Aggressive Smoke

Take for example the banana on the de_inferno map. Almost always when CTs want to be aggressive on a banana, they'll unmask the end of it, which allows them to then have total control of the banana. 

This aggressive play can be extremely rewarding and just as effective, however, it can be countered with flashes and pop flashes which make it much easier to push into smurf. After all, it's not a wall and it has to be reckoned with. The same is possible, for example, on the de_cache map. 

Specifically on the center. If the smoke prevents terrorists from coming out of the main entrance to the middle, it's quite likely that behind the smoke the CTs will have crossfire ready, or they can simply be hidden nearby. 

There are indeed plenty of places on the maps that the CT side can use aggressively like this. So if you see such a "deep" smoke, you should always be prepared for CTs who can defend the area behind it.

Communication and Information

One of the critical aspects of the game is definitely communication. 

A simple flash to the sound of running terrorists can quite possibly indicate an immediate quick attack (rush) that can easily and quickly deal with a few CT defenders on the bombsite. However, it could also be a fake rush, and the intent is probably just to gain an advantage on players who are rotating or out of position elsewhere on the map. 

The defenders on the bombsite must quickly find out what the situation is and inform their teammates. 

Recognizing and reading fake attacks is much easier than some players think. If the smouks have arrived on the bombsite and no terrorist is trying to bash your heads in and plant you, it is safe to say that it is a fake or that we have at least repelled the opponent's initial attack. 

If the terrorists are pushing at the same time as the Smokies, it's a good idea to keep an eye on the radar, where you can easily identify the number of enemies, and the possible presence of a bomb. It is of course pointless to rotate all your players if a bomb has not been spotted.

Gaining information and advantage for your team is one reason why you often see high-level players aggressively push and gather information regarding the alignment of enemy T players. 

This aggression can potentially create a significant advantage, both informational and perhaps numerical, allowing teammates to better react to the opponent's deployment and force them to take risks or play under pressure.

The downside of this strategy, where you are trying to gain information or outright frag advantage for CT, is that your opponent can easily punish your aggressive play by preparing for it and taking a more passive approach (camping). 

If this situation arises, momentum will immediately shift to the opponent's side and you will be left to either make another aggro play for CT to even the score at 4v4, or retreat to a passive position, surrender map control, and face superiority.

Next time you play, try to think about the bigger picture of the whole situation you are in and try to ask yourself what is the most logical possible course of action that your opponent would take and how can you take advantage of it?

Economics

Another useful thing you want to know is how much money your opponent has available. In CSK, you get money for just about everything. Both for winning rounds and losing rounds. For killing other players, for planting bombs and also for defusing. 

The reward for killing opponents depends greatly on the weapon used to do so. For example, an AWP or CZ-75 kill will give you a mere $100, I understand that for AWP, but to disadvantage a gun made in the Czech forests like that? I'd rather have a shotgun that rewards $900 or the popular UMP that gives you $600.

Let's say you're a terrorist and you win the first round. In the second round you fight against buying guns and scouts, which probably means CT spent all their money. 

If you win that round too, the CTs are totally broken and the next round is the economic round (eco). Then in round four, CT accounts are expected to have roughly $4300, and if you're sure all CT players shopped in round two, they almost certainly won't have AWP, which is huge information for your team. 

Of course, if there's a CT player who didn't spend and save money in round 2, you should expect them to have AWP in round 4.

You should always try to keep an eye on your opponent's economy. You are then able to gain a simple information advantage for your team that can set you up for a better round. All you need to do this is basically elementary school math.

Final practical application

There's no simple solution to putting this all together. Watching professional matches helps us understand how these players react to individual game events. Whether by economics and/or the grenades at their disposal. 

So pay close attention to how both sides react to dying teammates, or what positioning they use if they are at a disadvantage. In addition, spend sufficient time on CSK economics. 

You don't have to be an expert. Knowing how much money is credited per round won/lost is quite enough to get you started. This will make it easier to predict your opponent's weapon purchases.

Even if, for example, the worst happens and you die in a given round, there's still plenty of valuable information to pass on to your teammates. 

Take your time and think about the economics of both teams and certain gameplay tendencies your opponents may have. 

Use that time to develop a plan and lead your team to victory. Building game sense will greatly help you be a better player no matter what side you play for (CT/T). Understanding your opponent's movement around the map and predicting their intentions is what makes good players professionals.

Tracking your own game

Watching games is a great idea, except when everyone only watches professional games and never thinks to watch their own demo. 

The whole point of watching your own demo or VOD is the ability to see what you're doing wrong from a different perspective. I'm not suggesting just watching your own games, but a balance of both (watching your own + professional games) helps immensely in figuring out the problems players are making and then figuring out how to solve individual game problems better. 

On the other hand, I feel that teams should watch professional games together to figure out and lay out game issues and ideas as a team. 

For more experienced teams, I believe that watching your own games as a team will help a lot, especially if the whole team is involved and talking about things that happened in the game.

Mid-round calls

The communication of strategies in the middle of the round is a little different from that which takes place at the beginning of the round. 

There are two kinds of teams: A) one of the experienced fighters who is still alive announces what the tactics are going to be mid-round / B) there is a designated player (usually IGL) who is also in charge of leading the team in all cases, even if they might be dead. I believe most players should have a sixth sense when they play (game sense). 

Game sense, for example, is when you are almost certain that you know where one of your opponents is despite having no information about his location. In most cases, the IGL cannot fully sense and see what his teammates are doing and what thoughts or feelings they are having about the round. 

Of course, this is different on every team and I'm hardly generalizing here based on my experience. 

However, I do feel that if you are a minor league team, one person's lack of game management skills in the middle of a round can cause problems. 

Most players who have logged countless hours on the team should know full well what to do in certain situations and how to make arrangements. In my experience, people who are alive in the middle of a round should mainly communicate with each other to avoid misunderstandings or deaf spots in the game. 

Over time, these players will learn from trial and error and make better decisions in the future. 

And believe me, you can't do it without mistakes, because only through mistakes can you learn and start doing things right. If only IGL is making strategic decisions mid-round, the rest of the team may feel that they can't make the right decisions for themselves. 

They might even antagonize you (the dead IGL) because they feel like they can't make the right decisions without you. 

For the most part, I believe that if you're a team that wants to improve, the players that are still alive should be making the decisions in the middle of the round.

Correcting mistakes

Looking back I can tell you that I tried to fix the bugs in the team in the worst possible way. Instead of doing everything in my power to work with the player and encourage them to improve after the game, I would explain things in the middle of the game and basically badmouth them in front of the whole team. If you haven't figured it out already, confronting a player mid-game is a bad idea. 

Correcting mistakes should only happen after the game when everyone has cooled down and is able to think rationally, or when the team is ready to talk about the game (loss). 

When you confront a teammate mid-game, it usually ends up with the person getting hardened and the rest of the team getting stuck solving the problem instead of thinking about the next round. 

If you're going to talk about mistakes, wait until the game is over or wait until the team has shaken off the losing round. This approach helps the player who made the mistake to think about the whole thing rationally. And it gives him the right impetus in the future to try to correct the mistake next time.

Approaching the match

As an In-Game Leader, you want to approach a match with a plan for how you want the game to unfold. 

Try not to look at what your opponent's rank is or how strong they are, because then you can feel defeated before the match has even started. It is important for the team to keep an open mind when they go to play an important match, as this will allow them to enter the match with more comfort. 

After all, you're still playing against dummies who are no different from the previous ones and still have a head on their shoulders to hit. In today's CS:GO world, it's pretty common for David to beat Goliath, and you certainly shouldn't be afraid of anyone.  

How the game plays out is up to you. Taking a look at their previous matches and making an analysis or a plan to follow in the game is more important and useful than looking at their wounds or strength.

These are all things I wish I had known when I started as an In-Game Leader. I hope this helps all you new IGLs in the future. It will avoid many critical mistakes right off the bat that I and many others before you have made!

Picking your battles

There are times and moments when quickly killing your opponent in the back is not the wisest idea. If your opponent isn't paying attention to you, instead of quickly ending his life, you can scan the area around you to see what his teammates are doing or where they're going and possibly score an extra kill. 

This information or kill can often win you the round. For example, you'll notice this practice with a lot of pros - they'll see a player-run past them, but instead of killing them immediately, they wait to see if another player appears and then kill more of them in the back.

However, there are also times when it's better to give up the fight with the opponent and rather stay alive. 

For example, if you are in a ranged duel with one opponent and suddenly another one appears, you should quickly change your position. The chances of you giving both of them their heads aren't that great. 

That's when it's better to wait for a better opportunity and let your opponent worry about where you're coming from. The same applies if you're knocked into the red numbers on your HP meter, and the likelihood of dying on a re-peek is pretty high. 

For CT, you want to find the ideal headshot angle at that point, where only your head is climbing and your opponent has no chance to simply hit you in the sleeve or leg.

So before any fight, it's a good idea to have a backup plan in the back of your head if something doesn't go according to plan so you have an escape route. Sometimes a grenade is all you need to make such an escape, and other times nimble fingers.

Try NOT to run!

A lot of players, especially at lower ranks, feel the need to rush for both T and CT. Sometimes this can be a workable strategy, that is if you have a good idea of how your opponent is playing, but most of the time it is a dangerous gamble. This is because the first thing players will adapt to is rushes, which in the vast majority of cases will be slowed down mainly by explosive grenades.

If you're rushing every other round, don't be surprised if you're giving your opponent an excellent tool to taunt you. 

The key is to play unpredictably, and while it may seem like a boring affair, the best thing to do in the early rounds is to play passive and slow. This gives your opponent a chance to make his first mistake.

However, if you're standing your ground and want to put pressure on your opponent immediately at the start of the round, do it with a grenade. With a well-thrown flash, you can lure more grenades out of your opponent or an early smash, which they will then miss.

Even if it seems like the round is almost won and you have the urge to go for the last kill in a 4v1 situation, it pays not to give in to that urge. It could very well happen that you give the last opponent 4 1v1 fights and they still reverse the whole round.

Tactical grenades

In games ranging from Gold Nova to Master Guardians, I've noticed that some players don't buy tactical grenades, and often don't buy any grenades at all, even though they have enough money to do so. I've even experienced this with Global Caviar. However, this is a bad practice because a well-thrown smoke or flash will save your life or even win you the round.

Smokes are important for blocking your opponent's vision, but can also be used as temporary cover from the enemy. Flash can be used to surprise a camping opponent or to stop an opponent's rush.

If you've ever watched professional wrestling, you'll have noticed that rounds are largely played through grenades rather than guns. 

This is one of the reasons why you should practice flashes and smooches in your spare time. The internet is full of articles and videos focusing on this topic, and you can even find a few here at GameZone.

The simple advice is that you have to go to the server yourself and just throw the grenades and get a taste for them. 

None of the pro players started throwing epic grenades on their own, each of them had to figure out how it actually works and what they can do with them. The great thing is to have each grenade set on a special button, for example, 2 on the side mouse buttons and 2 on the keyboard.

How to play with a focus on the target

Now that we've talked about rushing and grenades, we should apply our newfound knowledge to playing on target. Playing on target is taken as placing a bomb in Terrorists and in CT, on the other hand, to prevent or prevent that bomb from being placed altogether. Once the bomb is planted, the intent of the game completely changes and the roles of CT and T are reversed. 

Thus, it is recommended that at this point the terrorists do not rush the remaining CTs and camp the bomb, while the CTs are expected to use their grenades to eliminate the camping terrorists and defuse the bomb.

Playing the target is a no-brainer, it's not about giving as many frags as possible. It's about securing a win for your team. For CT it's preventing the terrorists from infiltrating the bombsite, and for T it's planting the bomb and then watching it explode.

If you plan to just run around the map and ignore this basic gameplay element, you're missing out on one of the core ideas of this Half-Life mode.

Conclusion

It's important not to load up on more than you can eat - choose your fights wisely, play slowly and carefully, use grenades to add a tactical aspect to your game. I hope this advice will help you in future matches.

Go for it to regain health and don't standstill

People Can Fly has never been very subtle with its latest titles, and Outriders is no exception. In fact, facing danger is at the heart of Outriders' gameplay, at least for some classes.

The Tellurist and the Illusionist come to mind, as they have powers that focus on hand-to-hand combat. But in addition to inflicting damage, this is how these classes recover health. So don't hesitate to draw a whole group of enemies to you and then hit them with a skill that will affect them all, and make you regain health.

In the same vein, and this applies to all classes, standing still is never a good solution in Outriders. While cover is sometimes essential against certain enemies at a high world level, it is advisable to be extremely mobile so that you don't find yourself cornered and surrounded by enemies, who will not hesitate to get behind where you are hiding.

Collect minerals well

It may seem normal for fans of this kind of game, but in the heat of the action, it is sometimes easy not to pay attention to the scenery. In the various maps of the game, you will often come across ores around you that glow from afar.

Take the time to collect them as they will give you several types of materials that are essential for improving your equipment and thus your survival.

Remember to recycle

After you've been careful with ores, you'll also have to make sure that your inventory doesn't fill up too much, especially if you activate the automatic loot. If you can very well sell some items in the stores to earn scrap metal, don't forget to recycle some equipment either.

By doing so, you will get valuable materials, such as leather for your armor, which will help you upgrade your equipment in the relevant menu.

Set the level of the world

Outriders shows very quickly that it can quickly climb in difficulty if the world level setting is automatically adjusted to the highest level available.

Challenge seekers will probably like this, and fighting at a high world level will get you the best rewards faster, but don't be afraid to find your good level and stick with it.

If you stick to the lower levels, you'll get less valuable loot, but the adventure will be far less redundant and frustrating than at a level that doesn't suit you.

Check out the Awards

While Outriders has many side quests, it should not be forgotten that it has a few challenges for players to complete, which are less emphasized than the traditional quests.

This happens in the Awards menu. By completing challenges throughout your games, such as killing a certain number of enemies, using a certain number of times a certain power, you will get significant rewards as well as some cosmetic elements with the level of incursion. So remember to take a look at the different challenges to complete them in the process.

Equip the right modifications

From a certain point in the adventure (after completing the second zone of the game), you will get access to the equipment customization with the Manufacturing menu.

In the latter, you will be able to adapt your weapons and armor to your own playing style. Thus, you will have to pay attention to the weapon variant used, choosing according to your preferences (you will be able to lower some characteristics to increase others).

One of the most important aspects remains modification, which allows the equipment to give one of your abilities a boost. Some equipment you loot will already have a modification for one of your skills. So don't equip an item whose modification doesn't match your skill set, it would be a waste.

Play the missions again

If you want to train to level up to the next world (or to level up your character), or simply want to stay in an area to loot as much as possible, consider replaying the missions as many times as necessary.

To do this, go to the game's menu and select the adventure point you want. It's even easier for side quests, which can be restarted immediately at the place where you found the NPC that gives you access to that mission. You can then farm equipment while advancing your character, as well as your own skills.

How to prepare

The quest "Black Dragon '' is launched first of all in solo, you will not have the choice, if you wish to join your friends hunters it will be necessary for you to leave the combat alone. Before you go to fight the Doom, you'd better prepare yourself well. Naturally, you will need a lot of care to resist the monster's attacks, as many of its blows can annihilate you instantly. We also advise you to bring a defense cloak (guardian, escape or temporal cloak) and a teleportation in case of a desperate situation.

The quest is limited to five deaths and only 30 minutes of time, it is advisable to boost yourself with stone and demon potions or powders in order to do the most damage and lose the least time.

The weak points of the Doom are its head, its belly and its wings. The head can be broken twice during the fight, the other weak points can be broken only once. Our enemy is weak to the dragon and fire elements.

The Doom uses fire attacks, so choose a meal that offers elemental resistance if possible. Also, the dragon can be paralyzed, you can choose a weapon with this effect to immobilize it for a short time during the fight if you manage to chain enough hits. 

To finish, we advise you to take the chameleon cloak with you, which will make the fight easier for you. You can also choose among these talents which will be useful depending on your equipment: 

1. Heavy Artillery 2 to double the damage of cannon or ballistas
2. Steel Skull to prevent you from being stunned, which will save you from many deaths
3. Fireproof 3 to reduce fire damage and prevent you from receiving fire flails
4. Flush of life 3 to take more hits

First phase

Fort Schrade is divided into two areas, the second one being inaccessible at the beginning, you will have to make do with the cannons and ballistas before having access to the other weapons.

To begin with, you should take the chameleon cloak, which will allow you to go and fill all the cannons and fire one of them towards the monster's head (which is its weak point) without it noticing you. This will already inflict quite a bit of damage and will allow you to knock it down when you do the same with the second cannon.

In addition to the cannons, a ballista is available in this first phase, aim it at his head again if you have the opportunity when he is standing, otherwise use it towards his belly, it will help you to get him back on all fours. 

When you've done enough damage, the Comrade will throw a harpoon, blocking the Doom on the ground for a few seconds and allowing you to attack without stopping. 

Then, all you have to do is inflict enough damage to get to phase two, and you can inflict a lot of damage to its head with the grapeshot by throwing it against a wall.

Our monster has a wide variety of fire breaths, all of them can be fatal but it is possible to spot each attack and have time to react to each one. 

The most fearsome is his breath covering a large part of the area in front of him. 

You must absolutely avoid it and for that you can use the grappling hook to get directly on the dragon, this allows you to be safe while inflicting damage to the head.

The grappling hook can be useful throughout the fight, you will be safer on the back of the monster than on the ground when it makes its attacks.

When you make this first game in solo, a cinematic starts and makes you go to phase two. But when you do it in multiplayer, not everything happens the same way. Indeed, after having gone to this cinematic, you can finally launch the quest with other hunters. 

The first phase takes place in the same way, except that now the comrade is no longer with you, the harpoon is no longer available at that moment, and the cinematic disappears, so it will be up to you to rush to the shelter to escape the devastating attack of the Black Dragon.

The wall is then destroyed and we can finally move on to phase two.

Phase Two

The second phase offers a denser environment, with several weapons to use. Here, we find the cannons and the ballistas, but also the mobile ballista and two harpoons. 

Again, the cannons can knock the Doom down if the head is hit repeatedly, the harpoon will knock it down for a few seconds like in phase one, and the rest of the arsenal is bonus to do maximum damage or force it to land when it takes flight because from that moment on, the Ancient Dragon will start to fly away. To prevent this from happening too often, you'll need to break both its wings.

Once the enemy is injured enough, he will perform his ultimate attack again. Then rush to the rampart and raise it to be safe. Take advantage of this to sharpen and heal yourself because we are coming to the final phase.

Last phase

In this last part, the Fatalis will spend much more time in the air, you will have to focus on destroying its wings to pin it to the ground. 

This final form makes his armor and torso more vulnerable, however the power of his fire breath increases greatly; it is imperative to break his head to reduce the impact. If you didn't use the harpoons in phase two, they can be very useful in the final confrontation since the Doom will have much more energy and will be harder to hit.

Don't confuse speed with haste

Obviously, time is short for this quest and we have very little of it. However, the fight requires concentration but also teamwork, which is imperative, as well as a well-filled satchel. 

Don't hesitate to return to the camp to get care or other, the life powders for example will ensure a good management of the deaths in your team. 

It is important to take time for strategy, even if it means losing one minute of combat per player. On that note, good hunting to all!