How To Bind Keys In CS:GO

In Counter-Strike, key binds are custom-made settings that help players perform different actions by clicking a specific button on their keyboard. The action command is bound to a key, which is why they are called key binds. 

Key binds are extremely important in higher level play, as it allows players to execute actions very quickly, reducing downtime that could prove to be lethal in a gunfight. 

Efficiency and Accessibility

The primary use for key binds are efficiency and accessibility. Key binds allow players to perform a set of actions very quickly by pressing a single button. Being able to access key binds effectively can help players save precious time during Counter-Strike gameplay, where every second counts. 

When key binds are bound properly, players have easy access to the action without having to reach far away on their keyboard, or open the console to execute the action. Some players might have physical limitations such as small hands that cannot access the other side of their keyboard, so they can set custom binds that are all located on one side of the keyboard. 

Comfortable Customization

Comfort is one of the most important aspects to performing well in Counter-Strike, which is why professional players would spend hours crafting the perfect crosshair or viewmodel. Since they are also settings, key binds are just as important, and players must ensure their binds provide them with comfort. 

Key binds allow players to customize their options and controls that will fit their preferences, enabling their preferred playstyle. Overall, the game becomes much more comfortable, as players can react and perform actions faster than normal settings where no key binds are applied. 

Less Errors Made

Most players set key binds for certain actions that require lots of precision. Having your actions bound to a key reduces the potential of errors.

For example, one common bind is the grenade bind, where players press a key to pull out a specific grenade. Without such a bind, players will have to scroll through their grenades, and might scroll one too far or too short. However, the bind ensures the player is pulling out the exact grenade they wanted to immediately. 

Another common bind is the jump throw function, which is crucial for throwing grenade lineups. Normal players would have a success rate of 80 to 90% to perform a manual jump throw, but there’s always that room for error that can cause a missed smoke that loses the round. Meanwhile, the jump throw bind ensures a 100% success rate with a click of a button. 

Well, now that we know why binding keys are super important for improving in Counter-Strike, let’s talk about how you can start setting up your own key binds. There are two ways to set binds. The beginner-friendly way is to directly set your binds through your in-game settings menu, while more advanced players prefer doing it through the developer console. 

Binding Keys Through In-Game Settings

The first and easiest way to set binds is directly through your Counter-Strike settings. Here is a step by step guide of how you can customize your binds:

1. Launch Counter-Strike and load into your main menu.
2. Next, go to your in-game settings menu by clicking on the gear icon at the corner. 
3. From the different categories you can select from above, go to the “Keyboard / Mouse” section.
4. You should see a complete list of your current key binds.
5. Once you have chosen which one you’d like to change, click on it and hit the key you want to change it to. 

And that’s pretty much it. However, we must inform you that you can only change basic binds through the in-game settings menu. The binds available will only perform one action. 

Most advanced players will use binds that execute several actions at once, such as the jump throw bind. These types of binds cannot be set through the in-game settings menu, so you must use the next method. 

Binding Keys Through The Console

You can reach the maximum potential of key binds through the developer console, one of the best tools Valve has implemented for Counter-Strike. Using the console, players can set any type of bind using console commands. 

Though this process might sound daunting to new players, we’ll hold your hand throughout the entire process. There are two steps: enabling the console, and binding the keys through the console. 

How To Enable Developer Console

First things first, we must turn on the developer console before we can use it to bind keys. The steps are very simple, so follow this short guide below:

1. Launch Counter-Strike and load into your main menu.
2. Next, go to your in-game settings menu by clicking on the gear icon at the corner. 
3. From the different categories you can select from above, go to the “Game” section.
4. The setting at the very top should read “Enable Developer Console.”
5. Change the setting from “No” to “Yes.”

Now, your developer console should be enabled. To open and close it, click on the “~” key at the top-left area of your keyboard. It is next to “1” and above “TAB.”

How To Use Commands To Bind Keys

Now that our console has been enabled, we can begin using commands to set binds. 

There is a set format to apply binds, which uses the “bind” console command. The format for bind commands are always: bind <key> “<action>”.

To make the explanation easier, we will use an example. For this example, let’s say we want to bind our “V” key to pull out the flashbang grenade. Here is how you would input such commands:

1. Open the developer console by pressing your “~” key.
2. Next, we will input the command: bind V “use weapon_flashbang”
3. Once completed, hit the Enter button, and you’re good to go. 

As you can tell, we are using the exact same format for every console bind command. If you want to see a complete list of all the binds you have set, type in the command “key_listboundkeys” in the console. 

Binding Several Actions At Once – Alias Binds

The best part about the console is it gives you the ability to bind several actions to a single key, meaning you can do multiple actions at once. The best example for this is the jump throw command, where you can issue a bind that will help you jump and throw a grenade at the exact same time. 

Normally, this isn’t possible. However, we can use the “alias” command to make it work. The alias command essentially helps you set a name for a specific group of actions. After giving these actions an alias, we can bind the key to perform the alias command. 

Again, let’s use an example to demonstrate how you can use alias commands. We’ll teach you how to set the jump throw key bind for this one. 

So, the jump throw command requires the bind to perform two actions, which are jumping and throwing. The first thing we’ll do is to set an alias for these two actions, which can be done with: alias “+jumpthrow” “+jump;-attack”; alias “-jumpthrow” “-jump”.

Now that we have the alias and the set of actions completed, we can now bind the alias to a key. For this example, we’ll use the “Alt” key. We can now use the command: bind “Alt” “+jumpthrow”.

So, all the commands you needed would be: alias “+jumpthrow” “+jump;-attack”; alias “-jumpthrow” “-jump”; bind “Alt” “+jumpthrow”.

Now, you can hold out your smoke grenade, hold left-click, and then press Alt and the game will perform a perfect jump throw for you. 

As we’ve explained above, setting key binds can help you elevate your game and make your movements more efficient. However, some binds do not work out, or you want to change the button you’ve set it to. Whatever the reason, knowing how to unbind a key is also important.

There are several ways to unbind your keys in CSGO:

Using The Unbind Command

Unbinding a command becomes extremely simple if you use the developer console. There is a specific command for unbinding keys, which is the “unbind” command. 

When using the unbind command, all you need is the key you want to reset. For example, your flashbang key is bound to “V” and you would like to remove it. Then, all you need to do is type: unbind v, and you’re good to go.

You don’t have to type the action command you have bound to the key, so the process is extremely simple. 

Unbinding Using The In-Game Settings

If the console is too confusing for you, you can always unbind a key through your in-game settings. 

In the Counter-Strike settings menu, go to your “Keyboard / Mouse” section, where you should see an entire list of your basic key binds. Look for the key bind you want to unbind, and then simply click on it and remove it. 

Additionally, you can also go to the bottom of your screen and click the “Reset” button. This reset button will reset all your binds to default, so you can start all over if you’ve messed up a few binds. 

Keep in mind that the list of bind commands in the in-game settings menu is limited to simple and general binds. Alias binds and command-related binds will not be displayed here, so we suggest using this next command to reset all your binds.

Using The Undindall Command

The final way to unbind your key binds is to use the unbindall command. As the name of the command already suggests, it will unbind all of your keys in the game. The unbindcall command removes aliases and complex commands as well – it removes literally everything. Your WASD keys and spacebar will also be unbinded.

After using the unbindall command, we suggest going to your in-game settings menu into the Keyboard / Mouse section. There, click on the “Reset” button at the bottom-right corner to set all your key binds back to default. Once your default hotkeys have returned, you can start applying bind commands again.

After understanding how to set bind commands for yourself, you might begin wondering which keys you should use. Ideally, you want to set key binds on the left side of your keyboard, since your movement keys are on that side. 

If you want to set binds using the console, you must input the codes of the keys. Here are the most recommended keys to set binds on, and their codes for console commands:

• F1 – f1
• F2 – f2
• F3 – f3
• Tab – tab
• Caps Lock – capslock
• Enter – enter
• Left Shift – shift
• Left Control – ctrl
• Left Alt – alt
• Space Bar – space
• Backspace – backspace
• Scroll Wheel Button (Mouse 3) – mouse3
• Additional Mouse Button 1 (Mouse 4) – mouse4
• Additional Mouse Button 2 (Mouse 5) – mouse5
• Scroll Wheel Up – mwheelup
• Scroll Wheel Down – mwheeldown

Of course, you can also use your letter keyboard buttons to set binds as well. These are relatively straightforward, as the “U” key would just require you to type “u”. 

Now that you’re an expert in binds, let’s go over some of the most-used binds that help high-level players make less mistakes and be more efficient. 

Jump Throw Bind

We’ve already covered the jump throw bind earlier, but let’s do it in more detail. The jump throw bind is arguably the most useful bind in the game.

Smoke and grenade lineups are crucial in competitive play, as it helps teams take firm control of the map. However, some lineups require players to jump and throw the grenade, which has a slight chance of failing. 

Why do all the hard work when you can just set a bind for it and land jump throws 100% of the time? You can bind the jump throw action to a key using the following command:

alias “+jumpthrow” “+jump;-attack”; alias “-jumpthrow” “-jump”; bind “<key>” “+jumpthrow”

Grenade Crosshair Lineup Bind

As we have just discussed, grenades are extremely important. Other lineups require players to use certain details on the map to aim their crosshairs properly. 

The grenade crosshair bind essentially stretches out your crosshair to cover the entire screen. The long lines allow you to line up your crosshair easily without having to squint your eyes for every detail. 

You can set the grenade crosshair bind using the following set of commands:

bind <key> “toggle cl_crosshairsize # 1000″

In the command above, replace the “#” with your current crosshair size. If you are using a crosshair size of 2, change the value to 2. 

Scroll Wheel Jump Bind

Another very common use of key binds is the scroll wheel jump bind, which is used by a large percentage of professional players. 

One of the most satisfying things players can do for movement is to land bunny hops. However, landing bunny hops can be pretty tricky if you’re using the spacebar to jump. With the spacebar, you must time your jumps perfectly, which can be extremely difficult to pull off.

However, if you use your scroll wheel to jump, you can scroll your mouse when you are about to land on the ground, and the game will issue 4 to 5 jump actions which will give you more opportunities to time jumps perfectly. 

You might have seen funny YouTube videos of professional players accidentally jumping in the middle of a gunfight, and the cause of that is them accidentally scrolling with this bind enabled.

Still, it is an incredibly useful bind. You can use it with the following commands:

bind mwheelup +jump; bind mwheeldown +jump; bind space +jump

You can also set the key bind to only one of your mouse wheels (up or down). However, most players use both scroll wheels. 

Clear Decals Bind

The next bind command isn’t directly related to gameplay, but certainly helps. In Counter-Strike, decals such as blood splatters and graffiti can be found on walls, boxes, etc. These can be visually disturbing, as some smart Counter-Strike players will play under blood splatters to make themselves look concealed. 

Additionally, these decals can add additional load to low-performing PCs and cause several FPS problems. Blood splatters can be pretty useful to confirm that you have tagged an enemy player, but you can always clear these decals after. 

To clear decals from your screen, use the following bind command:

bind <key> “r_cleardecals”

Noclip Bind

The noclip command is primarily used to practice sessions only. Noclip is a cheat command that allows players to fly around the map and pass through walls, getting from Point A to Point B very quickly.

Obviously, this command cannot be used in a public Valve server. However, noclip is the best command to use on practice servers when you’re training your aim or your grenade lineups. 

The noclip command is a toggle command, meaning you can turn it on and off by typing in the command into the console. So, you can use a key bind to toggle the command with one press of a button instead of opening and closing the console everytime. 

The noclip bind command is:

bind <key> “sv_cheats 1; noclip”

We have also included the sv_cheats 1 command since you need it to activate the noclip command anyway. Using the sv_cheats 1 command numerous times will not turn it off or affect the noclip command in any way. 

Voice Mute Bind

Communication is key in Counter-Strike, but not all the time… Sometimes, your toxic teammates will start yelling at you and judging your every move during a clutch situation. These scenarios can be extremely annoying, but fortunately, a bind will solve all your problems.

There is a voice mute bind, where you can press a button to mute all of your teammate’s voice comms, and you can turn it back on by pressing the button again. So, you can enable voice after the clutch attempt has ended.

To toggle voice on and off, use this bind command:

bind <key> “voice_modenable_toggle”

We highly recommend using this bind if you tend to solo queue in competitive matches, and pre-made stacks can be very toxic by ganging up on you. 

Audio Deafen Bind

We live in a generation where attention spans are kept to its lowest point. Most players in Counter-Strike tend to Alt + Tab or go on their mobile phones to scroll TikTok once they are dead.

However, scrolling through your phone can easily be disrupted by the in-game audio of bullets and screaming Russians. Fortunately, there is an audio deafen bind, which will allow you to mute all in-game audio and voice chats with a press of a button.

After you die in a round, you can hit the audio deafen key to isolate yourself in your own world. Once the next round is starting, you can re-enable sounds by pressing the button again.

The audio deafen bind is:

bindToggle <key> “volume 0.4 0.01”

In this example, we have set the in-game volume to 0.4, or 40%. Feel free to change the value to whatever you usually play with. If you play on 75% master volume, change the value fo 0.75.