C4 gets a shockwave, new skin collections added in latest CS2 update

The post-Major Counter-Strike 2 update is finally here and brings some exciting changes to C4 explosions, alongside Armory pass additions and new community maps. The bomb damage gets a complete overhaul- now when the C4 explodes, a shockwave rushes out almost like a nuke. In Valve's own words- "You're toast" if you're too close to the bomb with a direct line of sight.

The community has already discovered a number of potential bugs with the new bomb explosion mechanism. Some have posted videos on X, where they survive the explosion directly above the C4 in Nuke and videos of C4 explosions on B-site Inferno sparing players in Church has also surfaced.

The health bar now flashes to show much health a player would lose from their current position after the C4 explodes. Arabesque and Spy Tech are two new weapons collections added to the Armory pass. Two new sticker collections- Fruits & Vegetables and Auto Racing also make their way into the Armoy pass. Three community maps- Boulder, Fachwerk and Shelter have been added to competitive, casual and deathmatch game modes while Debris and El Dorado make their way into the wingman map pool.

Shelter in particular has drawn attention for a simple yet significant change. The hostage map maintains all core elements of the hostage-rescue gameplay but has replaced human hostages with dogs. The CTs should pick these dogs up and escort them to the rescue zone to secure an objective round win.

Season 5 of Premier has now begun and players will need to win 10 placement matches to unlock their CS Rating. Players with at least 25 wins and an active rank at the end of Season 4 will receive a medal based on the total Premier wins and their highest rank in Season 4.

Weapon collections- Train 2025, Sport & field and sticker collections- Sugarface 2, Elemental Craft have been removed from the Armory. Several clipping adjustments were deployed across Dust2, Inferno and Cache, the game engine now runs the latest version of Source 2 and a number of scripting changes were announced. Here are Valve's release notes for the update:

PREMIER

• Premier Season Five has begun

• Added Cache to the Active Duty Map Pool

• Removed Overpass from the Active Duty Map Pool

GAMEPLAY

• Re-designed effective range and extent of C4 explosion damage on all official defusal-mode maps.

• Damage is now applied according to precomputed simulation values, baked into the compiled map.

• Explosion shockwave damage now rapidly expands from the center of the explosion instead of being applied instantly.

• Fixed case where picking up dropped weapons through the Buy Menu would fail to complete.

ARMORY

• Added two new weapon collections based on the recent Call to Arms community announcement: Spy Tech + Arabesque

• Added two new sticker collections based on the recent Call to Arms community announcement: Fruits & Vegetables + Auto Racing

• Train 2025 and Sport & Field weapon collections are no longer available in the Armory

• Sugarface 2 and Elemental Craft sticker collections are no longer available in the Armory

WORKSHOP

• Updated "Custom Paint Job Extended"

• • Added option to include a dedicated overlay mask texture

• • Added option to set unique overlay UV randomization separate from albedo UV randomization

MISC

• Reduced the performance cost of showing the scoreboard.

• Fixed a case where material blending effects would disappear when you got too close (e.g. the dirt on the barrels in Inferno Banana).

• Increased sticker rotation precision to allow half-degree increments on application screen.

MAP SCRIPTING

• Added Instance.QueueAfterThinks

• Added Instance.OnWeaponDrop

• Added CSWeaponBase.GetOriginalOwner

• Fixed a crash when the name passed to Instance.RegisterCheatCommand collided with an existing command.

• Added file name and line number to errors caught during the CompileModule step of script loading.

• Removed support for deprecated vts assets.

ENGINE

• Updated engine code to the latest version of Source 2

MAPS

• Removed community maps: Warden, Stronghold, Alpine, and Sanctum from all game modes

• Added community maps Boulder, Fachwerk, and Shelter to Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch modes

• Added community maps Debris and El Dorado to Wingman mode

• Cache

• • Various clipping adjustments

• Dust II

• • Fixed pixel gap Outside Tunnel

• • Clipping adjustment Outside Tunnel

• Inferno

• • Clipping fix to prevent pixel boost at Top of Mid