Counter Strike - Weapons & Equipment

Note: To save me a lot of typing, Terrorists = T, Counter-Terrorists = CT.

Available weapons and equipment
No game would be complete without weapons and in CS there is a big range :).

For detailed stats and info on a weapon or piece of equipment click it's link below:

Reload! 
You won't survive long if you don't learn to reload :). The default key is R. You will be forced to reload once you run out of ammo, but this could mean your weapon emptying at the wrong moment, like when your in the open firing at an enemy who is still firing and you're there starting to reload :). Ideally it's best to find some cover and reload. Keep up a routine of reloading once you are down to 25% of your ammo value. Reloading saves lives :). 

Dropping and picking up weapons

At anytime you can throw down your primary and secondary weapons. To do this select the weapon that you want to throw and press your 'Drop current weapon' key (default G). This will drop your weapon to the ground.

Why do this you may ask? Well if you run out of ammo. Or you see a more powerful weapon on the ground, you can change weapons (When a player dies he leaves his primary weapon or secondary if he did not have a primary weapon when he died). Throw yours down and walk over the one on the ground to pick it up.

WARNING: This is a good thing however never drop a weapon even though it maybe empty. The reason is this. If you throw your primary weapon away after it's ran out of ammo and then meet the enemy with your pistol you'll have to dodge about and there's nothing worse than stepping over a weapon on the floor and picking it up, because you had a space in your primary weapons slot and watching in horror as you change from your pistol to the new weapon you accidentally picked up. Also why that is happening the enemy is still firing at you and chances are you will die. Every player has done it :).

So never throw a weapon unless you are about to pick a new one up.

The Crosshair
Aiming in other games is a case of putting the crosshair over the target and firing. In CS however the crosshair behaves a bit differently....

On the left the crosshair is idle and will appear at that size as long as the weapon (in this case the Glock 18 Select Fire pistol), is not fired. Once its fired, the crosshair expands to show the spread of the shot fired from the weapon. In between shots the crosshair contracts back to it's original size.

It contracts and expands to show the level of accuracy your next shot will have

With larger weapons with more firepower the Crosshair will of course behave differently.

The Steyr AUG shown above in it's before and after firing stages shows the degree at which the crosshair can change. With rapid fire weapons like the AUG most players will hold the trigger down, but the longer it's fired the wider the crosshair expands until it reaches a limit. This means aiming when firing is not easy and takes a while to learn. However once mastered the crosshair aids you in directing your gun fire at your target.

Aiming
There is more to aiming a weapon and firing it than meets the eye. 

Weapons like the ak47 will 'kick back' when fired, as shown in the pic left. (I held the fire button down and aimed the ak47 at the wall without trying to fight back against the kick back action). This means you have hold to steady it when it's firing to ensure accuracy. 

Also most weapons will lose accuracy if you keep the fire button held down to long. Firing the weapons in bursts is the way to go to ensure accuracy and save ammo. 

TIPS:

• Moving whilst firing will cause the bullets you fire to move away from the centre of the crosshair. This is not to bad if you make a small move, but if you sprint from A to B and fire at a target don't expect a lot of the bullets to hit there target.

• Kneel down and fire. This is perfect for snipers to ensure better accuracy. This position also limits the kick back from weapons slightly.

• Burst fire (tap fire button, or hold it down for 1-2 seconds only then let go), and only hold your finger on the trigger if you are at close range to the enemy.

Head Shots
Every part of a players body can be hit by a weapon, but to inflict the most amount of damage with one shot, aim for the head.

No matter what the weapon always try to aim for the head area. A few hits to this area will kill a player a lot faster than shots sprayed all over his body. The image left shows the hit boxes that are used by CS to register hits. Although the chest area is ideally the easier area to hit, the head shot should never be over looked. Think head first. Chest second :).