While the defensive side of Nuke is usually viewed as the easier of the two, it is not entirely uncommon for teams to be able to turn the tables and abuse the upper bomb-site. With the offense having the close hill spawn every other round, it is possible for good teams to exploit the short distance to upper in order to surprise the defenders. This can be one of the biggest wake-up calls for teams who are trying to take their game to the next level.

It is very easy to find yourself overwhelmed by a steamrolling offense and become forced to take-back the upper site, allowing the offense to execute and then attempting to retake the site after the initial attack. The only way to truly counter a blitzkrieg offensive on upper is by counter-flashing and keeping the offense blind and confused.

The Weekend Warriors showed their understanding of Nuke during the finals of the PNY National Championship, where they faced off against a stacked GamerCo lineup. They were able to completely dominate the west coast favorites by shutting down the upper bomb-site and containing the rush.

Through the use of well placed flashbangs, WEW effectively slowed down the spawn-based rushes of GamerCo, completely throwing off the timing of their attack and forcing one on one situations. Once the rush was stopped and the offense crippled, WEW finished them off with well timed and multidimensional rotations from the ramp and outside players.


Here is how they executed this strategy

boms - Outside rotator.
loh - Upper site / rafter support to hut.
org - Ramp room support, first rotator.
kEEN - Upper site, floor holding squeaky door.
PaTyoJoN - Ramp room primary, final rotator / flanker.



The initial setup is more of a battle for control rather than simply getting into position. The first thing the players do is use their flashes to prevent the offense from rushing. PaTyoJoN banks the typical ramp room flash, allowing him to peak down to radio room, while org holds a grenade primed, ready to nade if a rush is spotted.



loh allows kEEN to head up the ladder first, because he has the key job in this setup as the floor player. boms takes position in the outside garage with an AWP. As kEEN falls to the bomb box, he smokes off the squeaky door area, and turns to avoid any flashbangs thrown outside of the door by the offense. As kEEN falls, the door squeaks open, and he hears the footsteps of the rush approaching.



loh remains above the ladder, confident that no one will be spamming the rafters from the T roof. He tosses both of his flashes into the hut, allowing kEEN to focus his attention on the squeaky door rushers. loh strafes side to side, watching the hut door and fragging when needed.



At the same time, kEEN chucks both of his flashes through the crack between the hut and the step boxes. These flashes are perfect for blinding the attackers, leaving them vulnerable when kEEN sweeps out.



Once the rush has begun, and players are being fragged in the upper site, PaTyoJoN begins to get more aggressive in ramp room. org tosses a smoke to cover PaTyoJoN's push into the radio room before rotating to the big ladder.



org allows loh to try and frag rather than immediately coming to his aid. While this might look like baiting, had he went up the ladder, the odds that both players would have died with nothing to show for it were pretty high. By waiting for his teammates, org increased his team's chances of winning the round.

With both inside players now eliminated, the three remaining players coordinate the retake on the crippled offense. boms takes one last peak outside, and realizing it is clear flashes and nades the squeaky area from outside warehouse.



Meanwhile, PaTyoJoN has made his way into the waiting room, and begins to clear the area of T's watching the flank, while loh dashes up the ladder to engage the site along with boms. The timing works out perfectly, with boms and loh both fighting one player simultaneously, while PaTyoJoN takes out the T watching the flank to win the round.



This setup is one of the more solid ways to play defense on Nuke. However, a ton of emphasis has to be placed on the floor player. His communication serves as a catalyst for the early rotation of the ramp room players. His ability to lock down the squeaky door is vital. Almost equally important, in the rafter support player's ability to not only frag the players rushing out of the hut door, but their ability to communicate to the floor player as soon as they have become overwhelmed and are no longer able to protect them.

Once the initial rush is defeated, the rotation from the other players is vital to prevent any of the offense from patiently picking them off and making the number odds closer in their favor. While this particular round PaTyoJoN flanked through the radio room, he also showed in this particular match the ability to rotate through the lower bomb-site into the vents, adding some variation to the rotation and keeping the offense guessing.