CS2 tickrate and the subtick system
Tickrate is how often a Counter-Strike 2 server updates the game state per second. There's a lot of debate around it (64 vs 128 tick), but in CS2 things work differently thanks to the subtick system. Let's break it down in plain terms.
What tickrate is
A tick is a single "snapshot" of the game world on the server. A tickrate of 64 means 64 updates per second. In the past (in CS:GO) people argued over 64 vs 128 tick: at 128 the server processed actions more often, and shooting felt more precise.
What subtick is in CS2
In CS2, Valve added subtick: the server still runs at 64 tick, but it now records the EXACT moment between ticks when you pulled the trigger or jumped. In other words, what matters isn't which tick an action happened on, but which millisecond within the tick.
Thanks to subtick, shots and movement are processed down to the moment of the input, so the gap between 64 and 128 tick in CS2 isn't as big a deal as it was in CS:GO.
Which server to choose
- For regular play, a community server's tickrate is almost always 64 + subtick - and that's plenty.
- What matters most for responsiveness isn't tickrate but low ping (see the "How to reduce ping in CS2" guide).
- You can't raise the tickrate with a client-side launch option - it's a server-side property.