How to Deal With CS2 Cheaters and Trolls

Introduction

Every game or activity that’s even a little bit competitive will have people trying to gain an unfair advantage or ruin the game for others. This is the same in CS2. If you’ve played the game at a higher level, odds are you’ve met at least some of them. Trolls and hackers can ruin the game for everyone, so in this article we’ll give you a brief guide on how to deal with CS2 cheaters and trolls.

How to Report CS2 Cheaters and Trolls in-game

First things first: if you encounter a cheater or troll you should definitely report them in-game.

To report a cheater in CS2:

• Open the scoreboard (the default key for this is tab). Keep the scoreboard open by holding the button.
• Press your alternate fire button (the default button for this is right click) while the scoreboard is open. This should make a mouse cursor appear.
• Move this cursor to the name of the player you want to report. Right click their name, and then select Report from the menu that appears.
• Select the reason for reporting. If you’re reporting a wallhacker, select wall hacking. If you’re reporting someone for abuse or trolling (griefing), select those options.
• Click Submit to send the report. You will get a confirmation in the in-game chat (only visible to you) when your report has gone through.

How to Report on Steam

You may also want to report a player on Steam itself.

To report on Steam:

• Go to the user’s Steam profile
• Click on the “…” button that’s located in the top right corner of the profile.
• Select Report Player.
• Select They are cheating in a game -> Submit this account for review and fill out the form that appears.
• Click on Submit report.

It’s not clear whether reporting cheating on Steam has any influence on how a report is handled if you’ve also reported in the game itself. Consider reporting on Steam to be an extra step, with in-game reporting being the first step you should take. Reporting on Steam in addition to reporting in-game is not required if you want to report a CS2 cheater.

You can also use the Steam report feature for reporting harassment, scamming, impersonating, …

Dealing with CS2 Cheaters and Trolls – Some Tips and Tricks

Don’t feed the troll

As we mentioned: if you suspect a player of cheating or other game-breaking behavior, you should always report them. After doing this, it’s in your best interest to just ignore the bad actors. The age-old adage ‘don’t feed the trolls’ definitely applies here. By posting your report message in the all-chat or otherwise acknowledging that you’ve reported the enemy you’re only playing their game.

Cheaters and trolls want to upset and annoy other players. The best thing you can do to counter them is to just ignore them. This won’t make cheaters stop cheating, but you at least aren’t giving them the satisfaction of knowing they’ve riled you up. Getting worked up in the chat is giving them exactly what they want.

Eye for an eye justice doesn’t work

Even if you’ve had the bad fortune of encountering tons of CS2 cheaters and trolls, you should always stay straight yourself. If you start cheating because ‘everyone else cheats’ you’re only helping the game become more toxic. Cheating because you ‘hate cheaters’ is hypocritical. It makes you lose all rights to complain about the game’s current state, since you’re actively making it worse.

If you’re having trouble with an annoying teammate (blocking your vision on purpose, doing team damage on purpose, …) it’s also best to not respond aside from voting to kick them. It can be tempting to give a griefing teammate a headshot to get rid of them, but it’s best to remain calm. Firstly because you (as mentioned) don’t want to feed the trolls, and secondly because they can then report you.

We can’t stress this enough: trolls and cheaters are actively looking to rile people up. Responding to their disruptive behavior quite literally makes them get exactly what they want. It can even endanger the good standing of your account.

Go easy on the hackusations

CS2 is the most popular shooter game on the planet. As a consequence, there’ll be many bad actors who are trying to game the system by cheating. With that said: sometimes you just get outsmarted, outplayed, or just beaten by better players.

Unless you’re donk, s1mple, device, … chances are you’re not among the best players in the world, so there’ll always be better players than you. Additionally, even the very best players in the world have bad games or games where luck just isn’t on their side and they’re getting dominated.

If you instantly think that everyone who gets a kill on you is a hacker, you’re lowering your own standards. Deciding that everyone who gets the better of you is automatically a hacker means that you’ve basically resigned the match. Since you’re convinced they’re using external assists to best you, you’re not learning or trying anymore. Why would you, they’re cheating anyway, right?

But if they’re not cheating you’re depriving yourself of valuable learning experiences. Maybe you’re always playing in the same spot and getting pre-naded because of that? Perhaps your team always attacks the same site, making the enemy team stack that site? Maybe you should stop crouching as soon as you get into a long range firefight since it makes you a much easier target? These are all examples of valuable things to learn, but if you’re convinced that almost all of your enemies are cheating you’re never going to look in the mirror and get better.

Obviously, not every match is a learning experience. Sometimes it’s just not your day and you’re coming up against someone who is having a great day. We’ve all had those days where the ’99 in 3′ shots keep piling up; nothing you can do there except move on. And sure, hackers do exist. We’re just saying that defaulting to hackusations has never made someone a better player. In fact, it can even be quite the opposite.

Don’t quit the game

Playing against an obvious cheater is -in a lot of ways- a complete waste of time. Still, it’s never a good idea to quit the game. Quitting a competitive match will cost you CS rating (CS2 Ranks and CS2 Ratings explained) and it will give you a competitive cooldown. Quit too often and you can get a competitive cooldown of multiple days.

Furthermore, quitting a match -again- plays into the hand of the cheater. They’ll absolutely love that popup that says ‘player abandoned the match and has been given a competitive cooldown’.

If you’re playing against a ragehacking spinbotter, the game won’t last long anyway. If you’re playing against a more hidden cheater you can use the match to practice your utility usage, movement and what not. There are many things you can practice that don’t have anything to do with aim (duels).

In the event that your entire team is convinced that the enemy is cheating, simply agree to always rush. This way, rounds end in a matter of seconds and you can then move on to the next game.

Report cheating teammates, kick them if you can

If one of your (random) teammates is cheating, you should report them. When possible, you should also kick them from your team. If they’re queued up with friends you won’t be able to votekick them, but it never hurts to try.

It can be tempting to let cheating teammates do their thing so you can get free wins, but that’s ethically wrong and also definitely not guaranteed. When cheaters eventually get banned, their teammates lose the CS rating they gained during the matches that they played with them.

In addition to this: do you really want to win a match unfairly? Competitive shooters like CS2 are all about grinding, getting better, and putting your hard-earned skills to the test in matches with opponents of similar skill. What good is your shiny new rating number if you know you’ve gotten there illegitimately? Always do your best to kick cheaters, and definitely always report them.

Conclusion

Dealing with CS2 cheaters is actually pretty simple. Report them, and then ignore them.

Of course that’s the theory. In reality, it can be incredibly frustrating to play against or with cheaters or other disruptive elements. The temptation to vent your anger in-game (via game actions, voice chat, text chat, …) can be overwhelming, but you should always keep one thing in the back of your mind: don’t feed the troll.

Cheaters, trolls, griefers, … all have one thing in common: they want to ruin the day of other people. If you -for example- start typing entire paragraphs detailing how angry you are, you are giving them exactly what they want and you could get reported for abusive communications yourself.

Much like children who are doing things they know are wrong to get attention, cheaters should just be ignored. Don’t give them the satisfaction by engaging with their behavior. It will only serve as an encouragement to keep doing what they’re doing.