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Ak47
Prologue
It was a usual late night, playing the late night pug and socializing with the late night crossfire players, when I realized: I have so much more to teach some of these talented (AK-47) players and further exceed their skill level beyond imaginable. Although I am still learning and consider myself a student of the AK-47, I can confidently say I have tamed the AK-47 to the extent of a serious threat on the opposing team. I notice it nearly every game I play: When I am on my game, there is nobody that can defend me; the adrenaline is pumping and I am going out of control, running through the map and making everyone another frag on my board. I think to myself: “This is MY board, this is MY game, and you are playing under MY rules… More importantly, I am playing under my AK-47’s rules. A good friend and great player recently told me (in his suave French accent): “malte, the gun doesn’t make the player”, but for me, it most certainly does. If you ever see me without my lovely AK-47, you can tell how it affects my game. In my opinion, when you reach the title of elite with a weapon, you will also notice in your game how you play without it. I’m not saying “oh of course malte I play worse with the AK when I switch from the M4” – It’s not like that. When I am without my gun, I over examine things, I think too hard about my crosshair placement, I get too cautious sometimes when I should be aggressive, or I am too aggressive when I should be passive. The point I am getting at is when people classify you as elite is when you don’t even notice it. It is the last thing on your mind because you are tearing it up too much in scrimmages and matches to sit back and tell people “hey I am amazing, did you see me that game?” It is somewhat upsetting to see people held down by their ego’s and gloating about how great they are after matches or post in every forum thread “I’m the best around” etc., whether or not you are serious. I admit, I was badly trying to get my name out there earlier in my crossfire playing career to inform people to watch out for me and so forth, but when you drop all the drama and talking you will realize that sometimes not making actions will get you more known and more importantly, as a better player overall. That is what I tell my students as well, stick to the basics, less actions is more. “The PRICE of inaction is far greater than the COST of making a mistake.” (There is a much deeper meaning in the quote than you think) If you are reading this extensive guide to become the best player at crossfire, stop now. This is my full story, my teachings I have learned (mostly by myself), and the way I view the game. Come take a walk in the world of crossfire in my perspective and hopefully you will view the game like I do. These writings are not meant to further solidify my place as a top-tier player in this game, but to help players in this small community. I believe there is much more egoism and competition between players personally when there is a lesser player-base. This hinders many players performance into being somewhat intimidated on and off the server. That is why when it comes down to it, I’m a very kind and approachable guy on and off the server, and only want to help people (like yourself) and making them better than they can imagine. This should not be considered as a one-hundred percent “guide”, but more of a storybook, with many things that will hopefully intrigue you, bore you, surprise you, and a few more things in between. So sit back and relax in the same chair as me for a little while and hopefully you will enjoy crossfire as much as me.
THE basics
The AK-47 is regarded as one of the most powerful and highly touted guns in the crossfire game. Although I see few people use the gun, in the hands of an intermediate player this gun should be illegal, seriously. The most basic and common sense thing I would tell anybody is that you should NOT be scared of the AK’s recoil. This seems like a stupid thing to say, but if you don’t worry or pay any attention to the recoil you will actually do much better. Being relaxed with the AK is MUCH better than being very stern. When I spray at least 80% of the time my spray is calm and collected; if I miss the first few shots I fix it and continue onwards. Taming the AK47 mid range - Right when you see the opponent, try to quickly lock your crosshair on them with a quick jolt of your mouse SLIGHTLY downwards and shooting at the exact same time. This will surely make the first 3 to 4 bullets go right in the middle of your crosshair. When I mean pull you crosshair down, I mean make it a quick jolt downwards, not pulling down. It should be one quick motion while aiming right away at the opponent. Another basic thing to keep in mind is when you feel you cannot kill a player by full spraying, (high angle shot or small space to shoot) then just one-tap. Just because enemies are mid-range for me doesn’t necessarily mean I am going to spray them EVERY time. For example: Fast forward Port CT side, I am pushing mid right from spawn and am currently almost under the T side bridge. I can clearly see people cross the bridge but since I am on a lower angle accurately spraying can seem much more difficult, for me personally. At this position, I resort to small sprays or bursts.
Strafing is also an issue I see most AK-47 users have. The most ideal way to use the AK properly is small strafes. Try and strafe SLIGHTLY, by just tapping each respective strafe key and try and make your crosshair not open up at all. It’s more like sidestepping then it is strafing. If you strafe too much you will notice that your crosshair opens up more than it should. Go into a server and just tap left and right, you should barely even make a footstep for the small strafing. This will maximize your aiming and you will move less, thus, your crosshair will be easier to aim on the opponent (hypothetically). Most of the tips I am giving you are what works for ME, all my tips are debatable but I believe if you simplify your game and make less actions then you will succeed. I see many players doing too many things in their game and the small things they overdue eventually lead to the loss of a round, clutch, or anything in between.
the ak-47 advantage
I don’t know what most players think of the AK-47 other than “it has a high recoil and does a lot of damage”, but there is much more in between the lines that most people don’t take in mind. For one, the AK-47 can 3 shot kill on any part above the pelvis. With that in mind, I typically don’t care where I hit them as long as it’s high, and high it should be. I like to aim slightly under the opponents head, more in the neck area. If I’m lucky, the recoil sometimes gets the headshots. There are also times where I can perfectly shoot the enemy in the head so I jolt my crosshair in the head region. I find too many people are relaxed with shooting people in the head and don’t put that extra jolt downwards in the crosshair to make the first few shots go straight. The AK-47 should be used at a relaxed mindset. Just because it has a kick in recoil does not mean you should be worrying about it, by any means. Be relaxed before you shoot, and when you fire, that is when the tension should execute with the mouse to get the kills. If you find your bullets actually hit the floor, then you are jolting downwards at a greater force than you should. I would recommend slightly lowering your sensitivity to get a better feel of pulling down or get a feel of the gun more. Out of nervousness this occasionally happens to me, but it should not be a regular occurrence. Of course, if you can get an easy headshot, then do so. “Jolting” the crosshair should be subconscious, second-nature, if any.
the ak-47 disadvantage
Knowing the good things about your gun is great and all, but when you realize the WEAKNESS of the gun is when you can fully adjust your playing style to suite the AK and YOU. It’s quite ironic as I sit here and type the disadvantages while coming out of a big AK47 slump (might I add), that the AK-47 has a very steep hole when you are in a mental slump with the gun. I find much more than any other popular rifle or AWM that when you are in a slump with the AK-47, it really hurts your game. I recommend you relax and tone your game down tenfold and play like there’s nothing on the line or any stress on your back. When I am in a slump personally, I tend to aim much quicker than I should while spraying less accurately, like a nervous spray hoping he will die. I am now being more reserved and making sure my crosshair placement is at the best spot it can be, and most importantly keeping CALM under pressure. As you know, the AK-47’s spray may be tedious to learn, but when you learn the spray pattern and on top of that are playing bad, it can REALLY hurt your game (as it has mine recently).
Close range with the ak-47
The AK-47 doesn’t have any secrets, at close range this gun doesn’t shy away from competition. With the ability to control the recoil near-flawlessly comes a deadly weapon up close, incomparable to any other rifle to take multiple enemies down simultaneously. I have uploaded a video on youtube demonstrating my spray on the wall and while looking closely, you can see that I actually barely pull the crosshair down. Wherever the bullets go, I counter the force essentially. The trick is finding the exact times the spray force changes from vertical to horizontal etc. This will take time but hopefully this little video will aid you in that journey.
As you get more confident with the AK-47 you will see it is not so hard after all, and the upside to this gun reaps many benefits.
mid range with the ak-47
As I said earlier in this guide, the AK-47 can be used different ways mid range, but I find spraying is the most common for myself personally. Places such as windows, ledges, and bridges which pose smaller hitboxes and greater angles may not always be the best to spray your AK-47 with, so I typically burst or one-tap the even harder to hit shots. This requires extreme mouse sensitivity comfort and should have no excuse to not hit. One tapped shots should be precise and at least injure your opponent so your teammates can finish him. I also have some uploads of demonstrations on how I would react in situations. A quick peak out of B would make me semi-spray, more like a burst but with more bullets. If those fail, I would keep spraying and hope that 35 bullets make them drop dead. When I cross bridge and see somebody in a window at Cat I would one tap or burst if I am closer than usual. It seems like black and white informing people like this, but there are no secrets. It is much easier than you think to do well with this gun. Most of the skill is from the great mouse placement and being VERY comfortable with your mouse. For some reason I have grown too accustomed to the AK-47 that I cannot use any other gun well at all.
Here are some videos that might help:
I am sorry in advance for the terrible quality, but the most important thing to look at is the center of my screen and the dips I make with my crosshair. There is not much of a pull down in my shots as you notice, my shots are “forced” slightly lower and they hop a bit up.
long range with the ak-47
Ah, the dreaded long range with the AK-47. This is surely not my specialty because elite m4 users which I mostly see normally out gun me in this range. It is mostly due to the fact that it is much easier to make 3 bullet bursts with the M4 hit the head level accurately and quicker than an AK-47’s one tapping. I recommend your crosshair placement be as impeccable as possible because the earlier you aim on the enemy before they aim on you is a huge bonus to fire an extra bullet first, which might psychologically stun the opponent. I personally try and fire 3 one taps as quickly as possible with small sidesteps to mess up the enemies aim on me. In this video I will show you I stop each side, in a real long range battle I never stop but for practice I try and aim as close as possible to someone without actually hitting them. It seems kind of weird but what is harder: hitting the enemy long range or hitting the pixels just next to them?
As you get more and more comfortable with one-tapping, you will find that long range battles will be won more and more favourably. I find about 75 percent of the time I can long range outgun a skilled M4 user (which is good for me) without taking too much damage. Long range should be a forte of the AK-47 but alas the M4 is just much easier to do so in my opinion.
Epilogue
So it’s about 3 AM now and I am finishing the remaining part of my extensive AK-47 guide. I am so happy that my first much smaller guide of the AK-47 helped many people so I decided to make an even more extensive one. There are not enough AK-47 users in this game and it is quite depressing, but what is even more depressing are the actual USERS of this gun who are unstable at the handling it in different situations. I really hoped I nailed the details of the AK-47 in as many common situations without going too overboard of my bias opinions. The youtube videos are not of great quality but I hope they helped you in learning the recoil and spray pattern of the gun, and how I control it. This AK-47 guide goes out to all the teammates I’ve had in Wolf Pack, x2, aMpT, *******, and Life Line. This guide goes out to all my friends I’ve met through CF Pug. This guide goes out to all the teams I’ve played against with confidence. This guide goes out to all the people I’ve fragged and learned off of. Thank you so much for reading my complete AK-47 guide and I hope to see you in-game one day out gunning me with my baby, the AK-47.
by MalteGR
