Pro tip: How to use smoke grenades for maximum cover in the 'CS:GO' Nuke map
Being a pro gamer isn't easy. To master top games takes hundreds of hours of practice -- but also knowledge. Each week, we'll share the most useful tips and tricks to improve your play. It's time to get good.
The 10th Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major wrapped up a few weekends ago, crowning the champion team, Astralis, in the grand finals and marking the Nuke map's debut at the Majors.
Nuke isn't a particularly popular map pick for most professional teams -- even some of the best players in the world aren't completely comfortable with its nuances. So we might as well learn how to maneuver it now, starting with how to smoke, flash and molotov our way to victory, courtesy of YouTuber and CS: GO expert JamieW in the video above.
Here are some of the best and most efficient grenade throws to cover you and your team as you move around the map.
Block off counter-terrorists' view with some smoke grenades
Head to the right from the terrorist's spawn point and move towards the "secret" spot at the staircase down to bomb site B. There are a ton of grenade angles to note as you advance on the counter-terrorists from here. (JamieW's video is slightly out of date -- the fence received a visual change in December's update.)
In the photo below, the vertical line in the wall where the crosshairs are is an equivalent visual cue to the pole shown in the video:
These two smoke grenades will block the sight of counter-terrorists on the ground outside of the garage:
And this one will cover the corner of the catwalk:
To get some more coverage on the garage and main entrances (the path to bomb site A), use these two throws:
The final areas to cover on that side of the map: the door that leads to the catwalk, the room with the big window underneath it (known as heaven and hell, respectively) and the AC unit in between the two. Three smoke grenades thrown from the shaded corner near the fence will cover those three areas perfectly.
Cover bomb site A with a few more smoke grenades
Whether you're defending or attacking bomb site A, these grenade angles will cut down on your enemies' ability to take you by surprise on Nuke's upper floor. First, throw some offensive smoke grenades from the rooftop to the right of the terrorist's spawn point.
Then, this one will land right on top of the silo in A, cutting off counter-terrorists from peaking on your assault from heaven:
Meanwhile, this grenade will land right on top of heaven:
This spot outside of A is useful for both offense or defense, depending on the situation:
And, finally, this defensive throw works well for both smoke and damaging grenades to defend A from attackers coming up through hell.
Now all you'll need is a little practice. Happy smokin'.
If you have any game-changing or pro-level tips you’d like to see on next week’s Pro Tips, feel free to submit them to [email protected].
