In its over 8-year history, many versions of weapons have been so powerful that they even broke the game’s balance. Let’s take a look back at these weapons!
1/ Revolver R8 (2015)
Launched in the Winter 2015 update, it’s not an exaggeration to say that this was the most overpowered weapon ever to appear in CS:GO history. The R8 was inspired by the revolvers of the Wild West cowboy style with 2 firing modes: slow (left click) with high accuracy suitable for long-distance opponents and fast firing mode (right click) with low accuracy, extremely suitable for close-range opponents. The strongest point of this weapon is its incredible base damage: 115, meaning you can one-shot opponents at close range. Moreover, the price of $850 is too cheap for a “mini-AWP,” which made the R8 Revolver one of the most used weapons during that time.
After 3 days of receiving overwhelming backlash and requests to nerf this weapon, the R8 was heavily nerfed by Valve, reducing its base damage to 85 and slightly lowering its firing rate. This change nearly made the R8 disappear from both casual play and professional competition, even though in 2017 Valve reintroduced this weapon along with the Negev into the professional scene and reduced its price to $600; however, it still couldn’t compete with the iconic DE, and the R8 has been “forgotten” since then.
2/ SG553 – AUG (2018 – 2019)
Having appeared in CS:GO since its early versions, very few people chose to use the SG553 or AUG as they were completely outclassed by their older brothers: AK-47 and M4A4/M4A1-S, the weapons alongside the AWP and DE that became symbols of the CS series. However, in the update on October 9, 2018, Valve gradually reduced the prices of these two weapons to increase their popularity: $2,750 for the SG553 and $3,150 for the AUG. Just this small change helped these two weapons truly rise as pro players began using them in professional matches and recognized their real power. With these two weapons, you only need to spend a little extra money (compared to the AK costing $2,700 and the M4A4 costing $3,100) to own a gun with easily manageable spray control, still capable of one-tapping any enemy (if headshot), and most importantly, a scope that allows you to easily take down opponents from afar.
These two overpowered guns were thoroughly adopted by pro players in professional matches and at one point were even more popular than the AK-47 or M4. Ultimately, after a series of complaints and calls for nerfs from both the professional scene and casual players, Valve had to increase the prices of these two weapons again (AUG’s price increased to $3,300 in March 2019, while SG553’s price increased to $3,000 in November 2019). However, seeing that the SG553’s power was still superior to its older brother AK-47, in April 2020, Valve nerfed this weapon again by significantly reducing its firing rate as well as its accuracy. With all these changes, both the SG and AUG have once again disappeared from the professional scene.
3/ AWP (2015)
As an iconic weapon in the FPS genre in general and CS:GO in particular, the AWP has made stars like kennyS, GuardiaN, FalleN, Pasha, and more recently names like S1mple, dev1ce, and ZywOo…
However, long-time fans of CS:GO surely remember how overpowered the AWP was in 2013-2014 when you could scope up and move at a very high speed. This allowed aggressive AWP-ers like kennyS or JW to dominate by moving while scoping and taking down opponents. By March 2015, Valve reduced the player’s movement speed while scoped with the AWP and Autosnipers, thereby nerfing this playstyle.
4/ Tec-9 (2014 and 2017)
As a pistol specifically for T-side players, the Tec-9 was designed as a weapon that allows players to move and shoot at high speed to easily attack bombsites. The Tec-9 was extremely popular in 2014 due to its many advantages: large magazine (32 rounds, the largest in CS:GO), accuracy while moving and shooting, and an extremely low price ($500). There were times when teams like EnVyUs or Fnatic used the Tec-9 in almost every eco or half-buy round.
In March 2015, Valve decided to nerf the Tec-9 by reducing its magazine to 24 rounds instead of 32 and reducing damage at long range to encourage more close combat. In August 2017, the Tec-9 was nerfed again when its magazine was reduced to 18 rounds and accuracy when firing continuously was also reduced. After a series of nerfs, in the update in April 2020, Valve increased the accuracy of the Tec-9 when shooting, and this weapon has regained some of its status in the professional CS:GO scene.
5/ CZ75 – Auto (2014 and 2018)
As the only pistol capable of firing in full-auto, the CZ-75 truly deserves the nickname “mini-AK” when it has a very fast draw and firing speed, making it extremely dangerous in close combat scenarios. In October 2014, the CZ-75 was heavily nerfed when its price was increased to $500, base damage was reduced, firing speed was decreased, draw time was doubled, and when taking down an enemy, players only received $100 instead of $300 as before. Despite such heavy nerfs, the CZ-75, with its full-auto capability and 12-round magazine, still has a place in the CS:GO scene, especially for CT-side players as 12 rounds are enough to take down 2-3 enemies at close range. After several nerfs and buffs in 2018, the CZ-75 has not changed since and is still favored by many players, such as Electronic or Flusha.