CS2 Glossary: boost, clutch, retake, grenade line-up. Guide by SCOPE.GG

Counter-Strike, like any other game, has evolved rapidly. The better people is playing, the more different mechanics they reveal & implement. More and more new things today require their own names, so the game has a lot of terms. Sometimes can be quite difficult for a beginner to understand what are they mean.

Terms will be useful not only in order to become "cooler". They help you to save some time in gining the important infor for you teammates. Let's agree that the sentence made up of just a world "drop" is better & quicker that to say "Dear teammate, would you kindly buy some kind of gun for me, because I'm completely poor in this round." Get ready for the situation when your random teammates from matchmaking will not always speak a common language with you, but they understand CS2 terminology very well.

Clutch

This term is also used in traditional kinds of sport. It denotes some special moment associated with maximum tension and emotions. In CS2, a 'clutch' is a situation in which a player of one team remains in a 1v1 situation or one against several opponent players.

To successfully win the clutch you need to concentrate for 100 %: a bright head, an advanced mind and excellent shooting skills. In such situations, the player left alone has to think several times faster. Successful clutches almost always remain in the memory of the players for a long time, especially if they are made at major tournaments.

Read more about how to win a clutch in another guide by SCOPE.GG:

Mind games

This term follows directly from the previous one. Despite the importance of shooting in CS2, sometimes the situation is such that any level of your aim skills won't help. Only the mind of the player and his ability to confuse the opponent can decide the outcome of the round in his favor. It's no longer enough to do what you want. You literally have to get into the enemy's head and calculate his actions for a couple of seconds ahead. You need to guess where the enemy will go, calculate the timings (we will also speak about this term below) of his journey around the map and play the situation in your favor.

Outplay, predict and destroy - this is the goal of mind games.

Timings

Another important term that any CS2 player should know after years of training. In fact, timing is an intuition. After a couple of thousand hours in CS2, you no longer need to look at the round timer to understand at what time the enemy attack on your positions begins. Accordingly, you throw a grenade at the right point even at the moment when the enemy did not even showed up. Thus, you inflict damage on him and make an advantage in your direction. You can also bypass the enemy in terms of timing, because you know for sure that at this moment he does not expect such a move (action) from you.

'Catch or get a bad timing' - miss the enemy or turn away from the desired point just at the moment when the enemy appears.

Retake

Retake is a mopping-up operation on a certain point of the map. For example, if you play for CT and the Ts planted a bomb on one of the sites, then you and your teammates will have to do a retake. Often this happens even in 2v5, 3v5 situations. So, retakes are considered as especially intense moments in matches.

Eco or eco round

Eco or eco round is a round when a team does not buy anything, or takes a minimum set of items so that all players have money to purchase in the next round.

The economy of CS2 is designed in such a way that if you lose several rounds in a row, then you run out of money. You still get a certain amount at the beginning of the round, so sometimes it is useful to save them, and an increase in the next one will already allow you to buy a rifle.

Read more about the economy in CS2 in another guide by SCOPE.GG:

However, do not despair, in Counter Strike: Global Offensive you can even win a full eco-round, as in the example below.

Force buy or force buy round

Force buy or force buy round is a volitional decision to buy a weapon in a round when you don't have enough money for a normal buy, but you need to do something to break the enemy's economy or streak. It is not always possible to make an eco round. For example, you don’t want to give your enemy another round, or you feel that the opponent’s economy is rather weak, and if you manage to win in a force buy, then the enemy will already have an eco.

In general, everything that you buy on force buy at will. For example, someone buys a good pistol with armor, and you can buy a cheap rifle and grenades.

Drop

Drop is any weapon or grenade bought by yourself for a teammate. Not always all five have the same amount of money to buy at the beginning of the round. Someone dies more often and his economy may be broken. In this case, you can ask for a drop from a teammate who has enough money to buy the desired rifle or just a nade. It is very important that all the players on your team have enough firepower to hold their positions.

Ninja defuse

Ninja defuse is usually one of the most funny moments in a match, if it happens. This term refers to the situation when the defending player managed to defuse the bomb planted on the site when Terrorists left it to save their guns or find enemies saving the guns.

Especially experienced players make whole combinations to defuse the bomb in this way. You know perfectly well that the beginning of the defuse can be heard, but you can't "hide" this sound behind another. For example, behind a grenade explosion or something else.

Grenade line-up

Grenade line-up is the ability to properly use grenades. One of the most important elements of defeating the enemy. On any competitive map in CS2 there is a set of important points that can be covered with a smoke or incendiary grenade. The ability to use flashbags is also important.

With the help of the right grenade line-ups, you can almost completely isolate the point you are going to from the enemy's rotation. At the same time, all enemy players who will be at this point will also be blinded by your incredible flashbangs. There is no road to competitive Counter-Strike without the grenades' usage skills.

Spraying & Tapping

The ability to shoot in CS2 is one of the key factors for a victory. You can shoot at the enemy by tapping (one bullet), which is important for pistols or long distances for rifles. And you can shoot by holding the left mouse button - this is the spray (spraying).

Each rifle in the game has a special spray pattern. This means that when the mouse button is held down, the bullets will always fly along the same trajectory, taking into account recoil. It is critical to memorize these trajectories in order to work effectively in a team. The spray is effective at close range, when one or more enemies suddenly jump out at you, and you need to pour a lot of damage into them as quickly as possible. The more accurate your spray, the more likely you are to survive in such a situation.

Read more about the spray & recoil in the series of guides by SCOPE.GG:

Wallbang

A wallbang is a hit on an enemy that is hidden behind a wall or a box. There are a lot of textures in CS2 that can be fired from various weapons. For example, thin wooden surfaces can even be pierced with some pistols, but to break through large wooden boxes, you will need a solid rifle like AK-47 or M4. Some stone surfaces can only be penetrated with the AWP. The surface that is being shot through will usually reduce the damage from your weapons, so more ammo will be required to kill the enemy.

Prefire

Quite an interesting mechanic that infuriates many players, especially inexperienced ones. Prefire is when you start shooting in advance at a position in which, according to information, there is an enemy. Sometimes this shooting technique is used when you have no information about your enemy, just because it is given to the most popular position occupied by the him.

Let's say you know for sure that the enemy often sits behind some kind of box. You can go to him on a wide step (strafe) and try to kill, but there is a chance that he is ready for this option. It will be more profitable to start shooting at this position shortly before the exit, and only then take a step to the side. So, more your bullets hit the enemy's body, which will help you to kill an enemy & win the round.

Ace

Every CS2 player's dream. Ace is a series of 5 kills by one player in one round. In competitive play, that's also called 'five frags'. It is considered an elite achievement, also because it is incredibly difficult to make an ace.

Boost

A boost is the use of game mechanics when certain places can only be reached with the help of a teammate. For example, on a high box, which is impossible to climb alone. Your teammate sits under him, you jump on his head, and then straight to the box.
Also called replanting are combinations of 'tower' or 2d, 3d. This means that you can climb on your teammate's head and stand on it, looking for the enemy on the map. A useful combination if you need to sit down over a smoke or over a low wall.

No scope

One of the varieties of a 'lucky shot' in the game. Everyone knows very well that sniper rifles without the use of a scope are very inaccurate. It's almost impossible to hit someone without a scope. You will not even be saved by a cross drawn with a marker on the screen. So noscoping (noscope) is killing an enemy without using a scope.

Flick shot

Flickshot is a quick kill of an enemy that has suddenly appeared somewhere on the edge of your screen. As a rule, flick shots are directly dependent on the reaction of the player and how often he practices his shooting.

Split push

There are many types of attacking tactics in CS2. Let's say you already know what Rush is. This is when the team in full strength goes to one of the points. But with competent opponents, this tactic does not always work, it is quite stupid, especially if the enemy uses grenades well and gives information. It would be smarter to organize a split push - this is a tactic in which the attack on the point comes from several sides.

Let's say you want to break through point B on the Mirage. You can send three teammates to Appartments with a bomb, and at this time, with the remaining friend, try to go Short. It will be much more difficult for the enemy to defend against two points at the same time.

Fake

Fake is another of the most important tactical elements in CS2. If your teammates offer to make a fake, it means that they are going to deceive the enemy, imitate the execution of one of the bomb sites, and then quickly move to the other end of the map and take an empty plant.

One-way or one-way smokes

One-way or one-way smoke is a tricky smoke grenade that is thrown in such a way that visibility is only from one side. The one who threw it sees everything, but the opponents see nothing through this smoke.

We, at SCOPE.GG have made a special guide that will help you to understand what the one-way smoke means and how to use it. Check it out:

We also recomment check the best one-way smokes on our Grenade Prediction service.

Good luck on the server!