Counter-Strike 2’s latest update has launched, bringing about a significant rework of how bomb damage is calculated and adding new skins and maps to the game.
The update is the formal beginning of Season 5 of Counter-Strike 2 Premier, restarting the ladder of CS2’s most competitive play mode and formally adding Cache to the map pool.
How bomb damage works after the latest CS2 update
Bomb damage was previously calculated based on a simple distance calculation from the bomb, with the bomb’s damage ignoring walls, turns, and other map features to instantly deal damage within the bomb radius.
In the new CS2 update, that has changed. The bomb damage now emanates from the bomb plant, with a shockwave spreading rapidly (but not instantly) from that point through any available path.
That damage does not pass through walls, however that doesn’t mean you’re safe if there’s anything in the way. The shockwave can still spread around corners.
As part of the update, the player can look at their healthbar to see if they will be safe from the bomb damage, with a portion of their health showing in blinking red, representing the expected damage they will take from the bomb.
The update should therefore be more readable to new players, but could also have ramifications at the pro level. In many spots, players can now be closer to the bomb than they were previously allowed, potentially leading to more ninjas defuses and cheeky exit kill opportunities.
New skins and maps added in Counter-Strike 2 July update
The July update saw the long-awaited rotation of skins from the Armory, with the Train and Sport & Field Collections removed from the game and the Sugarface 2 and Elemental Craft sticker Collections also gone from the Armory.
In their place, community-designed skins were added, called the Spy Tech and Arabesque Collections, with Fruits & Vegetables and Auto Racing-themed stickers added to the game.
The update also saw five community maps added to the game: Boulder, Fachwerk, Shelter, Debris, and El Dorado all come into the game with themes ranging from an animal shelter to Mesoamerican ruins.
Boulder, Fachwerk, and Shelter are playable in Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch. Debris and El Dorado are smaller Wingman maps.
Counter-Strike 2 July 9 Full Update Patch Notes
Counter-Strike 2 Update
[ PREMIER ]
- Premier Season Five has begun
- Added Cache to the Active Duty Map Pool
- Removed Overpass from the Active Duty Map Pool
[ GAMEPLAY ]
- Re-designed effective range and extent of C4 explosion damage on all official defusal-mode maps.
- Damage is now applied according to precomputed simulation values, baked into the compiled map.
- Explosion shockwave damage now rapidly expands from the center of the explosion instead of being applied instantly.
- Fixed case where picking up dropped weapons through the Buy Menu would fail to complete.
[ ARMORY ]
- Added two new weapon collections based on the recent Call to Arms community announcement: Spy Tech + Arabesque
- Added two new sticker collections based on the recent Call to Arms community announcement: Fruits & Vegetables + Auto Racing
- Train 2025 and Sport & Field weapon collections are no longer available in the Armory
- Sugarface 2 and Elemental Craft sticker collections are no longer available in the Armory
[ WORKSHOP ]
- Updated “Custom Paint Job Extended”
- Added option to include a dedicated overlay mask texture
- Added option to set unique overlay UV randomization separate from albedo UV randomization
[ MISC ]
- Reduced the performance cost of showing the scoreboard.
- Fixed a case where material blending effects would disappear when you got too close (e.g. the dirt on the barrels in Inferno Banana).
- Increased sticker rotation precision to allow half-degree increments on application screen.
[ MAP SCRIPTING ]
- Added Instance.QueueAfterThinks
- Added Instance.OnWeaponDrop
- Added CSWeaponBase.GetOriginalOwner
- Fixed a crash when the name passed to Instance.RegisterCheatCommand collided with an existing command.
- Added file name and line number to errors caught during the CompileModule step of script loading.
- Removed support for deprecated vts assets.
[ ENGINE ]
- Updated engine code to the latest version of Source 2
[ MAPS ]
- Removed community maps: Warden, Stronghold, Alpine, and Sanctum from all game modes
- Added community maps Boulder, Fachwerk, and Shelter to Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch modes
- Added community maps Debris and El Dorado to Wingman mode
Cache
- Various clipping adjustments
Dust II
- Fixed pixel gap Outside Tunnel
- Clipping adjustment Outside Tunnel
Inferno
- Clipping fix to prevent pixel boost at Top of Mid
What skins do you like in the new Collections? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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