Respect your AKs and clear out your corners to gain an edge on this fiery map.
War is hell
According to HLTV, de_inferno is the second most popular pick in official competitive CS:GO matchups, having been played over 16 000 times at the time of writing. With its European village setting, it is undoubtedly the most picturesque of all maps in the competitive pool, but also one with an immense skill ceiling and a plethora of options when it comes to viable strategies and styles.
Here are five quick tips to help understand one of the Counter-Strike series’ most famous maps a bit better.
Learn your utility
Unlike other established facets in CS:GO’s folklore such as Mirage or Dust II, Inferno is a map that encourages tactical mechanics and smart utility usage, rather than the all-out duel-heavy feel of those other maps in the competitive pool. This has proven to be the biggest cornerstone of why sides such as Gambit have so often relied on the map as a home pick in their series, and their current win percentage of 81.8% showcases just how reliable a choice it can be for the stacks and rosters who can get to grips with it.
Spots such as Cemetery or Banana are amongst the most hotly contested positions in the entire game, and learning how to pepper them both with mollys, smokes and frags every single round is a must for anyone hoping to establish themselves on the map, regardless of the position or role they have.
Play your angles
Covering and clearing angles is a staple part of CS:GO’s core gameplay and a huge factor behind the game’s high skill ceiling. You might get away with a bit of careless elsewhere, but Inferno is a map that is always on hand to punish anyone who doesn’t properly clear their angles.
Areas of the map such as Apartments, Banana and both bombsites are filled with a plethora of tight spaces and angles that players can slip into and cause some serious damage if left unchecked. Making sure the team leaves no unturned when moving into an area every round is crucial.
Be aware of rotations
Inferno is a map that allows for rotations from any location at almost any place, making it one of the most interconnected maps alongside Overpass and Vertigo in the current competitive pool.
For the Ts, it’s common to see a foray up Banana at the beginning of the round to indicate a B site presence while applying a lot of pressure through utility before they suddenly drop back down Mid and execute the A site in the hopes their Banana presence has pulled the CTs across. Alternatively, if an A execute isn’t working for the Ts, there’s the option of rotating round through Arch and down Speedway for a quick rotation to the B site.
Both these rotations are just as viable for the CTs, with experienced anchors on the bombsites able to spot the difference between an execute and a fake after enough playtime on the map.
Know when to save
Dust II might be infamous for possessing two of the hardest bombsites to retake in the entire game, but Inferno’s just behind it in that department.
Both bombsites on the map allow plenty of time for Ts and CTs to set in a formation that covers all entrances and wait for an attempted retake, and both require an equal amount of utility usage and some crisp aim to fully unlock.
Given the harsh nature of the CT economy in the current meta and the power of the AK-47 for the T side, the ability to read the situation in a round and identify when it’s right to save the weaponry should never be undervalued on a map like Inferno.
AKs > Scopes
Inferno is home to several tight straights, making close and mid-level ranges of combat the norm throughout a round, therefore crowning the AK-47 as the absolute go-to gun for either side throughout a matchup. Unlike a map like Dust II or Overpass that are ripe with open spaces for scoped weapons such as AWPs, AUGs and SGs, they take a secondary role on Via Dante.
There’s some fun to be had with a quickscope down Mid or Banana with an AWP, but there’s no denying the dominance the rifles have on Inferno in the current meta.
