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Valve doesn't make balance changes to Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) often. In fact, when it comes to CT vs T competitive balance, we don't even expect big changes each year. Even so, Valve has dropped an update on 24 May 2024, ushering in some significant changes at the highest levels of play.
Take a seat, and let's discuss the CS2 balance changes that boost the CT economy, the Incendiary Grenade changes, and more.
Balance Changes in CS2: CT Buff & T Nerf
Let's pull off the bandaid right now. The terrorist (T) side has been nerfed a bit to lessen the impact of the first-round bomb plant situation on subsequent rounds. Overall, Ts might have a bit of a tougher time with their economy.
Reduced the terrorist team award when bomb was planted but defused from $800 to $600, to decrease the impact of the first-round on subsequent rounds.
That's huge already, but Valve has also reduced the price of the M4A4 from $3,100 to $3,000 and the cost of an Incendiary Grenade from $600 to $500.
If you don't play Competitive or watch a lot of pro matches, you might think these changes are not that huge. Well, I can assure you, these changes are significant, as even the slightest balance change to the economy can have an impact on the pro scene.
CS2 Incendiary Grenade Changes
The CTs got quite a big buff combined with the T-side nerf. Therefore, Valve did make some changes to the Incendiary Granade for the CTs, making it weaker than before to offset the economy changes.
- Adjusted the explosion and flame visual treatment
- Reduced duration
- Reduced area covered by spreading flames
- Reduced price from $600 to $500
Full CS2 Update Patch Notes 24 May 2024
We always keep our readers up-to-date with the latest Counter-Strike 2 patch notes. They are, however, mostly bug fixes or something like a new weapon skin case and map changes. Since we don't see balance changes often, you can find the complete patch notes for the 24 May 2024 CS2 update below. Just click on the name to expand.
[ GAMEPLAY ]
- Height of the 'pillar' of flame for both Molotov and Incendiary grenade now decreases over time
- Reduced the terrorist team award when bomb was planted but defused from $800 to $600, to decrease the impact of the first-round on subsequent rounds
- Reduced the price of the M4A4 from $3100 to $3000
- Minor adjustments to first-person camera movement
- Added explicit "switchhandsleft" and "switchhandsright" console commands
- Deathmatch bonus weapons are now the same for all players regardless of loadout
- Adjusted the explosion and flame visual treatment
- Reduced duration
- Reduced area covered by spreading flames
- Reduced price from $600 to $500
[ RENTALS ]
- When players open a Kilowatt case with a key, they will have the option to rent the entire Kilowatt collection (i.e., every weapon in the case, excluding the rare special item) for a week instead of receiving an item from the collection
- Equipped rented weapons will be replaced with the stock version of the weapon when the rental period expires
- Rented weapons cannot be modified (e.g., via stickers or name tags), traded, or sold on the Steam Community Market
[ HUD ]
- Fixed a bug where the MVP player name displayed incorrectly during bot takeover
- Fixed a bug where the Refund All button in the Buy Menu would only refund a single flashbang grenade
- Fixed a bug where the ESC menu scoreboard during end-of-match didn't match the TAB scoreboard
- Fixed a bug where the Loss Bonus scoreboard tooltip would get stuck on-screen after closing the scoreboard
- Blocking stranger Steam avatars will now block other user-generated content such name tags and sticker placements
[ CHICKENS ]
- Chickens have a few new animations
- Chickens can now walk up hills
- Chickens can now turn right while walking
[ UI ]
- Various performance improvements to the Warehouse main menu and item inspect background scenery
[ DEMOS ]
- The demo playback timeline now show indicators for kill and death events
- Demo playback can be toggled into "highlight mode" which will show only kills and deaths for the active player
- Various minor demo playback UI changes
- Fixed a demo playback crash
[ MAPS ]
- Added catwalk by bombsite A, connecting to back of A
- Removed connector between back of A and elevators
- Opened up passage between elevators and scaffolding
- Slightly tweaked size of bombsite A
- Tweaked spawn timings slightly
- Changed Wingman layout to feature bombsite A changes
- Fixed movement hitch on lower conveyor
- Lowered height of central conveyor tray to help open sniper view
- Fixed a case where a player could shoot through multiple walls
- Fixed bad collision on certain props
- Fixed some sticky collision around windows in palace
Valve also made changes to Vertigo, as you can see from the patch notes. This means that Vertigo will likely stay in the Active Duty Map pool for several more months, despite some fans wanting it replaced.
Check out our Counter-Strike 2 section for more esports coverage, news, updates, interviews, and opinions.