Counter-Strike 2 Beginner Guide – Tips & Tricks

This Counter-Strike 2 beginner guide will show you all of the things you need to know before you start playing this game.

The arrival of Counter-Strike 2 means that the game will welcome tons of new players. Even though most CS 2 players were fans of CS:GO (some of them even played CS 1.6), there is no arguing that Valve’s new game will include a lot of new users who have no idea about the Counter-Strike Franchise. Consequently, we’ve decided to create a detailed Counter-Strike 2 beginner guide. 

This CS2 beginner guide will include all of the important details a given player needs to know before playing. We will try to include as many details as possible, but keep in mind the guide will be aimed at new players. In other words, it will work best for players who haven’t played CS:GO in a long time or those who’re new to the CS world.

Where to get Counter-Strike 2?

CS2 is a game that is available on Steam, Valve’s gaming platform. In order to get it, you will need to create an account, go to the Steam Store and type the game’s name. Keep in mind that players who’ve purchased CS:GO will not need to spend any more money because they will automatically receive CS2 in their accounts.

First steps 

Now that you know how to get the game, the next thing in our Counter-Strike 2 beginner guide is related to the first steps you need to make after that. Once you oen the game, the first thing is to change some of your settings. We suggest going to Audio, where you can turn down the main menu, round start, and round action volume to 0. Of course, you do not need to do that, but reducing this volume will allow you to concentrate more on the game itself.

Speaking of audio, one of the options called “Ten Secon Warning Volume” is important, so make sure it’s around 25%. MVP Volume is also something that you may want to have on, and if that’s the case, you should also select “Yes” under the Mute MVP music when… option.

Once you’re done with the Audio settings, the next thing to check in the CS2 beginner guide is the video options. Here, you should choose Fullscreen mode, followed by your preferred resolution and hz. In the “Advanced Video” tab, you can find a variety of important settings, but feel free to choose the ones that work best for you. Keep in mind that some of them will depend on your PC’s capabilities. You can learn more about the CS2 system requirements here.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to go to your Loadout menu and pick the skins you want to use. Assuming you haven’t played Counter-Strike 2 before, you probably won’t have any, but keep it in mind in case you decide to buy cases.

In-Game Stuff

The next important element in this CS 2 beginner guide is a few must-know in-game binds. We’d like to start by suggesting you go to your settings menu and change the binds of your utilities to whatever works best for you.

Once you sort this out, you also have to work on your crosshair placement. Although this is something that people usually do at a later stage in their game, learning it from the get-go will make a huge difference. 

To make a long story short, the idea of your crosshair placement is to aim at head level. Doing this will allow you to land easier headshots, but don’t feel bad if you are not good at it at first. Keep in mind that there are things like weapon recoil.

Movement

We’ve wondered whether to add any tips about movement in this Counter-Strike 2 beginner guide because it deserves a guide on its own. There are tons of things we can talk about here, but one of the first things you should learn is how to strafe. The latter is a term that’s used to describe the movement in a game where a player presses the opposite key of the direction he’s moving in, making it harder for the enemies to land a kill.

To make it sound simple, strafing is when you press “D” or “A” to move right or left and then press the opposite key to stop. Doing this is great when peeking because it will make you more efficient.

Of course, you should also learn how to move in general without making noise. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, but in reality, you will get used to it once you start playing more often.

Learn how to use your utilities 

One of the key parts of this CS2 beginner guide is related to using your utilities. Once again, this is a topic that deserves its own article, but we’d like to remind you how important it is to know what you are doing. There are tons of information and videos about how to use smokes (they’ve received massive changes in CS 2), how to throw flashes when to do a Long Throw, and so on. Those are things that you will learn as you play, but keep in mind that they make a massive difference. A lot of players assume that CS2 is just about aiming, but this is not the case. The higher you get in the ranks, the more you realize that the game is incredibly complex, which is the reason why it’s been the top shooter for years.

Watch the best players in action

The last thing we want to talk about in this Counter-Strike 2 Beginner guide is that you should try to watch the best players in action whenever possible. Although it may seem like it’s a waste of time, once you begin to understand the game more, you will see that the pro players are on another level. You can learn a lot about CS2 just by watching them play.