Two currencies
Round cash pays for weapons, Kevlar, and grenades. You earn it from kills and the objective, and you spend it in the buy menu with B during freeze time in spawn. Credits are the cosmetic currency. They open cases and do not appear as the price of an AK-47.
Unranked Competitive does not start you with armor or a defuse kit. Buy them. Kevlar is $650. Kevlar plus helmet is $1,000, or $350 if you already own Kevlar. A helmet does not stop a headshot from the AK-47, SG 553, or Desert Eagle.
A simple buy order
| Situation | Buy this | Leave this |
|---|---|---|
| Pistol round | P250 ($300) or save for a later Deagle ($700) | AWP |
| Cannot afford rifle plus helmet | Galil SAR on T, or a FAMAS / armor on CT, or an SMG if the other team is on pistols | A half-bought AWP with no armor |
| Full buy | AK-47 on T, M4A4 or M4A1-S on CT, helmet, one smoke and one flash if cash remains | A second rifle |
| You died and they saved your gun | Upgrade pistol or utility instead of rebuying the same rifle | Dropping a rifle you cannot replace |
Published buy tables disagree on several rifle prices. The weapon pages keep the range instead of averaging it. Team locks still hold: the AK-47, Galil SAR, SG 553, TEC-9, and Sawed-Off are Terrorist guns; the M4A4, M4A1-S, FAMAS, AUG A3, Five-SeveN, and MAG-7 are Counter-Terrorist guns. Scout, AWP, and G3SG1 are shared.
Utility that changes a site
Flashbang is $200 and you can hold two. Look away from a flash to avoid the blind. Smoke is listed at $200 to $300 and blocks a line of sight. HE grenade is $300. Molotov is $400 on T and the incendiary is $600 on CT. Decoy is $50. The Defuse Kit is $400 and is CT only.
Refunds and drops
Right-click a purchase during freeze time in the buy zone to refund it. Press G to drop the weapon in your hands so a teammate can take it. Press Q for the previous weapon. Slots are 1 primary, 2 pistol, 3 knife, 4 grenade, 5 bomb.