Pretty much the primary weapon of choice for a terrorist, weighing in at $2500 with ammo costing $80 per clip. Making it slightly cheaper than the m4a1. Being $500 cheaper leaves us a few more options for money handling tactics when playing as T but i wont go into that for now, just keep it in mind.


On a personal level I think the ak47 is great, it's powerful and if you use it properly its accurate at all ranges.

In this short guide I will talk about 3 different ranges;
Close Range
Mid Range
Long Range

I will also discuss a few other things concerning the AK-47. These will include: Reloading, notes on firing and a little console tweaking.

Reloading

First of all reloading, choosing when to reload is very important as if you are caught reloading by a rushing opponent you're likely to catch a few bullets in the face. Another bad situation is choosing not to reload and finding yourself with not enough ammo to take out 2 or 3 easy kills you managed to out-flank.

The worst time to reload in the sense of too early is directly after a kill. Especially when you're rushing.

Picture this. On de_aztec you're playing as T rushing the double doors, you jump out spraying about 5 bullets into a CTs face rushing from your right hand side, spinning to your left you catch another trying to outflank you. Pressing your back against the blocks you start to slap a new clip into your blood thirsty AK. You proceed to shit your pants as a noob with 300 ping runs round and mp5s you to the face. Not only are you dead but also your teams rush was wasted as you were at the front, you retard. It would probably be best if you open up the console, type exit then uninstall css from your aids infested hard disk drive.

At the front of a rush you don't reload. You're the point man your goal is to break through. Stopping to reload will only slow you down. The damage done by each shot also backs up this tactic, requiring 2-3 chest shots for a kill means that you can quite easily run around with 15 bullets in your clip knowing you can still kill anyone who comes your way.

I feel its safe to reload maybe 3 to 4 seconds after killing if you have cover, it really does depend on the situation, and this is where those beady things on your face come into play, slightly higher and to either side of your nose.

Fighting!
Ok first of all lets start with a few basic notes on actually firing the AK47, the greatest tip I can give you with the AK47 is to stand still. If you kill when your moving good for you, but you will have much more success standing still.

Use a small crosshair, big crosshair will generally give you less accuracy. If you don't believe me try playing with your crosshair on large for a week solid, then switching back and seeing your results. You will know I am right and love me for it. Feel free to buy me gifts.

Close Range
Close range is defined by anything that is in your face, generally the kind of distance that makes you soil yourself when somebody jumps out shooting. Still using de_aztec a good example would be either room at the end of the wooden bridge. The T side is slightly smaller making it much more in your face, with the CT side allowing a little more breathing space. Fighting here is generally very fast paced and you must make decisions quickly to stand a chance of taking down the opposition efficiently.

The advantage of using the AK47 in a close combat situation is its ability to do high damage with each round fired. Disadvantages are its rate of fire being slower than other assault rifles and its loss of accuracy when spraying.

These things in mind the best way to handle this range is to work with bursts. Burst of fire and bursts of movement. Keep yourself moving, do not get yourself caught standing still or worse spraying. In older versions of cs it was possible to crouch, shoot then move. I would advise against this in css. The reason behind this is the slight delay between crouching and being able to move where your character is standing up, this pause will get you killed over and over again.

Another useful technique in this situation is the circle strafe. 2 ways of doing this really; you can either dive out all guns blazing, keep up the movement and push forwards. Or you can strafe out pick your shots and dive back into your cover. This is really down to what you feel will work best. Keep your goal in mind, are you attacking? Or are you defending?

At the end of the day you want to pick your targets off before they get too close when you're using an AK.

Mid Range
de_aztec is still my map of choice for this guide. I would define mid range as firing from one room to the other at opposite ends of the wooden bridge. You can make out your opponent well and it's a good distance for throwing in grenades.

This is definitely the range where you are really going to rack up those kills with your AK. If you stay calm and aim well there's no reason for any player to easily take you out. My advice is make sure you know exactly where you are aiming and have something to cover you without having to duck. This is where 1 step strafing (see my techniques tutorial) comes into play. It really does come into its own at this range, especially so with the AK. Keep in mind the strengths and weaknesses of the gun. At this range you should be firing in no more than 3 shot bursts, I feel 2 is optimum for firing and moving at this range. Above all do not make yourself an easy target. A common mistake is positioning yourself so you can see the whole doorway, you don't need to do this. Not only are you exposing yourself but chances are as you try to aim at the whole door someone aiming at a small portion will have a much higher chance of hitting their target.

Crouching to aim or cover a section has bad news written all over it. Playing at a low level you can get away with this, but as you move up through the ranks you will come unstuck. Picture this; your sitting there crouched watching the doorway. Your whole fat ass is exposed ass you slow your breathing, squint your eyes and hover over your mouse. For a few seconds there is nothing, just waiting. Waiting for the moment you see movement then BAM you just got your ass sniped. This is because your trying to cover a whole area and your killer was only worried about a very small area. The only decision they have to make is firing, as you need to aim first. Stop this happening by moving in and out of your cover, fire 2 shots and move back. Repeat this right away and repeat till your target is down, it will be much harder to track you.

Another move to consider at this range is the 2-step strafe (see my techniques guide). Taking on multiple opponents at this range is relatively easy, make sure you keep your bursts short and accurate, catch them as they try to make it into close range.

Long Range
Again with the de_aztec. A great example of long range shooting is from underneath the wooden bridge, all the way towards the arch at the T spawn.

Killing at this range depends on a nice steady hand, good mouse work and a nice small crosshair. Of course you don't need a small crosshair it just makes things much easier. The technique you use here totally depends on your targets situation. A great advantage at this range is the 1st shot from your AK will not only be powerful but also very steady. If you're stood still it will hit where you aim.

Picture this, you're under the bridge, knee deep in water and your target is running in the opposite direction. Crouch and fire single shots till their lifeless body hits the floor. Your target has spotted you and is returning fire from another rifle, 1 step strafing is called for here after a few shots have been traded you can step out of cover and crouch firing single shots for an easy kill.

Taking on a sniper at this range can be quite difficult seeing as you are right where the sniper wants you; in the open, no cover and with no sniper rifle of your own. In this situation I would send a few shots his way and get into some cover. Leave him until he comes closer for an easier kill. Use a combination of strafing moves and be sure to break up your rhythm so it's harder to aim ahead of you. Every time you break rhythm fire 2 shots to keep him on his toes.

Taking on multiple opponents here I would suggest 1 step strafing with slightly longer pauses, break your rhythm to draw them towards you. As they enter into a nice mid range take their heads right off like the noobs they are.

Console Tweak
A great console tweak that is completely legal in most if not all leagues (to the best of my knowledge). Is the cl_crosshairscale value. In your options you get to choose from: Small, medium and large. For a regular gamer any of these 3 will do. Somebody who plays cs more often will realise that smaller crosshairs bring more headshots. Changing the crosshair here simply changes the cl_crosshairscale value. For example choosing Small sets it to cl_crosshairscale "1200" medium I think is 1000 and large will be around 800. The higher you set the number, the smaller your crosshair. I have heard of people setting theirs around 10,000. Personally I feel 2000 is about right. Play around with this number; see what works best for you.

Another helpful tweak after using cl_crosshairscale is cl_crosshairusealpha. The smaller your crosshair gets the harder it is to see. Especially as by default it isn't solid colour, this makes aiming on bright backgrounds is made much harder. The default value of cl_crosshairscale is "1". Personally I have my crosshair in red and set to cl_crosshairusealpha "5".

Using these 2 simple tweaks makes aiming with the AK47 much easier, give it a try and see what works for you.

Post edited by: [km]frankster, at: 14/05/2005 03:13