Counter-Strike 2 tick rate & smoke grenade improvements, explained

Counter-Strike 2 is the latest installment in the popular franchise, and with this release, it will have some improvements and changes to the tick rate and smoke grenade that some players might not be aware of. In this guide, we are going to go over both of these so you can understand exactly what has improved and how it has changed.

Related: Counter-Strike 2 is officially announced, coming out later this summer, and will be a massive upgrade from the original game

How Counter-Strike 2 tick rate has improved

Tick rate has been a contentious topic in CS:GO, however, since there is an overhaul happening with the game, this will be getting addressed. So if you are new to playing Counter-Strike 2, you might not know that some of the biggest issues that some of the players have had with CS:GO was the fixed tick rate of 64 on official servers. You could bump it up to 128 on third-party services, for example, using a place like FACEIT that offers servers. However, it was still really annoying to stay within a tight limit.

To give a better understanding, the tick rate determines the number of times the server ‘refreshes’ within a certain time period, so a higher tick rate will cause a more accurate tracking of the actions of the players in the game. So without a good tick rate, actions won’t be as accurate. This is very important for a fast-paced game like Counter-Strike.

Counter-Strike 2 will be moving to sub-tick updates thanks to the revamped architecture of the engine. Valve hasn’t gone into specifics of exactly how this works, but has described it by saying that servers will know the exact moment that actions are taken within the game, resulting in an improved experience.

Related: Will Counter-Strike 2 have an Open Beta?

Smoke grenade improvements in Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 promises to bring a new gaming experience for its players that will definitely keep people playing for hours on end. One of the main new features in the game is the Responsive Smokes. The smoke grenade item will now have the ability to interact with other gameplay events, both bullets, and grenades can destroy smoke to clear the way briefly. So for a further example, the explosive grenade can disperse a big part of smoke which will then show you what’s on the other side. The same thing will happen if you shoot a weapon through the smoke.

Both of these improvements will be very good for the Counter-Strike franchise. Counter-Strike 2 is set to release summer, of 2023.