Although improving a raw skill is the best thing to do to become better in CS:GO, there’s some advice that you can use on top of that. In this article, you can check out our Top 10 CS:GO rules that can notably improve your game.

1. Always begin the round with a positive mindset

You probably expected to see a “don’t rage” rule here. However, we all know that nobody is completely calm while playing CS:GO. Everyone has their raging moments; even pro players rage sometimes. Starting the round with a positive mindset helps you keep your focus on the objective.

Simply, if something goes wrong in the round, and you feel anger, release it at the end of the round. But, when the round ends, you need to completely forget about what happened previously. The new round is a new chance to get closer to victory, and that’s the only way you should think if you want to become better. Try to always see the potential in the following round and don’t allow the anger from the past to distress you.

2. The match is not over until it ends

Not giving up must be one of our ten CS:GO rules. No matter how bad the situation looks and no matter how big gap is between your and opponent’s team. The game is not over until one team wins 16 rounds and you have to always keep that in your mind. This advice is overlapping with the previous one as it tells you to completely focus on the ongoing round.

Don’t think about what happened before and just focus on the present moment. A few good rounds can completely change the flow of the game and you can easily gain momentum. Once when you get a mental advantage, things will become much easier for you.

3. Nobody is cheating

Here is another psychological advice from our ten CS:GO rules. The reason why we talk so much about the psychological aspect of the game is that it’s almost equally important as your skills. It can seriously affect your game in both a positive and negative way. Hence, one of our ten CS:GO rules is to stop blaming your opponents for cheating.

How many times did you accuse someone of cheating and then when you watched Demo, you realized that they were just better than you. It surely happened many times to you. In the game, it’s easy to accuse someone of cheating because of a couple of “fishy” plays. For example, it looked like they knew where are you, or they shot you through smoke or wall, or anything else. But, we see the completely same things in pro matches. Those pro players so often check the right angles, and they get kills through smokes so many times. But, we all know that it’s just pure game sense and skill.

Therefore, imagine that you are playing at LAN event and that nobody can cheat. It’s always better to assume that someone is smurfing rather than cheating. Accept that as a challenge and try to prove that you are better than them.

4. Mute toxic players

You can’t do much if your teammates don’t talk with you or don’t give you the necessary information. You can’t force them to talk. However, if they get toxic for some reason, just mute them. It’s so easy to do and it will save you so much energy and nerves. If they get tilted and try to blame you for the bad result, it means that they don’t have the right mindset to win the game. So, you don’t need them to affect you negatively.

5. If you get toxic, don’t express it through communication

If you somehow get toxic and angry at your teammates, don’t let other players know. When you have a need to release your anger, do it when the microphone is turned off. It’s not easy to completely ignore the fact that your teammates make so many mistakes. Therefore, if you can’t control yourself, yell at your teammates without them knowing it. Again, when the round ends, just forget about what happened and focus on the following round and appear calm and chill in team chat.

Your microphone is supposed to be used only for sharing important information and eventually for making plans for the following round. So, don’t misuse team chat and don’t create a negative atmosphere on your own.

6. Always assume there is an AWPer is ready to pick you off

Now we are going to move to a practical, in-game sequence of our ten CS:GO rules. When you play random matchmaking matches, you don’t know anything about the opponent’s team. Accordingly, you don’t know who is going to be an AWPer or which angles their AWPer likes to hold. Therefore, you always need to assume that the opponent’s AWPer is holding an angle that you want to peek.

So, you need to act accordingly. Always make sure that you shoulder peek that angle to eventually force an AWPer to reveal his position. Using utility is also very important in this kind of situation. It takes a little bit of joy from the game, but there is no better feeling than ending the game as the winner, so you need to do everything you can in order to win the game.

7. Pay attention at the opponent’s patterns

Again, you don’t know anything about opponents once you get into a matchmaking game. You don’t know how many players are going to be on A or B site, and you don’t know what angles they hold or in which spots and corners they like to hide. As a result, it’s really hard to predict moves of the opponent’s team and it makes things for you generally harder. Nevertheless, there is something you can do about that.

This requires a little bit of your attention. In the opening few rounds, play more passively and look at radar more often. Try to memorize where your teammates got killed and how many players were on both sites. On the CT side, it’s even easier to follow these things. If opponents constantly rushing one site, then you need to something about it. Transfer one man to that site, or use more utility or just be more aggressive. It’s up to you.

8. Don’t neglect the importance of utility

One of the very common mistakes that players make, especially in low ranks, is that they completely ignore utility. They don’t buy it, or even when they buy it, they don’t use it. In addition to that, many players try to use grenades, but they don’t know how or what is the purpose of it. No wonder, considering that utility is related to the tactical aspect of the game. So, players often forget about it because they think CS:GO is all about having good aim and movement.

But, it’s far more than that. In SoloQ matches, the utility is especially useful on the CT side. It can help you defend the site or to postpone the attack of the opponent’s team, so your teammates have enough time to rotate and defend the site properly. Whereas the purpose of Molotovs, Smokes, and HE Grenades are kind of obvious, players generally don’t completely understand the usage of flashbangs. Flashbangs are very useful on CT side as well, and they can give you easy opening frags if you have good timing.

9. Make sure you are visible from as fewer angles as possible

Players very often focus only on what is in front of them and completely forget about their environment. Consequently, they often leave themselves exposed to multiple angles and make themselves easy targets. That’s why you need to improve your awareness of the situation always be sure that nobody can see you before you see them. So, it’s always better to hold angles where you can quickly retreat and get behind some kind of cover.

10. Stay alive as long as possible

The last of our ten CS:GO rules maybe sound obvious, but many players don’t care much about staying alive. This is particularly important on Counter-Terrorist side when you have to defend bombsites. You perhaps managed to take two frags, but if you died too early it can turn out to be a bad move. Sometimes, playing for a retake with the full team is much better than defending the site with only one guy. Also, remember that trading kills are more favorable for the T side than for CTs.

Staying alive on T side is also important, but harder to accomplish as you need to attack. As long as you are alive, opponents must think about you and you can always catch them off-guard. Staying alive is also part of the tactical aspect of the game and that’s why players rarely think about it as a valuable thing. But you need to change that if you want to become a better player.

Although it sounds weird, you maybe should write these rules down on paper and keep that paper beside your keyboard so you can always keep them in mind. Writing them down will also help you to memorize them and follow them better.