Counter-Strike has collected a wide variety of maps throughout the years. CS:GO currently has 11 maps in the pool. This leaves players with plenty of options when selecting maps in their ranked games.
All of these maps are great and iconic in their own right. This makes it hard to determine the best map to play on. Luckily, I’ve got you. I’ve ranked the best CS:GO maps in order.
Mirage
Location: Morocco
Theme: Suburban
The best map, in my eyes, is Mirage. Mirage has been a staple map in the community for a while and is one of the most played maps in both casual and professional play.
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 that often occur in the middle area are also exciting to watch. It’s a map that requires a ton of tactics, smoke lineups, and great aim to be successful. This makes it a top choice in the community.
Overall, it’s not the most balanced map by any means. However, it does provide an exciting experience whether you’re playing on Mirage or watching the best CS:GO pros play.
Dust 2
Location: Morocco
Theme: Desert
Dust II is by far one of the most popular maps in the entirety of CS:GO. It’s an iconic map that brings a lot of history and legacy with it. Almost anyone who has ever played CS:GO has at least played a game in 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 exciting mid-battles to occur.
It’s definitely not as popular as it once was. However, it’s still a solid map that provides an amazing experience for both beginners and newbies to the game. It’s a shame that it’s currently out of the active map pool.
Inferno
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 actually a very beautiful map complete with buildings, houses, and a wishing well for good luck.
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, throwing Molotovs over roofs, and contesting Apartment. Inferno provides a thrilling and balanced experience.
Nuke
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. One of the most unique things about Nuke is the location of the two plant sites. They are stacked on top of each other, just located on different floors.
This unique plant site location results in fast-paced gameplay that other maps just don’t provide. It also results in CTs and Ts often bumping into one another while rotating. Gunfights on Nuke take place not only inside but also outside, on rooftops, and on top of radioactive barrels, among many other unique locations.
Overall, Nuke is CT-sided because of how fast they can rotate from one site to the other. However, the unique experience that the map brings still make it one of the best maps for climbing the CS:GO ranks.
Ancient
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. Ancient is one of the few maps that was actually created by Valve for CS:GO. It got off to a rocky start, but after a few improvements and changes, it slowly became a great map.
Ancient provides many different routes to the site, allowing for crazy flanking and aggressive pushing on the map. This makes it one of the more challenging maps to play on. Mostly because you’ll always need to be on your toes.
Overall, Ancient is quite heavily CT-sided. Ancient requires a different approach as compared to other maps to be successful. This makes it a very difficult map for beginners but a great map for experienced players.
Overpass
Location: Berlin
Theme: Urban
Overpass is most remembered for the iconic “Olof boost,” which was one of the most insane plays in CS:GO history. Overpass is also the first map that was solely created for competitive play.
At first, Overpass was a heavily T-sided map. However, through numerous updates and changes, it slowly became a balanced and fun map to play on. It’s a great map that requires you to dig deep in your grenade lineup bag to succeed.
Overpass remains a solid pick if you’re looking for an unpredictable yet balanced map. It’s the type of map where multiple playstyles can work, which makes it entertaining to watch and exciting to play on.
Vertigo
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 is set on top of an unfinished building. This results in a unique aesthetic with tons of staircases, verticality, ramps, and cheeky angles. There are a ton of different angles, choke points, and sharp turns in Vertigo.
Overall, Vertigo is a heavily CT-sided map. It’s also one of the few maps that can be taken by brute force and executes. However, there are also many unique strategies in this map, like unique boosts that require you to jump outside of the map.
Train
Location: Russia
Theme: Industrial
Train is a pretty well-balanced map and is a huge fan favorite. However, it grew a bit repetitive through the years and slowly became less popular, which is why it’s currently out of the active map pool.
It’s a very team-based map that needs great executes, solid strategies, and excellent trading to win. This is why Train isn’t a popular map for solo queue players. However, if you can stick with your team and commit to your game plan, Train is enjoyable.
Train is a CT-sided map. This is mostly due to its combination of wide and open areas and tight and narrow chokepoints. It can be a very punishing yet fulfilling map to play on.
Cache
Location: Chernobyl
Theme: Industrial
Cache is the type of map that you either hate or love. It’s one of those maps that most veterans enjoy playing on because of how large it is. It definitely has one of the more unique map layouts with tons of shortcuts, an action-filled middle area, and unique plant site locations.
Cache is one of those maps where each duel is important. A single lost duel can result in you losing the entire round. This is why teamwork and communication are essential to winning on Cache. You can’t just aim your way out of every round.
It’s overall pretty balanced, though slightly leaning towards being a T-sided map. The middle area is one of the main points on the map. Losing control of it can easily result in losing the round. Luckily, it’s fun to engage with opponents in the middle area because of all the gimmicks.
Tuscan
Location: N/A
Theme: Suburban
Next up, we have another fan-favorite map in Tuscan. Tuscan has been a beloved map ever since its original release in CS 1.6. It’s one of the largest maps in the current pool. Tuscan is a community-created map that was recently reworked and added to CS:GO.
Tuscan is one of the largest maps in the entirety of CS:GO. It features tons of unique routes, pathways, and entrances to both sides. It also features a ton of secret passageways and plenty of flanking routes, which results in intense duels, insane lurks, and crazy plays.
Overall, Tuscan is T-sided, mostly because of how far the two plant sites are from each other. You can also add the numerous entrances to each site and the cheeky post-plant locations, making it a nightmare to defend.
Anubis
Location: Egypt
Theme: Desert
The final map is Anubis. Anubis is the newest map to be added to the active competitive pool. It was met with a high number of controversies during its first few days.
Since Anubis is the newest map, many players still aren’t comfortable playing on it. 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.
Anubis is relatively balanced for both sides. However, ever since its deployment in the active map pool, a lot of bugs have been found. It still has a long way to go before it’s even close to being one of the best CS:GO maps, which is why it, unfortunately, gets the last place on my list.
Conclusion
Mirage is by far the best CS:GO 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.
