It’s time to grind for your new Medal! To start this new Premier season, Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) unrolls a potentially impactful update.
Anubis returns to the Active Duty pool with some changes. Also, the developers adjusted stats and decreased the price for SMGs. For competitive Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) players, Premier Season 4 is a fresh start in the chase for a high rating.
SMG changes: MP5-SD and MP7
Two submachine guns (SMGs) got slight adjustments in CS2. They are MP7 and MP5-SD.
- The base damage has been increased.
- The damage fall-off over time is lesser. This means it will deal more damage in longer ranges.
- Both guns cost $100 less.
In theory, MP5-SD and MP7 are decent choices for anti-eco and force-buy rounds. In practice, both teams have better SMGs for these purposes: MP9 for the CT side and MAC-10 for the T players. Time is needed to figure out how the damage buff can affect the competitive weapon picks.
PP-Bison is cheaper
This twist is pretty niche, but if you enjoy having a huge magazine and a high fire rate for your SMG — and if you have skills to deal with lower damage and armor penetration — PP-Bison can be a good pick. The weapon is $100 cheaper now.
There are no damage adjustments for this gun.
Refreshed Anubis
Arguably, the main question around this CS2 update was the state of Anubis as it makes its return to esports and Premier play. The official patch notes have confirmed: Anubis is back with some changes.
- With this update, Train is officially out of the CS2 Active Duty map pool.
Community maps rotation
Four community maps were removed from all game modes in Counter-Strike 2: Golden, Palacio, Agency, and Rooftop. We got the following replacements:
- Warden, Stronghold, and Alpine in Casual, Competitive, and Deathmatch modes.
- Sanctum and Poseidon in Wingman.
All skins in the Harlequin collection
The name of this new CS2 skin collection certainly resembles Harley Quinn from DC Comics. The art style continues this reference with bright colors, even for lower-tier weapons.
Rarity level | Harlequin skins |
|---|---|
| Classified | M4A1-S | Party Animal |
| Restricted | AWP | Exothermic USP-S | Sleeping Potion |
| Mil-Spec | Zeus x27 | Earth Mandala UMP-45 | Warm Blooded Galil AR | Sky Mandala Five-SeveN | Fraise Crane |
| Industrial | XM1014 | XoooM Tec-9 | Banana Leaf SSG 08 | Calligrafaux MP7 | Coral Paisley MP5-SD | Picnic |
| Consumer | Sawed-Off | Crimson Batik SG 553 | Safari Print R8 Revolver | Mauve Aside PP-Bizon | Thermal Currents MP9 | Bee-Tron FAMAS | Byproduct CZ75-Auto | Honey Paisley |
All CS2 skins in the Achroma Collection
The visual beauty of these Counter-Strike weapon skins is based on fancy patterns over a common back-and-white color scheme.
Rarity level | Achroma skins |
|---|---|
| Classified | AWP | The End |
| Restricted | AK-47 | Breakthrough Glock-18 | Trace Lock |
| Mil-Spec | AUG | Creep Desert Eagle | The Daily Deagle P2000 | Grip Tape P90 | Aeolian Light |
| Industrial | FAMAS | Vendetta M4A4 | Aeolian Dark MAC-10 | Snow Splash MP5-SD | Snow Splash R8 Revolver | Dark Chamber |
| Consumer | PP-Bizon | Bizoom Dual Berettas | Silver Pour M249 | Sleet Nova | Currents MP9 | Dizzy P250 | Sleet SCAR-20 | Zinc SSG 08 | Sans Comic |
- With the addition of two new collections, a few others are out of the Weekly Care Package drops: Safehouse, Dust 2, 2018 Inferno, and 2018 Nuke Collection.
AK-47 | Aphrodite in Armory
One unique skin was added to CS2 as an Armory reward. It's a limited edition AK-47 | Aphrodite. The weapon has clearly different appearances depending on the seed pattern and Float Values.
Some other changes in the CS2 Premier Season 4 update are the following: in-game sounds, visual effects from weapons, technical jump features, and map guides.
The Anubis and SMG changes should affect all levels of skills, including CS2 esports. IEM Krakow 2026 should feature this game build from Jan. 28 to Feb. 8.
