CS:GO Roles: Lurker

Unlike the roles Valorant agents play by default thanks to their inherent utilities, CS:GO roles are defined mainly by players’ behaviors.

If you feel you are better at doing something than anyone else on the team, chances are you might be suitable for a role that complements your skills.

Fortunately, there is something for everyone in CS:GO. It doesn’t matter if you like being a vanguard player or a lone hunter: you can fit your game preference in one of CS:GO roles.

In fact, we have a dedicated article where we explain every role you can play in CS:GO without getting into details.

However, here, we want to showcase one of the most hated and loved roles in the game. Hated–because you might waste a lot of time searching for opponents to surprise-attack them only to get killed. Loved–because if you do find them on time, you can quickly turn the tide of a round.

Lurkers are those lone rangers, Lucky Lukes, or blood-thirsty Rambos you can encounter on any map despite knowing that your enemies are committing to a particular site.

These players tend to surprise their enemies from behind and avoid any direct encounters by sneaking up on them or holding cheesy angles.

Here are more details about the role of the lurker or ninja assassin who tend to rest in cubbies or approach their enemies from their own spawns.

What Does a Lurker Do?

Lurker is one of those players that everyone has a love/hate relationship with. And it doesn’t matter on which side you play. Their job is to take unconventional paths to surprise the enemy. Chances are they will either fail to join your party when things are hot or reap all your hard work as soon as you get traded.

On the other hand, lurkers can step into the game after everyone from your team fails and opponents try to tea-bag you. At those moments, you’ll be glad as he cleans up the mess you left and tries to plant or defuse the bomb.

If you know you are facing a good lurker, your team won’t ever be able to take a breather as you’ll have additional and unconventional angles to cover.

However, if the opponents’ lurker is bad, you’ll enjoy picking them off as they fail to take cover properly behind a box, and you start wall-banging them.

If you want to be the lurker, you might generate hate from your team either if you are an unskilled player or if you ignore the IGL (In-Game Leader) strategy that your team needs to commit to.

Although many players enjoy acting all ninja around the map and feeling like they’re in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, they usually don’t have much fun.

The truth is, to play lurker effectively, you’ll need to keep the element of surprise on cooldown from time to time. That means you can’t spend the whole match trying to surprise your enemy as it might rid them of, well, the surprise.

In fact, there’s a debate about whether this role is still valid. Many pros try to optimize meta strategies that involve the whole team in a coordinated attack. For obvious reasons, this leaves little room for solo vultures.

We know we might sound a bit harsh and anti-lurker. However, if you keep joining servers consisting of noobs playing hide and seek, you’ll understand the frustration.

On the other hand, there’s no denying the fact that skillful lurking can be extremely exciting and rewarding. When pros commit to lurker roles, you should be ready to place your bets on them.

If lurkers can work well according to IGL’s commands and alongside their teammates, there’s no doubt that clenching your enemy from many angles can give your team significant frags and satisfaction.

Tips for Being a Better Lurker

Here are some critical tips to make you play better as a lurker for your team.

Play Well

The first, foremost, and most obvious tip we can give here is to be one of the best players on your team so you can lurk effectively. Lurkers must execute swiftly and without making a mess. You’ll only get one chance to catch your opponents off guard.

That means if you can’t handle your weapon skillfully, you won’t have many advantages if you sneak behind the enemy lines and miss. The thing is, if you miss your chance, you become a sitting duck.

Be a Swiss Army Lurker

By being a Swiss army lurker, we mean that you can’t join a team only to solo lurk across the map like a hobo. CS:GO is a team-oriented game and will require you to be ready to fill into some other roles if the strategy says so. That’s why you should be ready to become a support, rotator, anchor, or playmaker if the course of a round requires it.

You can’t be stubborn and hold an angle if your team is taking heat on the other side of the map. That way, you’re just ruining your team’s chances of winning only to have some solo fun or take unnecessary frags.

Communicate With Your Team

Don’t wander off from the start of a round, not telling your team where you’re going. If you want to occupy a certain cubby, let your teammates know so they can warn you if the enemy is approaching or so they can count on you holding the position.

And this goes both ways. If you have some valuable info, let your team know it on time so they can reorganize and follow through. Communication is bliss.

Get Together

Although lurkers need to go solo and take some unorthodox positions, don’t wander off too far from your teammates. Keeping your comrades close to you will come in handy if you need to join them if things go south on their site. In the same way, if you get surrounded, your team can aid you faster and try to get you out of harm’s way. 

Predict Rotations

If you want to catch your enemies off guard one by one, the best way to do so is when they rotate. Try to predict the paths they might take to get a hold of the other site.

That way, you won’t need to try to flank them, but they’ll need to go through the sets of traps you will have in store for them.

Hold Critical Angles

Aimlessly roaming around the map and hoping to intercept an enemy won’t bring you any good. In fact, if you cross paths with a rotating opponent, you’ll be as surprised as they are, which isn’t good for anyone.

However, if you learn every nook and cranny of the map, you’ll be able to nest yourself so that you can cover all critical directions from which your opponents might appear.

Remember that being able to one-shot your enemy is the number one priority as it won’t give them a chance to fight back and get cover from their teammates.

Lurk for Fun, not for Main

Although many pro lurkers still earn views with this playstyle, remember that they have outstanding mechanics that give them a significant advantage in the game whatsoever.

If you want to lurk, remember that you’ll need to “get a real job” and leave lurking for a few special occasions.

CS:GO Roles: Lurker—Conclusion

That concludes our look at the lurker role in CS:GO. Although this role is one of the most popular ones you can find, it isn’t considered to be the most viable.

Lurking is excellent for catching your opponents off guard, but this element of surprise won’t work all the time.

Yes, it can be tons of fun if done correctly and as a part of a bigger strategy. But if your team struggles to follow through and has more use of you on the battlefield than on a special mission, then consider filling in with another role.