A new data study shows which smokes are worth blowing open with an HE grenade. Mirage Stairs leads the list, and 36% of the HEs thrown into it led to a kill. At the other end, Dust2 Xbox produced a kill in only 3% of cases.
Why does this matter? Players often use an HE to get information from a smoke. However, this study asks a different question: which smokes give a real chance to kill an enemy through the gap?
How the Study Was Done
The data comes from a Reddit post that uses the x-ray.gg Pro Library. The library holds 1,218 pro demos from May 2025 to October 2026. The author looked at every pro HE that burst inside an enemy smoke. Then the author checked whether a teammate got a kill through the gap within four seconds.
In total, the study covers 14,698 smokes from tier 1 pro demos across all seven maps. About 12% of them led to a kill. The study could test 103 smokes. Of these, eight stand out as better than luck, and seven stand out as worse than luck.
The Smokes Worth an HE
Mirage Stairs is the best smoke on the list. A Ts’ smoke there led to a kill after 26 of 72 HEs, which is 36%. Ancient B Long follows at 35%, with 14 kills from 40 HEs.
Next come two smokes at 30%. The Ts’ CT smoke on Ancient A led to a kill 29 times in 96 cases. The CTs’ smoke at Anubis B Main Entrance did the same 31 times in 105 cases.
Three more smokes reached 26%. Cache Cross had 15 kills from 57 HEs, Nuke Main had 28 from 107, and Dust2 Cross had 48 from 185. Finally, Mirage Jungle completes the group at 20%, with 40 kills from 199 HEs.
The Smokes Not Worth an HE
The worst result belongs to the Ts’ Dust2 Xbox smoke, with only 3 kills from 111 HEs. Cache B Lurk is next at 4%, with 12 kills from 337 HEs. Inferno Top Mid lurk also sits at 4%, with 6 kills from 148.
The remaining four smokes did only slightly better. Mirage Window reached 6%, with 25 kills from 427 HEs. Mirage Top Mid reached 7%, with 49 from 679. The CTs’ Ancient Elbow smoke reached 8%, with 57 from 713, and Dust2 Mid Doors reached 9%, with 60 from 674.
A Note on Info Plays
The author of the post adds an important point. Some of the weaker smokes are probably hit with an HE for information, not for kills. As a result, a low kill rate does not always mean the HE was a bad choice. Still, the author finds the numbers interesting to see.
Why These Numbers Matter
Overall, the data shows a clear gap between the best and the worst targets. Mirage Stairs and Ancient B Long give teams a much better chance of a kill than Dust2 Xbox or Cache B Lurk. Therefore, players who want kills, not just information, can use these numbers to choose better targets.
The author also asks which result surprised readers the most. With Mirage appearing on both lists, the answer may depend on the smoke.
