How To Switch Hands In CS:GO

If you prefer to have your weapon on the left side of the screen, you can easily do so with the CS:GO left hand command. Here is how you can change it:

Enabling the Developer Console:

Before you can use commands, you will have to enable the developer console. If you have it enabled, then move to the next step, if not, here’s a quick guide on how you can enable it:

Go into the main menu of CS2 or CS:GO then go into Game Settings (top-left), then click on the Game tab and look for the “Enable Developer Console” option and select “Yes.” Next to it. With the developer console enabled, you can now open it at any time with the tilde (~) key which is usually right under the Esc key.

Left Hand CS:GO Command

With the console now open, you can use the following command to flip the weapon into your left hand:

cl_righthand 0

The 0 in the command indicates that the character won’t be using their right hand for the weapon.

Changing Back to Right Hand 

If you tested the left hand and want to go back to holding your weapon with the right hand, you can just type the following into the developer console:

cl_righthand 1

The 1 in the command indicates that the character will swap to their right hand for holding weapons.

If you want to make a permanent switch to using the left hand, without having to type the command every time you run CS, you can add the CS:GO left-hand command to your autoexec.cfg file, if you have one.

If you don’t have your own config file, you can either download a premade .cfg from popular pro players or you can create your own. Once you create (or download) an autoexec.cfg, you can paste it in the following directory: 

SteamsteamappscommonCounter-Strike Global Offensivecsgocfg

Then add the cl_righthand 0 command into the config file, save it, and run CS:GO. Once you are in-game, open the console and type exec autoexec.cfg. Alternatively, you can add +exec autoexec.cfg in the game’s launch options through Stream.

But, what if you want to switch hands while you’re in game? Well, typing the command in the console while you are in a middle of a clutch doesn’t make sense, so let’s set up a key bind which you can use to instantly switch hands while playing. 

Open the console and paste the following command:

bind “key” “toggle cl_righthand 0 1”

The bind “key” part of the command specifies which button you can use to switch hands when in-game. The rest of the command, cl_righthand 0 1 specifies that the key we bind will toggle between right hand enabled and disabled, i.e. swapping weapons from left to right hand.

Replace “key” with the key you want to use. For example, if you type bind “L” “toggle cl_righthand 0 1”, this will allow you to switch hands at any time with the L key.

Switch Hands When Strafing

For some extra cool points, you can also bind this command with your movement, so every time you strafe left or right, your character will switch hands. You can do this by typing the following in the console:

bind a “+moveleft ; cl_righthand 0”; bind d “+moveright ; cl_righthand 1”

Now, every time you press A to move left, the weapon will switch to the left hand, and every time you press D, the weapon will switch to the right hand. If you don’t like this command then you can just type unbind A into the console and hit enter. Then, type unbind D and hit Enter. But, don’t forget to assign movement back to A and D through the in-game settings.

With the release of Counter-Strike 2, Valve deleted the option to change hands, or rather, change to holding the weapon in the left hand. The reasoning behind this is that left-hand shooting interfered with the new interactive smoke feature.

However, the cl_righthand command has been in Counter-Strike for 20 years (since the original release of CS), so removing it meant that a lot of left-hand users were left hanging.

Fortunately, recently, Valve reintroduced cl_righthand back into the game, with a couple of upgrades. Now, the switch hands command has an integrated default key bind (H), which means you can adjust the bind through the in-game settings. Of course, you can still change hands with the console command as well.

But that’s not all! Switching hands now comes with an animation, it’s not instantaneous like it was in CS:GO. However, this new animation also prevents you from shooting your weapon for a couple of seconds, so don’t spam the switch hands too much as you might end up getting caught without a weapon in your hands.

Because of this, we do not recommend using the “Switch Hands When Strafing” setup we mentioned above.

Now you know all the commands regarding switching commands in CS:GO, as well as how hand switching works in CS2. But, are there any benefits of doing so, and if there are, should you do it?

Well, in short, switching to the left hand is nothing more than just personal preference. If you feel like your gun is obstructing too much of your vision when it’s on the right side, you can switch it to the left, and the other way around.

However, depending on the situation, you can switch hands for a better field of view. For example, if you are pushing B site on Dust 2 through tunnels, you will be clearing to your right since it’s most likely that enemies are to your right. In this case, you might see a slight benefit if you switch to the left hand. In similar situations when most of your clears are on the left, you can switch to the right hand.

Switching hands in CS:GO and CS2 is a simple yet effective way to tailor your UI/gameplay. Whether you prefer using the left hand while shooting (cl_righthand 0), or your right hand (cl_righthand 1) or want to set up a key bind for quick switching, you have full control over how your character holds their weapon!