One of the toughest things for amateur teams to do on offense is explode out of a small choke point like the apartment entrance on Inferno. It is so easy for one defender to mow down and completely shut down the rush. Once that takes place, the team's confidence can be completely shot, making further rushes turn into giant baitfests.

One method for getting out of tight choke points without clustering up is through the use of flashbangs thrown at every which angle in the hope of blinding the defenders. While this is certainly a sound idea, coordinating where players in the rush go after exiting the choke point is much more important.

With the halls on Inferno being one of the toughest areas to send multiple players, deciding where each player in the rush goes beforehand is vital to the strat's success. x3o has this down pat. Their A site rush, which features three players exiting the hallway choke, is executed without even flashing out. By picking spots to clear beforehand, they make easy work of one of the most difficult and complicated exits on any map.

Here is how they executed this strategy

goodfornothing - Middle and flank
impulsive - Window room and right side mid
PaTyoJoN - First hallway attacker
ben - Second hallway attacker
mehLer - Final hallway attacker, bomb carrier



Initially, x3o sends goodfornothing to middle via the T side ramp. The other four players work their way up alternate middle. goodfornothing's main purpose is to keep the defense from playing middle aggressively. He tosses his first flash deep up middle to counter any push the defense may have planned. If effective, this flash also forces the defenders back from positions close up in middle. Meanwhile, PaTyoJoN holds the window room shutters while the team makes it's way up alternate. When he gets close enough, PaTyoJoN tosses a grenade over the apartment roof, listening to hear if he damages any defenders who may be pushed up. This allows him to enter the hallways with a flash in his hand.



mehLer who is third in line and also the bomb carrier, tosses a nade to the left of the window room, damaging any defenders who are caught on the stairs from goodfornothing's flash in the middle. impulsive, who is the last attacker in alternate middle, throws a flash over the window room, blind any defenders on the right side of middle. PaTyoJoN banks a flash up the stairs, so that he can peak the hallway while it explodes.



After PaTyoJoN flash peaks the hallway, goodfornothing starts setting up the middle to enable impulsive, who has now branched off into window room, to leave without having to worry about the left side of middle. goodfornothing tosses his smoke deep into middle, sealing off the left from the right side. Then he tosses his flash towards the left side, as well as nading that side. This allows impulsive to exit the window room focusing solely on the right side of middle and the bombsite entrance.



While that is going on, the other three attackers have not lost a stride in the hallway, with PaTyoJoN hugging the left wall allowing both mehLer and ben to keep their crosshairs on the exit corner. Rather than flashing out, x3o simply bursts out of the halls, which not only allows them to keep their weapons out at all times, but might just surprise a defender who is looking for flashes first. PaTyoJoN first clears close up balcony as well as the big pit, making sure to step out enough to allow his teammates to exit the choke as well. ben clears both the tango and the bombsite.



mehLer pops out of the halls last, supporting the two players in front of him. PaTyoJoN clears to the right of the balcony, while impulsive has joined the team from the right side of middle. PaTyoJoN then drops into the big pit, clearing underneath the balcony before the players enter the site.



The task of clearing out the site is then performed by ben and impulsive. Both mehLer and PaTyoJoN toss their smoke grenades towards the mini-pit, sealing off the site from AWPing defenders. Once the site is clear, mehLer plants the bomb in the usual spot for balcony.



Once the bomb is planted, and with all five players still alive, x3o begins the process of hunting down the remaining defenders who have chosen to takeback on the site. goodfornothing and PaTyoJoN rush down the middle in order to prevent any defenders from flanking or taking up positions in the sniper tower. impulsive takes over the library, while ben heads to the CT spawn archway, meeting up and sandwiching CT spawn. mehLer remains with the bomb, until the very last defender's location is known.



While this strategy works out perfectly for x3o, there are several key elements which must be performed for it to work for you. While the middle player seems like an easy role, it is the most important for this strategy to work properly. That player allows for the players in alternate middle to keep their attention on the window room and halls only. The middle player also has the task of aiding the exit of the window room player into middle. The communication between the player in the middle and the window room player is essential. The well timed flash and nade, as well as the smoke, allow the window room player to focus in one direction only while exiting the choke point.

This strategy is very well thought out, with x3o executing it based off their spawn positions. The actions and locations of each player helps take away the need for wide angle clearing once the choke points are exited. With the smoke and flashes from the middle player helping the window room player focus their aim on the right side of middle, and three players simultaneously exiting the halls, x3o solves the hardest problem with attacking the A site, multiple locations and angles to clear.

It is also important to note that the hallway attackers on this particular strat never stop running. This serves two purposes. First it sets up the timing required for the constructive baiting of the hallway players by the player coming out of the window room. Second, by full out rushing, the site is attacked and taken over so swiftly that it slows down the rotation from the banana site players and makes a site retake more and more improbable.