Thursday November 26 2009
Counter-Strike
Official Design Partner
Story Header

Counter-Strike: A page from the playbook of … coL

By: Nick Bee - Published February 16, 2008 at 8:59 PM EST - Writer Archive
In the latest installment of the Page from the Playbook series, Complexity uses an inferno smoke strategy to neutralize the banana site defense and pick them apart one by one.


In a bomb site like banana on Inferno, where the defense has time to set up and wait for your team to enter a choke point with every advantage on their side, manipulating the situation is essential to successfully attacking. Creating conditions where you virtually eliminate defenders as a threat before you even enter the site is invaluable.

In 2006, when Complexity played 1.6, the clan was known for their unconventional approach to traditional routes. They used their effective team chemistry to pull off precise timing and coordinated attacks and introduced a breath of fresh air into a Counter-Strike scene that needed innovation.

This take on the traditional Banana bomb-site attack is no exception.

The goal of this strategy is to use a clever combination of smokes to effectively neutralize one side of the banana bomb site defense and cancel out the chance of crossfire. Then they can sweep the area and taking the Counter-Terrorists down, one by one. This, combined with a delayed rush can incapacitate the defense and give you much better odds of successfully defending the bomb after planting it.


Expert Opinion
Jonas "BSL"
Alsaker Vikan
Many B attacks fail because teams neglects to fend off the defensive crossfire they know will be in place. The difference between a good team and a great team is often the dedicated approach and Complexity has certainly done their homework here.

By attacking the site this way, with coordinated grenades they effectively isolate the defenders ultimately negating the power and effect of the crossfire.

Here’s how they execute this strategy.

Storm - Left in staging area, top of banana
fRoD - Right in staging area, top of banana
tr1p - Takes point position of 3 man line
Warden - Second position in smoke line
sunman - Third position in smoke line




tr1p takes the point position in a three man line at the entrance to the B bomb site with Warden and sunman directly behind him. tr1p throws the initial smoke at the staircase leading into the bomb-site, this is the signal for Warden and sunman to throw smokes at the same location. In addition to the triple smoke, fRoD tosses a flash over the wall into the bomb-site.











The combination of three overlapping smokes creates an incredibly thick screen that completely blocks the view of defenders within the site. This eliminates the ability for the defenders to create a crossfire on the initial coL entry, turning a potential 5v2 or 5v3 into a 5v1. fRoD's flash over the wall also gives the smoke an extra second or two to build up while the CTs in the site are turned away or blinded. In addition, the smoke blocks the view of any quick rotators into the site.












Following the smokes, tr1p throws a flashbang up and over the wall to land in the pathway between CT spawn and B to blind anyone there. At the same time, Warden throws a flash towards the bomb site end of the back hallway. Since tr1p is in the lead, he pauses before heading out the archway that faces CT spawn to allow his own flash to explode.











Once the flash explodes, tr1p joins the tail end of Warden and sunman who were a few steps behind tr1p. This made it so that they never had to stop moving forward. Now in a rotated line with sunman in the lead, all three wrap the site through the back hallway via the CT spawn side archway. Although these actions only take about three seconds in real time, the timing of the run and the rotation of players in the line is critical so they don't flash themselves.











While the back hallway push above is happening, Storm and fRoD wait in the staging area. When sunman first enters the back hallway, Storm tosses two flashes and a HE grenade over the wall into B site, and fRoD throws his second flash. The timing allows the nades to go off just before the three sweeping the hallway enter the bomb site.











Then, when sunman - who is in point position of the sweep - reaches about the middle of the back hallway, fRoD begins to run around the corner into the B site carrying the bomb with Storm behind him. They time the strat so that the two groups of players enter the bomb site at the exact same time. fRoD checks the left side and back corner and goes for the plant.












After a quick check of the bomb-site, sunman turns around to setup at the doorway to back halls to flash and attack any quick rotation from the netted site. Warden goes to the top of banana, fRoD plays up towards the front of the site with his AWP to take out late rotations, and tr1p plays back.



The key to this strat is to manipulate the situation to temporarily eliminate threats, allowing the attacking team to focus on one defensive player at a time. They improved the odds of survival at every step of the way and in the end were able to setup and defend a bomb plant that could have never gotten down otherwise.

User Comments

- 64 Comments

» This story has had 64 comments posted since February 16, 2008 at 8:59 PM EST.

Latest Poll