Spray, burst or tap: picking the right one at the right range

You see an enemy at mid range, hold the trigger, and the first two bullets miss because you flinched into the spray before you were on target. Or you see an enemy up close, tap twice, miss both, and get sprayed down while you reset. Both deaths look like aim. Both were actually the wrong firing mode for the range.

CS2 rifles have three ways to shoot. Tapping is one bullet at a time, accurate but slow. Bursting is two to four bullets with a short pull down. Spraying is holding the trigger and pulling against the recoil pattern. Each one is the right answer at a particular distance, and players who plateau are usually using one mode for every fight.

The first bullet is the only perfectly accurate one, and accuracy falls off with every bullet after it. Spraying up close is fine because the spread is tiny compared to the target. Spraying at long range is a lottery, because by the fifth bullet the spread is larger than the head.

Meanwhile a player tapping at close range is giving the enemy a free window between shots. In a close fight, whoever puts more bullets in the general area first usually wins, and that is a spray.

Choosing correctly is a habit you can make automatic. Once it is, you stop thinking about the gun and start thinking about the fight.

1. Learn the three ranges by feel. Close is when the enemy fills a large chunk of your screen and you could touch them in two steps. Mid is where you can still see their face but a head is a small target. Long is when the head is a few pixels. Set up on an empty map and walk the distances until you can call them without measuring.
2. Close: spray, and start on the head. Crosshair on the head, hold the trigger, pull down. Do not tap up close. If the first bullets miss, the spray still lands on the body.
3. Mid: burst. Two to four bullets, a small pull down, then release and reset. Most mid-range duels are won with a well-placed burst before the other player has finished their spray. If the burst misses, reset the crosshair to the head and burst again. Do not chase with a spray.
4. Long: tap or two-bullet burst. One shot, reset, one shot. Let the crosshair settle between each. At long range you are trading speed for precision, and the trade is worth it.
5. Learn the first ten bullets of the AK and M4. Not the whole pattern. The first seven to ten bullets on both rifles pull up, and learning to counter that is what makes bursts and close sprays land. Spend five minutes a day in a practice map pulling down against a wall until the group tightens.
6. Do one deathmatch a week with range calling. Say the range under your breath before you fire: close, mid, long. It sounds ridiculous and it builds the decision into your peek. After a few sessions the word disappears and the choice stays.

The mistake to avoid is treating spray control as the skill. Spray control is one tool. Knowing which tool to pick, before the fight starts, is the skill.