CS2 Glossary

A jargon-buster for Counter-Strike 2. If you're reading a post-match thread or a stats site and seeing terms you don't recognise, this page is for you.

Rating — A composite per-round score combining kills, deaths, multi-kills, KAST, and impact. HLTV's Rating 2.1 is the most widely cited variant. Anything above 1.00 is above average; 1.20+ is elite for a season.

K/D — Kill/death ratio. Pure raw frags divided by deaths. Useful headline metric but doesn't capture impact rounds, opening kills, or trades.

ADR — Average Damage per Round. Damage dealt regardless of whether it secured the kill. A strong indicator of "consistent threat" — players with high ADR but low K/D are usually setting up frags for teammates.

KAST — Percentage of rounds in which a player got a Kill, Assist, was Survived, or was Traded. Measures contribution beyond raw kills. KAST >75% is excellent.

Headshot % — Percentage of kills that were headshots. Higher generally = better aim, but AWPers (who aim for the body with the 1-shot rifle) skew low.

Maps played — Number of competitive maps the player has played in the rating window. Bigger sample = more reliable rating.

Impact — A rating sub-score reflecting opening kills, clutches, and rounds where the player visibly tipped the outcome.

Multi-kills (2K/3K/4K/5K) — Rounds in which the player got that many kills. A 5K is an "ace" — extremely rare and usually round-winning.

AWPer — The player who uses the AWP (the powerful one-shot-kill sniper rifle). Almost every team has a dedicated AWPer; it's the highest-skill-ceiling role in the game.

IGL (In-Game Leader) — The team's tactical caller. Decides round strategies, mid-round adapts, and reads opponent tendencies. Often statistically the lowest-rated player on the team because the role steals time from individual play.

Entry fragger — First into the site on a T-side execute. Their job is to trade their life for map information and the first kill. Aggressive, high-fragging, often dies first.

Lurker — A T-side player who deliberately stays away from the main team push, looking for picks elsewhere on the map. Master lurkers (Niko, broky era) win rounds by appearing where defenders don't expect.

Anchor — A CT-side player who holds a bombsite solo or with minimal support, anchoring the defence. Requires deep map knowledge and patience.

Support — A flexible role that throws utility (smokes, flashes) for teammates, trades frags, and rarely gets the spotlight kill.

Rifler — Anyone not on the AWP. Uses the AK-47 (T side) or M4 (CT side).

Eco round — A round where the team buys minimal or no equipment to save money for the next round. Eco rounds are usually expected losses but score huge points if won.

Force-buy — Buying suboptimal equipment despite a weak economy, gambling that this round's win is worth the risk of running out of money next round.

Full buy — Rifle + armour + utility. Standard "we're playing this round seriously" investment.

Lose bonus — Money earned for losing a round. Increases per consecutive loss, capping at 5 losses. Designed to prevent runaway snowballs.

Save — Choosing to retreat and survive a lost round so weapons carry over to next round, preserving economy.

BO1 / BO3 / BO5 — Best-of-1, best-of-3, best-of-5 maps. Group stages often BO1 or BO3; finals usually BO5.

Veto — Pre-match map pick/ban phase. Each team alternately removes maps from the pool, then picks one they want to play; the leftover map (in BO3) is the decider.

Decider — In a BO3 veto, the map neither team picks or bans. Usually a relative "neutral" map.

Overtime — When a regulation map ends 12-12 (in MR12 format), play continues in 3-round halves until someone wins by 2 rounds.

MR12 — "Max Rounds 12." The current CS2 competitive format: first to 13 rounds wins (halves of 12 rounds each).

Default — A standard, low-commitment opening of a round where the team takes map control without committing to a site execute. Plays for picks and information.

Execute — A committed, fast push onto a bombsite with full utility (smokes blocking off CT angles, flashes for entry).

Retake — When CTs lost the bomb plant and need to win the bomb back in time to defuse. Higher difficulty than holding.

Crossfire — Two players covering different angles into the same area, so the entry fragger can't kill both before being traded.

Trade frag — Killing the player who just killed your teammate. Maintains a man-advantage in the round.

Clutch — A round won when significantly outnumbered (1v2, 1v3, 1v4, 1v5). 1v5 clutches are legendary.

Peek — Moving into an angle to fight. Wide peek, jiggle peek, swing peek, shoulder peek all have different risk/reward profiles.

Pre-fire — Shooting at an angle just before an opponent appears, based on prediction or sound cues.

Major — Valve-sponsored top-tier tournament with a $1M+ prize pool and Major Champion status. Two per year.

VRS — Valve Regional Standings. The official ranking that decides Major invitations. See our VRS rankings page.

RMQ — Regional Major Qualifier. The per-region tournament that fills the lower stages of a Major.

Tier 1 — Premier-level events: ESL Pro League, BLAST World Final, IEM Katowice / Cologne, PGL Major, etc.

LAN — Live-event tournament with players physically present. Considered more meaningful than online matches in ranking algorithms because there's no network advantage.