Why do you need the bomb?
Bomb is available in 2 game modes - competitive and demolition. First one is the most popular, including all the maps with de prefix. Maps from the active map pool which are used in competition and professional leagues have this prefix.
At the beginning of the round, a random terrorist will be given the bomb.
Bomb or C4 is one of the two possible opportunities to win the round in competitive mode (you can either plant the bomb and defend it until the explosion or kill all your enemies). So, if the bomb explodes no matter how many terrorists are alive they will win the round regardless, even if no one survived.
One of the key things to understand - you can lose the bomb or drop it intentionally. That`s an important part of the tactic, because you have to choose the path for your bomber so he won`t run alone and die in no man`s land where the opposite team can take full control of it and make this round unwinnable for you.
If you want to plant the bomb, firstly you need to get to one of the 2 bombsites - A or B. Planting requires time - 3.4 seconds, keep it in mind. When you are planting you can't move, but you can always cancel the process and take the gun in hands. This thing is commonly used and called “fake plant”, which could make your opponent peek you or run out from the smoke for example to deny the plant, so in certain situations it might be a game changing move.
To make the defuse ct player needs 5 seconds with defuse-kit and 10 without it. Cts usually make the same move as we described before - for cts it is called “fake defuse” and it's a common thing to trick your opponent in the clutch.
Planting the bomb will reward the player $300, and if the bomb was planted before the round time runs out but the bomb gets defused then the Terrorists get a $800 reward bonus on top of the cash amount for losing. For ct team it works in the same way - player who defused the bomb will get $300 and each member of the team will be getting an additional $250 bonus.
When are you supposed to plant or defuse?
As a t side player you could plant the bomb only in certain areas called bombsites (the right place to do it has red X mark on it).
The main rule of planting - don't do it unless you are safe. If you can plant without being killed the best way to do it is to plant in the open area, so your teammates could control it from multiple angles without being exposed.
Don't plant wide open if you are not sure that it's safe - better to plant in a less comfortable position than die and leave your team in an awkward situation.
Good communication between players in your team is important - the player who plant the bomb needs to know which angles are safe for him and what are his teammates watching. Lacking of this information could lose you the round you should have won just because your planter got punished and you dont have enough time to recover the bomb and plant it again.
If you are playing on CT side retaking the bomb is not an easy task. In order to make this a bit easier we have some tips for you:
- Buy defuse-kits if you have enough money for that after purchasing the utility. In pro games you probably going to see 2-3 sets of kits (1 on each bomb site), because if you are going to retake one of those players will be alive in 9 out of 10 situations. We strongly recommend to buy on faceit or matchmaking every time you have money even if all of your teammates already got it;
- Dont defuse the bomb as fast as possible - first of all make sure that every angle that might be dangerous for you is cleared, utility is spent and you also have a teammate who can cover you while you are going for a defuse;
- Defusing is a task for player who purchased the kits. If no one has them - the first player who get to the bomb should defuse it.
Almost every team, even non-professional ones take retakes very seriously and usually spend some time on practicing it together. If you have the team or about to create one - we recommend you to do the same. On those practice sessions you could set up the nades you need to retake, when to use them and how to enter the bombsite. The last thing is crucial, because a lot of players don't make a big deal out of the entry path, as a result it could be really hard to get yourself proper trades.
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It's very important to know how to move if you are the first point of contact - you probably have to die, but you have to do it right so your teammates are going to have high chances of getting positive trades after your death.
Key features of planting
Bomb planting is not as easy as it might look. If you want to get an advantage in the post-plant scenario, you have to think about lots of factors, which will help you play the situation the best way possible.
First of all, you need to check your teammates positions and plant the bomb in the most comfortable spot for them. For example, if you are playing inferno, you take the B bombsite and your teammate is holding banana the best possible plant is near coffins so your teammate could spot the bomb without running out widely.
If you are playing as a T on any map you should know that successful post-plant scenarios require some map control. You won't win the round if you hide in the corner, because ct players would have a lot of nades and molly or nade your position or just prefire it, and if they get the information about you sitting in the corner you wont have any chance to survive there long enough.
Perfect example: you did the A execute on Mirage and got the bombsite. The best way to increase your chances of winning the round is to take ct control (if you planted the bomb for ct), or if the plant is open the best possible move would be sending one guy to flank from middle while others just have to stay alive.
To make your retake as easy as possible we also recommend you to check how the bomb was planted. In 95% of situations terrorist plant the bomb for the position they will go, so if you see the bomb planted for certain positions most likely terrorists will be there.
Useful tips
There are some cool features about the bomb. Even pro players sometimes don`t know them and it could be a key factor in crucial rounds.
The most obvious stuff we need to mention - fake plants and fake defuses. Those are 2 classic things a lot of people do and it make things much harder for their opponents. You can either fake it or stick till the end. Sometimes your opponent would think that you faked defuse sound and he won`t move. So this feature could be used as bait as well :) To play those scenarios well we recommend you to check the bomb carefully after 2 seconds you heard the defuse sound. Just do a short strafe to see if your opponent stick it or not, it`s going to be almost unreal to kill you on this check.
Next thing is much more complicated. A lot of players don`t know that you can plant the bomb a bit faster by pressing "E" button. It is the fastest way to plant because your player model won`t waste any time to take the bomb into the hands. If your time situation is tight - use this to make sure you got it.
Molotov sound could be a problem for terrorists in bomb plant scenarios. We don`t know if this feature is bug or not, but sometimes if you start defusing the bomb and someone throw the molly at the same time bomb sound could be inaudible. So better check the bomb if you hear the molly. But remember, you can use your Molotov as a fake nade to bait your enemy. Read more about the Molotov here ↓
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Keep in mind that the bomb is so important in competitive CS:GO, so it`s highly recommended to prac retakes and think about your own post-plant plays you might go for. Who knows, maybe those things will help your team secure the victory!
