---
title: 'The ONLY Mirage Utility Guide You’ll Ever Need in CS2'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=KNven2nd9pk'
video_id: 'KNven2nd9pk'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 822
---

# The ONLY Mirage Utility Guide You’ll Ever Need in CS2

> Source: [The ONLY Mirage Utility Guide You’ll Ever Need in CS2](https://youtube.com/watch?v=KNven2nd9pk)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive guide to essential utility usage on the map Mirage in CS2, covering smokes, flashes, and molotovs for both T-side and CT-side. It explains when and where to use each piece of utility to control key areas and win rounds.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Mirage utility** [00:00] — The video covers the only utility that matters at high-level CS on Mirage, including what to throw, when, and why.
- **T-side mid control phase 1** [00:15] — Establish presence with window smoke and top mid smoke. Five instant window smokes are demonstrated using W jump throw from specific alignments.
- **Top mid smoke and con smoke** [01:21] — Top mid smoke thrown from right side of trash can aiming at antenna end. Con smoke thrown from first step with jump throw.
- **Flashes for mid control** [01:55] — First player flashes into valley, second player flashes over boxes to avoid blinding teammates.
- **Molly for mid control** [02:12] — Bounce molly off wall to molly under, preventing CTs from peeking into mid.
- **Phase 2 mid pressure** [02:49] — Apply pressure with window smoke (run forward left click), top con smoke (from underpass), molly short, and ladder molly.
- **A execute smokes** [04:18] — Smoke jungle and stairs using black dot alignment (left+right click jump throw) and brick alignment (left click throw).
- **Flashes for A site** [05:00] — Flash above palace to force CT back, and lamp flash from doorway to blind close enemies without blinding entries.
- **Palace molly and flash** [05:30] — Molly under balcony from palace pillar, then flash down to blind default. Palace player clears top balcony.
- **A site post-plant** [06:09] — After taking site, focus on one area (CT or jungle), communicate, and play for space. Recommend taking CT on execute, jungle on split.
- **B execute smokes** [06:33] — Smoke market window (black dot jump throw) and deep short (left click). Isolates the B anchor.
- **B execute flashes** [07:05] — First flash left side of building (jump throw), second flash right side to avoid blinding teammates. Entries flash into site.
- **B execute mollies** [08:34] — Molly off back wall to force B anchor, molly bench from window, and molly back sight from corner.
- **MetaStack plug** [09:25] — MetaStack is an all-in-one CS2 workplace for lineups, used by pro teams and solo players. Link in description.
- **CT-side window player utility** [10:08] — If smoked off window, jump on panel to blow up smoke, or molly top boxes from corner with white dot alignment.
- **CT-side con player utility** [10:49] — Smoke out con from bottom of brim (left click) or with speed using top alignment (left+right click throw).
- **CT-side A player utility** [11:18] — Molly ramp from first spawn using wood alignment (run forward left click). Flash into mid between two trees.
- **CT-side A anchor smoke** [12:05] — Smoke ramp from between two chimneys/pillars.
- **CT-side short player utility** [12:22] — Flash for yourself by jump throwing roughly at mid. Molly under from dot alignment.
- **CT-side B anchor utility** [12:45] — Deep molly to hear tick, pair with nade. Drop smoke if pushed to play around it.

### Conclusion

Mastering these essential smokes, flashes, and mollies on Mirage can elevate your gameplay to level 10 and above. The video emphasizes simplicity and decision-making, and recommends MetaStack for storing lineups.

## Transcript

In this video, I'm going to show you the
only utility that actually matters at
high level CS on Mirage. I'll show you
what to throw, when to throw it, and why
it will win you rounds. So, master these
pieces of utility, and you'll be
dominating Mirage like a pro. Let's
start with T-side and taking control of
mid. The first set of smokes we want for
mid are phase one, so establishing
presence. This involves the window smoke
and the top mid smoke. The first thing
you want to learn is the window smokes.
So these are the instant smokes. We have
1 2 3 four and five. They are the back
smokes that align with this or these
back corners. For this smoke here,
you're going to come in this corner and
you're just going to W jump throw while
staring at the corner of this pit. Wow.
This smoke here is lining up with the
bottom of this railing here. Wow. This
smoke here is with the second one down.
W jump through with this corner one
here. This bit here. We see see the
white here. W jump through. And this one
here, a little bit harder. You kind of
see there's like a mark here. Again, W
jump throw to aid this. The second smoke
you want to throw lands top mid. So to
do that, you get the right hand side of
the trash can. Once you're aimed at the
end of the antenna, just left click
throw.
Now that you've done the top mid smoke,
if the CTS decide to blow open the
window smoke to peek into mid, you can
still cross the boxes safely. The other
smoke you can throw for here is the con
smoke. So to do that, you line up with
just the first step here and just jump
throw. This lands incon and allows you
to get aggressive towards short or close
con if you feel so. The only thing I
would say is if you are getting
aggressive short, do not spam the smoke.
That leaves you a sitting duck. Leave it
and play for short. With those smokes,
the first player into mid should flash
into valley like so. And the second
player will want to flash over boxes.
The reason for that is the first player
can get out as that pops. And then the
second flash will not blind anybody
getting aggressive. If you want to throw
a molly as well, I wouldn't recommend
throwing a molly towards con because
most of the time a CT will smoke this.
What you might want to do instead is
bounce a molly off this wall here. This
will molly under which means that the
CTs cannot peek into it. And just a
couple of pro tips from me. If you are
an A player that tends to play towards
palace or ramp, I'd recommend they
either drop the smoke for the person
doing the insta or do one of the smokes
themselves. And if you're not planning a
fast round, only do two of the three
smokes and save your smokes for phase
two. Phase two is about applying
pressure at mid. So at this point, you
probably have a player behind boxes, you
might have a player towards underpass,
and you might have a player in valley.
So once you have this, the setup is
simple. A window smoke as the other one
is disappearing. So aim with this, run
forward, and just left click throw.
Gives you a nice smoke there. Now you
want to smoke top con. Some people like
to do it from here. So you just bounce
off this wall here like so. But I would
recommend doing it from underpass. The
reason for this is you are more covered
rather than in the open in valley. This
one's simple as well. Just here run
forward and just left click throw. Same
as before. With this you want to molly
short. So simply just pop a molly as you
will. Just force the rifler back. And if
you want, you can also pair it with a
ladder molly. So if there's no smoke,
just simply aim here. But if the smoke
is up, come to the corner of this bench,
aim with this black dot, move over, and
just left click. This pops the top and
the bottom and forces any player out
into short. And a pro tip here. If
you've got to this point where you've
applied phase two smokes and you've
applied the pressure, do not hesitate.
You do not want to be stuck in no man's
land with the smokes disappearing. Make
a decision quick. And the default
decision is an A split. So Molly short
and fight for the A split together. And
now talking about an A hit or an A
execute. The idea of a good execute is
you want to isolate the players on the
site. What you want to do is get a
teammate to drop a smoke for you here so
that you are ready to do both smokes. So
the first smoke you aim with the black
dot here. Left and right click, jump
throw. The second smoke, this little
brick here, and just left click throw.
This smokes jungle and stairs. And in a
normal execute, that is enough. You can
add a CT smoke if you would like, which
you can do from here. Go to the corner
here, jump throw, but it boxes you in.
So, what I would suggest is just stick
to these two. Now, you could be
wondering about the CT player. Well, the
way to get rid of that is to have this
player flash above palace. So, come
back, aim with this, just jump through.
That puts a flash nice and high and
forces the CT player back. The other
flash you or your teammates might want
to throw is to come into this part of
the doorway here, aim at the top of the
lamp. It's called lamp flash,
>> and just pop it here.
>> What it will do is it will blind anybody
close and will not blind your entries.
If you are in palace, you might want to
help out. So, line up here on this
pillar. Aim just slightly down, run
forward, and throw. This throws a molly
into under balcony, forcing the player
out into the fight. Once you have done
the molly, and no one has forced forced
the fight, you can follow up with a
flash that again pops down here,
blinding anybody default. And then, as
the palace player, it's your job to
clear top balcony and be ready to assist
on the site. Now, if you're doing an
Aplit and you're in palace, a molly that
Youngstar suggests from heroic is to
molly Tetris. And that forces any CT
player being a nuisance over here. And
now that you have sight, do not over
complicate it. You only need one area
when you have A. It's either CT or it's
jungle. Pick one, communicate it, and
play for the space as a team. What I
would recommend if you're doing an A
execute is take CT. However, if you do
an A split, take jungle and play for
jungle. And for those rare B executes,
make sure you have this right or your B
hits will look like a bull in a china
shop. First, we want to smoke market
window. So, with this line here, find
this black dot and jump through. You
want to pair this with the smoke just
off the side here with just a left
click. This smokes market and smokes
deep short with a second. This doesn't
allow any rotator to help. And this
smoke cuts off any short player that's
gone aggressive mid. And as we talked
about before, that isolates the banker.
Now, paired with this, the flashes you
want to throw are these. You want your
first flash or high flash as I call them
to go the left side of this building.
So, jump throw with running forward. The
reason you do it left on the first one
is because it comes out and blinds
anyone close. However, you don't want
this to be the second one as you don't
want to blind your teammates. So, for
the second one, you want to come and
flash the right hand side. That pops
over the building and doesn't blind your
entries. And for the entries that are
running in, the flashes you want to
throw are these. You might want the
first or second player to flash like
this. Come across here. Aim with this
side of the wall. Run forward and left
click throw. The reason you want to do
that is it bounces into sight. You can
adjust this slightly yourself for how
far you want to run forward and how much
it will pop down. But don't get it
wrong, otherwise you'll be doing this
and flashing your whole team. The first
or second player might want to do this
flash here.
And the reason for that is it doesn't
blind you as you jump down. So pathing
is you want to come up here, flash, jump
down, and take the fight across here.
With this area smoked, you want your
pathing to be towards sight. So you're
clearing here and then clearing towards
back sight. However, remember on a B
execute, keep it simple because you
don't want to be blinding your
teammates. And now for mollies, you want
to keep it simple as well. So you might
want to bounce a molly off the back wall
there and force any B anchor or player
that is close and stops that awkward
downward fight. The second molly that
might want to be thrown is towards
bench. So come across and just aim in
the middle of this window and run
forward. This will bounce and clear off
bench. And if you're feeling confident
and you're one of the last players, you
can even molly back sight. So to do
this, what you want to do is you want to
come out, see the corner of this window,
and just left click throw. This will
bounce off the wall and molly this back
corner. And again, my pro tip for the B
hit is don't over complicate it. If you
can keep control of short and apps, you
have the round. B is a very hard site to
retake. So don't over peak and don't
give away easy kills. If you are looking
for a place where all these lineups are
stored without having to bounce across
different browser tabs, then you are in
luck. Metastat is an all-in-one CS2
workplace for lineups and more. And it
can be useful for anyone, whether you're
a pro team like Arralis or 3D Max, or
you're a solo Q grinder. MetaStack is
trying to build this database out as
well. So, if you feel like there's a
smoke, flash, or a molotov missing,
please don't hesitate to create your
own. MetaStack also has an area for your
playbook, so with your team, and even
lets you look through each map so you
can understand the call outs. So, if you
haven't already, make sure you click the
link in the description and join Meta
Stack today. Now, back to the video.
Now, as a window player, you might get
smoked off window a lot. So, if you've
got an orb or you're just feeling
confident with the rifle, you can just
Nate go onto this part of the wall, aim
high, right click, and then jump onto
the panel here. This blows up the smoke
and gives you full vision. The second
thing you might want to do is you might
want to molly top boxes. But if you're
smoked off, you won't be able to see. So
to do this, if you're smoked off, come
into the corner here, line up with this
white dot here, and just run forward and
throw. This will molly behind the boxes
and prevent the TE's from getting that
sort of space and establishing presence.
If you're a con player, you might want
to know how to smoke out con. The
default one is to come here, line up
with the bottom of this brim, and just
left click through. This blooms nicely
so that you can come out and fight
underpass and gives you a lot of space
to play around. However, as the com
player, you might want to do this with
speed. So, what I do is align with the
top of this bit here, left and right
click and throw. As I'm going forward,
wait a second for it to pop, come out,
and fight for under. And then you can
have that room again. As the A player or
con player, whoever has the first spawn,
you will want to be mollying ramp. You
want to be running up here. Get yourself
aligned with this and as you hit the
edge here, try and aim for this sort of
bit of wood here. Then you just want to
run forward and left click throw. The
reason you want to do this is so that
one, it pops nicely here. But the second
thing is as it pops, which if I just do
rethrow, the big part of the molly goes
up here and you can't see if anyone's
crossing. Then the second player or the
a anchor wants to flash into mid. So,
what I do is I usually aim between the
two trees and just run forward and just
left click jump throw. This pops nicely
between the two trees and won't blind
your teammates running out for the
fight. And as an a anchor, you might
still have a smoke. If you're playing
CT, the default is to usually do this if
pressured. However, you might want to
smoke ramp. So, to do this, come here,
aim between these two chimneys, pillars,
and just smoke here. This pops nicely on
ramp.
As the short player, you only need to
know how to flash for yourself. So,
simply as you're running up, aim roughly
here and just jump throw. That will pop
nicely in mid and give you some space to
breathe. You might also want to molly
under, which I usually line up with this
dot here. Run through that pops nice and
deep and pair it with an aid after the
molly's gone to get some nice damage. As
the B anchor, you want to know this set.
So,
>> molly like this to get a deep molly so
that you can hear a tick and you can
even pair it with a nade as it clears.
Then it's your job to stay alive and you
might want to just drop a smoke here if
pushed. That way you can play around it
and live a bit longer. Those are the
essential smokes for Mirage. Or at least
that's what I believe. I think you can
get to level 10 and above with just
knowing those simple nades. But if
there's anything you think I missed,
please let me know in the comments and
tell me which map you might want to see
next. Also, if you're like me and you
quite often forget the lineups or just
want a refresher, do check out Meta
Stack. So, I'll put a link below for my
referral code and they have a whole
database of the lineups that you will
need. And thanks for watching. YouTube
believes this video is something you'll
enjoy. And I'll see you next week.
Peace.