How do loadouts work in CS2

You're in charge of your arsenal.

The new buy menu coming to CS2
Image via Valve

Valve has revolutionized the way weapon loadouts work in CS2 since players will be able to bring custom loadouts to their matches.

Recommended Videos

This is a quality-of-life update that has been desired for years as CS:GO only allows players to select which skin they want to use and it’s impossible to bring both the M4A1-S and M4A4, for example. In CS2, however, players will be in charge of choosing what weapons they want to bring into matches.

If you still don’t know how the loadouts will function moving forward because you don’t have access to the CS2 beta, fear not. We’ll walk you through all the changes in this article.

How weapon loadouts work in CS2, explained

The new loadout system made specifically for CS2 will make players select five pistols, five mid-tier weapons—previously known as the SMG and Heavy options—and five rifles from their entire weapon arsenal. Guns like the AK-47 and Glock (Terrorist team) and the USP-S and the M4A4/M4A1-S (Counter-Terrorist team) will remain locked to their respective side.

This means players will only be able to carry over 15 weapons into their CS2 matches. Although this might keep options too limited for part of the player base, it will allow players to only bring the weapons they actually use throughout a CS match.

Related: Valve adds loadouts to CS2, allowing players to pick both M4s in a match

If you, for example, always wondered why the Auto-Sniper had to be in your loadout, this will solve all your issues. Having fewer weapons available to buy will likely also diminish the number of miss-buys.

But if you end up buying one weapon by mistake nonetheless, you’ll now be able to sell it and get your money back if the buy time is still active, just like in VALORANT.

Author
Image of Leonardo Biazzi
Leonardo Biazzi
Staff writer and CS:GO lead. Leonardo has been passionate about games since he was a kid and graduated in Journalism in 2018. Before Leonardo joined Dot Esports in 2019, he worked for Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte. Leonardo also worked for HLTV.org between 2020 and 2021 as a senior writer, until he returned to Dot Esports and became part of the staff team.