The core roles in CS2 are the same as in CS:GO: the in-game leader (IGL) who runs the team, the AWPer, and on the attacking side the entry fragger, lurker and support, while on defense you have the anchor and the rotating helper. On top of that there are secondary roles: the playmaker, rotator and rifler. Below is what each of them does and how to pick a role that suits your style.
Roles let a team play a clear strategy instead of relying on luck. That matters most if you play with friends as a regular lineup and care about results. But even in Premier or Competitive with strangers, splitting up tasks quickly noticeably improves your chances of winning.
Role names in CS2 come from English community slang and are easy to learn. The distribution of roles may differ depending on whether the team plays in defense or in attack. In addition, roles can be primary or secondary, since it happens that, along with the main task, one player takes on several additional ones. Professional teams work out action scenarios in advance and think through how each participant will act depending on the situation. Before getting into those details, let's look at the main roles.
Universal Roles
Every team needs a leader who makes the calls and sets the order of play. This player is called the captain or in-game leader (IGL). The IGL:
tracks the team's money and decides on buys (see how the CS2 economy works);
determines the overall strategy for the game and adjusts it depending on the actions of the enemy;
determines tactics in difficult situations, for example, during clutches;
gathers information from teammates and acts on it right away.
We can distinguish two main types of in-game leaders depending on how they act in the game. Some go straight into a match with a specific plan, which they discussed with the team, and act in accordance with it. As a result, the team acts more cohesively, but it may lack flexibility, especially if the enemy has had time to study its previous matches. Others prefer to strategize as the game progresses, after seeing what their opponent does in the early rounds. As a rule, they give up a few points at the beginning of the match, but the team has a greater chance of adapting to the opponent's actions and finding its weak points.
Another universal role, relevant on both sides, is the sniper, or AWPer. The AWPer keeps changing positions so opponents cannot predict where he is, pick him off or simply route around him. The main job is to take down as many enemies as possible, in different situations: on defense the AWPer can briefly anchor a site, and early in the round act as an entry fragger. On eco rounds snipers often pick the cheaper SSG 08; the difference is covered in AWP vs SSG-08 in CS2.
Roles on the Attacking Side
On the attacking side, these roles matter most:
lurker;
entry-fragger;
support.
Let's talk about each of them in more detail. The lurker (from "lurk," to hide or lie in wait) plays quietly and often apart from the team. For example, he can distract the enemy's attention in order to mislead him and prevent him from immediately understanding which point his teammates are about to storm. At the same time, while hiding from the enemy, he can choose the right moment to unexpectedly attack him. But he doesn't always have to shoot: sometimes his main task is to collect information about the movements of his opponents and pass it on to the team. Regardless of whether the lurker acts aggressively or more secretly, he is required to have excellent knowledge of the map, the ability to remain unnoticed, and also to independently plan his actions.
Any discussion of CS2 roles has to include the entry fragger. The key qualities here are accuracy and reaction speed. The job is to give the team a numbers advantage: the entry fragger makes first contact and has to take down at least one opponent. Consequently, the entry-fragger inevitably acts aggressively and often dies. However, even if his actions lead to a simple trade, his team will receive valuable information about the location of the remaining enemy players.
Another essential attacking role is the support player. Between rounds, he spends money not on powerful weapons, but on different types of grenades. In the game, he stays under the cover of other players in order to use a flash grenade in time or create a smoke screen and cover a comrade. In clutch situations, good utility from the support is often decisive. To practice grenades, try these maps for grenade practice in CS2.
Roles on Defense
Defense needs a separate look, because the distribution of functions of team members is somewhat different. In defense, responsibilities are distributed less strictly, and there are usually two main roles.
The anchor stays on a site until the very end, defending it. Even if it seems that the opponents have decided to attack another site, he will move there only after he is sure that there are no enemy players in his area of responsibility. If the opponents hit the anchor's site, the anchor has to hold out as long as possible until the rest of the players on his team arrive.
The helper's job is the opposite. While the defensive player remains on the point for a long time, this player, on the contrary, leaves for another site immediately when it becomes clear that the opponents have begun to attack him.
By studying strategies for different maps, you can find information about which initial distribution is optimal in order to maintain control over both points and have time to react in time to the opponent's actions.
Secondary Player Roles
The main roles are described above, but along with them there are also secondary ones. Unlike the main ones, they are less specific. In addition, depending on the situation, different players can take on them, and there are fewer narrow specializations. Here are some examples of such roles:
Playmaker: a player who acts independently, moves around the map alone and tries to find loopholes in the opponent's defense. In function the playmaker is close to an entry fragger, but the latter is usually followed by teammates, while the playmaker is usually a loner. With a successful game, the playmaker manages to destroy the opponent's plans for the round.
Rotator: a defensive player who moves around the map actively, reads the situation quickly the situation and move from one point to another. Often he acts in contact with the defensive player, if necessary helping him defend the point.
Rifler: a player who achieves great results while playing with automatic or semi-automatic weapons. Often this function is taken over by the same player who plays the role of a sniper in those rounds when he does not have an AWP.
Once you know how roles are split in a CS2 team, everyone will be able to choose tasks to their liking. By successfully choosing a role, a player can use his strengths, which means he brings maximum benefit to the team.
