CS2 Ancient lineup guide: Best nades, smokes, flashes, and more

Ever since its release, the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) community has seen exponential growth, and it seems like it won’t stop anytime soon. With its new mechanics that make the game even more fun and interesting to play, some players tend to forget that skills also play a role in determining the outcome. Especially when it comes to throwables.

Having extensive knowledge of how to utilize your smokes, flashes, and grenades can change the outcome of every game you play. With that said, here are some lineups for the best smoke, grenade, and flash locations on CS2's Ancient.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinions of the writer

Everything you need to know about succeeding in CS2’s Ancient map

Ancient is a map that originated from CS:GO and is one of the two maps in the “Upgraded” category (the other one being Nuke). These updates bring new life to familiar battlefields with improved lighting and textures.

This means that Ancient gets a major upgrade and takes advantage of Source 2's improved graphics capabilities, making the map even more impressive than it already is.

Map Callouts

Much like most maps in the Counter-Strike games, Ancient has three distinct callouts. These are “Go A Site, Go B Site, or Go Mid”. However, making sure these areas are properly smoked or naded may rely on you utilizing your throwables early in the game.

If you’re okay with staying behind a bit in order to accurately cover a specific area in smoke or deal massive damage with explosives, then these tips will certainly work out in your favor.

Ancient’s T-spawn

Smokes: There are three main smoke plays you should always keep in mind if you’re spawning from T-spawn: House, Donut/Tunnels, and Cave.

T-Spawn to House: When the game starts, position yourself precisely with the pillar in the center of the spawn. Then, align the crosshairs perfectly with this position. After a quick jump shot, House will then be covered in smoke, and the team can start pushing Mid.

T-Spawn to Donut/Tunnels: The first thing you have to do is position yourself with the tree all the way in the back of T-spawn. Next, align your crosshair right in the middle of the brick walls. A quick jump throw will then smoke off Donut, giving your team an advantage.

T-Spawn to Cave: Align yourself in front of the small rock on the left side of T-Spawn. Aim your crosshair at this small area between the tree on the right side and the large wooden door. After that, all you need to do is a jump throw, and Cave will be smoked.

Ancient’s Mid

Smokes: In the surrounding areas near Mid, particularly Donut/Tunnels, making use of Smoke Grenades can be most efficient when your objective is to stall players or merely distract them, especially if you’re playing on the terrorists' side.

Mid to CT: Position yourself at the Xbox in Mid, get yourself stuck in the corner, and then align your crosshair above the small stain on the tarp of the box. A jump throw cuts off a rotation point for the CTs and allows your team to peek at Donut.

CT (From Donut): Move right at the entrance to Donut from Mid. You can look at the small area between the brick walls and left-click throw.

Grenades: If you’re coming from Mid, there’s a player who’s most likely waiting to get you in Donut. A simple Molotov trick should deal with them.

Donut: Left-click a Molotov on the wall next to the candles to trap the Donut player, who then will have no safe place to guard themselves, forcing them to engage in combat

Ancient’s A-site

Smoke: Smoking from A-site is crucial to CT players as it will often give huge advantages, as doing so will hinder enemy players from attacking you head-on. Areas like Donut, CT, and A-main are some spots you’ll be smoking if you’re coming from T-spawn.

Donut/Tunnels: Before entering A-site, turn left to the part with all the animals and get yourself stuck in the back left corner. After that, crouch and then aim your crosshairs between the two palm fronds above you, press W, jump, and then throw all at the same time (a bit trickier but worth the effort).

CT: Position yourself on the corner of the wall in A-long (the wall with the cross patterns), turn around, aim your crosshairs in the middle of the two buildings, and throw. This smoke prevents enemies from rotating quickly to A to defend the bomb site.

A-main: If you’re coming from T-spawn, you might want to stop at the left side of the Stairs, where you’ll see a pile of small bricks. Position yourself in front of it, look up, and then aim your sights above and throw.

Keep in mind that these CS2 tactics will most likely rely on the situation and that you’ll definitely need a bit of practice in order to master these. You also might notice that most of these grenades and their lineups primarily focus on smoke rather than lethal grenades.

That’s because, due to the largeness of the map, it can often be unpredictable where the enemies will be, so opting for smoke lineups is ideal as it covers the entire area, discombobulating your enemies.

With that said, these lineups will surely help secure the win for you and your team as long as you keep practicing them. Surely, there will be new lineups that’ll be discovered by more players soon, so keep an eye out for that as well.