“The SCAR-20 is a semi-automatic sniper rifle that trades a high rate of fire and powerful long-distance damage for sluggish movement speed and big price tag.” ― Official description
In the world of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and its latest installment, Counter-Strike 2, there's a weapon that makes opponents' hearts skip a beat with just the sight of its silhouette on the battlefield. It's the SCAR-20, an exclusive sniper rifle for fighters on the counter-terrorist side. This beast on the battlefield, a direct descendant of the legendary Krieg 550 Commando, carries the spirit of its great predecessor, showcasing similar combat characteristics and remaining true to its purpose of being a reliable tool in the hands of a sniper master.
In the realm of military weaponry, the FN SSR (Sniper Support Rifle) Mk 20 Mod 0 stands out as a high-tech product of Belgian engineering. Designed as a powerful tool for snipers and marksmen, this rifle combines long-range capability and precision, thanks to its ability to use NATO 7.62x51mm cartridges. As a descendant of the famous SCAR-H battle rifle, it's equipped with a powerful telescopic sight, making it the ideal choice for tasks requiring high accuracy over long distances.
Transitioning into the digital realm of Counter-Strike, particularly in Global Offensive and its subsequent versions, the SCAR-20 becomes a key tool for counter-terrorists, providing players with a fully automatic sniper rifle ready for battle. Despite formally being classified as semi-automatic, its ability to fire in bursts when the fire button is held down makes it remarkably aggressive on the battlefield.
Equipped with a powerful scope, this rifle demands skill and precision from the shooter, especially considering that without activating the scope, it becomes noticeably less accurate, depriving the player of crosshair assistance. Using the secondary fire not only activates the scope but also allows for increased zoom, albeit at the cost of reduced player movement speed, adding a strategic element to the use of this powerful weapon.
The SCAR-20 is known for its high rate of fire, placing it on par with the G3SG1 among sniper rifles in this regard, as well as its high accuracy and manageable recoil. Its fast reload and impressive slowdown coefficient make it a lethal weapon in the hands of an experienced player. Although it lacks the one-shot kill capability of the AWP to the body, its power and rate of fire ensure its place on the battlefield.
However, its high cost and limited ability for instant enemy elimination with a single shot to the body make it a rare choice in competitive play. When used, its role often revolves around suppressing enemies in specific areas of the map, where its unique qualities can be utilized most effectively.
Thanks to its impressive automatic rate of fire, the SCAR-20 is a true beast on the battlefield in Counter-Strike. Its power allows it to unleash volleys of bullets with incredible accuracy and minimal recoil, while its generous magazine size and extensive ammo arsenal mean you can keep the enemy under constant fire without worrying about conserving rounds. This weapon is perfect for unleashing a barrage of fire on enemies, regardless of their location on the map.
Using the SCAR-20 to shoot through smoke or thin walls not only intimidates terrorists but also creates the impression of constant pressure, which can seriously affect their strategic decisions. This method demonstrates how effectively weapons can be used to psychologically pressure the enemy, even without directly seeing them.
The strategy of saving money at the beginning of the game with the aim of mass purchasing SCAR-20s for the entire team may seem risky, but the potential of such tactics is immense. However, it's important to remember the high stakes—losing such an expensive weapon can significantly impact the team's finances, so this strategy should be approached with caution.
This sniper rifle is particularly valued for its ability to allow one player to hold down an entire section of the map, freeing up the rest of the team to perform other tasks. Examples of such key positions include Banana on the Inferno map and B tunnels on Dust2, where the SCAR-20 can serve as a powerful tool for controlling key points.
Interestingly, even without additional armor protection, the SCAR-20 remains a powerful choice due to its high firepower and ability to create smoke screens, making it an ideal choice for ambushing enemies after careful money management.
For terrorists armed with the G3, finding a dead counter-terrorist with a SCAR-20 can be a real gift. Thanks to its faster reload and better opponent slowdown, the SCAR-20 can be a decisive factor in favor of those who know how to leverage its advantages on the battlefield.
The SCAR-20 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive possesses a number of unique and interesting features that make it not only a powerful weapon in the hands of gamers but also a subject for various facts and anecdotes. One of these features is that the reload animation of the SCAR-20 is shared with the M4A4 and M4A1-S. In all three cases, the animation includes the action of the player slapping the bolt release—a small shovel-like lever on the side of the weapon—to "send the bolt home". This action, typically performed with the thumb, is sometimes executed by shooters with a hand slap for added convenience, adding a touch of realism to the gameplay.
Interestingly, in the alpha stage of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's development, the SCAR-20 had unique reload animations that differed from those used in the final version of the game for the M4A4. This demonstrates that the developers paid great attention to detail and authenticity of weapons during the game's creation process.
The SCAR-20, along with the G3SG1, has garnered a rather notorious reputation among the player community due to its power and ability to inflict significant damage. Interestingly, many players struggle to adapt to facing this weapon, leading to strong emotions and even loss of composure. The tactic of dumping the remaining rounds from the magazine at a killed enemy is an additional way to psychologically pressure opponents, amplifying the effect of disappointment from defeat.
A fun fact is that the original sound of reloading the SCAR-20 was identical to the sounds used for the Maverick M4A1 Carbine and the Krieg 550 Commando in previous versions of the game, such as Counter-Strike: Source. This connects the new elements of Global Offensive with its historical legacy and previous games in the series.
The name SCAR-20 likely derives from the real-life weapon on which it is based—the SCAR SSR (Sniper Support Rifle) Mk 20 Mod 0—emphasizing the connection of the game's arsenal to real-world armaments. Interestingly, in the old purchase menus of Global Offensive, the icon for the SCAR-20 was depicted without a scope, adding another intriguing fact to the history of this weapon in the game.
SCAR-20 in numbers
- Alternate name Scarab DMR 20
- Price $5000
- Purchasable by Counter-Terrorists
- Damage 80
- Armor penetration 82.5%
- Rate of fire 240 rounds per minute
- Accurate range (meters) 66 m Reload time 3.1 s
- Magazine capacity 20
- Reserve ammo limit 90
- Running speed (hammer units per second) 215 120 (using scope)
- Kill award $300
- Penetration power 250
- Ammunition type 7.62 caliber
- Firing mode Automatic
- Recoil control 17 / 26
- Range modifier 0.98
- Counterpart G3SG1
- Entity weapon_scar20
