New CS2 update makes huge Vertigo changes, balances CT economy

Counter-Strike

May 23, 2024

Daniel Morris

In Collaboration with Thunderpick

Valve has released a huge new update for CS2, bringing huge changes to Vertigo as well as addressing one of the game’s biggest complaints: the CT economy. Let’s not waste any time – here’s everything you need to know!

Vertigo A-site changes

Credit: Valve

Many players in the community have long been calling for Vertigo’s removal from the Active Duty map pool. However, the new CS2 update makes some huge changes to A-site, indicating Vertigo isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. For starters, a new catwalk has been added along the side of the bomb site, making it another spot for Ts to clear as they charge onto A.

Next, a huge door has opened up in Elevator onto Short on A-site. This means that CTs are now able to peek Ramp much faster than previous, which could have huge implications for the balance of the map. We’re open-minded about these changes – let’s see how the new CS2 update affects the balance at the pro level first.

Credit: Valve

CT Economy Changes

Ever since the launch of CS2 and the transition to MR12, players have been complaining about the brutal CT economy. It’s all too easy for the Ts to get a stranglehold on a match and run away with it, thanks to the CTs struggling to muster up a strong buy. Well, your changes are here.

Credit: Valve

Notice anything different? The M4A4 has been reduced to $3000 down from $3100, and the Incendiary Grenade now costs $500 compared to $600 previously. As well as this, Ts now only get $600 if the bomb is planted and defused, as opposed to $800 before. This brings the two sides much closer in terms of their cash – let’s see if any further changes are needed.

Rent-a-skin

Credit: Valve

In one of the more interesting CS2 case changes to date, Valve has made it so that when opening a Kilowatt Case, players are now able to rent every single skin in the case for one week, as opposed to getting one skin to keep permanently. There will be some players who get a ton of use out of this, and we imagine this will be the status quo with every new CS2 case update going forward.

Incendiary Changes

We mentioned that the Incendiary has been reduced to $500 on CT side, but that’s not the only change made to this grenade in the new CS2 update. The radius on the Incendiary’s fire spread has been massively reduced in what is essentially a huge nerf. Comparatively, the Molotov remains untouched in its much larger radius. Take a look at this comparison from Mauisnake:

NIKO WILL RULE BANANA ONCE AGAIN pic.twitter.com/AAzgs4Pww3

— Mauisnake (@Mauisnake) May 23, 2024

That extra $100 doesn’t come free, it seems. We’re not sure about this one, but like the other changes in the new CS2 update, we’re happy to see how it plays out.

See below for the full release notes for the latest CS2 update:

CS2 Release Notes for 5/23/2024

[ GAMEPLAY ]

Height of the ‘pillar’ of flame for both Molotov and Incendiary grenade now decreases over time
Reduced the terrorist team award when bomb was planted but defused from $800 to $600, to decrease the impact of the first-round on subsequent rounds
Reduced the price of the M4A4 from $3100 to $3000
Minor adjustments to first-person camera movement
Added explicit “switchhandsleft” and “switchhandsright” console commands
Deathmatch bonus weapons are now the same for all players regardless of loadout

Incendiary Grenade

Adjusted the explosion and flame visual treatment
Reduced duration
Reduced area covered by spreading flames
Reduced price from $600 to $500

[ RENTALS ]

When players open a Kilowatt case with a key, they will have the option to rent the entire Kilowatt collection (i.e., every weapon in the case, excluding the rare special item) for a week instead of receiving an item from the collection
Equipped rented weapons will be replaced with the stock version of the weapon when the rental period expires
Rented weapons cannot be modified (e.g., via stickers or name tags), traded, or sold on the Steam Community Market

[ HUD ]

Fixed a bug where the MVP player name displayed incorrectly during bot takeover
Fixed a bug where the Refund All button in the Buy Menu would only refund a single flashbang grenade
Fixed a bug where the ESC menu scoreboard during end-of-match didn’t match the TAB scoreboard
Fixed a bug where the Loss Bonus scoreboard tooltip would get stuck on-screen after closing the scoreboard
Blocking stranger Steam avatars will now block other user-generated content such name tags and sticker placements

[ CHICKENS ]

Chickens have a few new animations
Chickens can now walk up hills
Chickens can now turn right while walking

[ UI ]

Various performance improvements to the Warehouse main menu and item inspect background scenery

[ DEMOS ]

The demo playback timeline now show indicators for kill and death events
Demo playback can be toggled into “highlight mode” which will show only kills and deaths for the active player
Various minor demo playback UI changes
Fixed a demo playback crash

[ MAPS ]

Vertigo:

Added catwalk by bombsite A, connecting to back of A
Removed connector between back of A and elevators
Opened up passage between elevators and scaffolding
Slightly tweaked size of bombsite A
Tweaked spawn timings slightly
Changed Wingman layout to feature bombsite A changes

Baggage:

Fixed movement hitch on lower conveyor
Lowered height of central conveyor tray to help open sniper view

Office:

Fixed a case where a player could shoot through multiple walls

Mirage:

Fixed bad collision on certain props
Fixed some sticky collision around windows in palace