What Is Smurfing in CSGO?

Toby Marshall

19 November 2021

The term ‘Smurfing’ in the world of gaming – and especially CSGO, is becoming ever more well-known. The term dates back to 1996 – and originally stems back to the heyday of Warcraft II. Two highly skilled players created secondary accounts – and they used the aliases Papa Smurf and Smurfette.

Now the concept of Smurfing can be seen in practically all competitive games – not just CS:GO, but also DOTA 2, Valiant and others. Here, we will aim to tell you everything you need to know about Smurfing in CS:GO – what it is, how it affects others and the ultimate consequences.

What is Smurfing in CSGO?

Smurfing is not allowed in CSGO. It is a way of playing Counter-Strike Global Offensive that sees top-level players opening a secondary account and playing against amateurs and people with much lower skill sets and less experience than themselves. Smurfs can use this to make money by boosting another’s account.

It’s pretty clear how Smurfing can be detrimental to the CSGO community. Not only can it be highly irritating for other players – but it can also ruin the gaming experience for your teammates and the opposition. As such, this is a banning offence. So what exactly makes players do it?

Why Do Players Smurf in CSGO?

There isn’t just one reason – there can be several. Firstly, it can help a player avoid the stresses of a highly skilled match against someone of their own level if they just want a nice easy game. Some might even just like the fun of annihilating lower-skilled players. Here are the main reasons behind Smurfing:

It might be fun to defeat lower-ranked teams easily
It can boost accounts for skins and money
It avoids the stresses and demands of highly skilled matches against top opponents.
It can be used for target practice.
You might want to play alongside friends who have lower-ranked accounts than yourself.

Whatever your reason might be, Valve doesn’t take it lightly and will punish Smurfs severely to avoid it from happening

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How to Avoid Smurfs in CSGO

So, how can you avoid them as a lower level player? Well, it used to be that nothing really could be done about it – and the problem started getting worse. It’s not too different today, but the best way to avoid them personally is by controlling how you play CSGO. This means being careful and focusing on the following:

Avoid playing on the most popular CSGO maps
Keep a high trust factor
Look at Prime Matchmaking to help

If you look to maintain a high trust factor then you will more likely match with other players and teams that are reported less frequently and praised for good game behaviours. Obviously, Smurfs will be reported more often as they ruin a player’s overall game experience and thus have low trust factor rankings.

Also, if you try to avoid the more popular maps in CSGO, such as Inferno, Cache. Mirage or Dust II then this also decreases your chances of matching with Smurfs. It is best to look at playing on maps such as Nuke, Assault, Bazaar, Marquis or the likes. This doesn’t guarantee that you won’t come up against a Smurf, but it lessens the likelihood.

Finally, if a player achieves CSGO Prime Status then they can be involved in Prime Matchmaking. This will give you an improved matchmaking experience. To do this, you can either buy Prime CSGO status from the Steam market or achieve it personally by reaching level 21 and then verifying your account by syncing your mobile phone number.

Can You Be Banned from CSGO for Smurfing?

Smurfing in any Valve game, whether it’s CSGO, Dota 2 or any other is a bannable offence. Having said that, if you only Smurf in a game or two then it’s not likely you will get banned. In fact, they can’t ban you directly just for Smurfing. However, if your account gets reviewed and is deemed to be a Smurf account then you will lose access to playing on that account for a while.

The most likely reason a player would be banned for Smurfing is if there were too many reports from others about this behaviour. If you go up against a player and ruin their experience by dominating the match with your higher-level skills, then they will likely report you for Smurfing. If you get too many reports of this type then you will be banned and consequences will arise.

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There aren’t many offences and violations that are treated as a higher priority for bans above Smurfing in CSGO. The only others that are also treated as seriously are cheating or trying to hack the game in any way, kicking other players or yourself all the time – or simply behaving in a toxic way that ruins the gaming experience for others. Simply put, Smurfing is treated as a serious type of toxic game behaviour that won’t be tolerated anymore

How Do I Know if a Smurf is in My CSGO Match?

It’s not always easy to know whether you have been matched up against a Smurf in CSGO – especially if you are higher in rank than the average player. It’s much easier to spot a Smurf in the Silver ranks than in ranks such as Legendary Eagle etc. However, there are still some tips and tricks you can use to try and spot a Smurf in the game.

Firstly, it will be easily noticeable in lower ranks after just a few rounds. They will display skills you haven’t seen before. There will be constant kills from the same player, the ongoing sound of headshots etc. The Smurf will quickly become the centre player in a lower-ranked CSGO game.

If you are higher up in the ranks then it might not be quite as clear – as some of the players in your level might well have a higher skill set. If you do become suspicious of a player then you can check their CSGO account for unusual statistics. This could include stats such as the amount of hours they have played CSGO in total – which you can easily see on their profile. If, when you look, CSGO is the only game on their Steam profile, and they have played around 100 hours or fewer, then it’s highly likely that they are Smurfs if they can’t keep hitting headshots and are impossible to kill. They are either Smurfing or cheating realistically.

Why Shouldn’t I Smurf in CSGO?

You might be led to believe that Smurfing is simply harmless fun in CSGO because it lets you destroy other teams and players as you want, but this can be very demoralizing for other players who are looking to improve their game and move up the ranks. Whatever way you look at it, Smurfing others and making them feel demoralized isn’t acceptable and it can ruin their entire experience of the game. These players might be ones who have the potential to climb up the ranks and even be CSGO professionals in the future – but give up on it as they lose their joy of the game.

Smurfing FAQs

What is Smurfing in CSGO?

Smurfing in CSGO is when a high ranking player opens a new account and plays against the lowest rank, winning games and achieving higher ranks.

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Is Valve Tackling Smurfs?

Valve is certainly attempting to prevent Smurfing by looking at accounts. After a deep analysis of players behaviour, Valve can permanently ban accounts for ranked games for Smurfing.