CSGO’s best AWP styles start with dev1ce and end with s1mple

Professional CSGO AWPers have a wide range of styles, but two of the best are able to show off the weapon’s main styles and best uses.

The AWP is the most powerful weapon in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s arsenal and can be both an aggressive nightmare or a defensive turret. The AWP retains its power no matter how the player uses it, especially when players study two of CSGO’s best AWPers: Astralis’ Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Natus Vincere’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. These two players have opposite styles, with s1mple often using the weapon more like a shotgun while dev1ce locks down bombsites with deadly accuracy.

s1mple’s aggressive peeks into enemy territory not only catch the enemy off guard, they also create fear. Since players don’t know what bold angle that s1mple will peek next, it slows an opponent’s decisions and pokes holes in their planned playstyles. Current TSM Valorant pro Matt ”WARDELL” Yu shows off a similar style after his move to Riot’s tactical shooter Valorant, as seen in the clip below.

dev1ce is the opposite of s1mple in almost way when he uses the AWP. While s1mple takes angles that sometimes put him at risk, dev1ce maximizes his own impact on CSGO’s action-packed rounds and minimizes the potential of his own death. Since dev1ce plays positions that are common AWP angles, casual players that use this particular style are easier to counter. But dev1ce isn’t.

That’s not to say that defensive AWPers like dev1ce won’t pop off when pressured. Tyler “Skadoodle” Laytham, who also recently made the switch to T1’s Valorant team, was known as a static AWPer for the majority of his career. Some even called him the most “turret-style” sniper player in CSGO’s history. But even Skadoodle could pull off the flashy moves every once in a while, like during Cloud9’s Boston Major win against FaZe Clan in 2018.

In the end, CSGO’s two styles often come together, with AWPers sprinkling some of one onto the other to create their own distinct brand of CSGO sniping. Both device and s1mple have done just that to become the world’s premier AWPers, with no sign of either of them slowing down any time soon.