CS2: Smokes Guide - Basic smokes to know on Nuke
Nuke has been a map that the community used to dislike in the past due to the fact that it was pretty unbalanced. The map had been heavily CT-sided and the map was subject to numerous changes and reworks over the years in CS:GO and at one point it had gone through so many changes that the balance shifted towards making it a bit T-sided. The current version of the map has been pretty balanced with both sides having an even win-rate.
The map is one of the few maps in CS2 that features verticality and the only map where the bomb sites are right under each other. This severely reduces the amount of smoke lineups that you can do in order to execute on a bombsite. The B bombsite is a site that you can not really execute on before approaching it.
I highly recommend practicing the smokes in order to memorize them and to make sure that you are throwing them properly when in-game. You can also take a look at the article regarding practicing grenades and extra commands to help you out with practicing lineups.
Read More: Counter-Strike 2: Optimal Commands To Practice Grenades
Most of the smokes in the map are used on the outside section of the map in order to cross towards secret without being exposed. However, there are still a few smoke lineups that you can learn on Nuke.
Other Maps:
Nuke A Site Smokes
Vent Smoke
The vent smoke can be really helpful if your team is going for a vent drop, rushing vents with the smoke at the start of the round could be hard as it takes some time to land. You can rush vents once it has landed though.
The smoke lands near the vent which blocks off anyone being able to see or shoot you when going to the vents while making sure that you can still see the vent instead of getting lost in the smoke. The only position to be careful of would be the top of hut or the rafters above the hut as they might still be able to see you.
You could combine this smoke with the top hut smoke that’s shown below in order to completely block off vision for a safe vent drop.
Remember that you need to have the right window on the roof of the A site broken in order to throw the smoke, you can easily shoot the windows at the start of the round in spawn. In order to throw the smoke, stand on the left side of the gate when exiting T spawn. Aim at the white line that is shown in the image below. For a reference you can use the light box above the shutters, you need to aim at the second white line after the light.
Jump throw the smoke after aiming and it should go through the window and land as shown.
Throw Type: Jump throw
Difficulty: 2/5
Outside Heaven Smoke
This smoke lands at the rafters outside heaven which prevents anyone in heaven from being able to shoot you when going outside. This can be a helpful smoke if they’re playing long-range angles especially with snipers in heaven.
In order to throw this smoke, go up to the roof of the lobby and stand on the pipe near silo as shown. Aim at the line as shown, which is roughly the third one from the left of the railing post. Once you have aimed at it then move your crosshair up until you meet the railing support as shown in the images below and left click throw the smoke.
Throw Type: Normal throw
Difficulty: 3/5
Top Hut Smoke
The top hut smoke is to help exiting out of squeaky without having to check numerous angles. The smoke would land on top of the hut and make it easy to enter through squeaky and if combined with the vent smoke it can allow you to vent drop easily.
Before being able to throw the smoke, you need to shoot the right window of the roof as mentioned previously. Go to the right side of the exit of T spawn and stand besides the wall, aim at the bottom of the white line on the window as shown in the image. The line is the third one from the nearby ladder. Once aiming at the bottom of it, just jump throw the smoke.
Throw Type: Jump throw
Difficulty: 2/5
Nuke Outside Smokes
Mini Waterfall Smoke
This is a new smoke lineup that was introduced in CS2. It is observed that the new volumetric effect of the smokes causes them to expand vertically as well so if a smoke is thrown above something then it will expand downwards as well. This smoke is an example of this, you smoke the top of A mini and it will expand downwards, smoking off mini and also giving cover if you’re on silo and dropping down onto mini.
In order to throw the smoke stand behind the yellow bollard in T spawn, make sure that you are standing at the center of the bollard by aiming at the center of it. Afterwards, aim at the center of the vent that is closer to you. You need to be aiming at the center of the top part of the vent as shown in the image below for further clarification. Once aiming, just jump throw the smoke and it should land as expected.
Throw Type: Jump throw
Difficulty: 2/5
Cross Smokes
There are numerous variations and lineups for the cross smokes for outside, I will be showing one variation of it. This one will smoke off outside mini blocking off any vision from Hell, mini and CT spawn in general.
For the first smoke, you stand at the center of the fence as shown and aim at the right handle bar of the left side of the blue box and just jump throw the smoke.
Throw Type: Jump throw
Difficulty: 2/5
For the second smoke, you actually walk up to the box that was used to lineup the first smoke and align yourself with the right corner of it. Afterwards, you look up at the section where the wires are intersecting each other and just left click throw the smoke. This smoke lineup may need some practice so that you do not have any gaps between the smokes.
Throw Type: Normal throw
Difficulty: 3/5
There are also other variations of the cross smoke that you can do instead of this. However keep in mind that it requires multiple smokes so you may need 2-3 smokes or teammates who are willing to do it with you. You can check out the other variations below:
Garage Smoke
The garage smoke is crucial for taking outside control and to safely make your way outside without being picked off by a sniper. The smoke will land at the entrance of the garage blocking off vision for anyone who is watching outside from inside of it.
In order to throw the smoke, line yourself with the right side of the fence near T spawn where the truck is parked. Aim at the top of the left-most metal part of the silo as shown in the image and jump throw the smoke. The smoke may need some practice to land perfectly otherwise there may be a gap in the smoke at one side of the garage.
Throw Type: Jump throw
Difficulty: 3/5
Secret Smoke
The secret smoke is helpful if you want to take outside control but instead of pushing towards B, you want to either go towards A from mini or from CT spawn or you can wrap all the way around from ramp to B. This is a helpful smoke if you know that the enemies are actually watching outside from secret as it can be a pretty annoying spot to clear without any utility.
In order to execute this smoke, you would need to stand against the right side of the T spawn exit again and aim at the middle pipe on the silo then the second ring from the top of the silo like shown in the image below. Once lined up properly, just jump throw the smoke and it should land outside secret blocking off vision of anyone inside. You still throw a molly inside on the stairs if you believe someone may push the smoke or shoot through it.
Throw Type: Jump throw
Difficulty: 2/5
