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CS:GO – The Ultimate Weapon comparison

There are a lot of CS:GO weapon analysis and very detailed data spreadsheets in the internet, but most of them are outdated, unclear or just too detailed and overcomplicated, so you have to invest some time to understand and interpret all the values. This guide focuses on the most common weapons in competitive play in higher tiers. We wanted to create a quick and handy overview for beginners, which compares the most used weapons and give you specific recommendations for different situations.


Why are some weapons not listed?

As we mentioned before, we want to compare the most common weapons in competitive play (higher tiers). Some weapons are just too weak or badly balanced in terms of price-performance ratio, so they are rarely played or completely ignored by the professional scene. We decided to leave them out to keep this overview as simple and clean as possible.


How is damage calculated here?

We used the easiest way to calculate and compare damage here. This means the following values are calculated without the range modifier.

Damage Multiplier
Headshot = 4
Chest & Arm = 1
Stomach = 1,25
Legs = 0,75

Basic Damage x Multiplier = Damage without Vest + Helmet
Basic Damage x Multiplier x Armor Penetration = Damage with Vest + Helmet


Empirical Data

Reloadtime (Clip Ready) and Reloadanimation (Fire Ready) are based on empirical data. We used a stop watch for each value, subtracted the average reaction time for humans and rounded up to the second decimal place.


Starting Pistols


Glock-18 USP-S P2000
glock usp-s p2000
Price / Kill-Reward $200 / $300 $200 / $300 $200 / $300
Clip size 20/120 12/24 13/62
Reloadtime (Clip Ready) 1.00 sec 1.00 sec 1.00 sec
Reloadanimation (Fire Ready) 2.30 sec 2.30 sec 2.30 sec
Movementspeed (units) 240 240 240
       
Basic Damage (Chest & Arm) 28 35 35
Damage (Head) 112 140 140
Damage (Stomach) 35 43.75 43.75
Damage (Legs) 16.45 22.09 22.09
       
Chest & Arm (Vest) 13.16 17.68 17.68
Head (Helmet) 52.64 70.70 70.70
Stomach (Vest) 16.45 22.09 22.09

 

Alternative Pistols


P250 Five-SeveN Tec-9 Desert Eagle
p250 fiveseven tec9 deagle
Price / Kill-Reward $300 / $300 $500 / $300 $500 / $300 $700 / $300
Clip size 13/52 20/100 24/120 7/35
Reloadtime (Clip Ready) 1.00 sec 1.00 sec 1.50 sec 0.90 sec
Reloadanimation (Fire Ready) 2.30 sec 2.30 sec 2.60 sec 2.40 sec
Movementspeed (units) 240 240 240 230
         
Basic Damage (Chest & Arm) 35 32 33 63
Damage (Head) 140 128 132 252
Damage (Stomach) 43.75 40.00 41.25 78.75
Damage (Legs) 26.25 24.00 24.75 47.25
         
Chest & Arm (Vest) 27.18 29.17 29.90 58.72
Head (Helmet) 108.71 116.67 119.59 234.86
Stomach (Vest) 33.97 36.46 37.37 73.40

 

Automatic Rifles


M4A4 M4A1-S AK-47 Galil AR FAMAS
m4a4 m4a1s ak47 galil famas
Price / Kill-Reward $3100 / $300 $3100 / $300 $2700 / $300 $2000 / $300 $2250 / $300
Clip size 30/90 20/40 30/90 35/90 25/90
Reloadtime (Clip Ready) 1.50 sec 1.50 sec 1.30 sec 1.30 sec 1.55 sec
Reloadanimation (Fire Ready) 3.20 sec 3.20 sec 2.60 sec 3.20 sec 3.40 sec
Movementspeed (units) 225 225 215 215 220
           
Basic Damage (Chest & Arm) 33 33 36 30 30
Damage (Head) 132 132 144 120 120
Damage (Stomach) 41.25 41.25 45.00 37.50 37.50
Damage (Legs) 24.75 24.75 27.00 22.50 22.50
           
Chest & Arm (Vest) 23.10 23.10 27.90 23.25 21.00
Head (Helmet) 92.40 92.40 111.60 93.00 84.00
Stomach (Vest) 28.88 28.88 34.88 29.06 26.25

SMGs


MP7 UMP-45 P90 PP-Bizon
mp7 ump45 p90 bizon
Price / Kill-Reward $1700 / $600 $1200 / $600 $2350 / $300 $1400 / $600
Clip size 30/120 25/100 50/100 64/120
Reloadtime (Clip Ready) 1.55 sec 1.55 sec 2.00 sec 1.20 sec
Reloadanimation (Fire Ready) 3.20 sec 3.50 sec 3.50 sec 2.50 sec
Movementspeed (units) 220 230 230 240
         
Basic Damage (Chest & Arm) 29 35 26 27
Damage (Head) 116 140 104 108
Damage (Stomach) 36.25 43.75 32.50 33.75
Damage (Legs) 21.75 26.25 19.50 20.25
         
Chest & Arm (Vest) 18.13 22.75 17.94 15.53
Head (Helmet) 72.50 91.00 71.76 62.10
Stomach (Vest) 22.66 28.44 22.43 19.41

 

Sniper Rifles


SSG 08 (Scout) AWP
scout awp
Price / Kill-Reward $1700 / $300 $4750 / $100
Clip size 10/90 10/30
Reloadtime (Clip Ready) 2.00 sec 2.00 sec
Reloadanimation (Fire Ready) 3.80 sec 3.80 sec
Movementspeed (units) 230 200
     
Basic Damage (Chest & Arm) 88 115
Damage (Head) 352 460
Damage (Stomach) 110 143.75
Damage (Legs) 66 143.75
     
Chest & Arm (Vest) 74.80 112.13
Head (Helmet) 229.20 448.50
Stomach (Vest) 93.50 140.16

 

Grenades


Smoke Molotov/Incendiary Flashbang Decoy
smokegrenade molotov flashbang decoygrenade
Price / Kill-Reward $300 / $300 $600 (CT) or $400 (T) / $300 $200 / $300 $50 / $300
Movementspeed (units) 245 245 245 245
         
Duration 18 sec 7.50 sec 3 sec 14.50 sec


USP-S vs. P2000

Your starting pistol as a CT depends on your personal preference and playstyle. Both weapons do the exact amount of damage and have almost the same accuracy, but the P2000 offers you one more bullet per magazine and roughly the double amount of ammunition overall. On the other hand the USP-S comes with a silencer, which can give you some additional time before your target reacts to your shots (especially on long distances or winding maps). You have to decide if you like to single tap your opponents (USP-S) or if you like to prefire and spam bullets (P2000).


Alternative Pistols

The alternative pistols are incredible deadly in CS:GO. They make eco rounds and force buys very dangerous for the opposing team – especially during the first rounds, when people tend to play with SMGs. The P250 costs only $300 and oneshots people on short range (even with Kevlar + Helmet). It’s a great choice when you plan to rush your opponents or go into close combats. The Five-SeveN ($500) behaves similar in terms of damage, but gives you 7 bullets more per magazine and 55 bullets more overall. It’s a great weapon to punish fast rushes or put your opponents under pressure with lots of prefire and spam shots. The Tec-9 ($500) is the counterpart of the Five-SeveN on the terrorist side, but comes with even more ammunition (24/120). It’s the most dangerous pistol and probably the most popular choice for T ecos in combination with kevlar. The most expensive pistol is the Desert Eagle ($700), which can oneshot people on all distances, but requires very good aiming and fast reactions.


M4A1-S vs. M4A4

The values in our table create the impression that both weapons work almost identical, but they don’t! The M4A1-S does more damage on range (remember; all of our damage values are calculated without the range modifier) and it also shots more accurate than the M4A4. However, the update on the 15th of September 2015 changed a few things. The firerate of the M4A1-S went from 667 RPM to 600 RPM (now identical to the AK-47) and the weapon spread was slightly increased. All changes to accuracy are nearly unnoticeable and very minor with total standing inaccuracy increasing from 5.35 to 5.40. Here is a list of the changes in detail:

15th September 2015 Update
Price: $3200 > $3100
Cycletime: 0.09 > 0.10
Spread alt: 0.45 > 0.50
Standing inaccuracy: 5.35 > 5.40


Thanks to twowordbird.com you can compare the spray pattern and compensation curve here:


Spray Pattern Comparison (M4A1-S vs. M4A4 – OUTDATED)

spray_pattern_m4a1 spray_pattern_m4a4


Compensation Curve (M4A1-S vs. M4A4 – OUTDATED)

compensation_curves_m4a1 compensation_curves_m4a4

More damage at range, higher accuracy and also silenced – all this speaks for the M4A1-S, but the M4A4 gives you a higher firerate and the double amount of ammunition (120 instead of 60). You also have 10 bullets more per magazine, which can save your life in a lot situations. In the end both weapons have their pros and cons and it highly depends on your personal playstyle. Do you like single tapping and high precision? Then the M4A1-S is your way to go. Are you a player, who loves to spray and prefire a lot? Then you should pick the M4A4, so you don’t run out of bullets very fast.


SMGs

So, which SMG is the best in terms of price-performance ratio? The answer is very simple; the UMP-45. Great amount of damage, acceptable recoil and only $1200 with $600 reward pro kill. The P90 is also a great choice with the double amount of bullets per magazine and slightly better damage at range, but it costs $1150 more than the UMP-45, it rewards you with only $300 per kill and it brings a higher risk into the round, when you die and your enemy get his hands on the weapon.