Yes! It looks like Valve, once again, waited for me to be AFK before delivering a CS:GO
update worth covering. I’m happy to be doing my bit for the community! But now I’m back,
let’s cover, literally, the biggest update EVER
…so far this month.
We knew an update of some sort was coming; Valve always waits until
after the major to post all the big and potentially game-breaking updates,
and sometimes even an operation as well. But not one of those this time.
A week ago, Valve tweeted, asking for ANUBIS puns. I am very disappointed that nobody suggested THIS.
But still, Ryan won with the pun competition with his suggestion of ‘ANU MAP WHO BIS’, getting his
suggestion as the title of the blog post, and his name forever immortalised on CS:GO’s blog page.
Well done, Ryan.
And the headline news is that Dust2’s dusty old design has been swapped out for ANUBIS’s dusty
new design. This is huge: for over 20 years, Dust2 has been among the most popular and prominent maps
in Counter-Strike, and now it sees itself taking more of a back seat. It’s not all bad, cos ANUBIS
is awesome, but it is still a sad day for me as I’d much rather Mirage had been removed instead.
BUT CLEARLY, you don’t feel the same way! As Penistastetestor pointed out, Dust2 had been the
least played map in majors this year. Meanwhile, Mirage was the played the most. So there. That
could be why Dust2 was taken out. But my heart tells me that the map still has a part to play
in Counter-Strike, for good or evil, before all this is over, and I expect it to remain a popular
choice in more casual modes like deathmatch. But the competitive scene may be moving on!
Although Valve went to lengths to reassure people that it’ll still be playable.
But what a map Anubis is! It’s just one of those maps that everybody seems to like.
It’s colourful and sunny, and plays rather well too! I’ve taken a real shine to it and
I look forward to watching pros finally being subjected to a new(ish) community-made map.
The way that most maps have been featured to date means that anybody serious about the game
doesn’t bother learning them because they know they’ll be removed again in a couple of months,
so seeing Anubis earn a more permanent place inside the
game can only be a good thing for the mapping community for Counter-Strike.
And the other half of this update involves changes to 2 of the most popular weapons in the game:
the AWP’s clip capacity – oh sorry, I mean MAGAZINE capacity- has been halved down to
just 5 bullets. This is still enough to ace with, but not enough to make any mistakes with any more!
I don’t think it will affect me too much cos I’m lucky to fire off more than 1 shot before I
die. But I immediately thought back to iconic AWP moments in CS:GO, like Coldzera’s B site defence
on Mirage, and how such a change would have affected those moments. But… just so you know,
this one would still have happened, as-is. But had TACO not finished the 5th player off,
with just a 5 clip AWP, Coldzera e’d have been in a lot of trouble! Moments
like these are something I’d like to investigate further. But not today.
Still, I can’t help but feel that it’s a bit mean on the AWP to nerf it like
this. Especially when, judging from all the overpowered overwatch clips I get,
it’s the scout that’s in more need of a nerf(!)
COUNTER TERRORISTS WIN
The M4A1-S’s distant damage has also been nerfed. The damage that bullets inflict in CS:GO drops as
the distance increases. All weapons suffer from this- even the AWP. Just by not very much. Others
categories, like pistols and SMGs, drop by a lot more, some by as much as 20 or even 25%
for every 500 units the bullets travel. Which is why those guns are so bad in long-range combat.
Now, most rifles are fairly good, dropping somewhere between 1-4%. The M4A1-S used to
be one of the best, dropping by only 1%. But this update has increased that value to 6%, making it
now the WORST rifle for this stat in the game! LUCKILY, the M4A1-S has the highest base damage,
which kind of offsets it somewhat. Not that you’d have known that cos previously it had
its headshot damage nerfed. What can I say: the M4A1-S is the target of every Valve attempt to try
and balance the rifles, so it has all kinds of weird quirks added to it at this point.
So instead of trying to describe this gun’s behaviour, have this graph instead.
The M4A4 is in green, and the M4A1-S before this update is in red. And you
can see that as these bullets travel further, the damage they can inflict,
decreases. The M4A1-S’s higher base damage means that it could deal more in the first place, and
this damage dropped off slower at a distance than with the M4A4. That was before the update, though.
But now you can see this orange line. And this is from AFTER the update.
What a change! Point-blank damage remains exactly the same, but from far enough away,
it will now deal even less damage than the M4A4 does. Granted, this cross-over occurs quite a
long distance away- very few engagements will result in the M4A1-S dealing meaningfully less
damage than the M4A4 would have done under the same circumstances, but it can still happen!
One such place this does happen is on Dust2 at… A LONG! Engagements here can
be as far away as 2800 units, at which point the M4A1-S will deal less damage
than the M4A4 does. Bear in mind the difference it makes is still small.
It will still only take 1, 2, 3
4, 5, 6, 7, 8 VALVE PLS F9
Perhaps base damage is the least of your worries when
first shot inaccuracy is a thing in this game.
…But it’s not like this map matters any more any way!
Overpass’s park can be as much as 2300 units away,
at which point the M4A4 and M4A1-S inflict… roughly the same amount of damage.
And on Anubis, this sight-line is just under 2000 units long, and from CT spawn to B it’s about 1700
units, so in both these instances, the M4A1-S’s base damage will still be the higher of the two.
But the problem is the headshots! It’s bad to try and hit such a small target
at this sort of distance any way. First shot inaccuracy suggests I’d be better
off aiming for the centre of mass, being the targets’ bodies instead, even with the M4A1-S,
which is meant to be one of the most accurate rifles for this sort of thing!
…not that you’d know that from these clips, would you.
Oh sorry, I mean MAGAZINES.
But there’s ANOTHER reason why M4A1-S headshots won’t get you a head in life.
Headshots typically multiply the weapon’s damage by 4. This is the case with ALL
weapons in Counter-Strike… apart from the deagle, which is 3.9, and with the M4A1-S,
which Valve had previously nerfed down to just 3.475. THIS is why, despite the highest
base damage, it doesn’t one-hit headshot helmeted enemies, whereas the AK47 can.
This also means that at long distances, even if the base damage of the 2 M4 rifles is similar,
the M4A1-S’s headshot damage is now much, much lower than the M4A4’s is.
THIS, is how much damage a headshot will do against an un-helmeted enemy. No,
this isn’t a mistake- both M4 rifles deal the exact same headshot damage at point-blank range,
both before and after this latest update. So this is why the M4A1-S multiples headshot
damage by 3.475 rather than by 4 like every other weapon does. It really was done just
to offset its higher base damage, BUT! This damage drop-off update has made it
so that the M4A1-S has gone from dealing MORE damage at range than the M4A4, to dealing LESS,
essentially leapfrogging the M4A4 on the road to shit-ness.
For instance: if you headshot an un-helmeted enemy from across park on Overpass,
-dare I risk it?-
with the M4A4 you’d do 114 damage, but with the M4A1-S, whereas it used to inflict 126,
it will now do just 99. No longer an instant-kill. Suddenly, all those little tweaks the weapon has
received make a BIG difference! I mean, this is if you both have your backs up against the wall.
In reality you’ll likely be stood slightly closer to each other, and so it should still be a one-hit
kill. But this is roughly the distance where the M4A1-S’s nerfed stats start to become meaningful.
With armour, it’s a similar story. One chest and one headshot used to be a guaranteed kill
at any distance. But now, beyond about 1400 units- which looks like THIS, it will no longer be enough
to kill an armoured enemy using the M4A1-S. The M4A4’s range is greater, still not infinite- but
for all but THE longest sight lines, it should still kill with a head and upper body shot.
At this point I COULD go through all the different combinations of body, groin and
head shots and distances that could kill, but I won’t. I’ll just say that the M4A1-S is now
a confused thing. It’s the most accurate rifle of the two, but better suited to close-range combat,
but then the M4A4 is better for close-range combat cos of its larger bullet capacity and
higher fire rate. But then, since the M4A1-S deals slightly higher damage, groin shots may kill in
1 less shot than with the M4A4, which should offset the slightly lower firerate, somewhat.
What can I say? The balance between the two M4
rifles has been shaken up. But one thing’s for sure:
…the M4A1-S still sounds better!
It’s great to finally have an update to the game worth covering again. Unfortunately though,
I don’t have any more holidays planned so it could be a while until the next.