I've been working a lot on counter-strafing lately, but I still feel like I'm missing a lot of the actual fundamentals of CS.

Things I think I'm doing okay at:

My raw aim feels pretty decent. I'm at 800 DPI and 2.32 sensitivity. I aim mostly with my wrist and flick, so the higher sensitivity feels comfortable and lets me do a full rotation without having to make huge movements.

My counter-strafing is getting better. I'm still not consistent with it, but I understand what I'm supposed to be doing now. I think this is mostly something I need to keep practicing until it becomes automatic.

Where I feel really weak:

Movement around the actual maps is probably my biggest problem. I don't always know how I should be approaching an area or where I should be positioning myself.

Clearing angles is another big one. I understand the basic idea of clearing one angle at a time, but actually doing it while moving through a site feels awkward. I come from a sorta high-end competitive Halo Background, so drastically different. I either expose myself to too much at once or spend too much time checking.

I also don't really know when I should be walking, running, swinging, jiggle peeking, wide swinging, etc. I know what most of those things are, but knowing when and why to actually use them during a game is completely different.

Basically, I feel like my raw aim mechanics are starting to come along, which is nice as this is my first FPS on MnK, but my CS fundamentals are way behind them. I've played a ton of shooters, but CS feels like it has its own language that I'm still learning.

What fundamentals should I focus on first, and what's the best way to actually practice them?

Any training maps, suggestions, learning about eco control, etc.? I've watched a bunch of YouTube vids. However, a lot of them assume prior knowledge.

As someone who was on the same journey recently, that sens is wayyyyy too high. I was the same way. Just take a day and sit in an aimbotz map and try to get it down to at least like 1.4. I play on 1.2 sens, 1000 dpi, which is still considered on the higher side, but once I adjusted, it was so much better than my ultra high sens

warowls old csgo lessons series on youtube are still pretty useful for the basics

Halve your sens, watch the “how to play (map) at a high level” series from polo, play refrag crossfire and prefire, play community DM for \~30 minutes a day, run around on maps and dry run default routes/util, and play 4-6 matches a day.

It’s tiring as fuck and requires a lot of time and commitment, but you WILL improve.

Go down to like at most 1.5 sens

Go get aim labs or kovaaks and play some micro scenarios

Get refrag and do the pre fire maps

Do community dm

Watch some pro player POVs and try to copy how they play

Thanks for the input. I appreciate your help! One question, though: doesn't it make sense to be able to do a full swing with my standard movement area?

Thanks for the suggestion. 2.32 feels comfy since I don't really move my arm at all. But I will try.

Thanks for the rec. i will watch these tonight.

Trust me, I felt the same way, but I and you are both just wrong lol. The micro adjustments needed do not lend well to high sensitivity at all

As it relates to movement around the map, if neither you or your teammates are advancing, the opponents are collecting information and shrinking the map around you from one side or multiple sides. The only thing in question is when did they start advancing and how far have they've gone. Thats why pace is important. You dont need to speed run but if youre choosing the slow route and so are your teammates and youre clustered together too long only bad things will happen the longer you guys sit together.

As it relates to taking engagements. You have to take perpendicular angles to standard defensive spots. You can't spray into your target in this game anywhere near halo. Your spray has to start on your target. If you spray before hand, youre already working from behind the further your crosshair is the when you start, the more from behind you work. Your opponent has an advantage single shooting an aim first then click technique over you instant spray on visual when your crosshair is not near your opponent

i won't get too hung up on the sens, the most important thing is it's comfortable but it is on the high end, i'm right in the average at 2.3@400dpi so you're twice my sens. it might be something you want to lower now while you're still building habits vs later on when you've got more to unlearn.

as for moving around, pay attention to your minimap, aside from showing you spotted enemies it will also show the noise you're making as circles around your blip. paying attention to this and learning who can hear you from where is crucial to understanding when to shift. make sure you have it set to see all or at least most of the map so you don't miss anything as well.

for example, if you're contacting B on Mirage T side, the first spawn can make it to the stairs outside of Apps before needing to shift, the other spawns need to shift as they come out of the TV corridor or the CT on Short will hear them, and you'll see this on the radar. Likewise on Dust 2, players towards Blue can hear players up Short and vice versa, so if you're contacting with control of one but not the other, you need to shift or you'll be heard.

as a newer player though, i can guess that you're shifting way too much. unless all of your team around you is shifting somewhere, don't be afraid to run around. sometimes getting into a favourable position quickly is more important than getting there quietly, and imo it's easier to play more aggressive and tone it down over time than it is to get a scared player to go aggro.

you can play prefire maps from the workshop to get used to clearing angles, the 5eplay ones are good. some of the fights are pretty unrealistic but if gives you a sense of the sequence you need to clear spots in. i'd also recommend maps like recoil master, aim\_botz, fast aim and aim\_treeni for basic mechanics practice.

austincs has a good video on the economy that's pretty beginner friendly, and his demo reviews and guide to solo queue series have a lot of great bits of advice. the soloq series especially is great for seeing how a higher level player thinks.

believe this guy. most of us were the same way. itll take time to get used to it, but youll thank your future self.

most people sit around 800 eDPI. you are effectively at 1856 eDPI. There are very few people who can use this type of sense and genuinely be consistent with it.

I highly encourage you to go lower.

Primary focus:
Learning the flow of each map, your feeling will come after the next 900hrs or so. Some people naturally play certain roles better, figure out what role you’re naturally gifted at then watch what skilled pro players do in those roles and where they play from. Always ask yourself why they’re doing what they’re doing. Don’t be afraid to play tethered to someone early ranks on certain maps, team play wins games.

I’m partial to watching old gameplay of GeT\_RighT, he used a wide range of weapons in the early csgo era -pros played a lot more fast and loose, but you’re at low rank so it shouldn’t matter early game- he was a master of understanding the flow of games and took advantage of it for easy kills that could cripple whole T/CT halves.

Learning utility for the core maps will net easy wins up until MG.

Set your dpi to 1600, and cut your sense down quite a bit, your aim will improve once you get use to it.
Clearing your angles is a 1 by 1 process, don’t skip anything unless clear evidence points to them not being there. Work on counterstrafeing and prefiring the most common defensive locations.

Have a positive attitude, that alone makes gameplay with randoms way better.

TLDR: Watch GeT\_RighT gameplay, have a good attitude, the first 1k hours is the tutorial.