CS:GO AWP Guide

If you’re a Counter Strike veteran, you’re probably well aware that the AWP, short for Arctic Warfare Police, is possibly the best sniper rifle in CSGO. The classic sniper rifle can take out any player from the enemy team with a single well-placed AWP shot. Possibly the most powerful weapon in the game, a skilled AWP user is a huge advantage for their team. Because of this, there are many expensive AWP skins released throughout the game’s history, and players who sell CSGO skins often demand outrageous prices for some AWP skins.

If you want to become a good AWPer and make sure you score a kill with every single bullet, this guide is for you! Here’s everything you need to know to become a good AWP player.

What Is The AWP?

AWP is one of the most popular weapons in the game, and not without a good reason. This iconic sniper rifle is the most powerful gun in the game, and one AWP shot can take out every player. However, if you miss a shot, the loud sound will let everyone know that you’re using AWP and be helpless while reloading, making it a high-risk-high-reward weapon. Available to bother CT and T side, playing AWP is risky, but a skilled AWP player can easily carry a match.

The gun costs $4750, and takes up your main weapon slot, meaning that fighting off multiple enemies might become impossible. In addition, if you die and the enemy picks up your rifle, you will not only lose a ton of money and help the enemy team a lot, you can completely ruin your team’s CSGO economy.

Although you can kill enemies with a single shot, missing will give away your position, and possibly lose the round for your team. Because of this, you should generally avoid purchasing the AWP if you’re not going to score a single kill.

How To Be A Better AWP Player?

As we mentioned earlier, there are many skills you need to master to dominate the enemies, and most importantly, not be a liability to your teammates. If you want to become a better CSGO sniper, here’s what you should learn”

Learn The Maps

Most maps have a couple sniping spots, where you can set yourself up and easily kill unprepared members of the enemy team. Likewise, most of these spots allow for more than one angle for sniping away the enemy players. If things get hot, you must also know where to move for a safer position.

Although most maps feature the best sniping spots at the long position, knowing where you should stand with your AWP is the most important part of being a good AWPer. If you learn the maps and the best spots, you won’t have to waste the precious time in a round running around and looking for a spot to fire from. Before trying to force buy an AWP, make sure you know the maps very well.

Position Properly

An important part of playing AWP is knowing how to position properly. One shot with the AWP will not only take out every enemy, but any of your teammates as well. Enemy team that knows how to counter an AWPer can disable you with a single smoke grenade. Because of this, knowing how to position properly is the key to becoming a good AWP player.

Any person that knows how to take advantage of all the best spots on the map will be able to take out the opponents easily. When you know the best positioning, you can make yourself useful to your team in many situations.

Learn How To No-Scope

This might sound very difficult, since as you probably noticed, you don’t get a crosshair on your screen when you’re not using the scope on AWP. This doesn’t mean, however, that shots fire off in random direction. In fact, the AWP has a quite predictable spray pattern. The bullets fly our in a cone, that starts small and extends in size as the bullet flies.

Although no-scoping in CS:GO is not a popular technique, you can effectively kill enemies up close with a single shot as well. Although you should avoid close confrontation with the AWP equipped, sometimes you don’t have the choice, and knowing how to kill your enemies with a one shot up-close is a very useful skill. Try to practice your muscle memory and get a feel of the AWP spray pattern in bot matches to practice fighting in close quarters.

Practice Counter Strafing

When you’re simply standing zoomed-in with your AWP, you’re an easy target for the enemy team. To change this, you must learn how to use counter strafing to your advantage. With this advanced movement technique, you’ll be able to pop out of a corner and immediately fire off accurate shorts with your scope zoomed-in.

Counter strafing helps you negate the extra spread you get from firing while moving. When you counter strafe, you immediately stop in your tracks, and your shots are more accurate. To counter strafe, simply tap the button for the direction you’re currently walking in. So for example, if you’re using D to walk to the right, simply let go of the button and tap D immediately again, in order to stop in your tracks. Although you might need to practice a bit, counter strafing is an extremely useful advanced technique for CSGO.

Know When To Buy The AWP

Before you purchase the AWP, make sure you can carry it to the next round. Of course you can purchase an AWP on the final round, but really think hard if your team can afford such a high-risk weapon. You might be better off with some other CSGO SMG.

Before you purchase an AWP, always make sure that your team can afford this expanse. In many cases, you’re better off saving that money and buying guns for some of your teammates that have died in the previous round.

To Sum Up

AWP is a powerful weapon, but it doesn’t come without it’s own set of risks. If you want to make sure your AWP skills are up to the tasks, keep practicing regularly, and if you want any more CSGO guides, be sure to check out the rest of our blog!