CS2/CS:GO Movement Guide

While “game sense” and aim are some of the more important skills in FPS shooters, including Counter-Strike, without movement, you can properly utilize those skills. In other words, movement is an essential skill you need to possess if you want to be a solid CS player.

However, mastering the CS2/CS:GO movement is not an easy task. The movement system in CS:GO and CS2 is very different from other shooters like CoD, Apex, Fortnite, etc. It requires precise inputs from the player because any unnecessary movement will lead to a missed shot.

So, if you are an aspiring player and what to reach the higher skill levels of FaceIt or Premier, here’s our ultimate guide for CS2/CS:GO movement.

First, let’s see an overview of the movement basics.

• Running – unlike most FPS games, the default movement in Counter-Strike is running when you use the “WASD” keys. While running, you produce a lot more noise which provides your enemy team with information about your location.

• Walking – Walking or Shifting (Shift, the default keybind), considerably slows down the player character, but you don’t create any kind of footstep noise, so your enemies won’t know your position.

• Crouching – Crouching is often used to hide behind boxes, take cover, or unpredictably peek at enemies. Crouching also doesn’t create noise.

• Jumping – Jumping is useful to get into more unpredictable positions like on top of a box, car, etc. However, the sound of the impact after you jump also creates a lot of noise and puts in you a very vulnerable position, so use it wisely. 

• Movement Speed – Movement speed in CS varies by a lot and it is affected by the weapon in your hand. Smaller weapons in hand will make you move faster while larger weapons will hinder your speed. You’re fastest with a knife, while slowest with the AWP or heavy weapons like the Negev. Walk speed is also altered by which weapon you’re holding in hand. 

Have you noticed when you shoot at an enemy’s head that bullet goes in a completely different direction? This doesn’t happen in any other shooter (except Valorant), so what’s happening?

Well, what makes Counter-Strike so unique is its very punishing accuracy system. With almost every bit of movement you input, your weapon loses its accuracy. The faster you move, the more inaccurate it becomes.

This is why moving less is better and this is especially true if you’re still learning the ropes of CS. So, if you can’t seem to hit your shots, try to keep in mind that you need to be at a complete stop before you start shooting otherwise you will miss most of your shots.

However, there are ways to move and shoot accurately as well. Once you get to know the CS:GO movement system a little bit better, you can use crouch walking. Crouch walking allows you to move at a very slow pace which maintains most of your weapon accuracy. Shift (default key bind) walking is also another way to move slower for better accuracy. But, you will be a bit less accurate than crouch walking, or standing still.

Counter-strafing is another skill/method that many experienced players use to move as much as possible while maintaining weapon accuracy. This is why sometimes certain enemies look like they’re full-on sprinting and yet they headshot you from across the map. Let’s delve into what counter-strafing is and how to use it.

Players and CS2 professionals also tilt their keyboards for optimal positioning, which may help you however it is also a personal preference.

While counter-strafing is well known in the CS community, it is still underutilized amongst the players. Fully mastering this movement will lead to a lot more success in duels, clearing corners, taking entry frags, and will turn you into a generally better player. We’ll also talk more about how to use counter-strafing to clear corners, peek, etc.

The logic behind counter-strafing is to nullify your movement by moving in the opposite direction. So, let’s create a scenario as an example.

You’re on T-side on Dust 2 and want to peek A-Site from long. To do that, you’ll hold D (right) to move away from the wall to spot if anyone is on site. But, once you spot an enemy, you will want to immediately let go of D and tap A (left) once. By tapping A, your player character will come to an immediate stop and that’s when you can start shooting because your weapon will have 100% accuracy.

Of course, this also applies if you’re going in the other direction as well. Tap D, if you’re moving to the left. You can also Tap S (back) if you’re moving forward. More advanced players can even negate diagonal movement by tapping the opposite of forward and left or right.

Peeking in CS is the act of swinging from behind cover. It sounds simple, but there is a lot you can do wrong here.

Have you ever noticed how certain enemy players swing out very fast from behind cover leaving you with no time to react? That’s a proper peek and that’s what a lot of people like to refer to as a “Ferraripeek”. It’s that fast!

This effect can be achieved when your character is moving at maximum speeds and to do this you need to account for the acceleration time. In other words, you’ll need to strafe a bit more time while you’re still behind cover, so when you finally peek you’ll be moving at max speed.

Test this out in practice and you’ll easily get the hang of it. So next time if you want to one-tap the AWP holding window on Mirage, do a ferraripeek!

Boosting is a way of climbing on places you can’t reach with a normal jump. It’s the act of jumping on top of a teammate and then jumping to that inaccessible place.

To boost teammates, get yourself into position, crouch, and then wait for them to jump on top of you. Then stand up so your teammate can jump to their position. If you want them to boost you, just wait for the crouch, jump on their head, and then jump onto the next position.

Extra tip: If you want to consistently climb on players or ledges without fail, press Ctrl (crouch) at the highest point of your jump. 

Air strafing is an advanced movement technique, but it is easy to learn with not a of practice. Basically, while strafing in the air, you gain a bit more speed. It’s nothing significant, but it can get you in certain positions a bit faster, catching your enemy off guard. 

Experienced and pro players combine air strafing with bunny hopping to be even faster, but bunny hopping is pretty hard to execute.

To air strafe, you need to jump and simultaneously strafe (with A or D) and move your mouse in the same direction. So, jump, strafe to the left, but simultaneously look to the left with your mouse and you’ll notice an increase in movement speed.

You can practice this by jumping off from higher platforms/ledges.

To bunny hop, you need to jump at the exact same time when your character’s legs hit the ground. This maintains your speed allowing you to run at full speed, or even jump, air strafe, and bunny hop again. If you manage to do this and bunny hop multiple times, you can shave off a second or two when switching positions.

If you want to hone your jumping, b

Surfing is a weird addition to the movement system in CS, but it’s been around since the Half-Life 1 days. It isn’t really useful in competitive gameplay, but it can be fun. If you want to practice surfing, you’ll need to do it on a surf map.

Surf maps have what the community calls ramps. Sliding on these ramps considerably increases your movement speed and you can jump from one ramp to another until you cross the finish line.

To slide, or rather, surf a ramp, you need to approach the ramp, let go of W, and hold either A or D. Basically, you need to strafe into the ramp and most ramps have two sides so choose whichever one you prefer. If the ramp is on your right, move into the ramp and hold D (right). If it’s on your left, hold A (left).

To maintain your speed, try staying in the middle of the ramp. Moving upwards will reduce your speed while moving downwards will increase your speed, but you risk falling off the ramp.

Mouse movement is also important here because you move wherever you look, so make sure to look forward i.e. at the ramp at all times. Once your ramp ends, let go of all movement keys, look for the next ramp, turn your mouse towards it, and strafe into it.

Movement in Counter-Strike can be counterintuitive and confusing at first, however, with this guide and enough trial and error you should be able to get the hang of it.

Also, make sure to check out the Workshop Maps for any community-made content that can help you in terms of counter-strafing, bunny hopping, surfing, etc.