AWP

Overview

Gallery

AWP
Alternate name(s)	Arctic Warfare Police Magnum Sniper Rifle AWSM Arctic Warfare Super Magnum AWM Arctic Warfare Magnum
Price	$4750
Origin	United Kingdom
Caliber
Magazine capacity	10 / 30
Firing mode(s)	Bolt action
Rate of fire	41 RPM
Weight (loaded)	6 kg
Projectile weight	16.2 g
Muzzle velocity	3000 ft/s
Muzzle energy	7000 J
Used by	Counter-Terrorists Terrorists
Reload time	2.5 seconds 3.7 seconds
Movement speed(units per second)	210 200 150 (Zoom) 100 (Zoom )
Kill Award	$100 (Competitive) $50 (Casual)
Damage	115
Recoil Control	1 / 26 (3%)
Accurate Range	96 m
Armor Penetration	97.5%
Penetration Power	250
Hotkey	B-4-5 (TR) B-4-6 (CT) B-4-5
Entity	weapon_awp

“High risk and high reward, the infamous AWP is recognizable by its signature report and one-shot, one-kill policy.”
―Official description

The AWP (Arctic Warfare Police), or Magnum Sniper Rifle, as it was previously known, is a sniper rifle featured in the Counter-Strike series.

Overview

The AWP is a powerful bolt-action sniper rifle available to both teams. It is infamously renowned for being able to instantly kill a player with one hit on any part of the body except for the legs. For this reason, the AWP is one of the most popular and widely used weapons in the Counter-Strike series.

Properties

Damage values

Hitbox	Primary Attack
	Unarmored	Armored
Head	459	448
Chest & Arm	115	112
Abdomen & Pelvis	143	140
Leg	86	86
Red signifies a fatal hit

The AWP is a fairly heavy weapon. While wielded, the player's movement speed is reduced from the default 250 units per second to 210 units per second (200 in Global Offensive), meaning a user will suffer 16% to 20% speed reduction. While zoomed in, the movement speed is 100 units per second. The AWP is one of the many guns able to shoot underwater.

Advantages

• Fatal damage
• High penetration power
• Very accurate at long range

Disadvantages

• Low rate of fire
• Very loud and distinct firing sound.
• Heavy weight
• Very expensive
• Low kill reward in Global Offensive
• Very inaccurate when firing without the scope or firing while moving
• Less accurate if fired right after cycling the bolt in Source and Global Offensive
• Long reload time (in Source and Global Offensive)

Gameplay

Tactics

• Unlike other sniper rifles, instead of focusing on the head, aim for the chest as much as possible. The chest presents a much larger target, and the damage done by an AWP shot is more than enough to kill the enemy in a single shot provided it did not hit the leg or an obstacle between the player and the enemy.
  • If a target is using cover while at medium range and the head is exposed, try to score a headshot to ensure an instant kill as the cover may block most of the shot's damage, allowing the enemy to return fire.
  • In certain maps (especially Aztec), professional players can perform wall-bangs (hit assailants through a wall, box, or any other obstacle) dealing up to 60 damage or scoring a headshot. This tactic requires perfect accuracy, prediction, and a bit of luck.
  • Avoid shooting at the target's leg, as the damage is not lethal on targets with full health/armor. If this happens, quickly switch to the pistol to finish the target off.
• After firing a scoped shot in Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, the AWP retains in-scope accuracy if fired before returning to the scoped view as long as the player is standing still or is crouching.
  • An experienced user can take advantage of this by holding the primary attack button and retain an accurate shot, and can even mark a central red-dot (1.6 and Condition Zero) of the crosshairs with a wipeable sketch or marker pen of the color of the crosshair. This can allow the player to fire the AWP without looking down the scope.
    • This tactic cannot be used in Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Firing the AWP with this method will have the same accuracy as an unscoped one. Also, users cannot fire the AWP after cocking the rifle unless the primary attack button has been released and pressed again.
• Standing or crouching whilst firing is a must, as moving while firing dramatically decreases the weapon's accuracy.
• When firing at a moving target, take the effort to lead the shot by firing in front of the target, predicting where the target would be in half (1/2) a second.
  • This can also compensate for slow reaction times or lag if shots are missed on a regular basis.
• When facing an enemy sniper, use cover in case the first shot does not hit an intended target. If the first shot is missed and the firing location has been compromised, change firing location in case the enemy is already trained on the original location, waiting to fire. 
• Take cover while operating the bolt between shots, so as not to allow the opponent time to attack. Be careful though, as enemies might be waiting for the opportunity to fire when popping out.
  • Even if the opponents have no idea where the shot is from at first, avoid camping at one point for too long. Instead be mobile, relocate the firing position after killing one or two opponents to reduce the risk of allowing the enemy team to flank the sniping position.
• A CZ75-Auto, Desert Eagle, Tec-9, or Five-SeveN is a good backup pistol for AWP users, most notably when encountering an enemy at close range. The pistols' headshot capability will help the user to easily eliminate the enemy.
  • A P250 is a cheap and reliable alternative if short on funds.
• In Assassination maps, since the Terrorists' semi-auto sniper rifle cannot be purchased, the AWP is the best replacement for sniping, since a bullet from the AWP can kill the VIP in 1~2 hits.
  • Also, Counter-Terrorists are unable to purchase the AWP as they can only buy the Krieg 550 Commando. Terrorist snipers with the AWP can usually take these users down because the SG550 is less accurate and is unable to score instant kills unless a headshot is scored. However, if  AWP misses the first shot, the SG550 users are likely to return fire due to the loud sound.
    • If the VIP is standing still or unaware, take the time to aim for his head, as the AWP will kill in one headshot, even if the VIP has full health and (200) armor.
    • Without a headshot, a second shot is required (similar to the Scout).
• In maps like Office, the AWP can penetrate glasses or thin cover which most other weapons cannot.
• Be mindful of the surroundings and camp in a spot where enemy flanking can be avoided.
  • Additionally, if available, have a teammate provide cover when high visibility situations cannot be avoided.
• Maintain caution when engaging enemies at close range. The weapon lacks a high rate of fire which prohibits users in fighting targets at near distances.
  • If an enemy wielder is rushing at close proximity, switch to a sidearm and strafe/retreat when in a range where the AWP would perform very poorly.
  • Avoid firing the AWP without using the scope, as it is very inaccurate unless at point blank range. Although damage is not reduced, it is not recommended to fire out-of-scope, as the bullet may not always kill a target with full health instantly. This can leave an AWP user vulnerable to counter-attack.
• Prior to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a commonly utilized tactic was to jump/leap from a corner, crouch or stop moving, zoom in, and then fire the AWP at a target.
  • In an update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the scope of the AWP scope is blurred for about a second after scoping in, meaning the shot will be highly inaccurate if it is immediately fired.
• When dueling with an enemy armed with the AWP, once alerted, avoid direct contact and flank the enemy.
  • In Counter-Strike: Global Offense, the Tec-9 and the Five-seveN are good backup weapons at close range for AWP users.
• Switching to another weapon and then back can sometimes be faster than toggling through the scope. This is not true in older games, as the draw time is extremely long. This tactic is not faster in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Counter-tactics

• Listen for AWP shots, as the firing sounds are extremely loud and distinctive.
  • If heard, avoid well-lit and wide open areas without plenty of cover or common choke points (except if the AWP shot was fired by friendly player or bots).
• Travel and attack in groups with teammates, as AWP users may have trouble killing multiple foes quickly when spreading out.
  • Do not form a straight line as a single shot from the AWP can pierce through and kill up to five targets with a single shot.
  • One player can be equipped with weapons capable of countering the AWP, while the other provides cover with grenades.
  • Additionally, one player can draw the AWP's fire, while the other flanks the enemy's position.
• It is not recommended to face an AWP user head-on at long or medium distances without a weapon capable of medium to long range attacks.
• AWP users will tend to lead the shots to predict target movement, so a player should avoid predictable movement and take glancing shots if spotted to force the AWP user to take cover.
• Because the AWP is infamous for "wallbang" kills like the AK-47 and the M249, avoid staying stationary behind thin cover of surfaces.
• A player not killed from an AWP shot will have a 1.5 second window to attack or take cover before the sniper can shoot again.
• At long ranges, an AWP or other long range sniper rifle is a good weapon to counter an AWP user with.
  • Using semi-automatic sniper rifles will make the most of the delay between an AWP user's shots.
  • At long-to-medium ranges, a Colt M4A1, AK-47, or other rifle can also be used to score a headshot on a user, though this is rather risky.
• Some players will take cover while they operate the bolt, find the location of targets, and eliminate them right after they come out.
• The AWP is useless compared to other automatic/semi-auto weapons at close range, giving the player ample opportunity to attack before the AWP user can switch to another weapon.
  • To avoid getting hit, strafe while reaching close proximity.
  • When playing against experienced AWP users at close range, move in a 360 degree circle to avoid quick-scoping or before the side-arm is pulled.
  • Jumping will also greatly decrease the chance of being hit at close range but this will greatly reduce the player's accuracy.
  • Use multiple flashbangs or smoke grenades to provide cover for a rush or to flank the AWP user, especially if the AWP user has covering fire from teammates.
• Contrary to common logic, it is possible to wield the AWP in enclosed areas, such as in Office.
  • Snipers will generally guard the opposite end of a long and narrow hallway by hiding behind a prop (if available) and eliminating rushing players. Throw smoke grenades, incendiary grenades or molotovs is a to force the AWP user to leave the area quickly.
  • It is recommended to use multiple flashbangs if available as a flashbang can be easily countered allowing the user to reset and anticipate the player's arrival.
• If short on money, it is possible to counter an AWP user with the Scout.
  • A well implemented ambush and a swift headshot are the key factors to success.

Comparisons

• Scout
• SSG 08

Positive

• High damage per shot (the AWP can score an instant kill when a shot hits any part of the body apart from the leg)
• At long range, the AWP is more accurate than the Scout (the AWP has 100% accuracy when standing still or when crouching while the Scout has only 100% accuracy when fired at a crouched position)

Neutral

• Both weapons are bolt-action sniper rifles
• Same magazine capacity
• Both weapons are equipped with a scope

Negative

• Lower rate of fire (41 rpm vs 48 rpm)
• Very inaccurate without using the scope
• Expensive ($4750 vs $2750)
• Heavier (210 unit per seconds vs 260 unit per seconds)
• Slower reload time (2.5 or 3.5 seconds vs 2.3 or 3 seconds)
• Low ammo in reserve (30 rounds vs 90 rounds)
• More ammo cost ($125 vs $80)
• Shots fired are louder than the Scout

Advantages

• Higher damage
• Better accurate overall
• Better magnification

Neutral

• Same magazine capacity (10)
• Same firing mode (Bolt-action)
• Same reload time

Disadvantages

• Low rate of fire (41 RPM vs 47 RPM)
• Heavier (+20%)
• More expensive (+$3050)
• Holds less reserve ammunition total (-60)
• Louder
• Very inaccurate when fired from the hip or in mid-air
• Low kill reward
• Awards less kill points in Deathmatch (-1)
• Users suffer from blurriness when zoomed in

Controversy and History

Due to its overwhelming power and accuracy, the AWP has attracted much criticism since its introduction. Many players view the AWP as an overpowered and unfair weapon, requiring little skill and practice to use. Many public servers banned the use of the AWP due to its unbalanced nature. However, the general opinion believes there is still some tactical and merit to using the AWP, and is accepted by the majority of the community.

Reduced power

The AWP is no longer as powerful as it once was. The AWP was most powerful in all versions prior to Counter-Strike 1.1, where one shot to any part of the body was an instant kill. Later updates reduced its effectiveness: Counter-Strike 1.1 made the leg shot non-lethal and Counter-Strike 1.5 made it so that the AWP and pistols took longer to switch to, as well as making the AWP extremely inaccurate without using the scope, crippling the AWP's effectiveness in close-quarters; Counter-Strike 1.6 drastically increased the time to scope in, which was criticized as making it nearly worthless. Players quickly got used to the newly nerfed AWP. The latest update to Counter-Strike reduced the scope time. A brand new flaw is the "Quick switch" glitch. Many players use it to reduce the time between each shots by switching to another weapon during the bolt animation. Doing this would allow players to maintain a moderate rate of fire. This glitch was patched in Source as of October 2011. However, players still use this method mainly to prevent the weapon from auto-zooming after each shot to allow the user more mobility. Also, when holding down the firing button, the AWP's accuracy is the same as when fired without the scope instead of having full accuracy.

Competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

With the introduction of a built-in competitive mode, the usage of the AWP in competitive matches tends to be much more balanced. The high price tag coupled with the stringent price management and small fixed team size, make the AWP a proper support weapon. Where it may be common to see a many AWP users on a single team in casual, multiple AWPs on higher tier competitive matches is impractical and rare.

AWP based maps

The AWP is so popular that there are some fan-made custom maps made exclusively for AWP users. These add-on maps are often massive, with much or little cover, and both teams spawn far away from each other and the only gun of choice is the AWP, a pistol, and the knife. Due to the power of this sniper rifle, it's often kill or be killed, and the round can finish very quickly. These add-on maps are not official, but it's good for practicing with the AWP. Map names usually begin with awp_ and are available for all versions of Counter-Strike.

Achievements

• Counter-Strike: Source
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Weapon

Magnum Sniper Rifle Expert Kill 1,000 enemy players with the Magnum Sniper Rifle.

Kill

Snipe Hunter Kill 100 zoomed-in enemy snipers.

Eye to Eye Kill a zoomed-in enemy sniper with a sniper rifle of your own.

Hip Shot Kill an enemy with an un-zoomed sniper rifle.

Miscellaneous

Happy Camper Get two kills standing in the same spot with a zoomed sniper rifle.

Weapon Specialist

AWP Expert Kill 500 enemies with the AWP.

Combat Skills

Snipe Hunter Kill 100 zoomed-in enemy snipers.

Eye to Eye Kill a zoomed-in enemy sniper with a sniper rifle of your own.

Hip Shot Kill an enemy with an un-zoomed sniper rifle.

Appearances

Condition Zero

In Tour of Duty, there are 8 bots that use the AWP as their main weapon. They are:

Terrorists

• Psycho: Normal (with the Desert Eagle as a sidearm)
• Razor: Hard (with the Desert Eagle as a sidearm)
• Nails: Very Hard (with the Elites as a sidearm)
• Crow: Expert (with the Desert Eagle as a sidearm)
• Hawk: Elite (with the P228 as a sidearm)

Counter-Terrorists

• Kirk: Cost 3 (with the Five-SeveN as a sidearm)
• Alex: Cost 4 (with the P228 as a sidearm)
• Eagle: Cost 5 (with the Desert Eagle as a sidearm)

Deleted Scenes

The AWP appeared very rarely in the missions of Deleted Scenes and only appeared in the following missions:

• Counter-Terrorist Training: At the shooting range, along with the AUG in the scoped weapon training section.
• Thin Ice: Taken from an enemy sniper on the top of the area. It is one of the weapons required to take out the Harrier.
• Rise Hard: At a hard to reach area. The player must be careful to jump between the lights in order to obtain the AWP or he will end up falling from the skyscraper.

Trivia

• The AWP is one of the most used weapons in the Counter-Strike series.
• The game file name for this weapon is awp.
• In the older games, the .338 Lapua Maganum used by the AWP is the most expensive ammunition in-game, at $125 per magazine.
• The AWP can penetrate multiple targets, making it the easiest weapon of the few capable of earning the Ammo Conservation achievement.
  • Additionally, the AWP is the only weapon capable of killing multiple targets through a wallbang.
• A numerous amount of servers ban this weapon or restrict it (sometimes all other sniper rifles except the Scout) to a specific amount per team, due to it being extremely powerful and how easy it is to kill another player with it.
• This weapon is considered a "high risk, high reward" weapon because it is powerful but very slow, in terms of rate of fire and reload speed.
• In real-life, the Arctic Warfare Police, the law enforcement variant of the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series does not use .338 Lapua Magnum. Instead, it usually uses 7.62 mm NATO/.308 Winchester or .243 Winchester ammunition.
  • The large-caliber variants of the Arctic Warfare series that do use the .338 Laupa Magnum, are known as the Arctic Warfare Magnum. They are also unofficially called the Arctic Warfare Super Magnum, abbreviated AWSM, referencing to their large caliber.
  • In real life, the most notable change to the police version of the AI Arctic Warfare sniper rifle was the black colored frame. In-game, the gun still has the green frame.
• The AWP is only weapon in Counter-Strike with the ability to kill an armored teammate instantly with a headshot.
• In Counter-Strike 1.6 and Condition Zero, the third person model of the AWP is unusually short, almost being of equal length as an AK-47. This visual error has been fixed in Counter-Strike: Source.
• The VIP is the only player who can survive a single body shot from the AWP because his armor is 200. However, a headshot can still kill the VIP instantly without the need for a second shot.
• The AWP is not available for the Counter-Terrorists to purchase in Assassination maps. They can however, get one from fallen Terrorists.
• In Deleted Scenes, if the AWP is used by an enemy NPC, the A.I. will not inflict maximum damage. Instead, they will activate a laser sight if they attempt to shoot the player and they can gib targets if killed by the NPC. However, if used by players, they can instantly kill but not gib a target.
  • Although in some missions, an NPC who uses an AWP can instantly kill another NPC without being gibbed (it can be seen in the mission Hankagai as a Kidotai member named Tanaka is killed by a gang leader).
• The Accuracy International AWSM in the German version of Left 4 Dead 2 is a direct port of the Counter-Strike: Source version, which uses a 20 round magazine instead of 10. Also, it has a higher rate of fire, almost on par with the Scout.
• The first-person view model of the AWP in Counter-Strike: Source is much smaller than earlier AWPs.
  • Moreover, the AWP user in third person can be seen operating the bolt after each shot while the older games just "drop" out empty shell from the rifle.
• Although the bolt is in the left side of the AWP, the player model features the user cocking the rifle on the right.
• The design of the stock of AWP is slightly different from the older games.
• The HUD icon of AWP is different from the older games.
• In Global Offensive, the firing sound for the AWP is reused from the Accuracy International AWSM in the German version of Left 4 Dead 2.
• Strangely, the scope of this weapon in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is probably the smallest scope of all sniper rifles of this game. It also features an olive color unlike the black scopes featured elsewhere in the series.
• Like its real-life counterpart, the AWP in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive supposed to have all-black finish as shown in the Launch Trailer. However, this was later changed in the development of Global Offensive.
• The barrel of the AWP in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has the words "ACUMEN MULTINATIONAL ENGLAND AKA OAKRIDGE TN" engraved on it.
• The AWPer Hand is a promotional item for Team Fortress 2 (another Valve game) available as a Genuine quality item to players who pre-ordered Global Offensive. The weapon's model is the same from taken directly from Global Offensive, and the description is a nod to the AWP's infamous status.

External links

• Accuracy International AWM (Arctic Warfare Magnum) at Wikipedia
• Accuracy International AWP (Arctic Warfare Police) at Wikipedia
• Accuracy International Arctic Warfare Magnum at Internet Movie Firearms Database for its appearances in various media.