How to Create the Perfect CS2 Warmup

Introduction

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CS2 is a game that rewards precise gameplay in every aspect. Going into a game and missing an easy kill because your aim was off or you got stuck on a certain section of the map can quickly spiral into a round and then match loss. That’s why it’s so important to have a dedicated warmup routine before you start grinding. What that routine exactly contains comes down to personal preferences, so in this article we’ll go over everything that you need to know to craft your own personal CS2 warmup routine.

In this article, we’ll refer to some workshop maps to help you warm up more efficiently.

The difference between warming up and training

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Before you craft your own warmup routine, you should know that there’s a difference between training and warming up.

When you train certain skills, you’re learning new techniques or theories. This involves studying, trial and error, and lots of repetition.

Warming up, on the other hand, quite simply means that you’re getting the blood flowing. This is not the time to learn things. Warmups are for getting into the zone and charging up the skills that you already have.

The importance of warming up

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Games like CS2 can be absolutely brutal. We’ve all had those embarrassing moments where we miss a simple shot, only to end up dying to the enemy that was supposed to be the easy prey. If you get into this situation in an important round, your silly miss might have consequences for the entirety of a match.

Furthermore, starting off your gaming night by getting killed again and again because your aim is ‘cold’ can turn a fun night of competitive gameplay into a frustrating slog. Tilt is a very real thing in gaming, after all. If you’re constantly losing fights that you know you should’ve won if you warmed up, you’re more likely to end up frustrated.

Long story short: if you’re even a little bit serious about CS2, you should be warming up before you head into real matches. CS2’s gameplay and economy are far too punishing to leave anything to chance.

The skills that you should warm up

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The exact gameplay aspects that you should warm up depend on your personal strengths and weaknesses. If you know that you’re (relative to your level of gameplay) fantastic at tracking, you don’t have to spend as much time on it as someone who is worse at it, for example.

Here’s a quick overview of the main skills you should warm up before heading into a CS2 match. You can decide for yourself which aspects need more attention in your personal CS2 warmup.

Tracking Aim

Tracking aim is as important as flicking aim. It’s instrumental for proper crosshair placement, getting pistol frags, and keeping your crosshair on moving enemies.

To warm up your tracking, load up Aim Botz. Then, move around the map while keeping your crosshair exactly on a bot’s head. Do this at different distances, and try to incorporate erratic WASD movement on your part while keeping your crosshair smoothly aligned with the bot’s head.

For a more advanced tracking warmup, set the bots to move themselves. Then, do the same as described above.

Flicking Aim

Flicking aim is what you need to land those sick shots on enemies that pop up unexpectedly.

To warm up your flicking, go to Aim Botz. There, try to get to 100 headshot kills as quickly as possible, but also focus on being as clean as possible. For added difficulty, you can set the bots to move and/or move around yourself.

Spraying

Unless you’re a one-tap monster like prime ScreaM (spoiler alert: you’re not) then you’ll need your sprays to be on point. Having the ability to finish off enemies quicker when you get into spraying battles will net you tons of kills.

You can warm up spraying in Aim Botz if you’ve completely memorized the spray patterns of the guns that you use. However, we recommend using Recoil Master – Spray Training to warm up your sprays. There, you get visual feedback if your spray is off, and you can immediately rectify it on the next spray. While in that map, also focus on spray transfers by placing another bot on the wall.

Utility usage

Most of your off-server utility work should be done in practice sessions, but it can be a good idea to quickly warm up your lineups anyway. Especially if you haven’t used them for a while or they’re new.

We’ve seen it happen a lot: someone has learned a new lineup during the week, and when it’s time to play a match, the nade always fails, leading to frustrated teammates.

To prevent this, quickly load up a practice map in the game itself and make sure you still have the lineups memorized correctly.

Movement (and counter-strafing)

Your movement is what allows you to flow freely. It’s also what will help you nail those impressive ‘drive-by one taps’ on people who are holding common angles.

To warm up your movement, you can go into basically any map. In that map, just start running and jumping around. Focus on moving smoothly. To warm up your counter-strafing, simply face a wall in any map. Then, start moving your character and fire a bullet while properly counter-strafing. Make sure that every bullet lands exactly where your crosshair is.

DM

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A lot of the concepts we highlighted can be warmed up in community deathmatch (DM) servers. We’ve got a detailed article on the best ones you can use if you’re interested. Many pros and high-level players only use DM to warm up, so that’s absolutely a valid option.

Just know that, if you decide to use a DM server for your CS2 warmup, you’re not playing to win. Do not get frustrated if you’re getting killed constantly. Use your DM session to focus on warming up the individual parts of your game, and do not worry about your score.

Warmup guidelines

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Don’t make your warmup too long

A warmup should be quick. Precisely how long your warmup session is comes down to personal preferences, but know that there are diminishing returns here. If you warm up for 2 hours before you even touch a Premier server, odds are you’re already past your performance peak before the match comes to a close. Most warmups are between 10-30 minutes, so we suggest starting out with something like that.

Keep it simple

A warmup should be easy and simple. It should be something that you can almost mindlessly do every single day. Keep it limited to a couple of maps, and don’t overcomplicate things. Remember: there’s a difference between warming up and training.

Make it your own

Every player is unique. Therefore, you should do your own thing in your warmup. Your friend might warm up by getting 400 kills in DM, but if you get wildly frustrated by playing DM, you can just as easily take it easier in a Workshop map like Aim Botz. Figure out what you like and what is fun and engaging for you, and stick to that.

Some example CS2 warmup routines

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For a serious match or session

If you’re going to be playing a serious grinding session or you’ve got a team match coming up, you can consider a slightly more elaborate warmup routine.

• 1-tap 150 heads in Aim Botz
• Track heads while strafing in Aim Botz for 2 minutes
• Move around the Aim Botz map and shoot, warming up your counter-strafing for 3 minutes
• Warm up spraying and spray transfers by killing as many bots in Aim Botz in one magazine (if you’re not comfortable with spraying, go to Recoil Master – Spray Training) for 3 minutes
• Set the bots in Aim Botz to move, then practice one-tapping them and pistol killing them for 2 minutes
• Go on a community DM server until you get to 200 kills, or until it’s time to start playing

For a more relaxed session

If you’re not going to be playing anything serious, you can use the routine mentioned above and just make everything shorter. Or, you can go for a very simple routine.

• 1-tap 50 heads in Aim Botz
• Set the bots to move and track them for 1 minute
• Move around the map yourself and try to kill the moving bots as quickly as possible using a variety of techniques (spraying, one-tapping, bursting) while focusing on crosshair placement

This is a very short, but highly effective routine for those times where you just want to get the blood flowing quickly.

What about aim trainers?

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We don’t have anything against aim trainers. They can be a very useful tool to improve highly specific aspects of your aim. However, seeing as CS2 has an insanely wide range of custom maps via its Workshop, we recommend warming up in the actual game. There are maps to be found for pretty much every scenario you can imagine. Warming up in the game you’re about to play is always more effective than warming up in a third-party program, especially when said game has so many tools to offer in the form of custom maps.

Conclusion

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Warming up doesn’t need to be boring. It also doesn’t need to take a lot of time. However, it is something that you should absolutely consider doing if you’re a serious player. Crafting your own highly effective CS2 warmup doesn’t take long at all, and you can warm up successfully in under 10 minutes. Doing so will make you a lot more consistent in those first couple of rounds or matches, so your teammates (and your rating) will thank you.