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G2's kennyS and nexa's top 6 tips on how to master Dust II
Learn from the best on how you can improve on one of CS:GO's most legendary maps.
Competitive CS:GO has gone through several map pool changes throughout the years but Dust II has remained as one of the most popular and exciting maps in pro play.
Dust II has always been a favourable map among French rosters and French players - it's no exception for G2 Esports, a team that rocks a 64.4% win rate on what is undoubtedly their strongest map.
But what can you do to reach that level? G2's Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub and Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovic revealed the six most useful tips to get you ahead of the curve.
1. Find your default on T side
One of the first things that players need to master is to find what works for them as a default position on the T side.
kennyS says: "Well, you can just shoot through the doors.
"But in all seriousness, it's pretty hard, it'll all be down to objectives. You have to set up smaller objectives round by round. When you start a default on T side, you want one guy long, one guy at B and two guys going lower because the first objective is always to take short. As soon as you take short, you have the control of the map and if you have the control of the map you can do whatever you want. There's a lot of possibilities in what you can do - that's one of the cool things about CS.
"If you're looking for specific defaults to help you get better, you just have to watch a lot of demos and learn different ways you can do things efficiently."
Take short on T side after running your default
nexa says taking short is one of the first things you should do on the map
© BLAST
Expanding on kennyS' point of running your default, nexa goes into a bit more details as to why its important to take short as quickly as possible.
Nexa says: "One of the most common things to do on Dust II is you run your default, let your players who know their protocol take control, most commonly taking the short area.
"They go from lower, underground path where they throw a bunch of utilities and once you have this short control, it opens up the whole map. One of the most basic things to do is to run your default and take control of short - it's the easiest way to actually execute the round.
"The other thing is, of course, once you have the spawn is to move towards A long, you should always take it because you have the advantages. If you have good numbers, take A long, 90% of the times you'll just take the round right there."
3. Lurking isn't that important
Lurking isn't that important on Dust II
© Valve
Both nexa and kennyS are in agreement that the role of the lurker, a sneaky lone wolf that roams the map supporting team executes, isn't as effective on a map like Dust II.
nexa adds: "On other maps lurkers can have a huge impact but that's not the case on Dust II anymore. You could do it previously but everyone now is super ready and always expect you because once you're lurking there's only one or two exits you can come from so people don't get as surprised anymore - they just learn to check their corners and angles so it's not as effective as it was."
kennyS agrees: "I don't think it's a big deal if you're not lurking. Sometimes you just can't do it because you need strength on other areas of the map that you're executing. I think creating rotation is always a good thing but on Dust II lurkers just have less of an impact."
4. Utilise AWPers instead
While Lurkers are less important on Dust II, utilising AWPers properly can be the difference between winning and losing a round. If you don't know what an AWPer is, this guide is probably incomprehensible to you, but they're the ones that hold the huge sniper rifle, capable of killing any player with a single bullet.
nexa explained: "The most important thing you can do on Dust II is learning how to use your AWPer effectively both on T and CT side because if you can get your AWPer to be comfortable and start making picks and aggressive plays, this is how you shut your opponent down on both sides."
5. What's the hardest position on CT side?
kennyS doesn't like to play pit
© BLAST
It's difficult to make plays on CT side because it requires much more coordination. Both nexa and kennyS have identified the hardest positions on CT side.
nexa points at B: "With the new changes, B site is the hardest position on CT side. You can throw flashes and smokes too with the skybox change. It was already hard enough to hold B without that change but now it's really difficult."
kennyS, an AWPer, opted for the pit. "I do not want to play pit," He said. "Pit just seems so boring and such a lonely position. It's not a position for someone like me. I like to move around the map, you have to be really patient to play pit so I personally wouldn't want to be there."
6. Make sure you know all the mechanics of the map
Players should try and learn all the mechanics of the map
© Valve
Even when you're at the elite level of Counter Strike, there is no shortcut to make you or your team better, it all comes with practice - something that kennyS is familiar with. He suggests that if a player wants to improve on Dust II, they have to make sure they know all the mechanics of the map.
He said: "When you approach this map, it's very important to know the mechanics. Know the timings, know that teams can take short very quickly and learn how to react against teams who have long.
"Also, learn how to smoke mid because sometimes a lot of the teams don't smoke mid and they die immediately from the AWP - they're sad but it's normal. Learn what other things you can do if you don't want to fight and always keep an eye on the other areas of the map."
