It happened! Valve dropped a huge update (a massive 10 GB!), kicking off the fifth competitive season of Counter-Strike 2! We are in for a big gameplay change, new skins and stickers, and even new maps! The CS.MONEY Blog breaks down the CS2 update from July 9.
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A short recap of the CS2 update from July 9
- Cache replaced Overpass in the active map pool
- C4 has been reworked, and now you can see in advance how much health you will lose from the explosion.
- Two new skin collections in the Armory: Spy Tech and Arabesque
- Two new sticker collections in the Armory: Auto Racing and Fruits and Veggies
- Five new community maps
- The Train 2025, Sport & Field, Sugarface 2, and Elemental Craft collections have left the Armory
- A scoreboard bug that was hurting performance has been fixed
- The game engine has been updated to the latest version of Source 2.
CS2 update: how C4 works now
The Counter-Strike devs updated the engine to the latest version of Source 2, and this may be linked to the C4 rework. No, the basic idea has not changed much: you still plant the bomb, wait 40 seconds, and then it explodes. But the explosion damage now works differently.
First, walls, floors, and ceilings now affect damage. Remember how, before, you had to run all the way to spawn on Nuke to save? Now you can survive the explosion even while staying on the other bombsite!
Second, Valve made a huge quality-of-life upgrade for every noob: after the bomb is planted, the health bar will flash red. That flashing shows exactly how many health points the explosion will take away. So it should be much easier to tell whether you ran far enough.
Two new CS2 skin collections: Spy Tech and Arabesque
We already knew these collections would show up in the Armory, because Valve had specially accepted submissions from skin creators on this theme. In the end, Spy Tech and Arabesque replaced Train 2025 and Sport & Field in the Armory.
What matters most? The structure of the collections has changed. Before, each collection had only one covert skin (but 6 industrial-grade skins). Now each collection has two “red” skins. The structure is the same for both collections:
- 2 covert skins
- 2 classified skins
- 3 restricted skins
- 4 mil-spec skins
- 6 industrial-grade skins
A reminder: the odds of getting top-tier skins are very low. For more on drop chances, check out our guide.
Arabesque collection
As you can tell from the name, the main theme of the collection is Arab culture. The skins look rich, with lots of shiny details. We want to highlight the Desert Eagle Eastern Enigma, as well as the red-tier skins, AWP Sovereign Flame (a mix of Blaze and Gold Arabesque that looks amazing!) and AK-47 Consequence of the Jinn (it looks like a frozen fantasy painting).
Spy Tech collection
The Spy Tech collection is less colorful, but the skins look futuristic. Some of them also play with reflections in the light, giving us some new alternatives to the old Printstream. We want to highlight the USP-S Spiral Glitch, as well as the red skins, AK-47 AUTOEXEC and Glock-18 Ghost Protocol. Both skins have shimmering elements, so they will definitely find their fans.
Two new CS2 sticker collections: Auto Racing and Fruits and Veggies
Let’s also talk about the two sticker collections. They are inspired by advertising decals on race cars, as well as labels for fruits and vegetables. Worth noting are the Neo-Hold and Neo-Rush stickers, which reference the iconic Akira anime, Knife Streak, which nods to Fruit Ninja, and the beautiful lenticular Pineapple on Pizza and Digital Dashboard.
New CS2 community maps
Traditionally, with a new season Valve rotates the maps. In the active map pool, Cache replaced Overpass, but that was not the only change. Five community maps were also swapped in.
Boulder, a new CS2 5v5 map
Boulder is a fairly large map set in a beautiful mountain area of Greece. In structure, it is closest to Cobblestone: long rotations on the attack side, but also plenty of room to move between bombsites A and B. One thing worth noting is the A site: you can plant the bomb behind cover there. We may see a lot of interesting post-plant clutches on this map.
Fachwerk, a new CS2 5v5 map
A map where you can get lost, but it still looks amazing. The setting is a small German town with absolutely lovely architecture. Too bad no one on this map will offer you a wheat smoothie, if you know what we mean. We should also mention the very small planting space for the bomb.
Shelter, a new CS2 5v5 map
Shelter is very different from the other two maps. First, this one is about rescuing hostages. Second, the hostages are… dogs! An unexpected map with lots of cute details for animal lovers.
Debris, a new CS2 2v2 map
The setting is simple: a plane crashed, and fights take place on a short map. One fun detail is the lemurs. If you shoot them, they get scared and run away.
El Dorado, a new CS2 2v2 map
A map for anyone who wants Aztec and Indiana Jones vibes, but feels that Ancient is not enough. El Dorado is a more red-toned map, and you can also jump out of bounds and drown yourself in the river.
Other CS2 update changes from July 9
Finally, a couple of smaller changes in this CS2 update. Sticker rotation now has extra in-between positions, which means crafts can be made more precisely. A bug was also fixed where you could not pick up dropped weapons through the buy menu.
The fifth CS2 season has started, and it will end after the Singapore Major. That means we have time at least until the second half of December.
