Best Competitive Maps CS2 (CSGO) ranked from best to worst

It’s no surprise that CS2 (CSGO) has a basket full of great Competitive maps to play in, considering how long the game has been out. Since maps in CS2 (CSGO) are such an important factor in the game, Valve has always taken good care of them, which can be seen by the constant reworks and changes that maps have received. Since it’s impossible to only play one singular map for one’s entire CS2 (CSGO) career, let’s cover the best maps that the game has to offer!

Best CS2 (CSGO) Competitive Maps

The “defuse scenario” is the most common Competitive game mode that players play, which, as the name suggests, is when one team plants the bomb, while the opposing team tries to defuse it. Here are the best defuse scenario maps that you should play on.

1. Dust II

Dust II is easily the most iconic map in the entirety of Counter-Strike. The map has been around for a very long time and has also received a fresh rework that is enjoyed by millions of players. Dust II is the map with the well-known Double Doors and the infamous “Rush B No Stop” through the B tunnels.

Dust II is just an incredibly simple and straightforward map, making it one of the easiest maps to enjoy and play in. The layout of the map makes it extremely balanced, making sure that no team has an immediate map advantage as the round starts. Bomb sites are not too difficult to hit and not too hard to retake either. The map is clear enough to make sure that no players get lost along the way either.

It’s an incredible solo queue map for players who just want to chill, as the map doesn’t require extremely high coordination and utility lineups. There is a mix of short-ranged duels in areas such as the Lower and Upper Tunnels, while also having long-ranged duels in areas such as A Long. It is just overall such a balanced map, making it one of the most well-known maps of all first-person shooter maps. Who doesn’t hate a game of Dust II?

To learn more about our beloved map, have a read on our Dust II guide to learn callouts and more!

2. Mirage

Though Mirage has not received any reworks, it is easily one of the most popular maps, even in the professional Counter-Strike scene. Mirage is known to be a "three-laned map" and has a heavy emphasis on controlling the Middle area of the map. The Middle area of the map gives access to many areas on the map, so lots of all out brawls in the area can be seen in professional matches.

Mirage does not require that many long ranged duels, but mainly focuses on execution. CTs are given straightforward paths to rotate, such as walking through CT Spawn, making the movements of CTs very versatile. The map is quite dependent on the Terrorist side’s strategy and aggression. It is very important to practice gaining and maintaining map control on Mirage.

Mirage is also one of the easiest maps to get into when learning utility lineups. There are many guides on smoke and grenade lineups for almost every part of the map, making it a great map for players to get into more advanced Counter-Strike gameplay.

To learn how to attack bomb sites on Mirage, check out our guide on playing Mirage and learning callouts on the map.

3. Inferno

Inferno is another map in the Competitive pool that was blessed with a rework. This map is incredibly aesthetic in its design and architecture, making the experience of playing it especially great.

Though Inferno used to be a really CT-sided map, changes throughout time have made the map more balanced. Inferno offers lots of tight corridors, such as Apartments and Banana, that Counter-Terrorists can hold down to get easy kills, but it can backfire for them easily. If Terrorists manage to get an entry that leads to the bomb being planted, the site becomes very hard to retake.

This map is known to have lots of "save" scenarios on the CT-side as bomb sites can be very hard to retake. Playing Inferno on the Terrorist side can be a really fun experience when played with friends, as approaching Inferno will require coordinated utility and poking to force enemy rotations. There are lots of situations where Terrorists run back and forth through Mid and Banana.

To make sure you are up to speed with Inferno and its callouts, check out our article for a guide to Inferno that you can have a look at.

4. Nuke

Nuke is one of the few maps in the Competitive pool that has received a map rework. What differentiates Nuke with other maps is the location of the Bomb Sites. Unlike other maps that place bomb sites on the opposite sides of the map, the bomb sites on Nuke are below and on top of each other.

This makes the map very interesting to play on, as this is the only map in the Competitive map pool where there are multiple levels that you can go up and down from. Nuke may not be a beginner-friendly map because it involves a lot of escalation and deescalation, which can cause lots of confusion, but it can be a really fun map for experienced players.

Players can have long ranged duels in the Outside area, and it is a good map to practice precise callouts due to the many floors of the map. Nuke is also known to be one of the most CT-sided maps, making it an awesome map to practice defending bomb sites properly, or learning how to utilize utility on the T side and coordinating with your team to hit the difficult bomb sites.

If you’re interested in learning more about Nuke and its callouts, we have an article about the complete guide on Nuke that you can read.

5. Overpass

The Overpass is one of the most CT-sided maps in the map pool, as it is designed to give counter-terrorists a massive amount of map control right away when the round begins. can also very easily rotate from the A bomb site to the B bomb site in a matter of less than 10 seconds, making it extremely difficult on the Terrorist side.

The entrances to the B bomb site, Short and Monster, are very narrow areas where rushes can easily be stopped by grenades, smokes and molotovs. CTs can also easily spray down incoming Terrorists especially the ones coming in from Monster.

Overpass is a very open map, so it is the dream map for AWP users. The long distance battles really favor AWPers and make AWPing on the CT side incredibly strong. This also rewards players with sharp aim, as good aim is essential for winning long ranged duels.

One of the most unique parts of Overpass is the boosts that players can come up with. Though the infamous Olofmeister boost was an illegal one, there are plenty of legal boost spots that players can use to get quick kills and turn them into a bomb site hit.

If you would like to find out about AWPing positions and how to defend bomb sites on Overpass, have a thorough read of our article about our Overpass map guide.

That concludes it for the best maps in CS2 (CSGO). Make sure to increase your map pool as it makes the game much more fun to play and makes ranking up much more rewarding! There are also great practice maps and aim training maps such as aim botz that can help you improve your long ranged aim for maps such as Nuke and Overpass, check out our article on the best workshop maps for more maps.