Mirage is a staple map in Counter-Strike history, as it is one of the few maps that has never been rotated out of the Active Duty Map pool.
Mirage is known to favor the Counter-Terrorist side, as it is quite difficult for Terrorist players to control the map without the use of utility. This means it is essential to know a handful of smoke lineups that can get you through your Mirage matches.
In this article, we’ll discuss essential smoke lineups you need to know to become a better Mirage player and climb the ranks!
Terrorist Side Smokes
As briefly stated earlier, playing on the Terrorist side can be a daunting task in Mirage. Here are some essential smokes that will help you take control of the map effectively.
A Site Area
We’re going to look at three useful smokes for the A bomb site area:
- CT Spawn Smoke
- Stairs Smoke
- Jungle Smoke
Let’s go over each of them.
CT Spawn Smoke
Breaching into the A bomb site can be difficult if there is an enemy AWPer posted in the CT Spawn area, most notably Ticket Booth.
When exiting T Spawn, face toward the imperfect flat corner on the wall. You should see an explicit white line separating the bricks. Line yourself up with this white line.
Next, look at the general direction of CT Spawn, where you should see a tall building on the left side of your screen. You will notice that there is a small piece of wood sticking out horizontally at the top.
Aim your crosshair in the middle of this wooden line. Finally, perform a jump throw with your smoke. A jump throw bind can be very useful to land this lineup every time.
Stairs Smoke
The Stairs smoke was incredibly easy and well-known in CSGO, but the smoke isn’t as effective as it was in CS2, since the volumetric smokes might cover Sandwich, allowing pesky CTs to play around it. Instead, let’s use a new version of the Stairs smoke.
First, climb up the elevated stairs to go up to the platform across the entrance to Palace. Next, stand behind the second wooden beam after climbing up. Next, face towards the general direction of the Stairs area.
You should see a dark spot in the corner of the building wall directly in front of you. Slightly move your crosshair to the right, away from the corner. Finally, throw your smoke normally with your left-click.
Jungle Smoke
The standard Jungle smoke remains the same as Global Offensive, and is very easy to learn. Climb up to the elevated platform outside of T Spawn, and walk until you are in front of the entrance to A Ramp.
Next, look for the middle of the pillar – this spot should be very obvious to you. Then, turn around, and you should see something poking out of the ceiling of the building in front of you. Aim your crosshair on the top-left corner of the thing sticking out, and then slightly move your crosshair to the left.
Once everything is lined up, throw your smoke normally with a left-click throw.
Middle Area
Similar to the A bomb site, we have three lineups that will help you take control over Mid:
- Window Smoke
- Top Mid Smoke
- Connector Smoke
Let’s go over each of them.
Window Smoke
The Window smoke is incredibly difficult to land from T Spawn, so we’ll teach you the easiest way to do it from Top Mid. This one is extremely easy.
At Top Mid, hug the back wall and look for the antenna pole directly in front of you. This pole should line up nicely with the cart located in front of you. Aim at the middle of the antenna pole, and perform a running throw.
This smoke will perfectly land on the Window area and block it off completely.
Top Mid Smoke
The Top Mid smoke can be very helpful to take early control of Top Mid, which can help you throw the Window smoke we’ve just learned previously. This smoke can be done straight from T Spawn.
Once the round starts, look for the trash can in the corner and jump on top of it, then push yourself to the corner. Look up towards the general direction of Mid, where you should see an antenna pole.
Aim for the top-right corner of the antenna, then simply perform a left-click throw. This smoke will go over the building and land at the top of Catwalk. This smoke prevents any AWPers from picking your teammates off early into the round.
Connector Smoke
Once your team has taken control over Top Mid, there is a good chance the squad might want to head over to Catwalk and hit the B site through B Short. However, a common threat to this plan is any CT player in Connector, so let’s smoke it off so we can cross safely.
At Top Mid, bump yourself into the back-wall corner across the blue building. Next, look at the general direction of Connector, where you should see a small satellite above the “A” graffiti next to Connector.
You don’t have to be too precise, but simply aim at the satellite, then left-click and throw your smoke normally. This smoke will completely block off Connector, allowing your teammates to cross.
B Site Area
For the B site, we have two essential smokes to cover off B Short and Market Window, but you can also cover Market Door, too:
- Market Window Smoke
- B Short Smoke
- Market Door Smoke
Let’s go over each of them.
Market Window Smoke
Market Window is a pesky angle to deal with, as CT players with an AWP can easily look through the windows in Apartments and get easy pickoffs. We need to smoke that off.
After going through TV room, bump yourself into the corner directly on your right. This should be perpendicular to any of the two flower pots you see in front of you. Next, face the general direction of Market Window.
You will see a tall building. Aim your crosshair on the tip of the corner of the tall building closest to you, and then perform a jump throw. This smoke will perfectly land on Market Window, helping your team jump out of Apartments with less risk.
B Short Smoke
B Short is a threatening angle, as Counter-Terrorists can rotate quickly from Catwalk to pick off Terrorist players jumping out of Apartments. So, a smoke in this general area can definitely help a B site execute.
Go to the same corner with the Market Window smoke we’ve just learned. We are also going to look at the same tall building previously. This time, we are navigating our crosshair to the top-left corner of the building.
Aim your crosshair at the left tip of the building, and then throw your smoke normally with your left-click.
Market Door Smoke
Again, we are conveniently going to use the exact same corner as the two previous smoke lineups. Similar to the two lineups, we are basing the throw on the tall building in front.
Look at the right side of the tall building, where you should see three windows at the top floor. We’re going to use the middle window, and then aim our crosshair at the bottom-right corner of it. Once you’re lined up properly, simply perform a jump throw.
Since all three smokes, Market Window, Market Door, and B Short smokes can be thrown from the exact same spot, you can ask your teammates to drop you two smokes in front of you, allowing you to throw all three smokes quickly.
Counter-Terrorist Side Smokes
Fortunately, smokes are much easier to throw on defense, and won’t require you to memorize any difficult lineups. Since there aren’t too many lineups to remember, we’ll just run you through some essential smoke positions that can give you a favorable advantage in rounds. Most of these smokes can be thrown immediately with no lineups in mind.
A Ramp Smoke
Normally, it is best to start off rounds on the CT side by throwing an incendiary grenade on the A Ramp area. However, if you hear incoming enemies after the incendiary fades, you can always throw an A Ramp smoke to delay incoming Terrorists.
A Palace Smoke
Another point of contestion in the A site is Palace. Smoking off the Palace exit is extremely simple since the area is narrow. By smoking off Palace, you can freely peek into A Ramp when you’re standing on positions such as Stairs.
Connector Smoke
Most of the time, there should be a dedicated CT player holding the Connector area, as the Middle part of the map is crucial to control. Sometimes, it can be difficult to fend off Terrorists at Mid alone, so you could smoke off Connector and peek above it to catch enemies off guard.
B Apartments Smoke
The B site in Mirage is vulnerable to fast rushes through the B Apartments, as Terrorists can jump off the windows and wreak havoc. Throwing a B Apartments smoke is incredibly simple, and Terrorists pushing through it will have too many angles to clear in a short time.
B Bench Smoke
If Terrorists are already swarming the site and you are positioned in Bench, you can smoke off the left side of the area to create a cushion for you to play with. You can hide in the smoke and catch enemies by surprise, or peek off the other side.
Conclusion
Other than the specific lineups we’ve covered above, throwing smokes in Mirage generally isn’t too difficult. The map is very straightforward, so you will find yourself in situations where you can easily throw smokes regularly to block off tight chokepoints.
However, smoke lineups are essential during bomb site executes, as you must throw them over buildings, making these lineups important to remember when playing on the Terrorist side.