Ready to have a chat about CS2 smoke grenades. With the transition from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) to Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) complete, it’s time to discuss the most significant gameplay change between the two titles: Responsive Smoke Grenades.
Developer Valve calls the responsive Smoke Grenades in Counter-Strike 2 a “game changer,” but what do they mean exactly? Join us as we explain the Smoke Grenade overhaul and its massive impact on gameplay, from casual matches to the most prominent esports events.
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Counter-Strike 2 Responsive Smokes Explained
In CS:GO, Smoke Grenades had uniform shapes and were very predictable. With CS2, smoke clouds from these grenades are now dynamic volumetric objects. What does that mean? Thanks to the powerful Source 2 engine, smoke in CS2 interacts with the environment, including bullets and explosions. These responsive smoke particles also react with the environment’s lighting for a realistic look.
Naturally Expanding Smoke
Smokes expand naturally on all CS2 maps, filling spaces and combining with other smoke clouds. For example, smoke particles can pour through a broken window or doorway on Inferno, expanding up or down. Another example is Smoke Grenades thrown on Nuke’s “Long” section, which can combine when touching to block line-of-sight. This allows the Terrorist side to fake a Garage push or make their way downstairs without Counter-Terrorists confirming their position.
No first-person shooter (FPS) video game, from VALORANT to Cyberpunk 2077, currently has smoke effects of this realism level. You don’t need an RTX graphics card or equivalent, either, and the game is “playable” on Valve’s Steam Deck with these brilliant effects. Below, you’ll learn how HE Grenades and firing bullets affect smoke in CS2.
How HE Grenades Affect CS2 Smokes
When an HE Grenade lands on smoke, its blast radius evaporates the smoke effect for roughly two seconds before the smoke again expands to fill the space. That’s the most critical of all Smoke Grenade changes in Valve’s new game.
An HE Grenade will not completely clear a smoke effect because the smoke expansion is larger than the HE blast radius. However, players can open up nearly half of the smoke with a well-placed HE Grenade and pick off an enemy. Watch the effect of a well-placed HE Grenade and how smoke reacts to it starting at the 0:38 mark in an official video from Valve below.
How Bullets Affect CS2 Smokes
Firing bullets into a smoke creates small holes, allowing eagle-eyed players to spot enemy positioning on the other side. While these holes fill in a matter of milliseconds, they create opportunities for intel.
Unloading a magazine from, for example, an M4A1 or AK-47 can score you a kill and valuable information as the temporary hole’s size increases. On the other side of the coin, shooting through smoke can now reveal your position to the enemy.
CS2 Smoke Grenades Changes Tactics & Gameplay
In CS2, how HE Grenades affect smoke is the real “game changer” that can have intricate complications for the current utility meta. Instead of using Smoke Grenades to block off line-of-sight, tactics from top pro teams can and likely will evolve to incorporate more nuanced elements. You’ll find examples of tactics changes and gameplay around smokes in CS2 below.
Easy One-Way Smokes in CS2 Are Gone
One-way smokes in CS:GO provided players with an advantage. They allowed the person throwing the Smoke Grenade to spot enemies while the line-of-sight was completely blocked from the other side.
In CS2, many of the easy one-way smoke tactics have evaporated. However, there are some new one-way smokes that require precise execution, as seen in YouTuber KODIAK’s video below.
EMBED VID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7zpOlKxB4
Holding HEs To Clear Smokes
One change in behavior and tactics we’ve seen in-game is how teams keep an HE Grenade or two specifically to clear a vital smoke. A prime example is when smoke is used to hide the CT player’s position when they’re defusing the bomb. Using an HE Grenade clears the smoke temporarily, allowing the Ts to spot and kill the defuser.
Peeking With An HE Grenade
Players are also experimenting with using an HE Grenade to clear a cloud of smoke for a few seconds, which allows them to coordinate with their teammates to peek around a corner. This provides an AWPer with a chance to shoot at the enemy on the other side and potentially score a kill.
New Smoke Grenade Placements
Effective smoke placement is the key to success in the CS2 meta. It can make or break a team’s chances of winning, so knowing the precise location and how to throw your Smoke Grenade to block off a specific path is essential.
There are many new Smoke Grenade placements, and some old CS:GO ones do not work anymore. As more multiplayer matches and esports tournaments occur, individual players or teams will figure out new and exciting Smoke Grenade positioning and placement.
Watch the video from ESL and Danish pro player Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen below. It showcases different Smoke Grenade placements on each CS2 map, including the Active Duty pool of Mirage, Inferno, Anubis, Dust 2, Nuke, Overpass and Vertigo.
EMBED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BpDeACKiyk
This is all just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how Smokes can and will shake-up the CS2 meta, and we can’t wait to see where it goes next!
How Will CS2 Smokes Impact CS2 Betting?
Any gameplay change, big or small, can impact a team’s performance and, as a result, the outcome of a match. The addition of responsive Smoke Grenades in CS2 is a significant gameplay change, and it has potential implications for betting on this beloved esports title.
Some teams and players may adapt to the new mechanics faster than others. This could then translate to upsets in CS2 esports matches. For instance, a lower-ranked team could employ new tactics with responsive smoke clouds and use utility efficiently on a specific map to score a win against a top-tier team.
So, how exactly do the new Smoke Grenades affect your betting experience? It’s simple: bettors who do proper research and pay close attention to which teams learn these new tactics may be able to more accurately predict outcomes.
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