CS2 Tick Rate & Subtick System Explained + Commands

CS2 tick rate command

The CS2 tick rate is a crucial setting that determines how often the game updates its state. Currently, CS2 operates at an official server tick rate of 64 Hz, which means 64 updates per second. However, players often debate the merits of a higher tick rate, such as 128 Hz, for a potentially smoother and more responsive gameplay. 

Key Takeaways

  • CS2’s official server tick rate is 64Hz, but there are other servers out there, offering higher tick rates (up to 128Hz), which can enhance gameplay responsiveness and precision.
  • The Sub Tick system in CS2 allows the server to calculate player actions between traditional tick updates, offering a more accurate and responsive gameplay experience by reducing delays.
  • You can view your tick rate in CS2 using the cl_showfps 3 command.

Understanding CS2’s Tick Rate

CS2 tick rate explained

In the online gaming world, you can think of the tick rate as the game’s heartbeat – a higher rate leads to a more vivid game experience. 

Specifically, in CS2, an exhilarating first-person shooter, the tick rate has a significant impact on how your actions are processed and remembered by the game. A higher tick rate can elevate the responsiveness and feel of the game, making your movements and shots more accurate and allowing you to perform complex techniques, like:

  • jump throws
  • bunny hopping
  • quick scoping
  • strafe shooting

Developed by Valve Corporation, Counte­r-Strike 2 operates on an official server tick rate of 64 Hz, which translates to 64 game state updates per second. 

However, it’s not the maximum. Indeed, there are higher tick rate servers, as much as 128 Hz, available for CS2, which provide more frequent input updates and enhance the gaming experience. If you’re interested in playing on such servers, FACEIT would be an excellent choice.

The Revolutionary Sub Tick System in CS2

CS2 tick rate explained

The subtick system in Counter-Strike 2 is a real breakthrough that improves game responsiveness by letting the server process player movements, kicks, and grenade throws instantly, independent of the traditional tickrate.

In the past, updates were bound to specific intervals (ticks), but the subtick system of CS2 updates actions between these intervals, which ensures a much more precise and consistent gameplay experience. Instead, it’s the visual feedback where the players can get more reliability – they can see that the trajectories of the grenades and the correctness of the movements are kept uniformly

CS2’s Sub-Tick system revolutionizes the processing of player actions. It enables the server to accurately calculate actions like moving and shooting between ticks. This results (or at least should result) in more accurate and responsive gameplay, as it allows for precise calculation of actions between standard tick updates.

The Sub-Tick updates in CS2 improve upon the traditional tick rate system by offering more frequent and precise updates compared to the standard 64 Hz tick rate. This leads to enhanced accuracy in-game actions compared to servers with traditional tick rates. 

How Sub-Tick Updates Work

CS2 tick rate explained

CS2’s Sub Tick update system refreshes the state of the game world approximately every 15.6 milliseconds, which amounts to 64 times per second. This ensures synchronization between the server and clients, maintaining consistency among all players in the match.

CS2 sub tick updates involve the server recognizing and calculating player actions between ticks, providing more detailed and precise updates. The subtick system includes packages with information on exact timing, allowing the server to roll back time to the exact instant, which is crucial for precise gameplay.

Subtick vs Tick Rate

Tickrate and subtick are two different things in CS2. The term tickrate represents how often the game server reports the activity of the game which, in the past, had an effect on the processing of movements and actions.

In addition, subtick is a fresh addition to the CS2 features list that enables the game server to perform actions such as shooting and movement in a fraction of a second, regardless of the tickrate. This method serves to upgrade the smoothness and the regularity of updates made to the said actions which then results in an improved gaming experience through the accuracy and the fast interface that the game has.

The CS2 Tick Rate Command

CS2 tick rate command

In the game, you can use a command that shows you the tick rate in real time. To obtain this information, you must type cl_showfps 3 in the developer console. Make sure that your developer console is enabled first and then open it using ~. To check if it’s enabled, go to Settings -> Game, and find the Enable Developer Console setting.

Summary

The legacy of Counter Strike’s tick rate system remains significant in today’s gaming landscape, continuing to impact gameplay and player satisfaction. Hopefully, in the future Valve will introduce 128 tick rate servers. But for now, we’ll have to survive on 64.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is CS2 64 or 128 tick?

Valve uses 64 tick servers.

How does CS2 sub-tick rate work?

In CS2, the sub-tick system allows the server to calculate precise actions between ticks, making tick rates between moving and shooting irrelevant. This update ensures precision by recognizing exact player movements, shots, and maneuvers.

How can I display the tick rate in CS2?

You can display the tick rate in CS2 by using the command cl_showfps 3.

Posted by
William Westerlund

William is an author, editor, and an avid gamer with over 10.000 hours in CS:GO (Counter-Strike 2). He also enjoys playing Rust, Dota 2, and TF2 but never became a top 1% player in any of those games.