A Cross Smoke from Short

Steps

1. Push up through Catwalk and arrive at the top of A Short. Position yourself in the left corner where the short wall meets the ramp descending onto A site. Your left shoulder should be pressed against the wall.
2. Look up toward A site. Find the tall stone archway that frames the opening from short into A site. Above it, you can see the building facade with a decorative ledge running horizontally.
3. Place your crosshair on the right edge of the decorative ledge - specifically where the ledge meets the vertical wall trim. Your crosshair should sit right at the intersection of those two architectural lines.
4. Use your jump throw bind (hold left click, then press your jump throw key). The timing is handled by the bind, so there is no manual coordination needed.
5. The smoke arcs over and blooms right in the A site cross area between the site platform and the long doors exit, creating a tall smoke wall that prevents CTs from crossing between A site and the long/pit positions.

Tips

• The A cross smoke is critical for isolating defenders who play at the A site platform from those holding long or pit. Without it, CTs can freely reposition and set up crossfires against your entry.
• Pair this smoke with a long doors smoke or flash for a full A site execute. When both the cross and long are smoked, the only angles CTs can hold are close corners on the site itself.
• If the smoke lands too far toward long (past the crossing point), your crosshair was too far to the right. Move it slightly left along the ledge. If it falls short and lands on the short ramp, you were not pressed tightly enough into the corner.
• The timing is important during executes. Have a teammate throw the A long smoke from long doors at the same time so both smokes bloom together and your team can push simultaneously from short and long.
• Practice offline with these commands: sv_cheats 1; sv_infinite_ammo 1; sv_grenade_trajectory 1; sv_grenade_trajectory_time 10; mp_roundtime_defuse 60
• In competitive, you can throw this smoke slightly before your team pushes out. It takes roughly 2 seconds to travel and bloom, so coordinate the timing with your entry fraggers.

When to Use

This smoke is a staple of T-side A executes and should be part of your Dust 2 playbook. Use it for:

• Full A site executes where your team pushes from both short and long - the cross smoke prevents CTs from repositioning between pit and site
• Short-heavy takes where most of your team enters from catwalk and you need to isolate the site from long-side defenders
• Late-round plays when you have control of short and want to take A site quickly without worrying about a CT crossing to set up a crossfire
• Split executes combined with a teammate pushing from long - the cross smoke forces CTs to commit to one side and makes it nearly impossible for them to support each other
• Post-plant setups where the smoke buys your team time after planting by preventing CT rotations across the site