CS:GO has by far the most confusing rank system among all esports games. Sometimes you climb two ranks in one day. And another time you don’t climb at all for a week. There are many factors in CS:GO that decide whether you can rank up or not including wins and personal performance.
How to Get Your First Rank
If you never played CS:GO before, to get the first rank you will need to win 10 Competitive games. After that, you will be placed somewhere on the ranked ladder.
But, you are only allowed 2 wins per day when playing placement matches. This, along with Prime Matchmaking, is made to deter cheaters and smurfs from playing Competitive. Once you get your rank, the restriction will lift and you can play as many games a day as you want.
How to Rank Up in CS:GO
Because of how old and confusing the ranking system in CS:GO is, you will never know for sure how many games you have to win to rank up. Sometimes all it takes is just one game, sometimes it can take 7. The most infuriating moment is when you win 6 games in a row, lost one, and lost your rank along with it.
But on average, we would say it takes around 5-6 wins in a row to rank up. If you got a few losses in between them, don’t worry much, you just might need to win a couple of extra games. A good indicator of how close you are to ranking up is looking at your opponent’s ranks. The higher they get, the closer you are to ranking up in CS:GO.
Apart from winning you have to perform in the game as well. You can’t end up at the bottom of the scoreboard hoping to get ranked up. According to Valve, these are the things you should be paying attention to when playing:
- Round wins
- Round losses
- Kills
- Deaths
- Assists
- Kills per round
- Deaths per round
- Flash assists
- Bomb plants
- Defuses
- MVP awards
There’s probably more, but Valve never disclosed it and we doubt they ever will. Focus on those stats during your Competitive games and remember that at the end of the day, you will still need to win the game.
How Trust Factor Affects Competitive
At the same time, if you misbehave during games and ruin the experience for others, you are less likely to rank up. In CS:GO it’s called the “trust factor” and it is made so that griefers and trollers would play with similar kinds of players. And it will be very difficult to win with such teammates.
The following things will affect your trust factor in CS:GO:
- Failed to connect to games
- Kicked too many teammates
- Got kicked from too many matches
- Abandoned matches
- Spent too much time AFK
- Received too many in-game reports for griefing
We know that some things on that list will happen. Your internet can leave the lobby, or you have to stay AFK to go help your dad move the new couch. It happens, and that’s okay. As long as you are not consistently griefing games, you will be fine.
Tips and Tricks to Rank Up in CS:GO
To make winning games easier, here are a few tips that will drastically help you in your games.
Practice on Workshop Maps
To win games and rank up in CS:GO you have to work on your gameplay and improve things you are bad at. It could be aim, prefires, peeking, grenade lineups, or anything in between.
Workshop maps are great to practice all those things. Our favorite is the series of maps by Yesber. Those are interactive maps for each map in the competitive Competitive pool with tons of tools to practice.
You can practice peeking and holding common angles and paths. Practice grenade throws including flashes, smokes, and fires. And much more. Make sure to give them a shot. If you are not a fan of those maps, you can always use more traditional aim maps.
Warm Up
Warming up before a Competitive game is as important as warming up before your workout. You are just working on different parts of your body.
Play a few deathmatches, maybe an aim course on the workshop map of your choice to get the feel of shooting. Even if you play CS:GO all the time your muscles slowly forget how to play over time. Which is why a warmup is a must.
Communicate
Some games can be won without saying a word. But those won’t be the ones to get you a promotion. In a close match, communication with your teammates is what will win you rounds. And that means you will have to communicate too.
Make sure you give information and the right callouts when you see the enemy or when you get killed. Play together with your teammates, and come up with starts or plays. If no one is talking, be the only one. It will feel awkward but the teammates will hear and listen to you.
Not all games will go the way you want. Some will be bad, terrible even. In those games do your best to stay calm and never rage on your teammates. Even if they are bad and doing dumb stuff. Flaming in a voice chat will only ruin the morale of every single player on the team and just help you lose the game faster,
Take Breaks
It’s kind of obvious but don’t just play 10 games in one sitting. At the very least, take a 15-minute break between every 2 games. This will keep you somewhat focused and fresh for the next match.
But sometimes all you need is a long break from the game. After 10 lost games, your mental is probably destroyed, and you are tired, so take some rest. Leave the game to be for a few days and do something else. Maybe even go outside. After you recharge, you will be able to look at the game with a fresh mind and play better
