The Unwritten Rules of Counter-Strike 2, Explained

Counter-Strike 2 is a game with deep roots running all the way back to the early days of CS 1.6. It has a culture and traditions rooted in those early days, which modern players have come to respect over the years. As a result, there are tons of unwritten rules of Counter-Strike 2 that those with thousands of hours will know without thinking about.

However, for those newer to the game, knowing the unwritten rules of CS2 can be daunting. Here they are, in all their glory.

Always use your microphone (but know when to shut up)

CS2 communications are 50% of the battle when it comes to winning matches. Now, that’s a statistic I’ve pulled from thin air, but the general point still stands. You will win considerably more Counter-Strike matches if you give map callouts to your teammates, and vice versa. It’s as simple as that.

Yet, a lot of players choose to turn their mics off at the start of the game and go mute. Don’t do that. It’s annoying, and nobody likes it. Communicate, even when you have toxic teammates. It’s in the unwritten rules of CS2.

But don’t just yap for the sake of it. If your teammate is mid-clutch, he probably doesn’t need to hear your commentary on the entire affair. While communications are broadly a positive thing, there is such a thing as bad comms, so it’s important you know the right moments to shut up, too.

Play the team economy (and drop for your teammates)

We all know the feeling of heading into a round with little to no resources, only to look over at your teammate who has splurged $4,750 on a glass cannon AWP. These types of players tend to lose their big purchases pretty fast, too, and unbalance the team’s economy for future rounds.

Remember, you can see exactly how much money your teammates have at the start of every round. Your buy should be in line with theirs, broadly. If they’re saving, save with them. If they’re half-buying for next, do the same. And if they’re spending all their money and putting it all on the line, then you should probably stay in the same lane.

There will be situations where, to keep the money balanced, it makes more sense for you to drop your teammates a weapon instead of them purchasing it. It’s an unwritten rule of Counter-Strike 2 that you need to be okay with this. Get comfortable dropping your teammates when it makes sense to balance the economy.

Never bait your teammates

One of the biggest signs of a new Counter-Strike 2 player is how much they bait their teammates. It seems that some players forget that if they die in-game, they don’t actually die in real life. It can lead to some frustrating scenarios in which deaths are left untraded, and the other team gets a kill for free.

Where possible, you always need to try to trade your teammates if they die. Sometimes, they’ll die in a stupid position, and a trade frag isn’t possible. Context is everything, of course. But if your teammate is rounding a corner and you’re following behind them, you need to be right there to trade them if they don’t succeed their entry.

Baiting comes in different forms, too. There’s a very, very fine line between baiting and lurking that you need to be aware of. If you’re sat away from the pack on the other side of the map, you need to be trying to find those moments to have an impact and create chaos away from your teammates. But if you typically find yourself last alive in a position when all the enemies have left your location, there’s a good chance you’re baiting your teammates, and you don’t even know it.

Using auto-snipers is BM

Both the G3SG1 and SCAR-20 cost $5000 to pick up on the server, making them the most expensive weapons in Counter-Strike 2. These hefty price tags mean you rarely ever see them brought into action, and for good reason. It’s just really bad manners.

There’s something about using the auto-snipers that asserts dominance over your opponents. You won’t ever see them bought by a losing team; instead, they’re more of a statement from the leaders that says, “Even if we die and lose this gun, we can still afford to buy again next round to beat you.”

That’s before you get to the fact that the auto-snipers are just plain annoying to play against. It doesn’t take a Counter-Strike killing machine to just spam one of these guns down the middle of Dust2 and get a kill or two. I can’t tell you what to do, but I can advise you that the unwritten rules of CS2 suggest avoiding the auto-snipers if you want to respect your opponents.

The bottom-fragger HAS to talk trash

If you’re the bottom fragger on your team, you need to find a way to make a meaningful contribution. If it’s not with bullets, then it has to be with words. We’ve all been there, dropping a 30-bomb but still losing the match due to bad teammates. Meanwhile, the guy on the other side of the server is being carried to the win with 10 kills to his name, while writing “ez” in the chat.

It’s an absolute tilter, which is why it’s your duty when bottom fragging to start talking trash to your opponents. Of all the unwritten rules in Counter-Strike 2, this one has quite an intangible impact, but let me tell you from experience: it absolutely works. Remember, Counter-Strike is mental warfare as much as it is physical.