CS2 slang: what rush B, eco, lurk and 17 more terms mean
A CS2 slang dictionary for new players: rush B, eco, force buy, save, lurk, entry, trade, clutch, ace, prefire, wallbang, utility and more words you hear every match. With economy numbers taken from the game files.
CS2 slang is a set of short words that lets a team agree on a plan in the two seconds before someone peeks. You can hear “eco”, “rush B” and “he’s lit, one shot” in the same round, and without knowing them voice chat sounds like code. Here are 20 terms that come up in almost every match of CS2. For the economy terms we checked the mode files in the game folder, so the numbers below are the ones official servers use in November 2026.
Tactics and roles
What does rush B mean?
A rush is a fast push by the whole team onto one site without slow info gathering. “Rush B” means running onto bombsite B, usually through the lower tunnels on Dust II. The phrase turned into a meme long ago, but the tactic still works: five attackers against two defenders on one site often beat any clever setup. The downside is that a rush is easy to read, and one grenade in a narrow choke can cost you the round.
What is a lurker?
Lurking means playing alone on the other side of the map, and the player doing it is the lurker. While the team makes noise at one site, the lurker quietly moves to the other flank. The job is to catch defenders from behind or pick off the ones rotating to help. A good lurker rarely shoots first and listens a lot. Silent reload helps here, and we have a guide on how to reload silently in CS2.
What does entry mean?
The entry fragger is the player who goes onto the site first. They die more than anyone else, and that’s fine: their job is to open the position, draw the crosshairs and get the team kills. If your entry died but took one enemy along, the round is going well already.
What does bait mean?
Bait is a lure. A player steps into view on purpose or makes noise so the enemy shoots and reveals their spot, and a teammate behind trades the kill. There’s also an insulting meaning: “he baited me” is what you say when a teammate sent you in first and then didn’t help.
What is a retake?
A retake means winning back a site where the enemy has already planted the bomb. Defenders group up and push onto the planted bomb to defuse it. The defuser gets $300, and the team gets $3,500 for the round win. CS2 even has a separate Retakes mode where every round starts with the bomb already planted.
Economy
What is an eco round?
An eco is a round where the team buys almost nothing to save for real weapons next round. The logic is simple. In Competitive, a lost round gives the team $1,400, a second loss in a row $1,900, and $500 more for each one after that, up to $3,400. A win pays $3,250 if you eliminate everyone and $3,500 if the bomb explodes or gets defused. Money caps at $16,000. So after a lost round it’s often smarter to sit on pistols and buy everything a round later.
What is a force buy?
A force buy means spending everything when you don’t have enough for a full buy. Teams grab cheap SMGs, a Galil or FAMAS, armor without a helmet. You force when the round really matters, for example at 11:12 in Premier, where the match goes to 13 wins.
What does save mean?
Saving means keeping your weapon when the round is already lost. Instead of running one against three, you hide and survive until the round ends so you carry your rifle into the next one. That’s all “save!” in voice chat means. Some people call saving cowardly. They’re wrong: an AWP costs $4,750, and if you bring it into the next round, your team starts it with a sniper it might not have been able to afford.
What is a pistol round?
The pistol round is the first round of each half. Everyone has $800, which buys a better pistol, armor or a few grenades. A match in Premier and Competitive goes to 13 wins out of 24 rounds, so there are two pistol rounds: round 1 and round 13. The next two or three rounds of economy depend heavily on them.
Gunfights
What is a frag?
A frag is a kill, and “how many frags?” asks how many people you killed. Kills pay money, and the amount depends on the weapon: usually $300 for a rifle, but only $100 for the AWP. That’s how the game balances its strongest gun.
What does peek mean?
To peek is to look around a corner to spot an enemy and shoot. There are different peeks: a wide peek, where you swing far out, and a quick peek, where you show yourself and duck back right away. “Don’t peek” on comms means stay behind cover and wait.
What is a prefire?
A prefire is shooting at a spot before you actually see the enemy. Experienced players know where defenders usually stand and start firing as they come around the wall. It works against people who hold the same angles round after round. Which is almost everyone.
What is a wallbang?
A wallbang is a shot through a wall, door or crate. Not everything in CS2 can be shot through, and damage drops after the obstacle, but thin walls and wooden doors go through with almost any rifle. “Wallbang the box” means someone is sitting behind it.
What is a one tap?
A one tap is a kill with a single headshot. People say it most about the AK-47 and the Desert Eagle: the AK kills with one headshot even through a helmet. That’s where “tapping” comes from, meaning shooting single bullets instead of spraying.
What does lit mean?
“Lit” means the enemy took damage from you and is low on health. People usually add a number: “he’s lit for 90” means about 10 HP left, finish him. In a tense round it’s one of the most useful calls, because your teammate will swing on a weakened enemy much more confidently.
What is a trade?
A trade happens when an enemy kills your teammate and you kill that enemy right after. A good trade comes from two players moving a couple of meters apart, so the second one can answer while the killer is reloading or repositioning.
Grenades
What is utility?
Utility, or nades, is the set of grenades a team throws onto spots learned in advance. A smoke blocks vision, a flash blinds, a molly (molotov or incendiary) burns out a corner, and an HE is the frag grenade. “Use your utility on A” means smoke and flash the site before the push. We covered throw range in a separate grenade guide.
End of the round
What is a clutch?
A clutch is when you’re the last one alive against several enemies and still win the round. “A 1v3 clutch” means one against three. Even a lost clutch earns respect if the player got two of the three.
What is an ace?
An ace is when one player kills all five enemies in a single round. It’s rare. An ace on a pistol round, with a cheap pistol on top of that, is definitely worth a clip.
What does TK mean?
TK stands for team kill: killing a teammate, on purpose or by accident. In Premier and Competitive a team kill costs $300, and too much team damage gets you kicked from the match. The exact limits and penalties are in what happens if you kill teammates in CS2.
If you’re just starting out and still choosing between the two big tactical shooters, take a look at our Valorant vs CS2 comparison. Much of the slang is shared, but the economy and roles work quite differently.
