CS2 economy guide: weapon prices, kill rewards and recent patch changes
The economy in CS2 decides what you and your team can buy each round. This guide explains how money is …
Counter-Strike 2
Guides to Counter-Strike 2 that explain how ranks, the round economy, skins and FACEIT work, and which settings actually make a difference. Start with what CS2 is and how it differs from CS:GO: the Source 2 engine, sub-tick instead of tick rate, dynamic smokes and MR12. The game is free on Steam, and we cover the minimum system requirements, the 85 GB install size and the Steam Deck rating separately.
For competitive play it helps to know how Premier and CS Rating work: 10 wins to get placed, colour tiers from grey to gold and per-map Competitive ranks. The current map pool for Premier Season Five is Ancient, Anubis, Cache, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage and Nuke. Add the round economy with weapon prices, kill rewards and the loss bonus, plus a guide to what Prime Status gives you, why VAC bans are permanent and what Trust Factor means.
Before your next match, go through the FPS settings (NVIDIA Reflex, MSAA, FSR, 4:3 resolution and FPS caps) and your crosshair after the September 2026 rework, including the new share code format. Our list of console commands shows how to enable the console, set Steam launch options and build your own autoexec.
Outside matchmaking, the guide to FACEIT and community servers covers linking Steam, the anti-cheat with TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, Elo levels and Workshop maps. Skins are covered from the Steam Market, Armory and the Weekly Care Package to case keys and 7-day Trade Protection. For patches, tournaments and other updates, follow our CS2 news section.