CSGO Weapons

Currently, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – one of the best-loved games in the Counter Strike series, offers 53 weapons in total, which consists of 11 rifles, 10 pistols, 7 SMGs, 19 knives (not including the default Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist knives) and 6 heavy weapons. That means that there are all sorts of choices for players, depending on their skills and needs.  

Your primary weapon will be able to be seen in first and third person – and can drive fear into the heart of the enemy. Here we will take a look at some of those weapons, the best and the worst, so you can choose the right ones for your gaming experience.

About CSGO Weapons

CSGO  is the world’s most well-known and popular First Person Shooter (FPS) game – having been around for nigh on 10 years already. In this time, there have been highs and lows, ditches, bugs, exploits and glitches, where it has always excelled is in its gunplay and weaponry.

The mechanics of CSGO weaponry are unmatchable in any other game – and whenever anyone starts to play the game, it is taken for granted that their experience will surpass that of any other FPS game out there.

That being said, with over 50 to choose from, choosing the best can be tricky.

The weaponry is split into five different categories:

  • Pistols
  • Rifles
  • SMGs
  • Heavy Weapons and
  • Knives

Every weapon has its own distinctive unique characteristics – which all come at a price, obviously. A few weapons are ideal for partial buys but might not be particularly useful against full buys.

Some weapons could excel in eco rounds, although some might give you the advantage in a long-range fight.  The thing about Counter-Strike GO is that practically every weapon, with a handful of exceptions, can yield you a kill in specific situations.

Pistols

Anyone that plays Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will need to have a solid understanding of how pistols work as they are some of the most versatile weapons. You will need to use them in the first round in each half of the game – during the pistol round. They also come in useful when your team’s economy is a lot lower and you want to get back to a full buy round much quicker.

There are the game’s three main default pistols. If you are playing on the T side, you will get the Glock. This is a very useful weapon in the pistol rounds because it has a pretty high fire rate in both its burst fire mode and semi-automatic firing mode. This is also a strong weapon because it can provide an instant kill with one shot to the head. However, it is relatively weak on shots to the body and only deals about 30 damage on an unarmoured opponent and under 20 should they have some Kevlar.

For those in the Counter-Terrorist team, before the start of the game, you can choose between 2 different pistols, The traditional default being the USP-S, which is a silenced pistol which is accurate whilst moving and over longer ranges. The other is the P2000 which has slightly less recoil and more ammo. The choice you make on which pistol you prefer depends on your style of play – whether you prefer to go up close to a player and spray hundreds of bullets or aim duels.

Then, both the T and CT sides will be able to access the P250, which is a pretty cheap pistol, which is sometimes used in eco rounds and pistol rounds. They make a great alternative to the standard default weapons as they can produce a much higher amount of damage.

Additionally, the CZ-75 is also available to both of the teams This is powerful and fully automatic. However, as you might expect, it is offset by significantly higher amounts of recoil and longer load times. This means that it is better in close quarters combat. This weapon can be alternated out by another two pistols… the Tec-0 on the Terrorist side and the Five Seven on the Counter-Terrorist side. Both these weapons are semi-automatic and have somewhat lower fire rates, lower recoil but have higher accuracy over longer distances.

The most powerful of all pistols is the Desert Eagle. This can produce a significant amount of damage in just one shot – enough to kill your opponent with a single headshot or two body shots. However, the recoil is pretty astonishing, so if you are playing in an eco-round and face someone with a rifle and miss your shot, then you may end up not coming out of it alive.

Rifles

In the CSGO game, the rifles are divided into two different sections, the Assault rifles and the Sniper rifles. The most famous and popular Assault rifle for Terrorists is the AK-47. This has an insanely high accuracy rate on your first shot and has one of the easiest to learn spray patterns. If you get in a sound shot to the head from the AK-47, then it’s a certain kill.

However, on the Counter-Terrorist side, you have the choice of two popular assault rifles – the M4A1-S and the M4A4. Both of these options produce the same damage. The M4A4 has more ammo and an increased firing speed, whilst the M4A1-S offers a silencer – which means that bullets have no tracers, and is slightly more accurate. This weapon makes it harder for your opponents to try and discern your position. It’s also a bargain… coming in at $200 less, meaning an extra grenade.

 Just a step down from the AK-47 of the Terrorists and the M4s of the Counter-Terrorists come the Galil and Famas. These are both less expensive options and are popular in force buy rounds, allowing players stronger gunplay rather than going for a SubMachine Gun.

Then we have the scoped assault rifles. IOn the Terrorist team this will be the SG 553, whilst the Counter-Terrorists would hold the AUG. These two rifles only became part of the game’s competitive scene more recently and were often avoided because of their cost. Both of these weapons have a scope that you are able to move quickly between. They also have high damage output, which means that they can be very helpful when playing medium-range.

The main Sniper you will come across in the game is the AWP. It is loud and large, heavy and slow… and pretty expensive. It does offer a one-shot kill to all parts of the body except the legs. Whilst using the scope it is highly accurate – however, as soon as you fire from the hip the advantage is lost and you will be left at the mercy of the gods as to whether or not you hit the target. You will also need to stay still when you operate this weapon as even the smallest amount of movement will throw off its accuracy.

We also have the SSG-08, also known as the Scout. This is faster, cheaper and slightly weaker than the AWP. It is well-known for its ability to produce a jumping headshot of your enemy. 

These last two weapons are also known as auto-snipers because they can constantly shoot whilst scoped in – another difference from the AWP. That makes them two very expensive guns!

Sub Machine Guns (SMGs) and Heavy

SMGs are the game’s perfect anti-eco weapons. These are usually a lot cheaper to buy than a rifle, they offer higher kill rewards and landing a headshot means a guaranteed kill if your opponent is unarmoured. The CSGO’s most iconic SubMachine Gun is the P90 is popular because of its easy-to-learn spray pattern and its high ammunition capacity. It is used most often in close to mid-range skirmishes.

Following this, we have the MP-9 of the CT side, the Mac-10 of the T side, the UMP and the PP Bizon. The UMP may be a lower cost, but it is a very powerful machine. It does have the lowest fire rate of all the different SMGs but it also boasts the lowest recoil and has great moving accuracy. Then we have the PP Bizon, which is on the lower end of the damage spectrum of all SMGs, but it also has a lot of ammo to spray at your foe.

If we look at the MP9 and the MAC-10, then we will see some of the most impressive fire rates of all the SMGs. Having said that, they aren’t used very often because they also have low armour penetration, low damage and high recoil. When you do see them, they are usually in the force buy rounds or anti-eco rounds as the teams try to get stronger and more powerful weapons.

Heavy Weapons are generally divided into 2 sections = Machine Guns and Shotguns. Shotguns have the highest kill reward of any weapon. The most popular are the XM1014, the Nova and the CT’s MAG-7.

The Nova is a more traditional shotgun which has a relatively short range, high damage and a slow reload time – and there is only one shot in the chamber at once. Although it deals out the lowest damage of all of the shotguns, it boasts the slowest pellet spread. This means that when it is used at close range, you can inflict some serious damage.

Then we have the XM1014, which is more widely known as that Auto-Shotgun. This is the most costly of all shotguns – partly because it has the most power. It can send lots of powerful shots in just a short space of time.

The MAG-7, along with its Terrorist side counterpart the Sawed-Off are both pump action guns. Although both only have a low fire rate, only one is used regularly. The Sawed-Off suffers from a high spread rate ( which means that to be truly viable, you need to be close to your opponent). On the other hand, the MAG-7 is a relatively accurate shotgun – and remains so even if jumping and moving around.

Then we have the machine guns – the Negev and the M249. These weapons have lots of ammo and can cause a lot of damage. However, they are rarely ever used in the competitive game. This is because they are so heavy, which makes them difficult to control.

Until recently, both of these guns were the most expensive on CSGO, and although this is still the case for the M249, you can now purchase the Negev for just $1700.

Grenades and Knives

The grenades in CS GO are split into two categories, the Tactical and Damage. The HE (High Explosive) Grenade is the main one that people think of when mentioned. This is a grenade that allows you to penetrate damage on your enemies that are positioned where you cannot directly see them. The maximum damage caused by a HE grenade is from 60 (if the opposition wears armour) up to 98 if they aren’t wearing armour.

There are two main tactical grenades – the Smoke and the Flashbang. A Flashbang does exactly what it claims to do. It provides the ability to blind and stun your opponents when you throw it in their direction. However, how long it blinds them for depends on which angle they have been exposed to the Flashbang from. Its effects usually last between 1 to 5 seconds.

Then, we have the smoke grenade which allows a team to block the opponent’s vision for as long as 18 seconds, via a smoke cloud. These are often used to block off a choke point or create a ‘wall’ in a larger part of the map, which allows for safer rotations.

We also have the Molotovs and the Incendiary grenades. These are used for both tactical and damage purposes. In terms of damage, if a player happens to walk into the line of fire that is produced by one of these, then they will receive 40 units of damage every second.

In terms of tactics, this is down to the fact that its fire can burn for as long as seven seconds, which means that it can allow a team to block off an area of the map for a short space of time.

Then we come to knives. When playing CSGO competitively, knives are the only melee weapon available to you. If you get up close to your enemy then they can be very powerful. One single stab in the opponent’s back whilst using its secondary fire option can mean a kill, while there are a few in the front which have the same effect.

The Best CSGO Weapons to Use 2022

Melee Weapon (close combat): Knife

Pistols: Glock 18, USP-S, P2000, CZ75-Auto, Dual Berettas,

Desert Eagle, Five-SeveN, R8 Revolver, P250, Tec-9 

Heavy Shotgun: Nova, MAG-7, XM1014, Sawed-Off

Heavy – Machine Guns: Negev, M249

SMGs: Mac-10, MP7, MP5, P90, MP9, UMP-45, PP-Bizon

Top Casino
100% up to €550

Assault Rifles: AUG, AK-47, Galil, FAMAS, M4A4, M4A1-S, SG 553

Sniper Rifles: SCAR-20, AMP, SSG 08, G3SG1

Other: Zeus X27

The CSGO Weapons Damage Chart

Let’s take a look at how these weapons perform – their price, kill, rewards etc. Every single weapon in the game is capable of yielding damage to the opposition’s body. You achieve maximum damage by performing an accurate shot to the head. 

Every kill you perform with a specific weapon will provide you with a monetary kill reward. If you were to successfully kill your opponent with an AWP, then you would get $100 per kill. However, a kill with an MP9 or SMG will award around $600 per kill.

Here is all the damage and kill information for pistols:

ModelPriceKill AwardDamageHeadshot MultiplierMagazine SizeMobilityRecoil Amount
Desert Eagle$700$300533.900x723048.2
R8 Revolver$600$300864.000x818020.0
Dual Beretta$300$300384.000x3024027.0
Five SeveN$500$300324.000x2024025.0
Glock 18$200$300304.000x2024018.0
P2000$200$300354.000x1324026.0
USP-S$200$300354.000x1224029.0
P250$300$300384.000x1324026.0
CZ75 Auto$500$100314.000x1224031.0
Tec-9$500$300334.000x1824023.0

Shotguns

Shotguns are excellent for a short-range fight, and work well on smaller maps such as Inferno. These work well in force buy rounds, especially for those playing on the CT side. What’s more, Buying a shotgun will never be a waste because the impressive reward you get for a shotgun kill will more than make up for the price it cost to buy… each kill can pay out $900

ModelPriceKill AwardDamageHeadshot MultiplierMagazine SizeMobilityRecoil Amount
Mag-7$1,300$900304.000x5225165.0
Nova$1,050$900264.000x8220143.0
Sawed off$1,100$900324.000x7210143.0
XM1014$2,000$900204.000x721580.0

SMGs – Sub Machine Guns

Most Submachine Guns are excellent in CSGO for close-range combat fighting  – (Close Quarter Combat – CQC) Its massive up close fire rate can shred the opposition apart easily, especially if they aren’t wearing a helmet.

Top Casino
100% up to €550

They are also very accurate when you are moving around, so running and shooting will make you difficult for the opponent to hit.

ModelPriceKill AwardDamageHeadshot MultiplierMagazine SizeMobilityRecoil Amount
PP Bizon$1,400$600274.000x6424018.0
Mac-10$1,050$600294.000x3024018.0
MP7$1,500$600294.000x3022016.0
MP5-SD$1,500$600274.000x3023516.0
MP9$1,250$600264.000x3024019.0
P90$2,350$300264.000x5023016.0
UMP-45$1,200$600354.000x2523023.

Assault Rifles

These are the must-have, go-to weapons for any Counter-Strike player. These are the weapons that can cause the most damage and are excellent for all fights – close, mid and long-range combat.

With this weapon, there is minimal damage drop off, and they can be extremely accurate over many different ranges, which makes it one of the most popular weapons for CSGO players.

In terms of AR accuracy, the SG 553 and the AK47 can kill the opposition with one single bullet to the brain… whether they wear a helmet or not.

This is what makes it one of the most effective weapons you can have in your artillery. Recently, the M4A4 has been taken over by the M4A1-S because of its higher damage. In addition, its silencer means there are no bullet traces, which makes it easier to spam through the smokes.

ModelPriceKill AwardDamageHeadshot MultiplierMagazine SizeMobilityRecoil Amount
AK-47$2,700$300364.000x3021530.0
AUG$3,300$300284.000x3022024.0
FAMAS$2,050$300304.000x2522020.0
Galil-AR$1,800$300304.000x3521521.0
M4A4$3,100$300334.000x3022523.0
M4A1-S$2,900$300383.475x2522525.0
SG 553$3,000$300304.000x3021028.0

LMGs – Light Machine Guns

A light machine gun is the least well-used of all CSGO weapons because of the low movement speed that it offers players. LMGs are also famous for their low damage specs and for being rather inaccurate. Occasionally, a player may use the Negev, usually in order to spam smokes, with the hope that it will get them a kill.

ModelPriceKill AwardDamageHeadshot MultiplierMagazine SizeMobilityRecoil Amount
M249$5,200$300324.000x10019525.0
Negev$1,700$300354.000x15015020.0

Sniper

Essentially, a Sniper is a scoped rifle, which works well in a long-range duel. The main sniper in CS GO is the AWP because of its one-bullet, one-kill policy.

Should you hit the legs, then it will do an 85 damage. However, if you hit the opposition anywhere else, it is a straight kill. The scout – the SSG08 is a decent force buy because of its impressive movement speed and its 70 damage… and every single bullet fired can be deadly. It can kill with one single bullet to the head.

Top Casino
100% up to €550
ModelPriceKill AwardDamageHeadshot MultiplierMagazine SizeMobilityRecoil Amount
AWP$4,750$1001154.000x1020078.0
G3SG1$5,000$300804.000x2021530.0
SCAR-20$5,000$300804.000x2021531.0
SSG08$1,700$300884.000x1023033.0

What Weapon for What Situation?

So, hopefully, you know a bit more about the different specs for the different weapons, but what are the right weapons for specific rounds and situations?

The First Round: The Pistol Round

In any CSGO game, the first round will always be the pistol round. This is where the default pistols come in useful as they work pretty well. A player is best off simply spending $650 on a Kevlar.

Some top teams choose to equip the best player with a P250, by the drop of a pistol to them for a raid boss set-up. This is a weapon that can hit a kill with just one single headshot over a range of distances.  This makes it preferable to the Glock, which can only do this at close range.

The USP-S and the P200 are both very helpful weapons on the Counter-Terrorist side – and they don’t require any alternatives. Having more bullets in your P200, however, comes at a cost as it can offer pretty poor accuracy over range.

Force Buy Rounds

In a force buy, the Terrorist side will usually invest in a Galil AR and MAC-10s. The Galil weapon has a fire rate which equals the M4A$ although it can be a little inaccurate. However, it is still a pretty useful force buy. A MAC-10, with its high jumping accuracy, can surprise the opposition and can destroy any Counter-Terrorist that isn’t wearing a helmet.

On the Counter-Terrorist squad, the go-to force buy weapons are the FAMAS and the MP-9. However, some players prefer the MAG-7 shotgun, which works well on maps such as Inferno. On maps such as Dust 2, there will usually be plenty of Scout force buys.

Anti-Eco Rounds

An anti-eco round is one of the best for money making, which is why lots of players like a Sub Machine Gun such as the MAC-10 or the MP 9 when on the Terrorist side.

This will help their team to start building a bank right from the beginning. However, this could be an issue if the team has to face the next gun round with this SMG still at hand. For this reason, some players prefer to opt for a standard AK-47 or M4 in this round.

Top Casino
100% up to €550

Full Buy Rounds

These rounds are very much standard rounds. The CTs have a couple of AWPs along with M4s. Although the M4A1-S and M4A4 don’t kill with one shot to the head, they will hit around 90 damage, so a player will need to be smart when using their nades to get the opposition player near the mark.

On the Terrorist side, a player usually buys the AK-47 or maybe the SG553 rifle. The scope of the Krieg can give them a slight edge, although there is a slower fire rate which can take away that buff. There is also usually 1 AWP on the Terrorist side.  

Hopefully, you know everything you need to know about CSGO weapons now and can go into your next competitive match fully aware of the best weapons for the best outcomes.