Introduction
Counter-Strike is the most popular shooter game in the world, and it has been for quite some time. With the release of CS2, we can’t really see the game’s popularity dwindling over the next couple of years. The competitive scene is extremely healthy, the game is receiving regular updates, and the switch đồ sộ the Source 2 engine means that the sky is the limit for this game. In our full CS2 settings and options guide, we’ll guide you through all of the settings and options that you can (or sometimes should) tweak in order đồ sộ get the best out of your game.
Updates
Damage Prediction
In the latest big CS2 patch, Valve added an option called Damage Prediction. This immediately plays the audio/visual effects of inflicting damage without waiting for confirmation from the server. Basically, it’s meant đồ sộ make shooting feel a lot more responsive, but since it’s predicting it can also be wrong. There are three options right now, and we recommend the following settings for now as Valve is still working on this tech:
- Predict Body Shot Effects: No
- Predict Head Shot Effects: No
- Predict Kill Ragdolls: No
Moreinfo and the full list of patch notes.
Best CS2 Video Settings
CS2 Video Settings
| Color Mode | Use Computer Monitor here, it’s the best for color accuracy |
| Aspect Ratio | This depends on the resolution you’re going for (and whether you want Đen bars đồ sộ the side or you want the image đồ sộ be stretched if you’re using a custom res) but if you’re not using a custom resolution, use your monitor’s native aspect ratio. |
| Resolution | We recommend using your monitor’s native resolution. If you’re really lacking for frames or you want đồ sộ try the pro approach by changing your res, you can always lower the resolution. The lower your resolution, the higher the framerate gains will be, generally speaking. |
| Display Mode | Use fullscreen here. |
| Refresh Rate | Use your monitor’s native refresh rate. |
| Boost Player Contrast | This makes player models stand out a little more. We recommend enabling this. |
| Wait for Vertical Sync | V-Sync can cause input lag, so disable this. |
| Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode | This doesn’t have a tremendous effect on performance, but we recommend CMAA2, as turning this off will make the game look rather jagged. |
| Global Shadow Quality | Set this to low. It used đồ sộ be that some player shadows didn’t appear on lower settings, but since Valve added the ‘dynamic shadows’ option you can use low shadow quality for a boost in FPS. You won’t miss any important shadows by going for low here, as long as you use the correct options for dynamic shadows. |
| Dynamic Shadows | Definitely phối this đồ sộ all, as some of the most important ‘shadow spotting’ areas in the game use candles or other man-made light. Setting this đồ sộ Sun Only will put you at a severe competitive disadvantage. |
| Model/Texture Detail | We phối this to medium because at low, things such as blood splatters can sometimes get blurry. If you’re a skins người hâm mộ, you might want đồ sộ phối it đồ sộ high or very high, since anything lower causes intricate details on certain skins (such as drawings) đồ sộ become blurred right now. |
| Texture Filtering Mode | This has a rather limited effect on framerates (~10 frames between the highest and lowest setting) or visuals, but Anisotropic 4x feels best đồ sộ us. Some users have reported a laggy feeling when using bilinear or trilinear, ví we recommend going with Anisotropic 4x. |
| Shader Detail | This is merely an eye-candy setting, ví we phối it to low. If you’re a người hâm mộ of pretty effects (such as the Doppler finishes) interacting with the light then you should phối it đồ sộ high though, as it’ll make the effects prettier. |
| Particle Detail | Set this to low, as it’s an eye-candy setting that’ll make particles (explosions etc.) look more realistic at higher settings. Turning it down even makes it easier đồ sộ see through smokes and other particles, ví setting this đồ sộ low can give you a minor competitive advantage. |
| Ambient Occlusion | Enabling this causes quite a big performance hit, ví we would suggest leaving it disabled. Ambient occlusion is a shading and rendering technique that’s used đồ sộ calculate how different objects react đồ sộ ambient lighting, ví it does nothing for your competitive performance. It does impact some shadows, but those won’t influence your gameplay experience, as the player shadows are influenced by the Global Shadow Quality setting. |
| High Dynamic Range | In our testing, we didn’t notice a big difference between different settings here. If you’re a competitive player we’d suggest setting this to performance, as you don’t need the increased quality that HDR offers for gameplay. |
| FidelityFX Super Resolution | This basically renders the game at a lower resolution and upscales certain sections of the image, but it makes the game look extremely blurry and grainy đồ sộ the point where it’s distracting đồ sộ us, ví we’d recommend disabling this. |
| NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency | NVIDIA Reflex lowers your overall system latency, ví we recommend going for at least enabled here, as it’ll make the game more responsive. If you have enough frames đồ sộ spare, you can also go for enabled + boost, which will reduce your overall latency even more, but it might cost you some frames, ví if you’re already ‘on the edge’ when it comes đồ sộ frames you might want đồ sộ experiment with this setting a bit. |
Launch Options
Make sure that your drivers are up đồ sộ date when playing/testing CS2. It’s also a good idea đồ sộ add ‘-high‘ đồ sộ the launch options of the game, as this will launch the game in high priority mode. You can tự this by right clicking the game in Steam, and then clicking ‘Properties‘ -> ‘General‘.
Also read: Best Monitor for CS2
Disable Animated Avatars
CS2 now allows animated avatars, but these can become extremely distracting, especially if you’re in a match where a lot of players use one of these avatars. You can easily disable these by navigating đồ sộ Settings -> Communication -> trò chơi -> ‘Allow Animated Avatars‘. If you select No here you won’t be bothered by these pesky animated avatars anymore.
CS2 trò chơi Settings
Under Settings -> Game you’ll find a couple of interesting settings you can tweak đồ sộ improve your game’s performance.
| Max Acceptable Matchmaking Ping | CS2 prioritizes servers that are close đồ sộ you, but if you are having trouble with laggy servers or matches, it can be a good idea đồ sộ lower this value. |
| Display Network Connection Issues | Set this đồ sộ automatically ví that the game tells you’re experiencing network instability. |
| Max Acceptable trò chơi Traffic Bandwith | Set this đồ sộ unrestricted. |
| Buffering đồ sộ smooth over packet loss | This is basically the ‘cl_interp_ratio’ setting that many people used in CS:GO. We recommend leaving it on None (which is the default) but you can play around with this setting for a bit and see if an other setting feels better. If you experience packet loss (which you can see by enabling ‘Display Network Connection Issues’) you can always phối this đồ sộ 1 or 2. |
| Enable Developer Console (~) | You will always want đồ sộ have the dev console enabled, ví phối this đồ sộ yes. You can learn more about the console in our dedicated article. |
| Install Counter-Strike Workshop Tools | Set this đồ sộ no unless you’re planning on developing maps, skins, or other nội dung for the game. |
Best CS2 Resolution
One peculiarity in the professional Counter-Strike scene when you compare it đồ sộ other pro shooter landscapes is the fact that a ton of different resolutions are being used by the pros. Some pros lượt thích đồ sộ use a stretched resolution because it makes the character models appear wider, which in turn can make them seem easier đồ sộ hit, for example. Other pros use lower resolutions for frameratereasons: less pixels đồ sộ render means less stress on your GPU and PC, which in turn means a higher framerate count, and we all know thatframes win games.
If you’re new đồ sộ the game, we would just recommend you đồ sộ go for whatever resolution your monitor is. Experimenting with other resolutions is definitely a valid option in this game though, ví feel không tính phí đồ sộ try out a couple and see what works for you. If you’re having difficulties reaching your desired framerates, you can also always consider lowering your resolution.
The vast majority of pros play on stretched resolutions, as you can see in the graph below.
Most Used Resolutions in Professional CS2
| Rank | Perc. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1280×960 | 53% |
| 2 | 1024×768 | 15% |
| 3 | 1920×1080 | 13% |
| 4 | 1280×1024 | 6% |
| 5 | 1152×864 | 5% |
Best Refresh Rate for CS2
If you want đồ sộ be even a little bit competitive, you will need a monitor that’s capable of displaying at least 144 frames per second. The advantages of using high refresh rate monitors are ví tremendous that they really cannot be ignored if you want đồ sộ be the best player you can be.
This is all clearly explained in our detailed article, but it’s very simple: the higher the refresh rate of your monitor, the smoother your game will look and feel, and the lower your input latency will be. Investing in a high refresh rate monitor is thus a must for competitive gamers.
In CS:GO, the competitive standard for a monitor’s refresh rate has moved towards 360 frames per second, and while it’s true that there are diminishing returns with higher framerate steps, we would recommend at least a 240Hz monitor if you’re serious about playing at your highest potential.
Important: once you have a high refresh rate monitor, make sure you enable it in Windows. Do this by right clicking on your desktop, and then clicking ‘Display Settings’ -> ‘Advanced display settings’. Choose the correct refresh rate in that window.
Best Sensitivity for CS2
Quick tip: mouse sensitivity is the exact same in CS2 as it is in CS:GO, ví you can just port your CS:GO sensitivity over đồ sộ the game.
In order đồ sộ compare your actual sensitivity with that of another Counter-Strike 2 player without having đồ sộ tài khoản for different hardware settings, we use something that’s called eDPI. You can very easily calculate your own eDPI by multiplying your mouse’s DPI level (you can find this in the software or in your manual) with your ingame sens in CS2.
While we know that sensitivity is something personal, it’s also true that there are upper and lower limits. A ton of casual gamers have an eDPI that’s way higher phàn nàn what the pros are using, and that will indisputably handicap you. Reddit user /u/JALbert had a fantastic explanation on this topic that we can’t resist sharing:
If you think about your opponent’s head hitbox as roughly a circle, that means there’s a corresponding circle of area on your mousepad you need đồ sộ put the sensor on đồ sộ have your crosshair on their head. The lower your sensitivity, the bigger the target area is for you đồ sộ hit. It’s lượt thích making the basketball hoop bigger.
Since area for that head circle equals pi*r^2, cutting your sensitivity in half means that you’re doubling r, and in turn quadrupling the size of the target area on your mousepad. If you’re seeing that your eDPI is 5x the pros, you’re aiming for a spot 25x smaller.
Obviously going too low on sensitivity makes flicks slower and turning around more difficult, ví there’s a balance. But lower sensitivity makes aim way more forgiving in terms of hitting a target.
-/u/JALbert
If you’re noticing that your eDPI is a whole lot higher phàn nàn what the pros are using, you might want đồ sộ consider lowering your eDPI.
Fun Facts
830
is the median eDPI of CS2 pros
47 cm
is the distance an average pro has đồ sộ move their mouse đồ sộ perform a 360 degree turn
Best DPI for CS2
There is absolutely no need đồ sộ go for super high DPI counts. More does not equal better in this case. In fact, the vast majority of pros are using DPI levels of 3200 and lower, with 400, 800, and 1600 being the most commonly used DPI levels.
For more info, read our What is DPI và eDPI article.
Most Used DPI Levels in Pro CS
| Rank | Perc. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 400 | 66% |
| 2 | 800 | 28% |
| 3 | 1600 | 5% |
Zoom Sensitivity Multiplier in CS2
The mặc định setting here is 1, and a ton of players seem đồ sộ stick with that, ví we’d also recommend this.
This setting influences how fast you aim while using scoped rifles such as the Scout and AWP. It’s a good idea đồ sộ play around with this setting even if you’re not a xạ thủ, since there will be situations where you have đồ sộ use a xạ thủ in order đồ sộ get yourself out of a tough spot: imagine picking up an enemy AWP after getting a cheeky frag on an eco round and not being able đồ sộ work with it.
Mouse Hz
We’d recommend a polling rate of either 1000Hz or 4000Hz if you have a mouse that can go that high.
Your mouse’s polling rate (often called ‘report rate) determines how often your mouse sends its information (position counts, registered clicks, scrolls, …) đồ sộ your PC. This is expressed in Hertz. Higher is mostly considered đồ sộ be better here, but extremely high polling rates can cause stability issues in certain games and are more taxing on your system.
First Person Tracers
We recommend playing with First Person Tracers off.
Initially, this option wasn’t in the game, but after a lot of community feedback Valve has added the option đồ sộ remove first person tracers. This setting can be found under Settings -> Game -> Item.
Due đồ sộ the fact that the first person tracers currently don’t always align with where your bullets are going, it can mess up your sprays. This is why we recommend leaving it off.
Best CS2 Keyboard Binds
We recommend binding all of your utility (smoke grenade, flash grenade, …) đồ sộ separate keys for easier access. You can also consider binding jump đồ sộ either scrolling up or down. Everything else here mostly comes down đồ sộ personal preference, ví feel không tính phí đồ sộ experiment with this.
Given the fact that CS2 hasrevamped their grenade system ví that jump throws are now consistent and always reliable, there’s no need đồ sộ create a jump throw bind.
Also read: Best Keyboard for CS2
Best CS2 Audio Settings
You can and will win a ton of duels if your sound is dialed in, ví investing in a proper audio solution and configuring it correctly (make sure đồ sộ turn off all virtual surround sound processing features) makes a world of difference.
One quick tip here is đồ sộ prioritize game volume. If you’re playing with a bunch of particularly chatty friends, consider turning down their volume, for example. Putting on music is also a big no-no when playing a competitive game.
You can also phối different EQs per game mode. We recommend using the same EQ for all game modes. This will ensure a consistent experience. If you, for example, use Crisp for competitive and you find it đồ sộ be too harsh sounding for more relaxing Arms Race sessions, you can always go for Smooth in those more casual game modes.
| Master Volume | Set this đồ sộ whatever is comfortable for you. Louder isn’t necessarily better; just make sure you can hear everything clearly. |
| Audio Device | Use Default Device or whatever audio device you wish đồ sộ use for CS2. |
| EQ Profile | We use Crisp here, as it emphasizes the sounds in the higher registers, which are useful for the localization of enemies. If Crisp is too harsh on your ears, use Natural. |
| L/R Isolation | If you want a CS:GO style experience, where sounds are very clearly coming from a certain direction, use 100%. If you have gotten used to CS2‘s new sound system (which is more blended and more realistic, but can be worse for competitive performance for some) then use 0%. |
| Perspective Correction | If you want a more CS:GO style experience, use No here. This makes sounds a lot more ‘binary’ in the sense that they’re either coming from the left or the right. If you select Yes it’s a more natural experience. |
| Enable Voice | Use Press To Use Mic here. This way you’re only heard when you want đồ sộ speak. |
| VOIP Volume | Use 100% here. |
| Streamline Push To Talk | If you experience stuttering while using push đồ sộ talk, enable this. Otherwise you can leave it disabled. |
| Play Audio When trò chơi In Background | This is entirely based on personal preferences, but we phối it to No. |
| Main Menu Volume | Set this đồ sộ any percentage that’s comfortable for you. We don’t lượt thích đồ sộ be blasted with noise when we open the game ví we lower the volume a bit. |
| Round Start Volume | Set this to 0%, as it can distract you and mask important sounds such as footsteps or grenades landing. |
| Round kích hoạt Volume | Set this to 0% as it can be distracting. |
| Round End Volume | This setting has less of a tendency đồ sộ cause distractions, but if you’re saving (for example) it can be crucially important đồ sộ hear that hunting enemy approaching, ví we recommend settings this to 0%. |
| MVP Volume | For the same reasons as above, we phối this to 0%. If you lượt thích MVP sounds, you can enable this and use the Mute MVP Music When Players On Both Teams Are Alive option (listed below). |
| Bomb/Hostage Volume | Set this đồ sộ 0%, as it can be distracting. |
| Ten Second Warning Volume | This used đồ sộ be a ‘necessary’ setting because it gave you an indication when there were ~10 seconds left on the bomb but in October of 2023, Valve added a new, specific beeping sound for the bomb when there are ten seconds (or less) remaining on the bomb ví you can now phối this đồ sộ 0%. It can still be handy đồ sộ have this enabled (at a very low volume) for those times where you’re further away from the bomb or you can’t hear it beep, but it’s no longer required. |
| Death Camera Volume | Leave this at 0% as it can muffle important sounds such as where the player who killed you is heading. |
| Mute MVP Music When Players On Both Teams Are Alive | This mutes the MVP music if there are still players alive on both teams. This means that, in intense scenarios (where enemies might be hunting you) you won’t hear any MVP music, but you will hear MVP music if it’s safe (when one or both teams have all of their players eliminated). |
Best CS2 Radar Settings
It’s a known fact that communication in online games isn’t always as precise and reliable as it should be, and a lot of those headaches can be rectified by zooming our your map.
In CS2, there’s a lot of important information that appears on the radar. You can see enemies that have been spotted by your teammates, the location of the bomb if it’s been spotted, and the exact spot where a teammate died. All of this can be round-winning info, and teammates aren’t always as capable with their callouts, ví in the interest of having the best possible overview of the map and what’s going on in said map you will want đồ sộ see most of it.
In short: zoom out your map, and maybe consider making it a bit bigger on your HUD as well. This will give you access đồ sộ crucial information that you otherwise might not spot if you’re playing with the mặc định radar.
What is the circle on the radar in CS2?
The circle around your position in CS2 indicates how far the sounds that you’re making (footsteps, shooting, …) can be heard on the map. This can be handy đồ sộ decide when it’s time đồ sộ start walking if you’re flanking or what not.
Best CS2 Crosshair Settings
The mặc định crosshairin CS2 is a lot more usable phàn nàn the one we had in CS:GO, ví in essence there’s nothing wrong with using the mặc định crosshair, but we find that most players will want đồ sộ customize their crosshair either way. What you lượt thích really does depend on your personal preferences, but it’s important đồ sộ make sure that your crosshair is visible on all backgrounds.
As a kind of ‘starting crosshair’ we found the following values đồ sộ be a good point of entry:
Follow Recoil
In CS2, there’s a new crosshair feature that’s called ‘Follow Recoil’. This basically means that your crosshair will follow the recoil compensation pattern of the gun: if you need đồ sộ compensate đồ sộ the left, for example, your crosshair will drift off đồ sộ the left. In essence, this is a built in crosshair trainer.
If you’re new đồ sộ the game and/or you’re mastering a new weapon, it can be a good idea đồ sộ turn this feature on. Even experienced players might get something out of this, ví feel không tính phí đồ sộ experiment with this setting a little.
Best Settings and Options for CS2 – Conclusion
Valve have added a ton of QoL updates đồ sộ CS2 (and who knows what’s still đồ sộ come) ví CS2 doesn’t require as much tinkering in order đồ sộ get it đồ sộ a playable state as its predecessor did, but it’s always a good idea đồ sộ really get your settings configured correctly before heading out đồ sộ climb the competitive ladder.
CS2 is of course freshly released, ví none of what you see in this guide is phối in stone. This guide is a work in progress and will be updated constantly in order đồ sộ reflect changes đồ sộ the game, ví stay tuned if you want đồ sộ get the heads up on what the best competitive settings for CS2 are.
If you’re looking for more resources, kiểm tra out our other Counter-Strike 2 guides:
- HOW TO: Open Console in CS2
- CS2 Console Commands List
- What is ADR in CS2?
- How đồ sộ Show FPS in CS2
- Will There be Overwatch in CS2?
- CS2 Guide for Beginners
- How đồ sộ Transfer or Create a CS2 Config
Lars
Reviews, Community, FPS
Former semi-pro gamer turned writer, product reviewer, and community manager.
