Here’s your guide to the economy in CS2, so you know how much everything costs, what certain terms mean, and when to spend money.
The economy in a tactical first-person shooter can be daunting for new players. Of course, changes happen and over the years, we've become accustomed to how things work in Counter-Strike. With CS2, the economy can be pretty straightforward if you just want to grab a gun and start shooting.
There's more to it than just that, however. You have utility you need to choose, force buy rounds that can come up, and weapons that work better in certain situations. All of this costs in-game money, so we've got your guide to the CS2 economy.
Note: This is about the in-game economy while playing, not the economy that deals with skin trading, buying, and selling.
A brief overview of the CS2 economy
First, we'll start with everything you can purchase and how much it costs. You need to plant the bomb, or defuse is as a CT, to earn cash. As well, certain cash is granted at the start of each round with assists and eliminations earning you more.
Perform well and you'll have enough cash for the entire game without having to worry about limiting your spending. We'll get into that later, but for now, here is a look at the CS2 buy menu so you can get familiar with the game's economy.
For those who need to read the info, here are tables with each category, the items and their price. We begin with the Terrorist version, as the weapons differ between the sides:
Item/Weapon Category Item/Weapon and Price | Equipment Kevlar Vest - $650 Kevlar & Helmet - $1000 Zeus x27 - $200 | Pistols Glock-18 - $200 P250 - $300 Dual Berettas - $300 Tec-9 - $500 Desert Eagle - $700 | Mid-Tier Nova - $1050 MAC-10 - $1050 Negev - $1700 XM1014 - $2000 P90 - $2350 | Rifles Galil AR - $1800 AK-47 - $2700 SG 553 - $3000 AWP - $4750 G3SG1 - $5000 | Grenades Flashbang - $200 Smoke Grenade - $300 High Explosive Grenade - $300 Molotov - $400 Decoy Grenade - $50 |
And here is the Counter Terrorist buy menu:
Item/Weapon Category Item/Weapon and Price | Equipment Kevlar Vest - $650 Kevlar & Helmet - $1000 Zeus x27 - $200 Rescue Kit - $400 | Pistols P2000 - $200 Dual Berettas - $300 P250 - $300 Five-SeveN - $500 Desert Eagle - $700 | Mid-Tier MP9 - $1250 MAG-7 - $1300 MP5-SD - $1500 Negev - $1700 XM1014 - $2000 | Rifles FAMAS - $1950 M4A1-S - $2900 M4A4 - $2900 AWP - $4750 SCAR-20 - $5000 | Grenades Flashbang - $200 Smoke Grenade - $300 High Explosive Grenade - $300 Incendiary Grenade - $500 Decoy Grenade - $50 |
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CS2 economy terms
Next, we'll go over some commons terms you may hear in a game or on an esports broadcast that deal with the CS2 economy. Use these to communicate with your team or to understand what they're talking about in the buy phase:
- Eco Round: This is when you purchase lower priced equipment and weapons. You and your team will need to talk about how much money you'd like to carry over to the next round, and buy low so you can ensure the next round allows for greater weaponry.
- Anti-Eco Round: This is when you try to negate another team's eco round. You can still buy armor and equipment, but purchase lesser weaponry because you know the other team won't have much to work with.
- Half Buy: It is pretty simple to understand. Spend just half your money so you can carry the other half over to the next round.
- Full Buy: This is when you purchase the highest tier of weaponry and equipment. Get the full set of armor, buy a defuse kit if a CT, go for an AWP or a good rifle, and even grab a backup pistol to help you during reloads.
- Force Buy: A force buy is a term in the CS2 economy for when you don't have the money for a good full buy, but the game may be slowly moving out of your grasp. Spend all your cash on whatever weaponry and equipment you can to try and force your way back into the match.
When should you force a buy in CS2?
This all comes down to how dire things are in your game of Counter-Strike 2. You'll need to keep your eye on the economy of both teams. The three round rule is a good one to follow.
If the other team is within three rounds of winning the game and you are more than three round away from tying their score, then you might want to force a buy. It is a high risk, high reward situation where you need to get all the firepower you can to keep your team in it.
Best weapons for certain situations
You can get value out of any weapon in CS2, but how your team's economy is going and the situation you find yourself in definitely matters. We'll end things with a few examples of weapons we think you should buy and what situation they excel in:
- Use the AWP when your economy is flourishing to shut down the enemy team even further.
- The MAC-10 and MP5 are great choices when you need to buy low, but want to rush the opposing side. Use it if you want to push a site quickly or surprise the T-Side with aggressive defense.
- Always pick the AK-47 or one of the M4 rifles on a full buy round. They are the most effective weapons on either the T or CT-Side in a lot of circumstances.
- If you find yourself taking a lot of close quarter fights or you want to be a bit of a rat and hide on site, grab the XM1014. The shotgun is the bane of many CS2 players' existence and will have them raging while you send them to the spectator screen.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and Counter-Strike coverage.
