Ancient is the second most popular map among professional teams in Counter-Strike 2, thanks to its unique design and superb balance. But what's stopping you from playing on it like a pro? All you need is to thoroughly study our guide and go destroy your opponents!

The history of Ancient

The Ancient map was added to the game as part of the December 2020 update, becoming part of Operation Broken Fang. It is set on an archaeological site, presumably in Central America, and is a nod to a previous Counter-Strike map known as de_aztec. Since then, the map has been continuously modernized and refined.

In Counter-Strike 2, the map looks even better due to new lighting and higher-quality textures.

Positions on the Map

To fully understand what's happening on the map and make sense of the information exchanged by your teammates, it's critically important to master the key position names on Ancient.

Playing defence

Playing defence on Ancient is not easy, and specific is key. This is because there are tons of strategies for playing defence on Ancient. For now we will focus on  the most effective default strategy.

Let's start with the players' arrangement on the map:

• One player holds site A
• Two players play around site B
• Two players occupy Mid

Grenades for defence

Now let's discuss the main grenades for defence at different areas. At the beginning of the round at site B, you should throw a Molotov at the Ramp, as well as a Molotov like this, to prevent opponents from taking over the Cave:

At site A, the only grenade you need to throw is just a Molotov and smoke in the Main, but it can easily be thrown by hand from any position, the main thing is that it covers all the space.

The situation in Mid ismore difficult. From the very beginning of the round, throw a Molotov and HE grenades into this narrow passage. Then simply close off this area with a smoke grenade and try to take Shelf.

The most important thing for players in the middle is to help their teammates at B to retake the area in Shelf.

Playing offence

The Terrorists' gameplay on the Ancient map is mostly built around playing in the Mid. Therefore, the main strategy in each round (except for pushes on A or B) is built through the Mid.

Now that we've covered the basics, let's see what the players' arrangement on the map looks like:

• One player controls the push from site B
• Three players occupy Mid
• One player plays towards site A

Indispensable: the player controlling site A, at the very beginning of the round, throws grenades at Mid.

Grenades for attack

First, let's consider the grenades for Mid:

• Smoke in the Window

• Smoke in Shelf

• Flashbangs through the trees

Now let's look at the necessary grenades for site B:

• Smoke on Long.

• Smoke on Short.

• Molotov in Dark

Let's finish with grenades for site A:

• Smoke in Donut.

• Smoke in CT.

• Molotov behind the site.

• Molotov in Temple

Having covered the grenades, let's now proceed to strategies.

Tactics on Ancient

In this section, we will step-by-step describe two main strategies that utilise Mid. We'll skip the usual site pushes, as they only require throwing default grenades.

Split on A

For a split on site A, you should send two players to play through A Main and three to fight for mid.

One of the players, who will play in A Main, should throw the following grenades:

• Smoke in the Window
• Smoke in Heaven
• Flashbangs through the trees

After that, you try to take the Donut as quickly as possible. While taking this position you can throw such a Molotov to detect an opponent in the other part of Donut.

At the same time, your teammates are already beginning their push to the Site, having previously thrown a smoke in CT and a Molotov in Temple. 

Split on B

The beginning of this round is the same, starting by taking Mid.Three players go to Mid, and the other two run towards the B Ramp and try to occupy the nearby room in the Cave.

After successful actions in Mid, you quietly approach site B, beforehand you can also throw some grenades in Donut to simulate movement there.

Quickly give all the necessary grenades:

• Smoke on Long 
• Smoke on Short 
• Molotov in Dark 

After that, you can calmly go to the site through the Ramp and Cave.

Conclusion

To be successful on Ancient, it's important to know key positions and strategies for both the defending and attacking teams. Knowing the positions and using the rightgrenades will help you and your team confidently participate in battles and win rounds.