Tapping with the M4A4 is not as popular as with the AK-47, since you can’t kill an enemy with full head armor with a single shot. It’s still worth practicing for long distance combat. Just aim for the head and shot only once, wait until your (dynamic) cross is fully reset and repeat as fast as possible. This technique avoids spray effects altogether. Since it take only milliseconds, you can actually shoot pretty fast. Practice shooting at the exact same spot on a wall, until you got the timing perfectly.

Bursting with the M4A4 is the most effective shooting techniques. Against an armored opponent, 2 bullets to the head or 5 to the body will do the job. To practice bursting aim for the head and shot 2-4 times. While the first 2-3 shots are pretty accurate, after that you need to pull down slightly so compensate for the recoil. Practice this by shooting against a wall. If you do not have dynamic crosshair (most don’t these days), you know that the your aim is reset, when your weapon model is back into default position (it goes up and back while bursting). You can use bursting in combination with side stepping / strafing in order to be harder to hit. Use bursting especially for close to medium distances.

Spraying can be effective with the M4A4 in short distance fights against multiple opponents, due to its high rate of fire. Even if you don’t hit a headshot (for which you should always aim) the first hit will most likely throw off your opponents aim. To learn to control the spray pattern of the M4A4 try this aiming exercise, which we already shared in the "How to aim better" Guide.

• Open an empty server
  
  • e.g. map de_dust2_se
• Configure the server for training in the console
  
  • sv_cheats 1 (Cheat Mode on)
    
  • impulse se 101 (16000 money)
    
  • sv_showimpacts 1 (show impacts)
    
  • sv_infiniteammo 2 (infinite ammo)
• Buy an M4A4
  
• Practice:
  
  • shoot against a wall and control your spray pattern
    
  • start with trying to do only single shots
    
  • then 2 which also usually land on the exact same spot, depending on the weapon
    
  • then 3, now practice to pull down at the right moment to land all bullets on the same spot
    
  • then 4 and so on
    
  • progress to more shots only when you have mastered one level

Mastering the above techniques (especially the full spray) takes a lot of practice time to master. To speed up your learning curve, look at the following animated pray patterns by twowordbird[twowordbird.com]. The first shows the exact spray pattern (without randomness) of the M4A4, while the second show the movement your mouse needs to do to compensate it. Try to follow the seconds pattern with your mouse, then try to repeat it in the game.

The question which one to use, M4A4 or M4A1-S, is quite often raised. In most cases you want to use the M4A4, because of it’s greater magazin capacity. A total of 120 bullets on the M4A4 versus only 60 bullets on the M4A1-S makes it hard to defend a position solo or to delay several opponents. On the other hand, if you play more of a support role (with someone else on the same spot) and are also the one rotating quickly to the next spot, you can have a stealth advantage with the M4A1-S, because of its slight long distance advantage, its quiet nature and the fact, that it doesn’t leave tracers through smoke grenades. Due to it’s smaller spray pattern, the M4A1-S is also more beginner friendly, a fact that doesn’t matter much with more experience.

M4A4 vs M4A1-S by andreN


(note the damage is the same .. even though it's often rumored otherwise)

An always up to date version of this guide and more can be found at: http://csgoskills.com/academy/weapons/m4a4/


A step by step exercise on spray pattern control is here: “How to aim better in CS:GO“:
http://csgoskills.com/academy/aiming/
or on http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=370939284

An AK-47 specific guide incl. recoil / spray pattern control is here: “AK-47 Weapon Guide“:
http://csgoskills.com/academy/weapons/ak-47/
or on http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=374522188

Follow us:
Facebook[www.facebook.com]
Twitter
Google+[plus.google.com]
Newsletter[eepurl.com]

Check out the CSGO Skills App to help you track your progress:

• CSGO Skills on App Store for iOS
  
• CSGO Skills App on Google Play Store for Android[play.google.com]

Please leave a rating and fav, if you have enjoyed this guide. Write a comment to let me know what you liked and what can be improved. This guide will be updated continuously.

And tell me what you think about the CSGO Skills app! :)