How to Improve (Part 2): Player Roles and Shooting Tips - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Player Roles

In competitive CS:GO games, each player in the 5 man team is assigned a different role. This is mostly the case when playing the terrorist site however it can also be applicable to the counter terrorist side. To improve your gameplay, it's best to pick the role that's most suited to your set of abilities. These roles are:

1. Entry Fragger - As the name suggests, the entry fragger is the person at the front, the first person to enter bombsites or any situation. Usually the entry fragger flashes into places first and their objective is to get as many kills as possible before inevitably dying. These players are expected to die and relay information to the other players.
2. Play Maker - The play maker is usually the player with the best aim. Their goal is, after the entry fragger dies, their goal is to get the bomb onto the bombsite and secure the bombsite once the bomb is planted.
3. Support/Strat Caller - The strat caller/support player is the player with the greatest knowledge of grenades, strategy and good communication. They should know the projectiles of different grenades and all the important locations to grenade. Their goal is to get the bomb onto the bombsite using smokes and flashes to aid his team and prevent them from dying. Also, they should know where the enemy is through the information provided by the awper and entry fragger, enabling them to determine which strategy is best to get the bomb planted. All the whilst captaining the team with excellent communication skills.
4. Awper - Otherwise known as the sniper, these players need an extremely good aim and reaction times to pick kills from the enemy team. Their primary objective is to relay the information they see from the other side of the map to the strat caller so their team can make plays.
5. Lurker - This player needs to have great knowledge of rotations and good positioning. The lurker is the one that positions themselves behind the enemy team and cleans up all the kills.

Shooting Tips

There are multiple methods of shooting your enemy. These are 1 tap, 3-4 bullet burst and spray fire. However each method is dependent on the situation. Knowing when to use which method of shooting is the greatest asset to improving you aim and overall gameplay. When to:

• 1 Tap Fire - In this situation where the enemy is very far from you, the best way to shoot is 1 tap firing. This is because multiple shots stray off from the target due to recoil as a result the shots fired will not hit the enemy. To 1 tap fire it's simply aiming you cross hair, preferably at their head, repeatedly tapping on the mouse to fire (not holding down the shoot button at all).

• 3-4 Bullet Burst fire - At this distance from the enemy, the optimal way to shoot is through 3-4 bullet bursts. This is because at this distance from the enemy, the first 3-4 bullets are rather accurate as there is less recoil the closer you are to the enemy. To 3-4 bullet burst fire, hold down the shoot button for a short period of time before releasing the button.

• Spray fire - In this situation, where the enemy is close to you, the best method of shooting is to spray since the enemy is close, there is much less recoil and almost every bullet will hit the enemy. To spray, just hold down the shoot button until the enemy is dead.

Spray Patterns

To make your spraying accurate it's vital to know the spray pattern of the gun you are using, in this case I will show you how to control the spray of the AK-47.

As you can see, when you spray not all the bullets go straight to where you want them to go but instead, they follow a default spray pattern. On the left if the spray pattern for the AK-47, on the right hand side is the controlled spray pattern. To control the spray and make your aim more accurate, you want to move your mouse accordingly in the opposite direction to the default spray pattern. As a result, this will counteract and center all you bullets towards the center of your cross hair hence more accurate firing and less opportunity for your enemy to kill you.

Jason Chen

League of Legends: Battlefields

In League of Legends, there are multiple battlefields/maps for players to choose, and each of them comes with unique play styles as well as time duration, including the following:

Summoner’s Rift

Average game length: 30 – 45 mins

Number of players: 5 vs 5 

        

Summoner’s Rift is the largest and most commonly played map in LoL (and used for competitive play and tournaments), this map is mirrored diagonally and split into 3 lanes (top, mid and bot lane) as well as jungle areas. Each lane is defended by 3 turrets and 1 inhibitor, and the nexus in the middle of the base is protected by 2 turrets.

Features:

•          Slow pace early game-mostly farming
•          Intensive late game- one mistake can cause the whole game
•          Fighting for objectives (i.e. Jungle monster – buffs and turrets)
•          Vision control

Twisted Treeline

Average game length: 25 – 35 mins

Number of players: 3 vs 3

Twisted Treeline is very similar to Summoner’s Rift; however it is much smaller, this map only has 2 lanes and a much smaller jungle area between those lanes. Each lane is defended by 2 turrets and 1 inhibitor, and the nexus in the middle of the base is protected by only 1 turret.

Features:

• Smaller jungle area – higher gank/roam opportunities for both friendly and enemy player

Howling Abyss

Average game length: 20 – 30 mins

Number of players: 5 vs 5

Howling Abyss is a map designed for ARAM (All Random All Mid), it has only one lane where two bases are placed at the each end, each side is defended by 2 turrets and inhibitor, and the nexus is protected by 2 turrets.

Features:

•  Heavily rely on luck for random champions (i.e. team composition)
• Cannot heal by returning to base or buy items until death
• Intensive team fights throughout the game

Crystal Scar

Average game length: 20 – 30 mins

Number of players: 5 vs 5

Crystal Scar is a flagship map of Dominion game mode, in this map players in each team is competing to capture and hold between 5 strategic points/towers, capture points are rewarded upon capturing the tower, killing enemy player and quest, and the team with most points wins the game.

Features:

•          Hide and seek play-style
•          More relaxing and less competitive mood

By William

Osu! - Game Modes

Osu! accommodates users with 4 game modes, including osu!, Taiko, Catch the beat and osu!Mania. Each of these game modes include solo and multiplayer gameplay.

Game Modes

Taiko

The Taiko game mode is another rhythm game which involves hitting notes to a beatmap. The game was originally based on an arcade game known as "Taiko no Tatsujin'. Taiko does not require the use of a mouse, only the use of a keyboard. When playing Taiko, red beats, blue beats and yellow drum rolls will appear at the right side of the screen in a scrolling motion. Red beats are known as "don" and are represented by the center drum, blue beats are known as "kats" are represented by the rim of the center drum. To hit the read beats, players must hit one of the two Taiko inner hit buttons. For blue, a Taiko Outer hit button must be pressed. When a large beat passes under the circle, pressing both corresponding keys will earn players extra points. When a long beat passes under the circle, players should tap to the rhythm in order to earn points. When a spinner appears, they must alternate hitting the inner and outer hit buttons until the number at the bottom reaches 0.

Catch the Beat
Catch the beat is another rhythm game mode that available in osu! A user plays as a character names 'Yuzu' holding a plate on top of his head. The objective of the game is to catch the fruits that fall at the top of the screen. Each of the fruits fall according to the rhythm of the song(beatmap). Single beats are individual fruits falling at a time while sliders are multiple fruits falling as a trail. Spinners are represented as multiple alternate fruit drops within the screen and do not require an amount to be caught, although catching them will provide extra points.



osu!Mania
Osu!Mania is a game mode available on osu! which requires users to hit falling notes according to several bound columns according to the rhythm of the song(beatmap). As notes fall from the top of the screen, players are expected to hit notes in accordance to the notes bound column which is binded by a specific key on the keyboard in order to clear the note. Each beatmap contains a different amount of keys to be pressed during the song which go from 1K(key) to 9K. Special mods are also available such as co-op and fade-in which increase the multiplier as it increases the difficulty of the beatmap.

By Emil

How to Improve (Part 1): Hardware - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Hardware 

Similar to all games, CS:GO, also requires traditional computing hardware to play. But to improve externally, upgrades to your hardware and accessories can be made.

Mouse

When it comes to CS:GO or any FPS game in that matter, most people would imagine the mouse would be the most important hardware component for solid performance. Although it is crucial to have a mouse, the quality of the mouse does not have to be state of the art. Instead, majority of mice can be used for CS:GO. This is because it's vital to have a mouse with low DPI as it facilitates steady and precise crosshair movement, thus better aim. An overwhelming number of professionals use 400 DPI which is half the standard DPI (800 DPI) of default mice. Now knowing that, here's some specifications when upgrading your mouse:

• Budget - Obviously knowing your budget is the most important part of upgrading your mouse because you don't want to end up in debt. You want the most bang for your buck.
• DPI - Ensure that the mouse your planning to buy has the ability to adjust DPI settings. This is because 400 DPI is way too slow for everyday browsing of the internet or other computer usage. You will exhaust yourself just trying to find a file or open a program.
• Sensor - Optical mice are generally better for FPS gaming compared to laser. As with laser, despite being mechanically more accurate than laser, it has many inaccuracies with mouse acceleration and fast flick movements of the mice.
• Durability - Do research prior to buying the mouse and read reviews to determine the quality and durability of the mouse. As a consumer, you don't want to buy an expensive mouse which is amazing for the few days before it breaks.

Examples of Good Mice for CS:GO

• Logitech Gaming Mouse G300

~$30, Amazon

• Razer DeathAdder Chroma

$59, MSY

• Steelseries Rival

~$110, SteelSeries

Keyboards

Similar to mice, keyboards are not as vital as they seem. In CS:GO, there is only a few selection of keys that are being repeatedly pressed. Hence choosing a good keyboard is completely personal preference. The only requirements for a good CS:GO keyboard are:

• Mechanical - Mechanical keyboards are much superior to normal rubber dome keyboards as they are much more responsive to keys being pressed and durable.
• Budget - Similar to mice, you want to make sure you can afford the keyboard. Selecting the keyboard you want to buy online beforehand is the best way to go.
• Durability - In general mechanical keyboards are higher quality and more durable than normal keyboards. Nonetheless, you still want to find the best quality keyboard. This can be done through reading reviews.

Examples of Good Keyboards for CS:GO

• Razer DeathStalker Essential

$54, MSY

• SteelSeries Apex

$139, MSY

Mouse Pads

As insignificant as mouse pads seem, they are actually very important when it comes to CS:GO. Since, in game professional CS:GO players have their mouse DPI set to 400 DPI (slower movement), to account for these changes in DPI, they use a big mouse pad. Otherwise the mouse is likely to scroll off a normal sized mouse pad.  Specifications for a good mouse pads are:

• Size - The mouse pads should be as large as possible because doing a 180 degree turn on 400 DPI requires a large amount of mouse pad space. 
• Durability - Like mice and keyboards, it's also important to buy a mouse pad that's of good quality - no stretching or ripping. 
• Budget - Since all mouse pads are relatively the same price, this comes down to personal preference.
• Material - Soft cloth is preferred over hard materials. Hard materials is better for laser mice whilst soft cloth is better for optical mice. Also, hard materials are less comfortable on your wrist.

Examples of Good Mouse Pads for CS:GO

• SteelSeries QcK+

$19, MSY

• Razer Destructor 2

$36, MSY

• Glorious XXL Extended Gaming Mouse Mat

~$25, Amazon

Jason Chen

Frankfurt Major Invitations

The Frankfurt Major is going to contain 16 teams and fight during 5 days in a double elimination tournament which is the same mode as main event in The International.

Chinese teams have taken four of the eight places who are directly invited and the rest will come from the Regional Qualifiers. There are 40 teams coming in the Regional Qualifiers from America, Southeast Asia, China and Europe who are going to compete next week and 8 slots will be reserved to the winners of the Open Qualifiers.

The direct invites has been posted earlier today and they are EG--the champion of TI5, CDEC--the second place of TI5, LGD--the third place of TI5, VG gaming--nice work at both TI5 and the ESL, VEGA--a dark horse who won the first place of the ESL after TI5, secret--the same reason as VG, VP--the fifth place of TI5 and the last one is EHOME--the same reason as VG.

These teams are going to win their shares of $3 million dollar prize pool.

Basics when playing Osu!

Osu! - Basics

Basics

Mods

Mod Features

Mods allow users to play beatmaps whilst a difficult feature or a feature that makes the song easier. Difficult mods also increase the score multiplier of whats normally given when playing a beatmap without mods and also allow users to achieve high ranked scores that are displayed depending on their result from the beatmap completed.

HighScores

Highscores

High scores are what make the game competitive both locally and globally whether setting personal bests or competing against world class players. High scores are determined by the difficulty of the beatmap, how many mods are played with the beatmap, the amount of circles, sliders, spinners hit consecutively (combo) and the accuracy of hitting each object which is determined as 300 being exact, 100 being close to exact, 50 being almost a miss and X completely missing the object.

Beatmaps

Beatmaps are the songs that contain objects categorized as circles sliders and spinners. Circles are a simple press of the default button (z or x) while sliders are a hold of the default button whilst guiding the cursor to the end destination of the object. Spinners are when the default button is held down while spinning the cursor around a circular motion as many times as possible. Each spinner has a spin requirement to determine whether you score a 300, 100, 50 or X. Going above 

the spinner requirement will add an extra 

1000 points for every additional circle 

made.

Beatmaps also contain health bars which 

are lowered for every mistake made.

Beatmaps with Star difficulty

Each beatmap is rated by stars out of 10, the higher the stars the harder the beatmap is.

Spinner

Downloading Beatmaps

All beatmaps playable on 'osu!' come from the official website which are downloaded via logging in to your account. Each song will contain multiple beatmaps that contain easier or harder difficulty versions of the song downloaded. Beatmaps that are submitted to the site are reviewed by users and admins of osu! to determine whether the beatmap made by the user can be officially published as a verified song in which users can compete in ranked wise. After downloading a beatmap, the beatmap is installed via opening 'osu!' and ready to play.

 Official Website: https://www.osu.ppy.sh/

Enjoy! :)

By Emil

Popular Maps and Tricks - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Popular Maps

All game modes are played from a myriad of exciting maps. The more popular maps are:

Dust2

Dust2 is an iconic map for the Counter-Strike franchise and by far the most popular and played map in CS:GO. Dust2, like its predecessor - Dust, features two bomb sites, A and B shrouded within a apparent middle eastern based scenery. Furthermore, Dust2 is mapped from a mix between sand and concrete texture floors and the scattering of seemingly abandoned buildings throughout the map.

Respawn locations:

• Terrorists - Each round, the players on terrorist side are spawned throughout the ramp and above it. Terrorists spawn further away from the bomb site compared to the counter terrorists. However the spawn location for each terrorist is randomised. This means if terrorists are spawned above the ramp they would be closer to bombsite B. Whereas if the terrorists are spawned on the ramp they are closer to bombsite A and this can dictate some terrorist strategies.

• Counter terrorists - Each Round, counter terrorists spawn on the tiled area. Counter terrorists spawn closer to the bombsites compared to terrorists. Although the spawn location can affect the strategy of the terrorists, the spawn location of the counter terrorist is not as crucial.

Dust2 Bombsites and Location names

Terrorist can plant bombs around the red 'X' on each bombsite.

• Bombsite A

• Bombsite B

• Location names

Dust2 Tips and Tricks

Mirage

Mirage was originally a custom map but due to popular demand later became an official map on CS:GO. However Valve edited the map slightly giving it a more Middle Eastern style.The map itself is medium sized, like Dust2, sand covered floors and scattering of buildings.


Respawn locations:

• Terrorists - Each round terrorist sided players are spawned randomly between the two sets of stairs. Similar to Dust2, depending on the spawn location, terrorists will be either closer to bombsite A or B. This could be the determining factor in terrorists' strategy.

• Counter terrorists - Each round counter terrorist sided players are spawned near the wall on the left. Unlike the terrorist side, the spawn location for counter terrorists isn't vital to their strategy and counter terrorists spawn closer to the bomb sites compared to terrorists.

Mirage Bombsites and Location names

Terrorist can plant bombs around the red 'A' or 'B' on the respective bombsite.

• Bombsite A

• Bombsite B

• Location names

Mirage Tips and Tricks

Jason Chen