The all-inclusive CS:GO economy guide

We all know that the economy is super important in CS:GO, though I still see a lot of people making extremely easy mistakes when it comes to economy, especially in lower ranks. I, therefore, decided to create this guide to help newer players out and maybe give some higher level players some small tips while I'm at it. This guide will cover everything from when to eco to when to force buy.

introduction

We've all encountered this screen before yet view know how to successfully navigate it. They're also completely right; this screen may appear simple at first glance, but an almost (for new players) unfathomable amount of thought and strategy goes into this key part of counterstrike.

This guide will explain the following:

• Economy basics
  
• What makes you what amount of money.
  
• Early, mid, and late game economy
  
• How to communicate during buy time

economy basics

You use money to buy weapons, armour, grenades, gear, all the juicy stuff. You make money by doing various things that help your team such as planting the bomb, defusing the bomb, getting kills, etc.(for more info check "What makes you what").

Team basics

If you're going to take away one thing from this guide has it be that: YOUR MONEY ISN'T YOUR MONEY IT'S YOUR TEAM'S. No this isn't some communist propaganda, if you want to get better you need to give up on your money you worked so hard on. If someone on your team needs it, drop them a weapon. Sure, you may not be able to buy another flash, but what do you think is going to be more effective: An extra flash or secondary or a functioning, properly armed team.

Make all economic decisions together (e.g. eco as a team, buy as a team). Never, ever should half the team be walking around with AWPs and AKs and the other half be running SMGs (also playing back to my first point). Always wait at least a couple of seconds at the start of each round before buying; wait until you have decided as a team what you are going to do. You don't want to be that guy that ruined an eco round because he immediately bought an AWP.

Some basic maths

A round isn't always a simple buy or eco; You can make some more economically responsible decisions by doing some basic maths. The minimum amount you need for an anti-eco round on T-side is 3700 (armor&helmet(1000) + AK(2700)) and CT is 4100 (armor&helmet(1000) + M4(3100)) keeping this in mind you can either calculate on the fly what you should and shouldn't buy or remember/print out this table:

Loses before this round	Amount to save (T)	Amount to save (CT)
0	2300	2700
1	1800	2200
2	1300	1700
3	800	1200
4	300	700

what makes you what

This is fairly straightforward, just have a look at this table:

Action	Team Money	Individual Money
Eliminate entire enemy team	3250
Time runs out (CT)	3250
Defuse	3500	300
Bomb explodes	3500
Plant		300
Llose 1x in a row	1400
Lose 2x in a row	1900
Lose 3x in a roq	2400
Lose 4x in a row	2900
Lose 5x in a row	3400
Lose with plant	800 on top of normal lose reward
Kills
Most weapons		300
SMGs other than p90		600
P90		300
AWP		100
Shotgun		900
Knife		1500
Teamkill		-300

DO NOTE: losing the pistol round will count as losing 2 times in a row (making you 1900) and losing both the pistol round and the round after will net you 2400. This pattern continues untill a win is achieved.

buy time communication

It is extremely important to communicate during buy time. Lay out everything you know about the other team's economy. But most important of all is to never immediately buy! You could ruin an eco round just by buying before talking.

Do everything as a team, whether it's buying or ecoing or whatever. DO IT TOGETHER. If you have a weapon and money but some poor fella's dirt poor, drop him a weapon, be a good boy. Maybe, next round you're the one struggling and you need to get a drop. Boy, are you going to be happy you dropped this guy a weapon. That, and the fact that you're just a massive douche if you don't do it.

Early game

As we all know the game starts with a pistol round. During this round you're going to be better of not buying a pistol, instead, buying a defuse kit, grenades or best of all, armour. This is because if you win the first round you're buying next and if you lose, statistically you are dead so that pistol's gone either way. Now what do you do if you win the pistol round:

Terrorist

Light buy, this means you buy SMGs (not P90) or shotguns which make you a lot of money and work well against unarmoured opponents (CTs lost so they won't be buying armour). You'll also want to consider buying a helmet. On the 3rd round you can do a so-called "Full-buy" - it's pretty self-explanatory - where you buy ARs and the like. However, you should only do this if you're sure the CTs are going to buy. On the 4th round both teams are probably going to be able to full-buy; at this time, it is crucial you buy smokes and flashes, on both T and CT side.
Let's view the same situation from CT-side
They'll have to "Full save" also known as "eco" as they are really tight on cash. This will usually last until about the 4th round unless you win by some miracle. Sometimes, however, you can consider light buying 3rd round. Only do this if everyone on your team is able to do this.

Counter terrorists

Your goal should be to afford a full buy at round 3, if you achieve this you've absolutely destroyed the T economy. You can only achieve a round 3 full-buy if you get 1 defuse or a couple kills.

Mid game

The economy at this point is an all-out war, and this war takes no prisoners. It is a fight for economic superiority with both teams full-buying most if not all rounds. While the early game was mainly about establishing an economy, mid-game is where the majority of your points will be scored. At this time, you are mainly going to be trying to destroy the other teams economy, getting you free rounds.

If you survive a round it is of the utmost importance to buy your teammates weapons. You still have that AK, they died early in the round and are tight on cash. Give them a weapon. Also, if you see an AWP laying on the ground at the end of the round, make sure to grab it, regardless of your money or current weapon. There is guaranteed to be an AWPer on your team that'd love for you to give him that weapon. He might even buy you a gun as a thank you.

Late game

During this time, either, both teams are rolling in cash, or, on team is steamrolling the other. It is of little use to try to destroy their economy as you'll most likely fail. Do, however be carefull not to ruin your own economy in this time.

[xazetti]

maybe he does copy warowls video kinda word by word but this is still important to put out there

[Dan]

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[k1]

When you try copy WarOwl

[jasperr]

yeah i wish i could communicate with my team but they either russian or dont have mics

[Thecalfex]

Nice guide. Thanks you !

[pulmig]

so i found an epic thing about cs, if you have money you can buy guns with "b" omggggg

[Puppet Master]

Nice guide, learned a few new things from it. thanks for writing.