Huge gameplay changes in new CS2 update: New spawns on maps

Last night, Valve pushed a new update to Counter-Strike 2 that brings a lot of changes to our beloved game.

Although the patch notes might look uninspiring at first, Valve did feature one thing that caught our eye:

It's a massive change, and HooXi has already given his thoughts on it via Twitter:

Let's take a look at how they change the game.

New spawn locations

Mirage

Starting with Mirage, the biggest change to spawn locations is that there are now only five possible ones for the CT side.

Although this will prevent getting those annoying spawns right at the back of CT, it will impact people who aggressively AWP based on their spawn position a lot.

For example, with the best possible Connector spawn, there can now already be a T-side player behind boxes that you will have never even seen cross.

Photo: @austincsgo_ on Twitter

As for the T side, many possible spawn points have been removed - seven, to be precise.

Again, this comes with both positives and negatives. On the plus side, you now have to learn fewer instant window smokes, however, the best Ramp spawn has gone so it will be harder to rush out on A.

Photo: @austincsgo_ on Twitter

Overpass

Overpass has also seen changes to the spawns on the CT side.

Players will now spawn very centrally in the spawn point, drastically changing the timings for taking aggressive duels both on A and B.

One of the biggest ramifications of this change is that with the best spawn for Fountain, a CT player will no longer get there before the first terrorist can have crossed to Playground.

A change that will severely impact AWPing on the map could massively impact the weighting of how favourable the CT side is.

Photo: @austincsgo_ on Twitter

Inferno

As for Inferno, the changes to spawn points affect the T-side.

Far-back spawn points have been removed, with all spawn points now being quite close to the exit of T spawn. A change that will favour aggressive players, they will now be able to fight both Mid and Banana with more favourable timings.

Photo: @austincsgo_ on Twitter

Vertigo

Just like Inferno, Vertigo's changes also directly impact the T side.

Vertigo's T spawn points have also been brought forward, another change favourably affecting the early fights in rounds for the T side.

Terrorists will get to Ramp and B Stairs faster, which may prevent CT AWPers from getting an easy opening duel on B.

Photo: @austincsgo_ on Twitter

Anubis

The final map to receive spawn point changes is Anubis.

The map now features far more T-side spawns. This seems minimal at first, but it will have a huge impact on the existence of spawn smokes. That is, until people figure out new ones for every spawn point.

Until then, though, you can expect the map to play a little slower as the Ts have to wait for their map control smokes to land.

Photo: @austincsgo_ on Twitter

How the update changes the game

If it isn't clear from the frequent mention of timings, this new CS2 update will have a huge impact on how the game is played.

Rushing will now be more viable on a couple of the maps, and even when the T side chooses to play slower, they will still get into good positions quicker, making it far harder for the CTs to gain map control.

While we're sure that the pros will figure out ways to counter this new update very soon, maybe steer clear of Inferno and Vertigo until then.

Not that you should've been playing those maps beforehand...

The rest of the update

The rest of the update is honestly quite boring.

There are a few bug fixes, as well as a change that means players who disconnect will spawn in the same place when they reconnect, as well as a few minor changes to Inferno.

Those changes are:

• Fixed community-reported gaps in map and Trike model
• Raised plywood at top of Banana to cover head visibility
• Smoothed ground movement in Banana and Bombsite A
• Raised Arch exit towards Mid (or "Raised arch in Arch")
• Removed bench at Arch near Library
• Removed construction cone at Underpass

You can read the full patch notes here.