In my opinion, Nuke has the most strategic depth of all the maps played in competitive CS. Playing well on Nuke is a science because it requires all of your players to be reading off the same page, playing each situation intelligently, and coordinating with their teammates at all times. In order for you to get the most out of this article, you must read my previous article on Train.

Arguably the key to victory on Nuke, and CS in general, is money control and manipulation. Money control is a complex subject and will be the covered in my next article. There will be no discussion of money strategy and manipulation in this article apart from how much is required to execute a specific tactic.


Offense

A lot of teams like to play slow-spam-rafters-pick tactics on Nuke. I view this style to be unreliable because it allows the defending team to get into comfortable positions to stop your eventual attack. It also gives the defending team the freedom to push into, and control, the lobby. Giving the defensive team the ability to control the tempo and style of the game on Nuke is never a good idea. It’s not a good idea on any side of any map, full stop.

The main flaw of spam tactics on Nuke is that it becomes hard to hold the defense back if they decide to push. This often leads to losing players early in the round to no avail; giving the opposition the player and positional advantage. For example, if you have three players spamming the rafters that leaves only two to cover lobby and outside which may allow the defense to push lobby, get a frag, and fall back, due to inadequate cover. For this reason, I am not a strong proponent of spam and pick tactics on Nuke. Like on Train, I prefer fast coordinated play to keep the defense on their back foot.




The principle behind this tactic is that the brunt of the attack comes from the main entrance, while the other players provide flashes from lobby. It is important for the lobby players to remember this fact and avoid running into upper stupidly. This tactic has added effectiveness because the defense will have to be looking at the hut and squeaky doors as they will be expecting an attack to come from there. That is two places they have to watch that the main attack is not coming from.

The 3/2 is completely spawn based with the first three players rushing outside and into main entrance, while the back two players go into lobby and flash upper. It is important for the last player out of spawn to have the bomb.

The first player rushes outside, flashes over the crate and off the offensive red box to blind a potential AWPer. He then smokes over the crate to the corner of the defense red box and garage. He then proceeds around the back of the offense red box and throws his second flash over the defense red box before attacking into main entrance. He will probably be the second or third player into main entrance due to his detour around the red box to check for a pushed player from the opposition.




The second player rushes outside, smokes over the rock to smoke the pipe, then throws a jumping flash to blind any members of the defense on the catwalk or next to main entrance. He then flashes over the defense red box and runs into main entrance with his gun up. Note that his high flash should not blind his teammate who's strategic mindset is outlined above as he should be behind the crate when it detonates.




The third player can smoke off the garage roof to smoke the window room at the bottom of the big ladder if he wishes. He then uses one or two flashes to blind any opposing players behind the red box.




The fourth player runs into lobby, smokes open the door and flashes out of the hut twice; once low and once high. He then turns around and watches radio room for the fast ramp flank. If the defending team is halfway competent, they will start rushing ramp when you abuse the 3/2, so it is imperative that he cover lobby.




The fifth player has the bomb and flashes once through the opened squeaky door to main entrance, and then flashes behind the vent. He should then hang back and ensure that he attacks out of the squeaky door at the same time that the players are attacking upper from main entrance. This is to ensure the bomb doesn’t get dropped and there is no delay in planting. His flash to main entrance is perfectly timed from spawn so that it will never flash the outside team, and detonates shortly before they attack. The vent flash is for the rafters/bomb box player that turns away from the hut flashes.




The fifth player then plants the bomb and everyone takes up holding positions (see later). Everyone should have their HE grenades left for use on the top of ladder. If the defensive team is giving up upper and retaking from main entrance, a player should stay outside on the right of garage entrance watching main, in the “nook”.

I have found this tactic to be the most effective offensive tactic on Nuke, with a success rate of around 70%. If the defense happens to be playing a “passive” variation on the rounds when you run the 3/2, the success rate will be lower.

When should it be called? If this tactic works as effectively for your teams as it has for mine, call this tactic on the crucial buy rounds. It can also be used as an effective anti-eco round providing the fourth player gives special attention to a ramp rush. Due to the amount of equipment that is required to run this tactic effectively, if they are low on money, the fourth and fifth players should sacrifice AKs for galils with two flashes and a smoke. Without flashes, the tactic will fail miserably.