Search and Destroy Online Game: Rules, Tips and How to Win

What is Search and Destroy?

Search and Destroy is the round-based bomb mode of competitive shooters. One team attacks and tries to plant a bomb at site A or B. The other team defends. Nobody respawns during a round, so every life is worth something and every fight carries weight.

So S&D rewards what deathmatch ignores: where the bomb is, who is still alive and how much time is left.

Search and Destroy rules in xFPS

These are the numbers the game actually runs, online and offline:

How a round is won

Attackers win if the bomb detonates or every defender is dead. Defenders win if they defuse, if they kill every attacker before a plant, or if the 2:30 clock runs out with no bomb down.

Two details decide close rounds. First, killing the last attacker after the plant does not end the round: defenders still have to defuse. Second, a planted bomb keeps its full 40-second fuse even if the round clock would have run out, so a plant at 0:02 is a live round, not a lost one.

How many rounds to win Search and Destroy?

Six. It is first to 6 round wins, not 6 rounds played, so a 5-5 score goes to a deciding round. Hosts of custom matches can set a different target.

The bomb

Each round the bomb starts on the floor a few steps in front of the attackers' spawn. Any attacker picks it up by walking over it, and only the carrier can plant. When the carrier dies, the bomb drops where they last stood. Attackers always see where it is. Defenders are never shown the bomb's position before a plant; they only see a dropped bomb if they are close to it or can see it themselves.

Plant and defuse progress is saved. If a plant is interrupted, the next plant at that same site resumes from where it stopped, even by a teammate who picked up the dropped bomb. A defuser who lets go to fight also keeps their progress.

When it goes off, the blast kills everyone within 10 m, from either team, and still hurts out to 25 m. Walls do not stop it.

How to play Search and Destroy online

Open xFPS with Search and Destroy selected and press Find Match. Quick Play seats you in a 6v6 room and fills open seats with bots, so a match starts even when few people are online; arriving humans take bot seats. If you join while a round is running, you wait for the next round, because everyone gets one life.

Before the round, pick a class. Classes carry a main weapon, a sidearm, a frag grenade, a tactical (stim, flash or smoke) and three perks, and your equipment refills every round. You can change class for 20 seconds after spawning as long as you have not fired or taken damage; after that, the change waits for the next round.

Want a fixed group? Form a party of up to six and queue together, or create a custom match and share the code. Custom rooms award no XP or progression. Ranked S&D also exists, needs a signed-in account at level 20, and uses human players only. The How to play guide covers parties and custom rooms step by step.

How to win Search and Destroy on attack

Attack is about time and numbers. You have 2:30, six players and one bomb. Defenders reach the sites a few seconds before you can, so do not sprint into a site alone and hope.

The bomb carrier plays second

If you have the bomb, you are not the entry player. Let one or two teammates take the first fight, then follow close enough to plant the moment the site is clear. The team HUD shows who carries the bomb, so your team knows to cover you. Die in the open and you hand the defense the round's key item.

Commit to one site, together

A split attack meets an equal split defense that has cover. Pick a site early, gather near its entrances, and hit it together so each defender faces two or three guns at once. A smoke on the angle that sees the plant spot buys the 3 seconds you need. A flash thrown just before the entry wins the first duel.

After the plant, play the bomb

Once the bomb is down, the clock is on your side. Defenders must come to you and stand still for 5 seconds. Leave the plant spot, take positions that can see the bomb from different angles, and wait for the defuse attempt. Chasing kills now only gives the defenders easy picks.

How to win Search and Destroy on defense

Defense wins when the clock runs out. You do not need kills; you need the attackers to fail to plant.

Hold both sites without stacking

Put enough players on each site to slow a push, and keep at least one player in a spot that can rotate to either side. Hold angles from cover the attackers have to walk into, not from the plant spot itself. Off-angles beat the obvious corner, but only once; change spots after a kill.

Rotate on information, not on panic

You are not told where the bomb is. Footsteps, gunfire and teammates calling contact are your information. When one site is hit with several players, the rest of the team rotates; when you only hear one, it may be a distraction. Kill the carrier and the bomb drops where they stood: if you can see it, hold that spot and the attackers must come to you to pick it up.

Retakes and defuse timing

A defuse takes 5 seconds, so it has to start with at least 5 seconds on the fuse. The planted bomb ticks faster as time runs down: twice a second, then faster under 20 seconds, faster again under 10, and fastest under 5. At that last rate a fresh defuse cannot finish, so get out of the blast. Retake together: clear the angles around the bomb first, then one player defuses while the rest cover. Any progress you made before backing off is kept.

How to get better at Search and Destroy

Trade every fight

One life per round makes trading the core skill. Move with a teammate a few meters behind you so that if you lose a fight, they kill the enemy before that player can reposition. Two players together turn a lost duel into an even trade.

Pre-aim and peek properly

Keep your crosshair at head height where an enemy will appear, before you see them. Peek wide to take a fight, tight to gather information. Remember that strafing is slower than moving forward, and aiming down sights slows you more. Close-range rifles kill in about a quarter of a second, so whoever is already aimed usually wins.

Use sound, and deny it

Footsteps are positional and louder when someone runs than when they walk. Walk or crouch the last meters to a site you want to hit quietly. The Dead Silence perk cuts how far enemies can hear your steps, which suits a flanker or a lurker.

Heal before you re-peek

Health regenerates in S&D: after 5 seconds without taking damage it refills quickly. If you trade shots and survive, break line of sight and wait it out instead of re-peeking at half health.

Move between fights, not during them

Sprint, slide and double-tap sprint for a short tactical sprint to cross open ground. Pressing crouch again or jumping cancels a slide and keeps the momentum. Never slide into a site you have not cleared.

Review the killcam

A round decided by a kill ends with a short killcam of that kill. Watch it when you lose a round: it usually shows the angle you forgot. Surviving also pays off beyond the round, because your killstreak count carries into the next round as long as you stay alive.

Want a smaller-scale way to practice raw aim? Try a 1v1 Duel or 2v2 Gunfight, where every round is one fight that decides it.