Analysis of changes in CSGO meta: Pistol, AUG and SG

CS:GO’s latest major gameplay update from October 9 has somewhat changed the CSGO meta. Let’s also take a look at what trends are happening: from weapon variety to economy after pistol rounds.

Gameplay Update 09/10/2018 The last CSGO meta increased the bonus for losing the pistol round by $500. This means you will be awarded $1,900 if you lose the pistol round; and the maximum amount received will be $ 3,400 if you lose 0-4 at the beginning of the round.

AUG and SG are both discounted

The AUG price drops to $3,150 and the T version, SG553, to $2,750. These two weapons are only $50 more expensive than the popular rifles: AK-47 and M4A4 and M4A1-s.

This update also fixes Tec-9 and CZ-75, but its impact is not as important as the changes above. Therefore, we will not focus on two pistols in this article.

With the above changes, the New CSGO meta aims to “reduce the impact of winning rounds in later rounds”, and secondly to help two scoped rifles be used more, diversifying the amount of weapons used in the game. game.

So have the developers achieved what they were aiming for?

The new “economy” is leaving its own mark

In theory, these changes should work as Valve intended. The extra $500 per round after losing the pistol round is what the team needed to get their guns up a round earlier than before. Or the team can decide to save money to buy more things than before, increasing the chances of winning the first gun round with full equipment.

As a result, teams often opt for eco outright after losing the pistol round – especially on the CT side and failing to plant bombs when the T side does. Eco will give the team a full $4,300 to win plus any kill bonuses. before that right in the third round. It is equivalent to the amount of money when team forcebuy with pistol in round two and first gun in round 4 before the update comes out. Previously, CT had a rather limited amount of equipment in the third round, or in the fourth round if they had forcebuy in round 2. The vast majority of teams agreed to go full eco to get the gun on the third round, while no the rest wait for full guns in the fourth round after two halfbuys, specifically in the Inferno map, where utility plays an extremely important role.

And the numbers prove it

You can clearly see that reflected in the numbers below. These are analyzed from matches played at major events from ESL One Cologne (early July) and ESL One New York (late September) prior to the update, and from EPICENTER (late October) to BLAST Pro Series. Lisbon (mid-December) after CSGO meta update. When winning the pistol round, the 2-0 win rate increased, especially on the T side. However, the 3-0 and 5-0 win rates decreased again, with CT dropping more.

Then we have teams that are not affected by this change and most still forcebuy in the second round, especially after the bomb is placed. In this case, T gets a $2,700 bonus in the second round, while CT gets a $3,500 bonus that round after defusing the bomb. Add a few lives and a small difference in money between the two sides, the chances of winning are quite balanced, making forcebuy round 2 extremely attractive. Natus Vincere is perhaps the best example of a team that embraces this mindset. You often see them two AKs at the chance and forcebuy in the second round in other situations.

“For us, the changes in the new update didn’t change much because the team usually forcebuys in round two and most other teams do eco to build guns in the third round. But we like the force buy game, now the members have more nades thanks to the extra money and that’s a good thing. We can go to Deagle plus nade instead of just Deagle,” Egor “flamie” Vasilyev said in an interview with HLTV at EPICENTER, the first major event affected by the update.

This is also the reason why the CT side’s 2-0 win rate hasn’t improved as much as the T side. Many teams now play Na`Vi’s way trying to get their guns in round 2 with $2.7k+ and succeeding. labour.

Now, with a 3-0 difference occurring only 50% (compared to two-thirds before the update) and 5-0 even less common (from 25% down to 18%), we can said that Valve has been somewhat successful in what it has set out. It also affects the influence of pistol rounds on the overall outcome, as the teams that win both pistol rounds now win the map less than before, as we can see from the example above.

Scoped rifle is more and more popular

Before the October CSGO meta update, gun prices were the main reason preventing players from getting to AUG and SG. There are very few people who use them in official matches, except for a few names like Emil “Magisk” Reif and Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi – they sometimes upgraded their SG while playing for dignitas and NiP.

In general, the two guns have quite stable power. They have enough stats to compete with popular rifles: they deal better damage to armored enemies despite having lower base damage than AK/M4. In addition, the SG has a faster rate of fire than the Ak-47, not to mention the scope also improves accuracy at long range, and other pluses: accuracy when firing the first shot and recoil recovery time (recoil) ). On the other hand, these two guns have a slower reload and movement speed than the M4 and AK-47.

After the price was pulled down to nearly the same level as the AK/M4 in October, these sights gradually gained a place in the hearts of professional players. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Chris “chrisJ” de Jong started using both guns almost immediately after the update in ESL Pro League. They continue to be the biggest users of them over the past two months, prioritizing scoped rifles over regular rifles.

“My general opinion about these two guns is that they are better in specs than the other two (AK/M4). AUG vs M4 basically only has a 2.2% movement speed difference, which is not a concern to me, and has less ability to shoot through walls, dealing less damage. Meanwhile, AUG deals more damage and can 1 shot from close range and deals 95-99 damage at mid range, so any damage dealt early in rounds, even just 4. injured from nade, will still get you a headshot shot. Hence the AUG vs A4, they have the same rate of fire, you get an extra scope for the AUG, and can 1-shot at certain distances with the AUG, despite moving slower than the A4.

“As for AK vs Krieg, Krieg has a faster fire rate than AK, the first bullet is more accurate, but the movement speed is 2.3% slower than the AK. So, for me, the rate of fire and the accuracy of the first bullet far outweigh the weaknesses of the gun, making it very comfortable for me to use. SG also has a different spray pattern than any other gun in the game, so I think this helps me use this gun better, because the spray pattern is completely separate from the other guns and I can focus on using it. easier. I don’t think the percentage difference in movement speed between AK and Krieg is large enough to make a difference. The fact that it doesn’t do much damage when drying through walls is a minus, but to me, it doesn’t matter.”

– Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski

Finn “karrigan” Andersen also started using two of the now CSGO meta weapons at EPICENTER after testing them out in the deathmatch server. And more and more players use it in every tournament, like BIG trio: Johannes “next” Maget, Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch, Fatih “gob b” Dayik; and Nocolai “device” Reedtz and Magisk of Astralis, Zeus and Edward of Na`Vi are also among them. However, the vast majority of new players only use AUG and are quite hesitant with Krieg on the T side. Krieg is only used frequently by chrisJ, EliGE and karrigan.

Some of the shortcomings of SG mentioned above are the reasons why they don’t use this gun, even though they believe that this weapon is better than AK, it is not worth the risk because of the strange spray pattern and no chance to get used to it. This password is many. This makes it difficult for both karrigan and chrisJ at the end of 2018.

“I don’t think I’m good at shooting SG/AUG myself [như AK và M4], like everyone I’ve played with, got used to the AK and M4 a long time ago, so gun control is something I’m not as comfortable with with scoped rifles as with any current player. But of course, I’ve seen the benefits of those weapons in certain situations, especially with the AUG, it helps a lot when you can instantly kill someone at close range, dong Sometimes, at long range, you have an advantage because you will shoot more accurately when aiming. So, I think I’m starting to feel the benefits of these weapons.”

– Chris “ChrisJ” de Jong (ESL Pro League S8 Finals)

“I still sometimes have a hard time with gunfights, when I shouldn’t zoom I zoom and times I shouldn’t, but now I’ve got a few specific situations where I think scoped rifles are great. strong. But, shooting without zoom with SG is still quite difficult. If you play in certain positions, I think AUG can be very strong. Overall it has recoil and rate of fire on par with the M4. So the AUGs aren’t that big of a difference, you just have to get used to them.”

– Finn “karrigan” Andersen (BLAST Copenhagen)

On the other hand, EliGE had problems with AUG many times when interviewed in November, but he shot with SG more comfortably after two months of experience.

“After using the AUG for a while, I think the AUG is a stronger gun, but it will take me a long time to get used to it so that I can always 100% on this gun. The spray pattern in the later stages of the gun feels too random, even though I tried really hard to spray, so I will only use it in certain situations in the map where I think it will be beneficial.

Maybe SG will come back better when the year-end break is over. This is a time for the top teams to test and feel them, because previously the teams were too busy with the schedule. Now, AUG is being used more and more and it is predicted that players will continue to participate in using it in the days to come. It also means that Valve has somewhat achieved its goal in the last October update.

According to HLTV