CS2 Update: Arms Race, Kilowatt Case, Kukri Knife & More

Finally, we waited for Valve to release an update in CS2, not just an update with minor changes and something very unnoticeable, but a huge update that brought incredibly cool skins, new maps, stickers, and much more. So, let’s waste no time and delve into the smorgasbord of delights that Valve has bestowed upon us!

What’s in CS2’s A Call to Arms update?

A Call to Arms is the first major update in CS2 that brings a lot of changes. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

The first thing to notice is that Valve has added the old, all-time favorite CS2 Arms Race mode. If you’ve played CS:GO before, you know what it is, but for newcomers, a little more detail: it’s a mode you can choose from the main menu of the game, which has its own special rules and two new maps called Baggage and Shoots.

The rules are very simple: get two kills with each weapon to reach the final stage, or steal your opponents’ progress with a knife (or now with the Zeus). Get to the knife stage and make the last kill to secure victory, but remember there can only be one winner, so you have to be the fastest in CS2 Arms Race mode.

Valve has also added a new weapon case containing 17 new skins, but we’ll talk about that in more detail below. For now, let’s just say that the new skins are really cool.

In addition to the new mode and case, new holographic stickers have also been added, which change color and change depending on the angle. New defeat and victory emotes have been added for operatives and many other small map balance updates. We’ll talk about all of this once we’ve looked at the most interesting thing, of course, the new skins!

Kilowatt Case: First Weapon Case in CS2

Valve finally released the first CS2 case in 2024, Kilowatt Case, and it exceeded all expectations. The skins are highly detailed, have incredible color combinations, and feature the first skin for Zeus and a new, the sleek Kukri knife.

Of course, the main prize of the case is the Kukri knife. It is slightly curved but has a large and sturdy handle. Overall, the knife looks like a 12 out of 10, especially considering that you can get it in any skin: Fade, Case Hardened, Crimson Web, or any other.

Here is a list of new skins:

• Kukri Knife
• AK-47 | Inheritance
• AWP | Chrome Cannon
• M4A1-S | Black Lotus
• Zeus x27 | Olympus
• USP-S | Jawbreaker
• Glock-18 | Block-18
• M4A4 | Etch Lord
• Five-SeveN | Hybrid
• MP7 | Just Smile
• Sawed-Off | Analog Input
• MAC-10 | Light Box
• SSG 08 | Dezastre
• XM1014 | Irezumi
• UMP-45 | Motorized
• Tec-9 | Slag
• Dual Berettas | Hideout
• Nova | Dark Sigil.

Let’s now take a look at what interesting things Valve has done with stickers.

New Stickers for Weapons in A Call to Arms Update

Valve has made several exciting additions to the game. First, they have added the Ambush Sticker Capsule, which contains 21 stickers. The Steam community created All of these stickers, which is a great way to encourage creativity. Maybe someday, your stickers will be in one of the future capsules! Most importantly, the new stickers have very interesting designs, especially the first three rarest ones.

Along with this, the game developers have introduced a special sticker placement mechanic, which gives players a new way to customize the appearance of their weapons. You can now drag, rotate, and scale stickers to the desired position.

Here is a list of the new stickers:

• Old School (Lenticular)
• Dystopian Gaze (Lenticular)
• Econometer (Lenticular)
• On An Eco (Foil)
• Ouchie (Foil)
• Lost In Smoke (Foil)
• Factory Sealed (Foil)
• Loving Eyes (Holo)
• Lotus (Glitter)
• Cedar Creek (Holo)
• Lit (Holo)
• Pushing Smokes (Glitter)
• Try Hard (Holo)
• Please Return To
• Bum A Smoke
• This Is Fine (Chicken)
• AKickflip-47
• Angry T
• Retro Zeus
• Peek-A-Boo
• Easy For Ricksaw

In addition, the total number of stickers has been increased from four to five. You can view the entire sticker collection in more detail in the game. They are now located in the lower-left corner of the screen.

CS2 Updated Map Adjustments

We have already mentioned that Valve not only touched on skins and stickers in this update but also updated old maps and added two new ones.

You already know about the two new maps that were ported from CS:GO to CS2 for CS2 Arms Race mode, namely Baggage, and Shoots, but let’s take a closer look at what was done with the maps already in the game.

Inferno

• Fixed various gaps and adjusted grenade collision to make grenade bounces more predictable.
• Adjusted texture blending to improve player visibility.

Ancient

• Adjusted grenade collision on bombsite B ground to make grenade bounces more predictable.

Anubis

• Fixed holes in world at Lower Tunnel.
• Fixed collision on all pillars so players can no longer pixel boost.
• Fixed collision so utility does not fall out of world on top of structure at T Start.
• Fixed missing collision on steps at Street which would allow dropped weapons to fall out of world.
• Improved vis at CT spawn.
• Fixed invisible boost ledge at Bombsite B.
• Fixed various gaps in the world.
• Fixed missing collision on stair geo at CT spawn that allowed weapons/bomb to fall out of world.
• Fixed missing collision at Fountain that allowed weapons/bomb to fall out of world.
• Fixed some doors not generating bullet decals.
• Fixed vis issue at Street.

Mirage

• Added collision to prevent bomb becoming unreachable.
• Adjusted some collision to prevent a ledge/pixel walk.
• Fixed player getting stuck when strafing on Middle Ramp by simplifying geo of floor and wall.
• Removed a clip brush from Apartments to improve flash lineups.

Nuke

• Built some collision to prevent bomb from getting stuck behind barrels.
• Fixed some disappearing mesh.
• Fixed dynamic shadow clipping on characters at Vending.
• Improved clipping in vents.
• Fixed bombsite water to have better reflections on low settings.
• Fixed vis issue at t-spawn.
• Fixed collision on ramp in Bombsite B.
• Fixed holes in world.

Overpass

• Fixed some collision that was causing unpredictable player movement.

Vertigo

• Fixed holes in world and other minor geometry bugs.

Italy

• Adjusted some collision to prevent players getting stuck in apartment.

Office

• Fixed a case where players could jump on a wall.
• Fixed a case where players could get stuck if they crouched.

Other CS2 Patch Notes for “A Call to Arms” Update

Certainly, the new Kilowatt Case, Ambush Sticker Capsule, and CS2 Arms Race mode are all exceedingly captivating additions. However, these are not the only treasures to be found within а Call To Arms. Now, let’s take a look at some of the smaller but important details.

Music Kits

Valve also added the NIGHTMODE Music Kit Box containing six new music kits.

Gameplay Updates

Let’s start with the fact that Valve has slightly changed the smoke mechanics. Now, smokes cast shadows, and smoke rendering and animation have been improved.

In terms of gameplay, the following interesting features have been added:

• Added a “Refund All” button to the buy menu.
• Added a setting to disable first person bullet tracers.
• Silencers can now always be reattached regardless of whether detaching them is enabled or not.
• Player pings are no longer blocked by invisible geometry.
• Various adjustments to sub-tick shooting.
• Fixed several cases where players could silently drop down vertical surfaces.
• Improved smoothness of sliding along surfaces.
• Fixed an issue where collisions between players were jittery.
• To ensure loadouts are correct at the beginning of matches, loadout changes are no longer allowed while searching for Premier, Competitive, or Wingman.

Valve also fixed other issues, such as:

• Adjusted the range of CS Ratings allowed to party together in Premier matchmaking.
• Fixed a case where high-DPI mice would result in jittery mouse movement.
• Added Minor improvements to animations during demo playback.
• Disabled rich presence update when running Steam Client in tournament mode.

Zeus

Zeus got a skin, but that’s not all. Valve also completely redesigned the mechanics of this weapon.

Here’s what they describe in their update in more detail:

• Made Zeus reusable in all game modes, after a 30 second recharge delay.
• Added support for applying stickers and name tags to the Zeus.
• Adjusted the Zeus first person model position.
• Added Zeus kill icon to kill cards and post round damage report.

It’s interesting to see if Zeus will be popular now. Who knows?

Sound

Valve has finally graced us with a truly interesting update for microphone configuration, alongside some much-needed sound fixes.

• Added the option to select an audio input device for VOIP from the audio settings menu.
• Added the option to change your microphone threshold (the minimum loudness before we start transmitting audio) from the audio options menu, as well as metering for your current mic loudness.
• Added the option to listen to your own microphone from the audio settings menu to hear how you sound.
• Replaced the M249 fire sound effect.
• Replaced the Zeus charging, charge not available, and charge ready states sound effects
• Further reduced occlusion effects.
• Minor mix adjustments.
• Fixed an issue where some player-centric sounds were being perceived as originating from slightly behind the player.

Networking Fixes

It may not interest many people regarding the network error update, but it is really important to some.

• Reduced peeker’s advantage in many cases.
• The amount of peeker’s advantage in the steady state is reduced by 16ms.
• Also reduced the frequency of situations that lead to very large peeker’s advantage due to excessive command queue depth.
• Added cl_ticktiming console command that prints a report breaking down the various sources of latency.
• Added an option to buffer server updates and user commands by one or more packets. This can be used to smooth over stuttering due to packet loss, at the expense of increased latency.

UI & Design

Of course, there have been some quite positive changes regarding the design of the main screen and the game mode selection menu. Now you can choose two new maps for the background, the brightest of which is now Baggage. The scene depicts you standing on a beautiful summer day near the planes and the runway.

• Added support for separate main menu and item inspect background map settings.
• Added “Baggage” and “Warehouse” as options for the main menu and item inspect background maps.
• In-game team-only chat will now be prefixed with the team (e.g., “[T]” or “[CT]”).
• Added ‘XP Overload’ status which is awarded to players who have earned all of their normal XP during the week (11,166 XP) and reached reduced XP gain. XP Overload status is attached to players’ names in scoreboard, main menu, death notices, etc. XP Overload status is awarded for a minimum of one week. Additional tiers of XP Overload status can be unlocked by earning all of the normal XP over multiple consecutive weeks.
• Agents with unique end-of-match cheer animations now have unique defeat animations as well. You can disable playing defeat animations for the local player in settings.
• Added more accolades to end-of-match.

The Agony of Defeat

It is also interesting that now the owners of the operator skin have not only a changed appearance of their character but also a new interesting defeat animation. Now, the agents you have will either rejoice with special emotions or, on the contrary, show the agony of defeat.

First Bugs in the New Call to Arms Update!

We couldn’t help but mention this in the article. Everyone knows that updates aren’t always just about cool new features and skins. Often, updates come with new bugs, and that’s the case with the keyboard layout. If you use more than one language on your computer, be careful because if your keyboard language is not English, you won’t be able to move in the game.

Thousands of players have faced this problem, and the forums are filled with laughter and absurdity about the situation. However, some players still don’t know how to fix this bug.

Wrapping Up Call to Arms!

It is a massive and awesome update that brought us not only cool skins that we will soon see in many players but also cool emotions from the new CS2 Arms Race mode, stickers, and much more. We hope that Valve will continue to delight us with such cool updates, and we will be happy to tell you about the most important things happening in the world of CS2.

Stay with us to always be at the center of events!