CS:GO has seen its fair share of broken weapons. But which one will take the price for creating the worst meta ever? Keep reading to find out!
5. The R8 Revolver Meta
“It’s high noon somewhere in…” whoops, wrong game. But the R8 in its prime would put even McCree's trusty Peacekeeper to shame.
As part of the winter update in December 2015, Valve implemented a new pistol in the slot that was occupied by everyone’s favorite hand cannon, the Desert Eagle.
It had all the benefits of being a pistol – high mobility, low movement penalty and a low price tag of only $850 – but also had the same damage output as the AWP?! Surely not a Meta we wanted to play in.
So why is a gun so egregiously overpowered only number 5 on this list? Well, only two days after its release, the R8 already got nerfs to its damage, spread and fire delay. This was enough to render it completely useless.
4. The CZ75 Auto Meta
The second pistol on this list wasn’t quite as broken as the R8, but it took Valve way longer to fix, and it had an actual impact on pro play. Its high rate of fire, sick damage and fast draw animation made it the perfect secondary weapon to accompany the AWP.
The way to punish AWPers was usually to get close and kill them after baiting out that deadly first sniper bullet.
In that Meta, an AWPer would just draw their CZ and kill you anyway. Just look at the nerfs three months after its release: smaller magazine, damage reduced, firing rate reduced, kill reward is now 1/3, and CZ75 takes TWICE as long to draw!
Now that’s a nerf if we’ve ever seen one. It still sees some fringe use in competitive games and is ever so popular with players that don’t have aim but still want to be the eco-round hero from time to time.
3. Tec-9? More Like Rek-9
Hey, whaddya know, yet another pistol. What is it with Valve and broken sidearms?
The year is 2014 and CS:GO gets an innocent-looking update. With it comes an increase of the Tec-9's accuracy in every situation, be it standing, crouching or moving.
Why? We don’t know, since the gun had some great things going for it. Its high damage and fast rate of fire were nothing to sneeze at. Some of the most ridiculous highlights of all time were created during the following months – the Tec-9 was broken and Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer Gustafsson even earned the nickname Tec-9-meister.
2. The AUG-/Krieg Meta
AUG and SG 553? Yeah, only noobs buy those!
That was the sentiment for a long time until one fateful day, Valve decided the AUG and SG aka Krieg were too expensive. Suddenly, pros realized that even with aim as good as theirs, scopes are still quite useful!
The SG proved to be especially good. Getting a Krieg on CT-side was so powerful that some teams stopped buying it as attackers just so it wouldn’t fall into the hands of an enemy.
Many of you would have probably placed this one in first place, and honestly, we understand. But let us explain why we placed it second.
This meta showed something beautiful – these guns had been in this state for more than four years and all Valve did was change the price. That means, that even in a game as old as CS:GO, there are always new things to discover!
1. The AWP Meta
There are no two ways about it – the AWP is CS:GO's most powerful weapon.
For the last 4 years, the award for HLTV's top player has always gone to an AWPer. Last year Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz hogged the number 1-3 spots, and it’s looking like the 2020 ratings will look pretty much the same.
The big green's only weakness is how immobile it makes you. But what if we tell you that this wasn’t always the case? In 2015, Valve had to lower the movement value for the AWP, making you slower when peeking angles because people like Kenny "kennyS" Schrub and Jesper "JW" Wecksell could pull off stuff like this:
In the same series as the game above, KennyS got 50 (wtf?!) kills on Inferno and his team still lost! What is this, NAVI? Nowadays, AWPing is all about holding them angles, making it way easier to use on CT-side.
Back then, pushing and peeking against AKs and M4s was way more viable. Many people still mourn the day this nerf came through as it hosed the flashy, aggressive AWPers. But even after the nerf, the weapon still gives you so much room and potential for sick plays.
This is probably a controversial pick, especially because of the recent bias towards the AUG/Krieg-meta. But remember this is a personal list, and it is our firm belief that if not for pro play, this change was extremely healthy, at least for matchmaking.
- READ MORE: CS:GO Tips and Tricks: How to Play AWP
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