CS2 Ancient Guide – Strategies to Master

Ancient, released back in 2020 as part of the Broken Fang Operation, has been a staple in casual matches as well as professional games. Whether you’re a new or returning player, it may be hard to master Ancient’s intricate map layout. To help you with this, we’ve put together a comprehensive CS2 Ancient Guide, including an introduction to the key position in Ancient, the timings of key positions, and in-depth strategies you and your team can use!

Key Positions in Ancient

Ancient, like the other maps in the active Premier map pool, is a map designed for the bomb defusal game mode. Ancient features two sites and one Mid. With the Ancient map oriented so that T Spawn is at the bottom of the screen, here are the key positions in Ancient.

• T Spawn – T Spawn is the starting point for all Terrorist players each round. T Spawn is located on the south side of the map.
• CT Spawn – CT Spawn is the starting point for all Counter-Terrorists each round. CT Spawn is located directly opposite T Spawn at the northmost point of the map.
• A Site – A Site is one of two sites in Ancient, located at the northwest corner of the map.
• B Site – B site is the other site available to the Terrorists to plant their objective, located on the east side of the map.
• Mid – Mid is the central area of the Ancient, providing pathways to both the A site and B site. It runs vertically through most of the map, located roughly in the middle of the Ancient map.
• Snipers Nest – Snipers nest is controlled by the CT team, allowing players to take control of Mid. It’s located at the northmost point of Mid.
• Donut – Donut is an extension of mid, allowing passage for CT/T players to the A site. It’s directly connected to Mid, being on the west side wall of Mid.
• Cat – Cat provides sightline directly to Upper Mid/Snipers Nest and also provides passage to the B site. It’s located at the southeast corner of Mid.

Timings of Contested Areas in Ancient

Learning new timings is, without a doubt, the most frustrating part of learning a new map, so our CS2 Ancient Guide has listed the timings of key positions. With these timings, you can expect when to see the enemy team and be prepared for an engagement.

Mid Timing – To start, let’s go over the Mid timing. The CT players will always have the advantage of mid-control, allowing time for grenades to be thrown or simply to set up and hold the angle. The T-side players are forced to peak into AWPers stationed in Snipers Nest, either through Lower Mid or Cat.

A Site Timing – CT players will always have initial control of A site, even having enough time to play in Donut. T Side players will have to prepare to engage enemies when peaking A Main, and even Donut if there’s a split to take A through Donut.

B Site Timing – Similarly to the A site, CT players will also have initial control of the B site. Proactive CT players can also reach Cat Room around the same time as the T-side players, forcing a fight if the Terrorists decide to do a split strategy for the B site.

Counter-Terrorists’ Strategies

For our CS2 Ancient Guide, we recommend a 1-2-2 split, where one player anchors A, two players defend mid, and two players defend B.

A – 1 Player

The sole player on A’s main objective is to hold an A main push. Popular positions to play when defending A is behind main box or even in Temple, though you can easily be smoked off. Another strategy you can use is also to be boosted on the tree to surprise any attacking T-side players. Many grenades can be thrown in this position to delay any T-side attack through the A-Main entrance. Here are some smoke and molotov lineups you can use when playing A. To learn how to practice these grenade throws, check out our article on how to create custom maps!

Mid – 2 Players

The two players defending Mid should be split between Snipers Nest and Donut. The player Donut should watch Cat and can double as an A player, providing an extra smoke or molotov if there is an A push. The player in Sniper’s Nest should be watching Lower Mid and can easily do this by throwing smokes in that location at the start of each round to delay a T-side push. Along with grenades, the CT player holding in Snipers Nest should also be the team’s AWPer, as a sniper can easily take advantage of Mid’s length.

B – 2 Players

B is Ancient’s most popular site to attack, resulting in two players assigned to defend this site. The two players defending B should be split between 1 player defending Cave and one player defending the main entrance, B Ramp. The player defending B main can play in many different positions, but a safe bet is Long or even behind Pillar. Just like any other site, smokes and other grenades must be thrown to efficiently defend this site. The player in Cave should position themselves in the Cat room, aim to listen to any T-side movement, and defend T-side players from entering the Cave entrance.

Terrorists’ Strategies

The unique design of the Ancient map allows for some really strategic gameplay. Here are some tactics for Terrorists from our CS2 Ancient Guide to use on both sites of the map.

A Site Strategy

The most common strategy is a 2-3 split, with two players attacking through A main and the majority of the team working Mid to take Donut control. To reliably take control of Donut, players should do a jump-throw lineup to smoke off Snipers Nest and use a molotov or other grenades to clear out the rest of Donut. Jump-throw smoke lineups can easily be thrown and have key positions covered, including CT and Temple. Teammates should push the site together, increasing the pressure on CT players playing on-site. Your team should plant either in the corner or near boxes on site, for A main and Donut, respectively, based on which position you plan to play post-plant.

B Site Strategy

Similar to the strategy employed for taking A, there should be a split between Mid and B Ramp. The players near Mid should make their way into Cave, while players on B Ramp set up the push by throwing smoke lineups for both the Long and Short angles. Here are some jump-throw and left-click smoke throws you and your team can use. The most common bomb plant position is right beside Pillar.

Wrapping Up!

This article has covered the key position on the Ancient map, key timings for the two teams, and in-depth strategies for both CT and T-side players. To learn more about other maps, refer to the other articles already published on the SkinLords Blog page, including in-depth guides about Dust 2, Mirage, and Inferno! As always, remember to keep learning and have fun out there!