CS2 adds Rush 3v3 mode, Premier map picks and silent reloads

On Sept. 22, Valve released a Counter-Strike 2 update that added a new 3v3 mode called Rush, changed how maps are chosen in Premier, made silent reloads possible and rebuilt crosshairs. Smaller patches over the following days fixed Rush maps and reloading.

Rush, a 3v3 mode

Valve describes Rush as “a new fast-paced 3v3 queued mode for CS2.” Players fight through a series of battle arenas to reach the opponent’s castle and win the match. The arenas are picked at random for every match, so no two matches are the same. A team wins a round by controlling the tower after it eliminates the enemy team or when time runs out. Wins are tracked on a Rush friends leaderboard.

The first fixes followed quickly. On Sept. 23, Valve raised the maximum countdown after an elimination from 7 to 14 seconds on end rooms and on Convoy and shortened warmup, freeze time and technical timeouts. A day later, the loading screen got a clearer description of the rules, and Valve adjusted when players are kicked for team damage.

Premier: map picks instead of bans

Premier matches no longer ban maps down to a single one. The new order is:

1. Team 1 picks one map.
2. Team 2 picks two maps.
3. Team 1 picks a final map.
4. The game picks one of the four maps at random, and the match begins.

Valve explained the change: “We think that if you spend a lot of time developing strategies on a map, you should have a chance to benefit from that investment.”

Silent reloads and quiet scopes

Holding the reload key now reloads silently, but, in Valve’s words, “silent reloads take quite a bit longer.” Unscoping a sniper rifle no longer makes a sound. Follow-up patches on Sept. 24 and 25 closed a way to reload faster by tapping the key before holding it and stopped shotguns from firing faster with silent reloads. They also fixed loud reload sounds that sometimes played during a silent reload.

New crosshairs

Crosshairs no longer depend on screen resolution. Settings moved to a new Crosshair/Scopes tab with new styles, and the default crosshair is now “Dynamic Quad.” Valve kept working on crosshairs after the update. We cover that in CS2 crosshair update adds outline colors and a Static Quadrant style.

Also in the update

• Clan tags are back: choose one of your Steam groups in your player profile. Since Sept. 23 they also appear in death notices.
• Stickers can now be applied to the C4.
• A new music kit, Starjunk 95, Industrial Sunset Memories, is in the store in standard and StatTrak versions.
• Music volume can be set per game mode.
• Blood and bullet impacts are easier to see.
• Chickens now take damage from the Zeus x27.
• The game runs on the latest version of the Source 2 engine.