Entrypathing

Entry pathing is the theory of the best route to follow when we enter an area. The main idea in good entry pathing is to keep the angle of engagement as low as possible at all times (we dont want anyone to see our back). That is, we want to flick as little as possible, if someone pops out from a corner while we are pushing.

Novice

Following the edges of the area

The first and main point is that you want to follow one side of the general area. This way you can have your back against the wall (where there is noone), and keep the angle of engagement low.

Green arrow is the main entry path, yellow is a good option. Red path is generally bad unless you have a specific reason to go there.

Good entrypath. We have most potential enemy angles in view. We dont need to move our crosshair around much.

Bad pathing. We have to turn around 180 to clear different spots, and may be shot in the back at multiple different times. Additionally, this specific path we have to jump are are extra vulnerable at those times.

Angle clearing

The second point of good entry pathing is angle clearing. We generally want to clear spots one at a time, where possible.

An easy way to start practicing angle clearing is by using YPRACs prefire maps. By playing around all the most common spots, you can start understanding how to isolate angles one by one and get the angle clearing down while following the main path. Note that we have no smokes when using this practice map, so there are spots that we would smoke off in most situations. If popping in with your team, you usually use at least one smoke.

Intermediate

Check out the following guide from Karrigan.

Jumping across, and wideswinging to allow the player behind us space to trade quickly.

Advanced

Making space for teammates

As you start to play with better players, an important aspect of entrying (which also affects the path chosen) is to ensure kills together with your team. A lot of the time this means that the entry player should not follow the “solo entry path”, but rather a specific entry path effective for trading. If you are able to double peek someone it is often better to allow for that than to use the optimal solopeek. This could even mean jump peeking some corners to be a harder target to hit while allowing a second player space to peek behind you.