Machine guns are the smallest weapon category in Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Lumped together with CSGO shotguns under the Heavy category in the buy menu, machine guns aren’t generally the most popular solution in a competitive match. Lategame most players choose to default to more popular assault rifles, such as the AK-47 or M4A4, or simply purchase the expensive auto-sniper rifle.
Despite their lack of popularity in the competitive environment, if you’re a CSGO player sleeping on machine guns, you’re certainly missing out. While they might not be the most meta-viable solution, even at higher ranks such as Global Elite players often choose to get machine guns lategame to make quick work of ther enemies in enclosed areas. And while they aren’t the most accurate guns in the world, a player skilled in machine guns is able to take headshots even with a weapon that has a very difficult spray pattern.
Machine guns can be tricky to use and require a bit of skill and training, but the payoff is very well worth it. Here’s a guide to CSGO machine guns and how to use them effectively.
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What Are The CSGO Machine Guns?
CSGO machine guns are weapons with high fire rate and high damage to boost. While the game features only two machine guns, both of them quite expensive, the price can be well worth it, if you know how to utilize them effectively. The two machine guns are availbe both to Counter Terrorists and the Terrorists, which means that any team that wants to deal higher damage can invest some funds in these guns.
In the past, a machine gun was always a bery expensive purchase, with both of the guns costing above $5000. This, combined with how risky this weapon is, made machine guns virtually unplayable in CS GO competitive play. Witch such a huge recoil and little accuracy spending over $5000 on a gun that might not even hit the enemy was a very risky purchase. Worst case scenario you would spend all your money, not score a single kill and simply hand over the expensive gun to the enemy team. In addition, at this price you could purchase the powerful auto-sniper, which can deal great damage accurately at long range.
In one of the recent patches game devs have lowered the price on Negev, the more popular machine gun, significantly. The new Negev price is now $1700, making it a much less risky purchase. Since the gun is now so cheap, you can easily purchase it after scoring a win in the first pistol round, or later in the game even when you’re lacking money. With the new lower price, Negev became a legitimately good choice ffor players who want to play around with machine guns in CSGO.
If you want to use machine guns effectively in any competitive game, you have to practice first. Despite the large ammo capacity can high rate of fire, CSGO machine guns have a very slow reload time, and will slow movement of any player carryng them. In addition, they have low accuracy and very high spread and recoil. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you might empty an entire magazine into your opponent at point-blank, and still barely scrape them. However, for players who know how to handle these beasts of a gun, they can be a great way to quickly tear through armored enemies.
If you want to deal more damage with machine gun-type weapons, you have to remember couple of tips:
- Aim low – both guns have a very large spray and low accuracy. This means that you have to aim slightly below your actual target. When you press fire, the gun will spray a lot of ammo very quickly, which measn that if you aim properly you might even score a headshot or two.
- Try to fight at close range – If you can catch an enemy at a close range, for example running out of a smoke grenade, you can easily rip through them in a second, even if they have full armor on. Up-close, CSGO machine guns can be absolutely devastating.
- Pay attention to your ammo – Machine guns in CSGO have an awfuly long reload time. If you ever get caught in a match lacking ammo, you can be almost sure your enemies will use that against you to score an easy kill. If you find out you’re running out of ammo and have to reload, run away as quickly as possible, since when you’re reloading you’re simply a large walking target.
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All CSGO Machine Guns
As you can see, mastering machine guns can be a difficult endavor, but well worth it. Here is an in-depth look at the two machine guns available currently in the game.
Negev
Negev is a classic CSGO weapon. In the past this machine gun was awfuly expensive at $5700. One of the updates has significantly reduced the price, making it over 3 times cheaper. At $1700, Negev is a good choice early on, and you can use it to surprise other players. Not many players expect a Negev so early on the enemy team, and it can be used to effectively prevent a rush from the enemy team, particularly if the enemy team would be rushing through a tight corridor. This machine gun has one of the highest rates of fire in the game, and with a 150 shots in one magazine, it can be used to efectively mow down the enmy team. Keep in mind, however, that the reload tim is almost 6 seconds, and this combined with the fact that the gun slows down your movement can make you an easy target for the enemy team.
M249
M249 is the deadlier, more expensive machine gun. At the price of $5200 this gun is mostly purchased late game. However, it has smaller spray area than the Negev, and can fire even faster. While it holds less ammo (only 100, compared to Negev’s 150), it’s a more accurate weapon and is more effective at larger distances, with better rate of fire and higher damage. Still, for this price it’s a risky pick, and before you purchase it, you have to really consider if your team can afford the $5200 for a weapon of this type. Combined with a $300 kill reward, it can be hard to get your money’s worth out of this gun. Still, if you have mastered the Negev, M249 shouldn’t be a problem to you either.
In Conclusion
That’s about all you need to know on how to use CSGO machine guns effectively. If you want to start shooting fast with style, be sure to check out Skinsmonkey, where you can always trade CSGO skins at best prices, anytime, anywhere!
A true gaming enthusiast, especially Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rust. At SkinsMonkey, he is involved in creating game guides based on his own experience.
