CSGO pro blasts OP M4A1-S as "cheat weapon," is he right?
Operation Riptide was a massive meta-changer for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, thanks to the M4A1-S buff. Now, Natus Vincere’s Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi has gone as far as to label it as a “cheat weapon” and he’s not the only person saying it’s OP.
In September last year, Valve released a new update called Operation Riptide that tinkered with the loadout. The buffs to the M4A1-S substantially increased the damage dealt with by each bullet and reduced damage falloff. With these changes, pro players had established that M4A1-S is the most OP weapon. Many have come to terms with that, but some players are still frustrated with the rifle. This has pushed the M4A4 into the background in both pro and casual play and even caused skin prices to drop for the gun.
During his stream, NAVI’s young gun b1t noted that M4A1-S is unfairly powerful. The pro then went so far as to call it a “cheat weapon.”
Is the M4A1-S actually OP?
The M4A1-S is being broadly regarded as the best CT rifle thanks to its comparable damage, higher accuracy, and lower cost. This has seen most pro players opt for the M4A1-S over the M4A4, but AK-47 is still better in most situations.
B1t took to his stream and demanded Valve nerf the M4A1-S in order to balance out the loadout. According to him, the M4A1-S can outplay an AK-47 at long range, the deadliest one-shot gun in CSGO. If both the players in CT and T miss their initial headshot, the player holding the M4A1-S still has a higher chance of completing a kill due to its easy spray control. The CT rifle requires just four body shots to kill even after a missed spray, making it particularly lethal at long range.
“With this M4A1-S, you can seriously stomp at a long distance. It also has a silencer, dampens recoil, and costs $2,900. I don’t know when they’ll fix it, but they have to do it sooner or later,” b1t said.
Increased damage coupled, the silencer, and an affordable price tag make the M4A1-S a smart purchase. Win rate and stats also vouch for the strength of the improved M4A1-S. Since Operation Riptide, the CT-side win rate has climbed sharply. Before the buffs, Inferno and Dust 2 registered more T-side wins, but that changed with September 21 update. The CT win rate on Dust 2 increased from 47.8% to 53.5% since 2020. Inferno also registered a shift of 2% in 2022.
Post-update, all CSGO maps became either balanced or CT-sided. While many things contributed to this change, the M4A1-S buff is certainly a factor.
b1t has voiced his opinion to the community at large. Many casual players have been complaining about the M4A1-S buffs that feel unfair at points. It remains to be seen if Valve pays heed to criticism and delivers much-needed balances.
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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