The official release of CS2 comes with all of the updated maps and the new pool for the Premier and Competitive Game Modes. CS2 shipped with 9 total maps for these two modes, 7 of which are included in Premier while the rest can be enjoyed in Competitive.
Premier’s transition to a map pick-and-ban style offers a fresh opportunity to explore maps outside your comfort zone. Luckily, we all have the power to choose through our bans. So, here are our rankings for the best CS2 maps to help you find out which to prioritize.
Mirage (Premier and Competitive)
Location: Morocco
Theme: Suburban
Mirage takes the crown as the best map in CS2 on our list. Mirage has enjoyed long-standing popularity within the community and is one of the most played maps in both casual and professional play. It will always be a comfort pick for most veteran players, easily making it the best for now.
Mirage is a beloved map by most players because of the intense duels that can happen on both sites of the map. The AWP battles often occurring in the middle area also add extra elements to a match. It’s a map that requires many tactics, smoke lineups, and great aim to succeed.
It strikes a fine balance between providing a sense of familiarity and allowing room for experimentation with the latest game mechanics. All these factors make Mirage worthy of being the best CS2 map.
Vertigo (Premier and Competitive)
Location: United States
Theme: Urban
I highly suggest staying away from Vertigo if you’re afraid of heights. If you aren’t well, Vertigo is a great map for quick rounds and plenty of duels. It’s one of the smallest maps which makes rotates quicker, duels faster, and rounds speedy.
Vertigo’s unique aesthetic with many staircases, verticality, ramps, and cheeky angles matches CS2’s new engine well. There are a ton of different angles, choke points, and sharp turns that make the gameplay feel intense at almost all times.
Overall, Vertigo can’t be taken by brute force and executes; instead, it forces players to think outside the box and go outside their comfort zone. The new clarity that CS2 provides, along with a largely unchanged layout, make it a solid pick.
Inferno (Premier and Competitive)
Location: Italy
Theme: Urban
Inferno takes the bronze medal on my list of the best CS:GO maps. Inferno isn’t as hot or as devilish as it sounds. It’s an incredibly stunning map and feels brand new, thanks to the total visual overhaul that it recently received.
Inferno’s layout can be quite confusing to beginners because of all the stairways, mini-tunnels, and routes to take. However, it still has the traditional aspects of most CS:GO maps with two sites and a middle area.
Overall, I’d say that Inferno requires more tactics and teamwork than most maps on our list. It’s definitely fun trying to control Banana, jump-throwing Molotovs over roofs, and contesting Apartment. Inferno provides a thrilling and balanced experience, especially now that a lot of Terrorist-side concerns have been addressed.
Nuke (Premier and Competitive)
Location: Northeastern United States
Theme: Industrial
Nuke takes place in a nuclear power plant. This results in a relatively small map with ladders, vents, and small places to hide in. Nuke’s unique plant site locations, where each one is stacked on top of the other, make for some very interesting strategic play.
Despite being updated with new lighting physics and textures, the map still has a similar feel, which I’m sure most players will appreciate. The parallel location of the plant sites results in fast-paced gameplay that other maps don’t provide. It leads to more gunfights and thrilling aim battles that can only occur on Nuke.
Overall, the quick rotation from one site to the other can make Nuke a bit CT-sided. However, the unique experience that the map brings still makes it one of the best maps for climbing the CS:GO ranks.
Dust 2 (Competitive Only)
Location: Morocco
Theme: Desert
Dust II is by far one of the most popular maps in Counter-Stike history. The iconic map has been the primary ground for breeding prodigies and legends throughout the years. One can argue that you haven’t really played a game of CS until you’ve played a match on Dust II.
Dust II is popular because it’s one of the most balanced maps. It gives CTs a fair chance at defending and retaking sites. It also gives a ton of different opportunities for Ts to attack, even with simple smoke lineups. There’s also some room for extended mid-battles to occur.
It stands out as a balanced map, making it great for both CS2 newbies and returning players. Unfortunately, it’s currently out of the Premier map pool. That’s mainly the reason why I’ve decided to rank it a bit low on the list. However, you can still play it in the other Game Modes.
Ancient (Premier and Competitive)
Location: Mexico
Theme: Rainforest
Have you ever wondered what a tactical shooter would look like in the jungle? Well, Ancient is here to do just that. The new CS2 engine breathes some life into the map, making it look better than ever. The visual clarity and lighting on the map are just superb.
Ancient provides various routes to the site, allowing for crazy flanking and aggressive pushing on the map. The gameplay on the map differs from what the others offer, making it an entirely challenging but exhilarating experience.
Overall, Ancient is quite heavily CT-sided because it requires a different strategy as compared to other maps to be successful. This makes it a very difficult map for beginners but a great map for experienced players.
Anubis (Premier and Competitive)
Location: Egypt
Theme: Desert
Anubis is the newest map added to the CS pool. Compared to the thousands of hours people have spent on maps like Dust II or Mirage, Anubis is still a youngling. However, it is a beautifully designed map with great angles and clever gameplay.
It’s one of the maps that changed the most during the jump from CS:GO to CS2. You can tell from the great contrast between the lighting, the fine details, and even the new water textures that look clean enough to drink.
Anubis remains relatively balanced for both sides. I highly recommend all types of players to play on Anubis because it will help you learn adaptive gameplay along with versatility in your play style.
Overpass
Location: Berlin
Theme: Urban
Overpass is the first Overhaul map to be released. It features the lighting and texture changes that most maps get and a complete revamp that changes how it’s played in CS2. To say that the community was excited about Overpass is a huge understatement.
Unfortunately, CS2 decided to keep the changes simple. Most of the changes are purely visual and don’t change the gameplay that much. Long A looks a bit different, underground is way brighter, and B heaven has more lights. Other than that, there are really no new routes or additions to the layout that the community has expected.
Overpass remains a relatively balanced map where multiple playstyles can work, making it exciting to play on. It’s still a great map that requires you to dig deep in your grenade lineup bag to succeed.
Office (Competitive Only)
Location: United States
Theme: Urban
Office is at the tail end of our list of the best CS2 maps. It’s one of the surprise map appearances in CS2 because it’s currently the only Hostage map in the game. You would think that Valve would work hard on pushing some of the other bomb defusal maps first before releasing other map types.
However, it somehow made its way to the release and is part of the Competitive pool. Office is a fun map if you want to take a break from the traditional flow of CS2. It requires a complete role reversal where Terrorists act more defensively while CTs act more aggressively.
The smaller nature of the map allows for pretty much any weapon loadout to work while still having grenades be key pieces to success. Office is great, but let’s be honest: people rarely want to play hostage maps.
Conclusion
Mirage is by far the best CS2 map in my books because it’s simply an iconic and well-loved map. Despite being one of the oldest maps in the active pool, it still provides unique and exciting gameplay.
What map do you like playing on the most? Comment it down.
