How to control your spray in CS:GO

Controlling your spray is easily one of the most important concepts to learn and master in Counter-Strike.

Each gun, whether it’s a rifle or pistol, has its own unique spray pattern. Rifles are generally the hardest guns to control, while pistols and LMGs are among the easiest to handle. 

Related: The fundamentals of Counter-Strike

To control a gun when spraying, you have to physically pull down your mouse on your mousepad. After shooting the first 10 bullets of an AK-47, for instance, you have to move your mouse to the right before pulling it to the left. This way, your shots will hit your target instead of spraying from side to side.

Below is an example of the AK-47 spray pattern and the recoil compensation required by your mouse movements.

The spray patterns for each gun in CS:GO can be found on csgopedia.com.

Learning how to control a gun and spray efficiently takes time and practice, but it’s well worth the effort. Running and gunning or one-tapping your opponents is all well and good, but if you don’t know how to properly spray, you’re doing yourself a disservice. 

Simply queueing up for matchmaking and playing the game should get you up to scratch with the spray patterns. But if you want to hone your skills, playing deathmatch, creating a private match, or practicing your spray control in a custom map is your best bet.

One of the best maps to practice your spray control is Recoil Master – Spray Training. The map teleports you inside a room with a special wall you can shoot, ideal for practicing your spray patterns. There are a variety of helpful options available on the map that help you optimize your spray, like bullet time and ghost-hair. You can also turn on bullet impact indicators by typing  “sv_showimpacts 1” into the console.