As with any other game, CS2 has many terms and phrases that are specific to the game and do not make much sense otherwise. It’s important to know at least some of those Counter-Strike words to stay in the loop and not feel out of place in a Counter-Strike 2 environment.
In our complete Counter-Strike terminology guide, we’ve included general terms, gameplay, esports and skins. If you want to get to know particular Counter-Strike terms and lingo check out the list below.
A
A and B – The A bombsite and B bombsite.
ADR – Acronym for Average Damage per Round.
Ace – When one player eliminates all five enemies in the round by himself
Anchor – A Counter-Terrorist (CT) player who defends his bombsite solo. Anchors are mainly tasked with delaying the opposing team, the Terrorists, and staying alive for as long as possible.
B
Bomb Plant – The action of putting the bomb down at an A or B bombsite by a Terrorist.
Boost – A situation where one player is stood on another player’s head to create a different angle or see over a tall object
Bunny Hop – A movement speed-up trick created by a precise combination of jumps and strafes
C
Carry – Being the only player on the team playing extremely well and pulling the weight of your teammates.
Case – In CS skins terminology, a loot box is a virtual container that includes several different weapon finishes of varying rarities. Opening a case requires you need to have a key, which can be bought within the game.
Clutch – A situation when a player is alone and has to kill the remaining opponents by himself
Config – Player’s settings located in the game files, including binds, viewmodel, crosshair, and many other commands.
Crossfire – A situation where two or more players are positioned in such a way, that the opponent has to fight them both at the same time.
D
DM – Deathmatch; a Counter-Strike game mode usually played to warm up and practice your aim, where every player fights for themselves and tries to get as many kills as they can in a limited amount of time
DPR – Acronym for Deaths per Round.
Defuse – What Counter-Terrorists (CTs) do to the bomb so that it doesn’t explode.
Drop – Giving a weapon or a grenade to a teammate who does not have the money to afford it.
E
Eco round – A round in which a team doesn’t spend most of their money in order to afford better weaponry in the following round.
Entry fragger – The player who goes in first when his team is executing into a bombsite; usually has great mechanics.
F
Fake – Making it seem like a team is attacking one bombsite, while in reality attacking the other
FPL – Faceit Pro League; an online league where professional players play competitive 5v5 games against each other
Float – a numerical value from 0 to 1 which dictates the wear of each skin; the closer the value is to 0, the better the condition of the weapon finish.
Foil – The foil effect adds a shiny quality to the stickers, making them look more premium.
Force buy – a situation where a team doesn’t have enough money to play a fully equipped gun round. Here, they still use all of their money and buy whatever they can afford.
Frag – A kill
G
GG – Acronym for Good Game. A sign of fair play at the end of the game.
GLHF – Acronym for Good luck have fun. Much like GG it is a nice message to send to your opponents before the game.
Gun round – A round where both teams are fully equipped with optimal weaponry and utility
H
Hero AK – The Terrorists sometimes buy what’s called a Hero AK in a round where they don’t have sufficient funds to play a full gun round but want to keep pressure on the CT’s economy, so they buy a single AK and try to do as much damage as possible
Holo – Holo stickers have a holographic effect that makes the colors pop out more and are usually of a higher price
HP – Abbreviation for health points.
I
IGL – Abbreviation for In-Game Leader, the player who calls the strategies within the team and is in charge of coming up with the tactics.
K
KAST – Percentage of rounds in which the player either had a kill, assist, survived, or was traded.
K/D – Acronym for Kill to Death Ratio.
KPR – Acronym for Kills per Round.
L
LAN – Acronym for Local Area Network, used in context of a tournament that is carried out offline and in-person, as opposed to online and remotely.
Lurker – Passive player occupying the extremities of the map; has to be great in the late round and the clutch
M
Major – The most important CS2 tournaments of the year, sponsored by Counter-Strike’s developer – Valve.
Meta – The most popular and effective tactics and strategies currently used in the pro scene
MVP – Acronym for Most Valuable Player.
N
Ninja Defuse – a Counter-Terrorist defusing the bomb without the Terrorists seeing him or even knowing it’s happening
No-scope – Shooting a sniper rifle without using the scope, no-scope kills are more impressive than regular ones due to the higher degree of difficulty
NS – Acronym for Nice shot. Sometimes your opponent hits such a good shot that you feel the urge to give him a compliment
NT – Acronym for Nice Try. A kind message to send to your teammates after they were close to winning a round or a clutch
O
One-tap – Killing someone by firing a single bullet to the opponent’s head, usually with an automatic weapon.
Overtime – When the score is equal at 12-12, then teams play overtime. This is where both teams play three rounds on each side, starting with more money than usual, until one of the teams wins four out of the six overtime rounds. If the score equals 15-15, then the same cycle continues until a winner is found.
P
Pattern – Some CS2 skins are pattern-based, which means that each finish is slightly different, with some patterns being more sought after than others.
Peek – Moving out of cover into a duel.
Pistol round – The first round of each half, where both teams start with the default pistols and have $800 to spend.
Pre Fire – Shooting at a position right after peaking to catch the opponent off guard, if they are in said position.
R
Run Boost – When a player is on top of another player and they start running simultaneously and the top player jumps, he gets launched into the air with increased speed
Rush – Attacking a bombsite at the start of the round as fast as you can without stopping
S
Save – Choosing to preserve your weapon for the next round instead of trying to win the round from a disadvantageous position.
Scrim – A practice match between professional teams.
Souvenir – Souvenir skins are covered with gold stickers and are usually much more expensive than their counterparts. Souvenir skins can only be acquired from Map Collection packages.
StatTrack – The StatTrack is an additional piece of tech added to weapon skins, which counts all the kills you get with the weapon; StatTrack skins are usually more expensive than their regular alternatives
Star Player – The best player on the team occupying the most impactful positions on the map; responsible for the majority of firepower
Support – A selfless player who sets up his teammates to succeed with utility usage; often takes up the least impactful spots on the map.
T
T and CT – Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists
TK – Acronym for Team kill.
Timing – Good timing is making a play at the right time, while bad timing is making a play at the wrong time and getting killed (or missing a key piece of information).
Trade – Getting a kill, or frag, on an opposition player who just killed your teammate.
Tradeup – A trade-up allows for players to exchange ten skins of the same rarity for a random weapon finish one rarity above the ten submitted for the trade-up
U
Utility – Essential equipment, including grenades and the defuse kit.
W
Wallbang – Shooting someone through a wall that’s thin enough to be penetrated.
WP – Acronym for Well played. A way to congratulate your opponents on a good clutch, round, or the whole game.
Access other esports glossaries
As you can see, there is a heap of Counter-Strike words you need to know to navigate through the CS2 landscape properly. To further expand your gaming vocabulary, check out other terminology pages to become a well-versed esports enjoyer:
