Introduction
This report takes a look at the weapon usage in IEM Fall 2021 EU. I downloaded a random sample of 18 games (out of approximately 61 BO1s, 16 BO3s and 1 BO5) and analyzed the top 3 weapons (AK-47, M4A1-S and AWP) in each map to look at three things:
- Overall statistics for the weapon
- Round-wise usage
- Heatmap of kills
The findings are below. You can click on the visualizations to expand them.
1. Overall statistics
AK-47
AK-47 Overall
M4A1-S
M4A1-S Overall
AWP
AWP Overall
2. Round-wise usage
de_mirage
AK-47 on de_mirage
de_mirage AK-47
M4A1-S on de_mirage
de_mirage M4A1-S
AWP on de_mirage
de_mirage AWP
de_overpass
AK-47 on de_overpass
de_overpass AK-47
M4A1-S on de_overpass
de_overpass M4A1-S
AWP on de_overpass
de_overpass AWP
Comments
- AK-47 seems to be used more in the earlier rounds of a half, as compared to the M4A1-S
- AWP is generally used in the middle rounds, when both teams are usually flush with cash
3. Heatmap of kills
The following visuals show the areas on the map from which a kill was recorded using the weapon considered. A yellowish-reddish color on the spot indicates high activity in the area.
For the sake of brevity, I will only show one weapon for each map.
de_mirage
de_mirage AK47_heatmap
- A Palace/Balcony and B Apartment/Window are the top spots for getting kills using the AK-47. These are entry points to the site and should be considered common pre-fire spots
- Patches of green are seen all around the right side of A Site, mostly when Terrorists are executing an “A Split”
de_overpass
de_overpass M4A1_heatmap
- A Bench and B Toxic are the top spots for getting kills using the M4A1-S. Counter-Terrorists usually play from these positions to stop any rushing Terrorists
- Slightly less frequent spots seem to in the Connector and B Monster areas, which get smoked frequently and allows utilization of the capability to shoot without tracers
de_nuke
de_nuke AWP_heatmap
- A Heaven and Garage are the top spots for getting kills using the AWP. Counter Terrorists usually have one player on either of these positions to stop any rushing Terrorists or to gather information
- It is interesting to see very little coloring on the Terrorist side of the map, indicating that the AWP on the T-Side is not very popular
Closing thoughts
There is no denying the superiority of the AK-47 in the game. At any moment, most players will prefer the AK over any other gun in the game (except maybe the AWP).
This analysis was aimed at uncovering the most common spots on each map to get kills using these weapons, which will directly help teams in planning better and more successful game plans.
Counter-Strike is a fascinating game, one that keeps on changing as every new advantage is immediately dissected and incorporated by every team, making the hunt for the next new advantage all the more challenging and rewarding!
That’s it for now! Hope you enjoyed reading this.
The charts were made using ggplot2. The demofiles were downloaded from HLTV and parsed using a Python library. The radar images were downloaded from SimpleRadar.
I would love to hear feedback and comments on how I can improve, so please feel free to contact me on Twitter or shoot me an e-mail.
Comments
Because de_mirage and de_overpass have the highest number of maps in our sample, further analysis will be focused on these two maps.
Please feel free to reach out to [@lakshyaag](https://twitter.com/lakshyaag) in case you wish to see the visualizations for other maps