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Over the near 20 years of CSGO's existence, no other weapon in the game has ever been so talked about. Along with the AK-47, the only weapon that has been in the game in every single version, the AWP is a sniper rifle worth $4,750 in game. A high risk, high reward buy the AWP has the insane ability to kill an enemy with a single shot to the upper body. The only weapon in the game that can do so. As a result, the weapon has had a huge impact on the professional scene as it had the ability to change an entire game within seconds (See Coldzera's jumping double). A single good AWPer has the ability to carry a team to tournament victory easily.
Let us take a look at the top 10 AWPers ever in the game:
#Honorable Mentions
#1 cajunb - The former TSM AWPer and current North AWPer is on fire with his current team. But this is the first time in his career he is making an impact as he failed to do so with TSM, which went on to become Astralis.
#2 WorldEdit - The Flipsid3 AWPer is a longstanding player of Flipside Gaming. A great AWPer in his own right, he never broke the glass ceiling to become one of the best in the world.
#3 Draken - Perhaps the freshest face on the list. Draken was signed to Ninjas in Pyjamas as their primary AWPer. He has shown his raw potential with NiP and has a bright future up ahead of him.
#4 mixwell - Long standing OpTic AWPer mixwell was recently signed on to G2 Esports after they benched Smithz and shox. Mixwell is another AWPer like WorldEdit who never quite broke the glass ceiling to be called one of the best AWPers in the world.
Some more- Hen1, oskar, dupreeh and k0nfig.
#10 ChrisJ
Chris "chrisJ" de Jong is currently the new in the game leader of mousesports. A long-standing AWPer, he stepped down for his teammate oskar to take the role of AWPing for mousesports. One of the most dependable men on the AWP and an incredible clutch player, they can always count on chrisJ to hold a site, rush with the AWP or pull off a clutch.
Currently not a regular AWPer, chrisJ made his mark during the time he used the sniper. Check out a 4k round from chrisJ against HellRaisers on Train:
#9 pashaBiceps
Jarosław "pashaBiceps" Jarząbkowski is a Polish player for Virtus.Pro. One of the most well known CSGO players in the world, pasha acted as a secondary AWPer to Snax for a long period before transitioning to primary.
More of a flashy AWPer rather than a traditional one, pasha proves to be a useful lurk as an AWPer. He can move into pockets of space and get kills with an AWP that most people find hard to do with rifles.
Check out a couple insane shots from pasha against Godsent on Cache.
#8 Coldzera
Coldzera is the only secondary AWPer on this list. Being on a team with FalleN usually would mean one won't get to use the AWP much. But whenever cold gets his hands on the sniper rifle, he becomes a one-man highlight reel.
His jumping double on Mirage vs Liquid in the finals of MLG Columbus 2016 has been immortalized by Valve with a custom graffiti. Just to make use of his immense skill as an AWPer, SK Gaming usually plays a double AWP setup on CT side as well.
Just to prove how much of a highlight reel cold is once he gets an AWP, here is yet another 1v2 clutch from cold on Inferno against Liquid again. Skip to the 1:00 mark to go straight to the clutch:
#7 s1mple
Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, much like coldzera has been a secondary AWPer most of his professional career. Only recently, after the departure of GuardiaN from Na'Vi, s1mple switched to the role of primary AWPer. Much like cold, s1mple is amazing on the AWP and has provided a massive collection of incredible shots throughout his career.
His career peak came at ESL One Cologne 2016 when in the second map of a semifinal match against Fnatic, s1mple casually jumped from heaven and proceeded to hit two consecutive no scopes on the two remaining Fnatic members, one at quite the range. Check it out for yourself below:
#6 Skadoodle
Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham has been playing pro in the NA scene ever since the game's launch. North America's best AWPer without a doubt, Skadoodle has played for teams like Denial and iBuyPower before finally signing for Cloud9 in 2015. With Cloud9 he would win several tournaments finally capping it off with a Major victory at E-LEAGUE Boston 2018.
One of the more traditional AWPers, Skadoodle refrains from flashy plays and uses the more slow approach to the game. A master of the Glass Cannon (When you buy an AWP without armor) as well, he can perform really well under high-pressure situations. Check out Skadoodle wiping Cloud9 off the face of the map all alone on Dust 2:
#5 dev1ce
Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz is one of the best players in CSGO history. Lethal with both the AWP and rifles, dev1ce has been the icon for the Danish counter strike scene for a while now. Dev1ce played for the historic Dignitas lineup alongside cajunb, dupreeh, karrigan and Xyp9x. The secondary AWP in that lineup, after moving to TSM and then forming Astralis, device became the primary AWP after cajunb left the team.
One of the more traditional AWPers, dev1ce can hold angles and stop enemies from bursting into the site at ease. It was hard to find a suitable clip for dev1ce, but here is an ace on Nuke against G2 Esports by dev1ce:
#4 JW
Fnatic's long-term AWPer Jesper "JW" Wecksell is one of Sweden's greatest players ever. One of the best AWPers to play the game, JW has shown consistency for over 5 years in the pro scene. A flashy aggressive AWPer, he can hold angles like no one else as well. There is a reason that in 6 years of Fnatic's existence JW has always been the AWPer for the team.
JW's over-aggressive AWPing style is iconic as he was the first one to show how versatile a player can be with the AWP. Check out this ace from JW which is widely considered one of the greatest aces of all time:
#3 FalleN
The Brazilian Godfather of CSGO, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo is one of the most respectable and influential players of all time. The in-game leader and AWPer of the famed Brazilian line-up consisting of himself, coldzera, fer and TACO, they won 2 back to back majors in 2016.
Check out an incredible 1v5 clutch victory from FalleN where he wins the round alone against Na'Vi on Overpass:
#2 GuardiaN
Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács is one of the only players in the world to have excelled in 1.6, Source and Global Offensive all the same. One of the greatest AWPers ever, GuardiaN's game-sense and traditional AWPing positioning and skill makes him an impenetrable force while holding sites and an unstoppable object while entering sites.
It will be a shame to include just one or two of GuardiaN's incredible plays over here, so here is an entire frag-movie of GuardiaN
#1 KennyS
Whether you agree or not, for me KennyS is the very best AWPer ever in CSGO history. Incredible flick shots and inhuman reactions have made KennyS' career. There are probably more KennyS highlights on youtube than any other player ever. Whether he played for G2 or EnvyUs, KennyS has always been the ace up his team's sleeve.
One of the best French players ever, KennyS has more highlights than one can ever show. Here is a small compilation of the incredible shots KennyS has ever hit.
