How To Rank Up In CS:GO

Before we jump into how you can rank up quickly in CSGO, it is important to have a good grasp of how the ranking system works. Understanding it will give you a good idea of what to expect and help set realistic goals to achieve.

What Are The Ranks In CSGO?

First, let’s quickly go over all the different ranks, also known as skill groups, in CSGO. There are a total of 18 ranks, with the highest being the Global Elite rank. 

• Silver I
• Silver II
• Silver III
• Silver IV
• Silver Elite
• Silver Elite Master
• Gold Nova I
• Gold Nova II
• Gold Nova III
• Gold Nova IV
• Master Guardian I
• Master Guardian II
• Master Guardian Elite
• Distinguished Master Guardian
• Legendary Eagle
• Legendary Eagle Master
• Supreme Master First Class
• The Global Elite

Using this ladder of skill groups, you can think of where you’d like to land to be satisfied with yourself. If your friends are hovering over the Master Guardian ranks, reaching Legendary Eagle or Legendary Eagle Master should be enough to put them in their place. 

Only the top 1% of players have the skills to reach the Global Elite rank, which will give you insurmountable amounts of status. Other players will immediately have respect for you if they see such a badge displayed on your in-game profile. 

Before you get ready to climb the ranks, you must first meet certain requirements to play in CSGO’s ranked mode, the Competitive mode. Your account must be at least Level 2, and be protected with a Prime Status upgrade.

Getting your profile badge to Level 2 is easier than the latter, as you only need to play Counter-Strike matches to level up. You should reach Level 2 after playing dozens of Deathmatch or Casual matches. Make sure to do your best in these unranked game modes, as you will earn more experience points for performing better.

The second requirement you must meet is to have a Prime-protected account. The Prime Status is an upgrade that essentially verifies your Counter-Strike account, allowing you to play the Competitive mode. The Prime Status upgrade will cost you $14.99, but the benefits you will receive easily outweighs how much it costs. 

Once your account is Level 2 and you have purchased the Prime Status upgrade, you can finally queue up for your first Competitive match. 

Calibration Process (Your First Rank)

Players who have never played Competitive mode must go through a calibration process, where they will play placement matches to determine their first rank. 

There’s nothing too special about the Competitive calibration procedure. All you need to do is win ten Competitive mode matches, and the game will automatically award you with your first rank. 

The matches you play while uncalibrated could be very inconsistent, as the game is placing you in matches with varying ranks to get a good idea of where you belong. You might have an easy time destroying your opponents in one match, and get absolutely obliterated by better players in the next.

Overall, don’t be too discouraged if you are placed in the lower ranks of the skill groups, as it is your first rank after all. However, the highest rank you can possibly get fresh off calibration is Legendary Eagle Master, but reaching such a feat in your first ten victories is pretty unlikely for a new player.

As discussed earlier, players are ranked between the 18 skill groups. However, there is a hidden elo system that is used to calculate the rank gains and losses after the outcome of every match. 

Though Valve has never made it public of how the elo points are calculated, the community members have agreed that there are three primary factors that affect how quickly you can gain elo points and rank up at a rapid pace. 

Getting Round MVPs

The most crucial factor to ranking up fast is by collecting Round MVPs. At the end of every round, a player from the winning team will receive a Round MVP award for contributing the most in the victory. Since a team needs 16 rounds to secure a win, there is plenty of room for you to get as many MVPs as possible.

There are two primary ways of winning a round in Counter-Strike, and the Round MVP will be awarded differently between the two methods:

• Winning a round by eliminating the enemy team.
• Winning a round by completing the objective. 

When a team wins a round through elimination, this means the bomb has not exploded or been defused. In such cases, the player who killed the highest number of enemy players in the round will receive the Round MVP award. 

Since there are only five players in a team, getting three kills will guarantee the Round MVP. However, getting two kills in a round is often enough, as the chances of your teammate getting two kills in the same round becomes lower. 

Winning a round by completing the objective means either the Terrorist side successfully explodes the bomb, or the Counter-Terrorist squad defuses it before detonation. These situations are the easiest way for players to farm Round MVPs. 

On the Terrorist side, one of the best strategies to rank up quickly is by planting the bomb every round. If the bomb explodes and at least one enemy player is still alive (likely saving), the bomb planter will receive the Round MVP. 

On the Counter-Terrorist side, the same concept is applied. After a successful retake, make sure you are the player defusing the bomb, as the defuser will receive the Round MVP. Some teams intentionally allow an enemy player to get the bomb down just so they can defuse it. 

Maintain Win Streaks

Many players think that the Counter-Strike ranking system is very “streaky,” as players experience rank changes when they’re on a winning streak, or a losing one. Though this theory is unconfirmed, many have accepted it to be true. 

One of Counter-Strike’s most prevalent issues is smurfing. The term “smurfing” refers to high-ranked players creating new accounts to stomp on some noobs. Though this is ethical and shameful behavior, there are still too many people doing it. 

To combat the issue, Valve has implemented a “smurf detection” system, which allows smurf-detected accounts to rank up naturally quickly so less low-ranked games are ruined. The best way to detect a smurf account is through winning streaks. 

So, if you were to get yourself on a hot streak and win multiple matches in a row, Valve might detect your account as a potential smurf, which could place you in the smurf-detected pool. Though this might sound bad, it could be seen as a good thing since you can rank up rapidly. 

Many smurf and non-smurf players have reported that they would rank up to the next skill group after every match win, but only if they were having win streaks of seven or above. However, the same can be said for losing streaks. Many players have deranked four or five times in a single losing streak, which is horrifying to hear. 

Perform Well In Matches

The last method is somewhat of a no-brainer. Good consistent results in a specific rank easily tells Valve that a player deserves to play in a higher rank. So, the most reliable way to rank up is to maintain a good KDA and play well in your matches. 

You can try abusing Round MVPs and winning streaks as much as you want, but none of the two can be obtained without some sort of skill to back it up. At the end of the day, climbing the ranking system is a long-term journey, and a few rank up or derank flukes will eventually be corrected after playing more matches.

Consistently placing within the top two players in your team will leave a good impression on your account for Valve to evaluate. Obviously, if you are top-fragging every game, it’s only a matter of time until you receive the notification of getting promoted to the next rank. 

If you are easily getting kills every round, the Round MVP awards will naturally come your way without having to plant or defuse the bomb. You can focus on eliminations and farm the MVPs for getting multi-frags every round.

However, if you are constantly bottom-fragging and being the least impactful player on the team, we’re sorry to say but you will likely be greeted with a derank shortly. Still, don’t be too discouraged as you might actually be playing in a match that you’re not ready for. 

Ranking up in CSGO will take time and effort, as there is no easy way to the top. Here are ten crucial tips to remember during your hike to the peak. 

Master The Primary Weapons

First and foremost, you must have a good understanding of all the primary weapons available in the game. You need to be flexible with weapons, as different types come in handy in various financial situations.

For rifles, learn the spray patterns for the AK-47, M4A1-S, M4A4, Galil AR, and FAMAS. You will find yourself using any of these five weapons very often, so you must be up to the task to use them. 

Even if you didn’t buy these weapons, there’s a decent chance they’ll appear on the ground ready to be picked up. 

Improve Your Aim

In a first-person shooter game, it is apparent that aiming is one of the most important aspects of the game. The harsh truth is that you’ll go nowhere if you don’t have decent aim. It is unavoidable that you must put in effort to train your aim. 

Aim training routines come in different shapes and sizes – it’s totally up to you. You can download workshop maps catered for this purpose, or you can hop in a headshot-only Deathmatch server to practice crosshair placement and increase your headshot percentage. 

Whatever you choose to do, just make sure to stick to the routine, as consistency is the most important aspect of training. 

Learn The Maps And Its Callouts

It is essential for every Counter-Strike player to familiarize themselves with the available maps in Counter-Strike. These maps act as the battleground, and the angles and hiding positions will never change.

Make sure to study the most popular maps, learning common angles that players are often playing from. Understanding the key areas and chokepoints will help you approach gunfights with a better approach.

It is also crucial to learn all the callouts on a map, so you can relay information to your team and understand comms coming in from your teammates. 

Use Grenades Properly

Utility wins games. Grenades play a vital role in how Counter-Strike functions. Mastering the use of grenades will give you a massive advantage in rounds.

• Smoke grenades: primarily used to block off key areas and take control of the map. 
• Flashbangs: can be utilized to set up teammates for easy kills. 
• Molotovs/Incendiary Grenades: crucial to flush enemies off angles or hold down incoming rushes.
• HE grenades: deals damage to enemy players without having to see them. 

Overall, grenades can influence the decisions of enemy players and force them into unfavorable situations or fights. 

Practice Good Movement And Strafing

As we’ve covered earlier, shooting at opponents and getting headshots is one of the most important aspects of Counter-Strike. But, what if you can make your enemies miss their shots on you?

Movement and strafing can be applied to approaching gunfights. Players can strafe left and right while taking a duel to throw off enemy players into whiffing their shots on a moving target. However, you must master the art of bursting if you’re looking to strafe in engagements.

Additionally, general movement skills are also important to move around the map efficiently and land jumps to gain positioning advantages. 

Communicate With Your Teammates

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that Counter-Strike is a team game, and you are nothing without teammates. Though you cannot control how your teammates act and aim, you still have the ability to ensure they are well informed, allowing them to make better decisions.

You are obliged to communicate with your teammates and relay information on where you saw an enemy player at. In return, you should also expect callouts from your teammates. Having information on the whereabouts of enemy players will help you and your teammates move around the map accordingly. 

Warm Up Before You Play

Counter-Strike is a game that heavily relies on precision, as moving your mouse a millimeter too far could mean you are going to miss your shots. No matter how good you are, you won’t be able to aim like a god after you’ve just woken up from a nap. 

Before jumping into a Competitive map, take 5 to 10 minutes of your time to do a little warm up session. You can hop into a Deathmatch game and go for a certain number of kills, or you can shoot bots for a few minutes. 

Tweak Your Settings

Adjusting your in-game settings is another key to becoming a successful Counter-Strike player. It is your job to take time out of your day to tweak your settings and ensure everything meets your personal preference.

From mouse sensitivity, keybinds, to video settings, everything needs to suit your tastes for you to bring out your maximum potential. You can refer to settings used by professional players to get started and make slight adjustments to get a good feel of the game. 

You might see yourself changing settings frequently at the start, which is one step closer to finding your perfect Counter-Strike settings. 

Watch Professional Players Play

Sometimes the best option to improve is to learn from the best. You can watch professional players work their magic by spectating a tournament match, or even tuning into their live streams. 

When watching professionals, carefully look at how they are moving. Where is their crosshair being placed? Why are they standing in that specific position? How are they using their grenades? 

Ask yourself these questions and try to understand why they are playing like this. There’s a high chance you’ll learn something new. 

Don’t Tilt

Finally, it’s important to keep a winner’s mentality, which means you should never tilt. Flaming your teammates or giving up on a game after a few things went wrong aren’t what winners do. Getting mad at a situation only adds fuel to the fire, and you’ll end up playing worse and bring down the overall morale of the team.

After every loss, think about what you could have done better in the game, and don’t shift the blame towards your teammates. You’ll only meet them once in your life, but you’re stuck with yourself everyday. 

Overall, the speed at which you climb the CSGO ranks entirely depends on your skill, improvement, and most importantly, commitment. You can always fit in more matches in your Counter-Strike sessions to get a better feel of the game and learn from your mistakes.

It will take at least a year for an average player to reach the highest rank in the game: The Global Elite. However, achieving such a feat is not impossible, and comes down to how hungry you are to win and improve your game.