There are several categories of guns to choose from in CSGO and each gun has different tradeoffs. CSGO is also a different in choosing your gun of choice as the game has a economy in which players have to save a certain amount of money to purchase their desired gun. For background information how the basics of the CSGO economy works is each team has a starting money of $800 dollars and each team spawns with a default pistol that is given for free every time you switch sides, and die. A player gets a small amount of money per kill depending on the gun used. The most amount of financial gain is winning the round with a bomb plant as a terrorist or a counter terrorist team defuses a bomb plant and kills all the terrorist. A successful round like those would result in a teaming getting $3100 and the losing team would get $1900. Keep in mind that losing a round cost a lot of money because all of the players that died with armor and weapons lose all of that money as they have to rebuy and can cause the player to not have enough money in the economy to buy a good gun.
Default Pistols Glock-18 and USPS
The only good use of the default pistols is the first round known as pistol round and halftime after round 15 when players switch sides and the economy starts over again. The default pistols are fairly weak and the only ideal circumstance to use is when it is pistol round when no one has money to buy any better equipment or when the player is doing a save round which means they are not buying any guns and play with just their default pistol which makes winning the round difficult but often save rounds are done as a team and the team anticipates losing regardless.
Desert Eagle
The Desert Eagle is arguably the best pistol in CSGO. The gun has extreme power and is a one shot headshot from any range and has the capability of killing players through certain walls. The power comes at a cost though, the gun has extreme recoil and it takes about 1–2 seconds for the gun to not be affected by recoil again. While the Desert Eagle can be clutch in certain scenarios, this gun is a very hard to use and players will likely die quick if they miss the first shot. This gun cost $700 and is the most expensive pistol.
Tec-9
The Tec-9 is one of the better pistols offering decent range, fire rate, and recoil control. The pistol can be a good weapon to buy if a player is trying to conserve money but overall it does not compare to the damage and fire rate of primary weapons such as assault rifles and snipers nor does it do the type of damage a desert eagle can do. This gun cost $500.
P250
The P250 is a pistol that overall is weak and hardly better than a default pistol. The gun is a only slight improvement in every area besides recoil control. The gun absolutely sucks compared to any primary gun and compared to the Glock-18, the P250 does slightly more damage but the Glock-18’s recoil is a million times easier to control and is more ideal to spam bullets. Overall I suggest players avoid this gun. The gun only cost $300 but it is unlikely players will get any kills with it anyways leaving players better off just saving their money for armor or utility.
Assault Rifles
AK-47
The Ak-47 is an iconic weapon in game as it is in the real world. The AK-47 is overall the best assault rifle in the game. The gun has a one shot headshot from extremely far ranges, great fire rate, and is able to deal damage/kill players through certain walls. The only downside is how insane the recoil is. This gun can be hard to use, especially for new players as the spray pattern is very weird. At first players ideally have their crosshair aiming at the opponents head and then start pulling their crosshair down to the point in which it looks like the player is aiming at the ground. If controlled right, this gun is an absolute beast that will wreck players but the gun can also be inconsistent with the recoil and players controlling the spray patterns. This weapon cost $2700.
Galil AR
The Galil AR is a interesting weapon in the rifle categories, this gun behaves as if a SMG and AK47 had a baby. The damage is not as good as the AK47’s but the gun has a faster fire rate and slightly less recoil. This gun is great for close combat but weak compared to the AK-47’s damage in range and headshot damage. The spray pattern is similar to the AK-47’s aim your crosshair at the head and then start pulling down. Overall this gun is ideal for a team that needs to force a buy as the gun cost $800 less than the AK-47. This weapon cost $1900.
SG 553
This gun was once the must overpowered/annoying gun in the previous meta of CSGO but now has been nerfed to the point of making this gun obsolete compared to the AK-47. The SG 553 has a scope on it which does make it unique compared to the other assault rifles making it easier to hit accurate shots from a far distance. This gun now deals less damage than the AK-47 and the fire rate has decreased significantly. This gun also has a very odd spray pattern which is hard to control. To ideally control the spray on a player place the crosshair on the opponents head and then start pulling the crosshair down to the left where it will make the crosshair look like it is aiming for the enemy feet. This weapon cost $3000 and nowadays a downgrade from the AK-47, the only benefit is the scope for far range.
M4A4
The M4A4 is a lovely gun in the assault rifle family and is easier top tier with the AK-47. This gun is very similar in terms of stats to the AK-47 but has a few subtle differences. The fire rate is higher compared to the AK-47 but the damage is lower. You will not get that nice one tap headshot you would get with the AK-47. The M4A4 also has less recoil which is great when controlling mid and long range spray. The spray pattern is nearly identical to the AK-47. This weapon cost $2900.
Snipers
AWP
The AWP is another iconic weapon in CSGO, it is considered to be high risk, and high reward. The AWP is a one shot kill at any range from the chest up and can do significant damage to players through walls. The downsides of an AWP is that the gun has incredibly slow movement and reloads. The AWP can easily destroy players from medium and far range, but close range it can be hard to land those quick scopes, no scopes. Ideally, players do not want to be rushing anyone with this gun and should hold an angle and sit behind cover waiting for enemies to come out. This weapon is $4750 making it very expensive and takes multiple rounds of saving to obtain.
SSG 08
The SSG 08 is another sniper but does not compare to the AWP. This sniper deals significantly less damage, 75 to the body and one shot headshot. Although that may sound nice, players often run into situation with the SSG 08 where they go for a shot and miss and the weapon needs to cock-back making the user very vulnerable during the animation. Due to the SSG 08 not being a one shot kill to the body like the AWP, it makes it bad for holding angles as it puts all the pressure on the player to make the second shot and when multiple enemies are pushing, it is very hard to succeed with this gun. This weapon is $1900 making it almost a 1/3 the price of an AWP.
SMG’S
MP9
The MP9 is a solid SMG but SMG’s as a gun in general are all very similar and do not perform well in CSGO. The MP9 has a fast fire rate and movement but is incredibly weak from mid to long range. This gun and SMG’s in general are only useful in very close combat but even in those circumstances assault rifles still overpower SMG’S. It is advisable to avoid this gun category. This weapon cost $1500.
MP7
The MP7 is so similar to the MP9 it is hard to tell they are even a different gun. Stats wise, both guns are incredibly similar, the MP7 has a slightly slower fire rate but has more damage and range. As said previously, this category of guns absolutely sucks, CSGO is a assault rifle and sniper dominated game.
Top Three Best Guns
AK-47, AWP, and Desert Eagle.
All weapon images I do not own and were taken from this website. https://counterstrike.fandom.com
