CS2 Spray Patterns Explained: AK-47, M4A1-S and AUG

Counter-Strike has the most studied recoil system in the genre, largely because it has barely changed in two decades. Each weapon has a fixed sequence of camera offsets, the sequence resets on a timer, and the community has mapped every one of them onto a wall. This article covers the three rifles that decide most rounds — the AK-47, the M4A1-S and the AUG — with an emphasis on what each pattern looks like, which part of it is worth memorising, and how the weapon's role changes the answer.

Table of contents

• How CS2 recoil is structured
• The AK-47 pattern
• The M4A1-S pattern
• The AUG pattern
• Pattern reset and burst length
• How to actually practise these

How CS2 recoil is structured

Three mechanics interact on every shot. The recoil pattern moves your camera along a fixed, per-weapon path. The inaccuracy cone decides where inside a small circle the bullet actually goes, and it grows with movement, jumping and sustained fire. The recovery timer decays the recoil index back to zero once you stop shooting, restoring both the start of the pattern and the first-shot accuracy bonus.

The important consequence is that spray control in CS2 is a two-part problem. Cancelling the pattern is learnable and repeatable. Keeping the cone small is a movement and timing problem. A player with a perfect pull-down who sprays while walking will still lose to a player who stops first and taps.

A second consequence: because the pattern is angular, the same compensation in mouse counts produces the same result at every distance — but the inaccuracy cone does not, so long-range spraying degrades much faster than the pattern alone suggests.

The AK-47 pattern

The AK is the reference weapon for the whole game, and its pattern is the one most worth learning properly because a single body-armour-ignoring headshot ends a round.

Shape

The first four rounds travel almost vertically with very little horizontal movement — this is the segment that matters in the majority of fights, and it is essentially a pure pull-down. Around the fifth round the climb slows and the pattern breaks to the left, forming a short sweep. After that it reverses and travels right across a wider arc, ending in a loose zigzag that covers a large horizontal area by the end of the magazine.

The shape is often described as a "7" or an inverted "T" with a tail. What matters practically is the order: up, then left, then a wide right.

How to counter it

• Rounds 1 to 4: a firm, accelerating pull straight down. Aim at upper chest so the climb walks into the head rather than above it.
• Rounds 5 to 10: keep pulling down but add a steady drift to the right to cancel the left sweep. The vertical component is weaker here, so ease off the down-pull.
• Rounds 11 onward: the right-hand arc. This is the part most players never use in a real fight, and honestly the part with the worst return on practice time.

The realistic goal is mastery of the first ten rounds. Beyond that, the target is usually dead, behind cover, or too far away for the cone to cooperate.

The M4A1-S pattern

The silenced M4 is the counter-terrorist default for a specific reason: its pattern is tighter and its rate of fire is lower, so the same number of rounds covers less area and each shot is easier to place. The trade-off is a smaller magazine and less damage per round, which makes every miss more expensive than it would be with the M4A4.

Shape

The opening rounds climb in a narrow vertical line that is noticeably shorter than the AK's, then the pattern moves left and settles into a compact, tight cluster with far less horizontal travel than either the AK or the M4A4. Because it is so narrow, the M4A1-S tolerates a slightly sloppy pull-down and still puts rounds on a torso — but it punishes over-correction, since there is less climb to cancel in the first place.

How to counter it

• Pull down less than you think. The most common error is transferring AK compensation onto the M4A1-S and dragging shots into the floor.
• Use bursts of three to five. The weapon's tight cone and low recoil make bursting genuinely competitive with spraying, and the silenced tracers give away less about your position.
• Count your rounds. The smaller magazine means a full spray-down on one target can leave you empty against their teammate. Reload discipline matters more here than on any other rifle.

The AUG pattern

The AUG is a different weapon depending on whether you are scoped. Unscoped it behaves like a slightly worse M4 with a moderate vertical climb. Scoped, it gains a substantial accuracy improvement and a lower effective spread, which turns it into a mid-to-long-range instrument.

Shape

The vertical climb is moderate and quite even — it lacks the AK's violent opening — and the horizontal component is modest, drifting first one way and then the other without the AK's wide arcs. This evenness is what makes the AUG forgiving: a constant-speed pull-down works better on it than on any other rifle in the game.

How to counter it

• Scoped, use taps and two-round bursts. The zoom magnifies both your accuracy and your compensation errors, so short inputs keep the crosshair honest.
• Unscoped, treat it like an M4 with a slightly longer vertical segment.
• Do not scope in a duel at close range. The zoom transition and reduced movement speed cost you far more than the accuracy gains.

Pattern reset and burst length

All three weapons share the same reset mechanic but reward different burst lengths, mainly because of fire rate and pattern width:

Weapon	Readable opening	Practical burst	Main failure mode
AK-47	Rounds 1 to 4, near-vertical	1 tap long range, 4 to 6 medium, full spray close	Under-pulling the violent opening climb
M4A1-S	Rounds 1 to 6, narrow line	3 to 5 at most ranges	Over-pulling, and running dry mid-fight
AUG	Rounds 1 to 5, even climb	1 to 3 scoped, 5 unscoped	Scoping in situations that call for movement

In every case, the pause between bursts has to be long enough for the recoil index to decay. A burst that follows too quickly continues the old pattern from wherever it stopped, which is the single most common cause of "I hit the first burst and missed the second entirely".

How to actually practise these

Wall practice is necessary but insufficient. A structure that produces transfer:

• Static pattern: empty a magazine into a wall without moving the mouse, look at the shape, then repeat while cancelling it. Two minutes per weapon.
• Distance ladder: the same burst at three distances. The compensation is identical; what changes is how much a small error costs.
• Stop-and-spray: strafe, counter-strafe, then spray. This is the version that actually occurs in a round.
• Transfer drill: two targets, one magazine, forcing you to move the crosshair horizontally while mid-pattern. This is the hardest and most underpractised skill in the game.

Our full CS2 script library covers the rifles, SMGs and pistols as separate per-weapon profiles, since the compensation for each is genuinely different rather than a scaled version of one curve — the weapon index shows the complete list. If you want to measure whether your first-shot accuracy is actually improving rather than guessing, a structured trainer like NR Aim gives you a number to compare week over week.

Frequently asked questions

Did CS2 change the spray patterns from CS:GO?

The overall shapes carried over and are still recognisable, but the underlying accuracy model and sub-tick input handling changed, and the feel of a spray is noticeably different. Patterns you learned in CS:GO transfer as shapes, not as exact muscle memory.

Which rifle should I learn first?

The AK-47, without question. It has the highest reward for a headshot, the most demanding opening climb, and its compensation habits transfer downward to easier weapons more readily than the reverse.

Is the M4A4 pattern the same as the M4A1-S?

No. The M4A4 fires faster and spreads wider, with a more pronounced horizontal segment. It needs a broader, faster correction, which is why many players pick one and stay with it rather than switching based on the round.