Counter-Strike 2 stealthily added a new crosshair feature to the game, Follow Recoil. Here we give you a full rundown on what the new setting does and how it can improve your aim.
Counter-Strike 2 was stealthily released in Beta on March 22 to humungous fanfare. The long-awaited sequel had been through months of leaks, reports from the likes of Richard Lewis, and of course, fan obsession over every move from Valve on Steam.
And now that it’s out, with the beta being played by thousands, many have been checking out the latest changes, of which there are plenty. Namely the completely new smoke physics, improved tickless servers, and general quality-of-life adjustments to the UI.
But one particular change most might not have realized when launching the beta, is an addition to the Crosshair settings list. Here, we see a new option for Follow Recoil in Counter-Strike 2. But what exactly does this new feature mean and how does it work?
You can set your crosshair to move with the recoil of the gun. pic.twitter.com/ghhXENew6N
— elias (@fREQUENCYCS) March 23, 2023
What is Follow Recoil in Counter-Strike 2?
The new Follow Recoil setting is quite simple in theory. The idea is that your crosshair will follow where your bullet lands when spraying your gun. But first, a quick rundown on what recoil is in FPS games.
Recoil in an FPS game is when you hold down your shoot button and your bullets go upwards in a certain trajectory, away from where you aimed. This is because it’s meant to simulate real-world firearms, as the blowback from a gun would cause your aim to shift away from the intended target.
Most tactical FPS titles, like CS, Valorant, and R6 work around this mechanic. But CS is the most unforgiving as its recoil is much harsher.
In CS, being able to control your recoil, also called spray control, is an essential skill when getting good at the game. In pro play, you may see players slightly drag their crosshair down and slightly side-to-side. This is to compensate for the recoil, as CS’s recoil actually has patterns that you can counteract against.
And in CS2, your crosshair can now follow the exact position of your weapon recoil, which makes spraying much more accurate.
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How can Follow Recoil help improve your aim in Counter-Strike 2?
Upon enabling the Follow Recoil setting, it might feel quite disorientating at first to see your crosshair stagger across your screen. But there is an effective means of improving with this setting in effect.
Pick a target in front of you, and try shooting it. You’ll find only your first two bullets actually landed. Your goal now is to compensate for the recoil to make sure all your bullets actually land on target.
You can do this by dragging your mouse down. But different weapons have different patterns. Do check out the WarOwl video we have linked below for a more in-depth breakdown.
The Follow Recoil option is a fantastic visual aid to help master your spray control. As now your goal while spraying is to make sure your crosshair always stays on target.
It’s not too dissimilar to the famous Recoil Master workshop map, which helps you train your spray pattern. As in that map, it has you follow a point that counteracts the recoil. And with Follow Recoil option, you have a reversed version of that, where you have to keep your crosshair centered.
This option should make spraying in CS much easier for players to practice, as now you can have an in-game guide as to where your bullets are landing, and how you need to compensate.
So if you do have access to CS2’s beta, you can easily improve your aim with just this setting. Just enable it in the crosshair section in the setting, and start spraying away. Just remember to keep that crosshair on the target.