a similar purpose for shoulder peeking, especially when you are expecting an AWP. At the highest level of Counter-Strike, AWPers can easily react to shoulder peeks and kill you.
Instead of shoulder peeking, jump spotting is pretty much shoulder peeking except you are jumping as well. Same thing – stand behind a corner, but this time, jump and then expose your shoulder to gather information.
Players will often line up their crosshair at head level, but when you are jump spotting, your player model will appear high up, making it almost impossible to react.
Improving Your Movement
All of the movement techniques might sound pretty straightforward and easy to do, but they are much harder when you actually try to apply them in game. Things can become much easier if you master your movement skills, such as your WASD coordination or your strafing skills.
Here are some ways you can practice and improve your movement skills.
Surfing
The first method is through surfing. It is a game mode where players are sliding on ramps – nothing too related to Counter-Strike itself. However, to surf properly, players must have good air strafing skills and precise mouse movement, which is crucial to becoming a potent movement player inr regular Counter-Strike.
Aside from strictly surfing to practice your movement skills, it is also a great way to take a break and chill, as surfing is one of the most relaxing things you can do in CS:GO.
Bunny Hopping
Bunny hopping can actually be applied in a regular game of CS:GO, but we’re talking about bunny hopping servers. There are community servers with built-in plugins that allow players to automatically bunny hop by simply holding down the space bar.
However, players must have good strafing skills and quick mouse adjustments to go through bunny hopping maps and its obstacles, making it a great way to practice applicable movement skills.
KZ
KZ is probably the most effective way to train your movement in this game. It is pretty much Counter-Strike parkour. KZ maps will require you to climb maps by completing difficult jumps, which will require you to time your jumps properly and use necessary strafes or crouches to advance.
KZ maps also have obstacles such as boxes and ladders, which are two things you will see on most Counter-Strike maps. Overall, most professional players are good at movement because they play a lot of KZ.