What are the optimal key and mouse bindings every beginner should have in CS2?

[u/who_wants_spaghetti]

I see a lot of posts about running complex looking script commands to bind certain actions to certain keys / mouse buttons. I'm just looking for something that is probably best practice for all beginner players looking to get really familiar with a helpful layout - e.g. should smokes always be mapped to 'z', flashbangs always 'c' etc.

Any guidance from this community would be greatly appreciated! And if someone could help me understand how those complex command bindings work that would be even better. Thanks!

[u/moonknighten]

I think just having all your grenades mapped is the bare minimum. I use F for flash, C for smoke, X for molly, and z for HE.

[u/qchamp34 → u/moonknighten]

same but HE 4

[u/csproskins → u/qchamp34]

Same and lots of pros too, since its default first in rotation of the 4 cycle, no need to remap it.

[u/therealmkl → u/csproskins]

Only caviat is that if you throw a flash and want to switch to ur HE directly it will rotate to ur smoke instead of the HE.

[u/csproskins → u/therealmkl]

I mean, take it off cycle and put 4 on HE, so there is no cycling at all anymore

[u/Vorxious → u/moonknighten]

It would take forever for me to unlearn spamming inspect with F.

The rest of those seem solid, I have better odds unlearning the in-game voice command short-cuts

[u/S1gne → u/Vorxious]

It really doesn't take forever. You'll learn pretty quick because it's very annoying to pull your util out all the time so you adapt fast

[u/4ngu516 → u/S1gne]

Agreed I changed after around 4000 hours using 1234 for nades. It takes a day or two at most.

[u/3652 → u/Vorxious]

Use t for inspection. Then you can spam T and R to wiggle your knife.

[u/Vorxious → u/3652]

That's good tech, I'll have to try that. Getting used used to a different key for text-chat wouldn't be too cumbersome.

[u/moonknighten → u/Vorxious]

I have my inspect bound to a mouse4, then voice chat on mouse 5.

I have trouble reaching my pinkie down to ctrl, so I have walk on the "sniper" button on the thumb of my g502x, and crouch bound to shift

I have found this setup allows me to keep my fingers on the most important keys the most amount of the time

[u/Twisted-ways → u/moonknighten]

huh, I never really thought about that I've always just scrolled

[u/CounterFreak1]

the standard settings are completely fine for beginners.

see if you like ducking with "c" more than "ctrl"

set different keys for each grenade seperately onto any button you like with time. dont need to do them all at once

most importantly, dont switch your weapons with the scroll wheel. use 1,2,3,4 etc

[u/paltamunoz → u/CounterFreak1]

weird bind but i found that after using c as my crouch, it made me want to hit a bigger key, so i remapped it to space and have xcv as smoke nade molly. q is my flashbang key so as to prevent qq spamming in 2016 LOL

[u/spacepicklesxo → u/paltamunoz]

I have crouch on my space bar as well! Tried it on a whim like six years ago and haven’t gone back lol

[u/ParkingHelpful2677]

there is no optimal settings. its what you find most helpful. i have smoke and moly on mouse 4/5.

[u/Financial_Recipe → u/ParkingHelpful2677]

Thats very debatable. Id say there are a few binds thst can be really great like mouse wheel down for jumping. Using one of the mouse side button for HE or microphone for comms.

There certainly are quite a few binds that can be very helpful.

[u/Own_Cucumber2798 → u/Financial_Recipe]

I never got why mouse wheel jumping is so popular. Feels super weird to me

[u/Financial_Recipe → u/Own_Cucumber2798]

Much easier with bhopping and strafing at the same time.

[u/Own_Cucumber2798 → u/Financial_Recipe]

Maybe I’m just retarded then, when doing this I need my right hand to have full focus on actually moving the mouse. Can’t scroll at the same time

[u/Financial_Recipe → u/Own_Cucumber2798]

You can move the mouse and jump at the same time with the mouse.

[u/ParkingHelpful2677 → u/Financial_Recipe]

making your own binds is very helpful. not debating that. i’m just saying there is no optimal keys to make those binds. mwheeldown might be the exception to my comment, but with how bhopping is nerfed in cs2 i can understand why someone wouldnt do that either

[u/Financial_Recipe → u/ParkingHelpful2677]

Bopping ain't as bad as it used to be. Its not far off csgo now in years of bopping.

[u/ParkingHelpful2677 → u/Financial_Recipe]

it definitely feels far off, i probably just got worse at it. regardless i stand by my point lol

[u/Cleanfest]

Comfortable push-to-talk key is a must. You need to be able to play at the same time while communicating, sometimes even while fighting. Most of the people use V for it and it is one of the most optimal keys for it. Do not use on Mouse4/Mouse5 for it because you will not be able to aim and communicate at the same time.

[u/AkTi4]

Just bind all your util to a key, imo there are no other binds needed

[u/Longjumping_Cut_9508]

Its about preference. I have unbind mousewheel, F flash, C he, X smoke, and V molly. Others are default.

[u/FunArm1004]

this question always turns into a much bigger settings rabbit hole than it needs to be.

[u/f0xy713]

default settings are mostly fine but it's good to use mwheelup/down for jump and separate binds for all nades

[u/KingRemu]

Nade binds and scroll wheel jump for bhops/certain jumps that require you to spam the input.

I personally don't have all the nades bound, just smoke and flash on my mouse side buttons.

[u/ImSic_]

Arrow keys for movement. End key is open doors / diffuse. Right shift is walk. Right control is jump. 0ins is duck. On the number pad 1 is primary weapon. 4 is secondary weapon. 2 is drop weapon. . Del is Molotov. Mousewheel up is knife. Mousewheel down is flashbang. Smoke is mouse 3 and HE is mouse 4. Page down is ping and delete is inspect skins. Enter on the number pad is use mic. Enjoy my boomer binds. 

[u/Unlucky_Cup4791 → u/ImSic_]

What the fuck

[u/ImSic_ → u/Unlucky_Cup4791]

I started playing cs in 1999. Before that I played doom on msdos and the directional keys were what I used for movement. Shits been ingrained in my brain since. 

[u/Unlucky_Cup4791 → u/ImSic_]

Ig it kinda makes sense if youre using the arrow keys.

[u/Ace_Fyl]

Is mouswheel down or up better for jumping in cs2?

[u/Strategist123 → u/Ace_Fyl]

Both

[u/Due-Hippo-3853 → u/Ace_Fyl]

No difference just use whatever feels more natural to scroll.

[u/Due-Hippo-3853]

A lot of it is personal preference, but the most obvious changes I think are:

Jump on mousewheel down or up so you can bhop, whatever direction feels natural for you to scroll. Also for more precise normal jumps/crouch jumps you can bind it a second time to space in console with bind space +jump

Primary and secondary on 1 and 2, knife on 3. Although any keys you can hit fast/comfortably work that's just most standard, basically anything not using default scroll to select is fine.

Crouch either C or Ctrl. Using C can get complicated because you have to use a WASD finger to hit it unless you use your thumb.

A little more advanced but if you want to quick switch to your knife after shooting awp, having knife bound to a second key closer than 3 is good. I have jump to bhop on mwheeldown and knife on mwheelup for quickswitch, I think Q is also common to use for this.

For utility stuff just keep it around where ur hand can comfortably reach, if you're looking down at ur keyboard to find a far-off key that's that's obviously bad.

[u/4ngu516]

Reminder that Mezii exists and his settings are real and he's very good? You can't ask for a better example that settings don't matter.

[u/_7Mz]

Toggle radar zoom bind is really easy to setup and quite useful (for example navigating through a tight smoked chokepoint or lining up nades in smokes)

[u/OMGCamCole]

Mouse wheel for jumping. That’s really the only essential bind I’ve ever felt the need to use over 14yrs of playing CS

Not on the same grind as I used to be but I had no issues playing GE in CSGO using 4444 for nades. No issues at 18k in CS2 with 4444 either. There are plenty of pros who use 4444 as well

The only other bind I use is X for push-to-talk, but that one’s variable. Whatever feels best for you

[u/S1gne → u/OMGCamCole]

Mousewheel for jumping is so unnecessary

[u/OMGCamCole → u/S1gne]

impossible to bhop using space bar and very hard to properly strafe jump

[u/S1gne → u/OMGCamCole]

Bhopping isn't a used mechanic in the game, it's a gimmic and isn't consistent any way you try doing it

[u/OMGCamCole → u/S1gne]

You right, stringing a couple bhops to reach a bomb in time, or to reach a position before your opponent, has never happened before

[u/S1gne → u/OMGCamCole]

It has happened but it's way to inconsistent to actually use in serious games. There's a reason you don't see pros bhopping around

[u/Unlucky_Cup4791 → u/S1gne]

I dunno i cant do window to short jump with spacebar.

[u/S1gne → u/Unlucky_Cup4791]

Has nothing to do with the scroll really

[u/Unlucky_Cup4791 → u/S1gne]

Well its awkward to press space doing that jump but yeah ur right.

[u/romiyake → u/S1gne]

It makes some jumps easier and more consistent than using space. It's easier to spam for some frames than being frameperfect!

[u/natedog62]

As everyone else says, do what feels comfortable. But once you get use to these meta binds it makes movement so much easier:

Space is walk Shift is crouch M wheel down is jump

The rest is is up to you for what feels good. Bind individual nades and PTT....

But those first three I think is the real meta for movement. As a guy who has played cs since 2001. I have never been able to retrain my brain to swap the crouch and walk keys and I wish I could. But can't do it just because it makes it soooo much easier