The Quiet Reload: Valve's Smallest Change May Matter Most for Pro CS

The Quiet Reload: Valve's Smallest Change May Matter Most for Pro CS

The biggest update so far this year brings us a fast paced 3v3 "Rush" mode, silent reloads and pets.

Rush Mode

"Rush" mode is a high octane 3v3 mode, with a maximum of 15 rounds. Teams fight in a randomly selected arena around a tower, that has to be controlled after the enemy team is eliminated or the time rounds out. It does not come with its own rank, but rather a friends leaderboard. I have played a few rounds already by now and I think it is a great time-killer when your full five stack is not ready yet or you just want to play some faster paced rounds of CS. I even had a round as short as 2m45s, when you win 4-0 immediately and therefore capture the castle of the enemy team.

Premier Map Voting

For Premier mode there was a change in the map voting process. The new voting system works as follows: Team 1 picks one map, Team 2 picks two, and Team 1 picks a final one. One of the four maps is then chosen at random for the match. This should help with the distribution of most played maps and even out the scores a little bit. For reference, this is the current map distribution for August:

Source: Leetify Data Library

Silent Reload and Grenade Limit

The most impactful change particularly for the pro scene is the silent reload, silent un-scoping as well as the grenade limit capping the total number of grenades a player can buy in a round to four. The silent reload takes roughly double the time of a normal reload.

Eggs and Chickens

Surprising was the addition of eggs and chickens, no mention of this was in the news or changelog that Valve publishes alongside updates. This is how it looks when you get your weekly drop now and you select the egg.

Everything Else

Furthermore we got Clan Tags (editable in the Lobby), more visible blood and bullet impacts on long range, new crosshair options, a new music kit and various small fixes.

Source: Counter-Strike Updates