The new and improved tac shooter from Valve, Counter Strike 2, features many new graphics updates and weapon changes that players are adapting to. The core mechanics that gamers love are back and better than ever, as the new game is similar to its predecessor, and there are some features that remain staples for gaining an edge over the competition. The individuality of crosshairs in Counter Strike is second to none and players all over the world are looking to find the best of the best to aid them in rising through the ranks.
A crosshair is a marker that sits in the center of a player's screen and acts as a guide for what direction their bullets may land. Crosshairs can be extremely vital for maintaining accuracy in situations where a split second decision needs to be made, and certain varieties of crosshairs can make hitting a perfect headshot much easier.
In Counter Strike 2 you can now change your crosshair in two different ways due to a recent update that made community maps active. You can go into settings and manually change each crosshair setting or copy/paste a professional crosshair, or you can download crashz’ crosshair generator on the steam community workshop to craft your own.
How to Change Your Crosshair in the Menu: Step by Step
- Open Counter Strike 2, and select settings on the main menu (with the classic gear shape icon)
- Select the crosshair tab on the bottom right side of the settings menu
- From here, change different aspects of your crosshair to fit your needs, or copy the specific settings from one of the top players below!
Above is the crosshair that I personally use. The teal color is prominent on every map in the game, and the removal of the top notch of the “t” shape allows for headshot visibility. Players that modify their crosshairs to suit their own needs may find themselves firing with more precision and earning more kills per round due to headshots lining up easier. In order to really spike your kill rate, you need to be able to take charge of a position and own those around you with confidence in your crosshair's ability to produce headshots.
Let us take a look at the top 15 Counter Strike players in the world and what each of their crosshairs look like, and why each style can be effective.
15. YEKINDAR
At number 15, Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis is a Latvian In Game Leader for team Liquid, who is famous for being an aggressive entry fragger. He has won thousands of dollars for his team at major tournaments, and is upheld as one of the best players to hit the pavement first in a round. His crosshair is extremely small and would barely register on the screen if not for its neon green color.
YEKINDAR dominates the entry field with this crosshair that allows him to see his environment clearly while retaining deadly accuracy when his opponents are marked with bright green lines. This crosshair grants pinpoint accuracy while diminishing visual clutter, though the color allows for it to remain in the focal point of the screen.
Crosshair Features:
- Surrounding visibility
- Standard cross style
- Central gap (no dot)
- Bright green contrasts on all objects
Watch YEKINDAR own against NaVi with this crosshair:
Liquid YEKINDAR vs NaVi on Inferno
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 2
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
14. huNter
As the fourteenth ranked player in the world, Nemanja “huNter” Kovac is a talented player for G2 Esports who excels at rifling and lurking. In order to be a successful rifler, huNter uses an opaque and white crosshair to reveal hidden enemies looking to flank his team.
A squished and compact crosshair like his can be difficult for some players to master, but those who follow this path will find their visual clutter gone and their headshot count up. When huNter is playing on darkened maps such as “Ancient”, the color of his crosshair is extremely visible against the dark background, which makes it easier to spot the contrast of enemies on the map.
Crosshair features:
- Compacted design
- No central gap
- White color contrasts with enemy character models
- Color visible on dark maps (Ancient, Vertigo, etc.)
Watch huNter own with this crosshair:
G2 Hunter vs Heroic on Mirage
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 5
cl_crosshaircolor_r 255
cl_crosshaircolor_g 255
cl_crosshaircolor_b 255
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -4
cl_crosshairsize 2
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 0.5
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
13. rain
A world famous rifler from FaZe Clan, Harvard “rain” Nygaard is a Norwegian Counter Strike player who is the longest lasting member of his team. Hailed for his consistency and spray control, rain has earned over one million dollars from tournaments since his debut in 2013. His crosshair is almost a combination of the previous two, because it is extremely small and neon green. However, it has more of a gap and symmetrical style than the others.
Many pros use small crosshairs like this one in order to minimize the amount of pixels that it takes up on the screen. For peeking angles like the stairs on Mirage, a barely visible head of the enemy fits nice and snug into rain's crosshair. Having such a small guide for bullet travel can force a player to practice aiming accurately and firing slowly.
Crosshair features:
- Symmetrical dot design
- Extremely small pixel size
- Diamond shape
- Wide central gap
Watch rain excel with this crosshair:
FaZe rain vs NaVi on Nuke
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 200
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 1
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
12. blameF
Benjamin “blameF'' Bremer is a Danish professional CSGO player for the team Astralis, and he is another Rifler as well as being an in-game leader. Arguably one of the most consistent players in the game, blameF is known for his confident communications and his excellent game sense. He has won hundreds of thousands of dollars from official competitions, and his most recent first place prize occurred in 2021 when he was playing as team Complexity’s rifler.
His crosshair is very similar to rain’s as he also uses a full “t” shape that is squished down to appear like a single dot. This crosshair also has tiny equivalently tiny legs for the cross, which makes it fit into the exact size of the head of an enemy. There is almost no gap in between the legs of this crosshair, which exposes contrasting colors around the mark rather than inside of it. BlameF's crosshair is MICROSCOPIC, so we needed to blow up an image in order to show it properly.
Crosshair features:
- Extremely tiny size for headshot accuracy
- White color for contrast on enemies
- No gap and no dot
- Zero potential for visual clutter
Watch blameF firing shots with his crosshair here:
Astralis blameF vs NIP on Nuke
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 5
cl_crosshaircolor_r 255
cl_crosshaircolor_g 255
cl_crosshaircolor_b 255
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -4
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 1
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
11. Twistzz
Not to be confused with the former Call of Duty Trickshotter, Russel van Dulken is known as the professional Counter Strike player FaZe Twistzz. He has won multiple major tournaments including the Intel Grand Slam in 2019 with Team Liquid and the PGL Major in 2022 with FaZe Clan. Twistzz is a well known rifler who boasts a surprisingly moderate mouse sensitivity at only 400 DPI matched with an in-game speed of 1.59.
In order to make snap decisions and clean transfers with his rifle, Twistzz is the first player on this list that actually enables the central dot in his crosshair. This is a strategy that many players avoid when they first begin editing their crosshair, because it can appear to be extra clutter for visibility. However, including the central dot within a cross can actually be good for accuracy if the crosshair is not set to “static”. The arms of the cross will then move in conjunction with a bullet spray or player movement, and the central dot will remain consistent at where the player is truly aiming at.
Crosshair features:
- Central dot for movement accuracy
- Neon green for visibility
- Thin arms and legs for lower visual clutter
Watch Twisttzz pop off with this crosshair:
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 200
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 1
cl_crosshairgap -2
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 5
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 0.5
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
10. Stavn
Martin Lund, better known in the CSGO scene as “stavn”, is a Danish AWPer and rifler for the team Heroic. Both of his brothers known respectfully as “dragoNfly” and “Lifedance '' are also professional Counter Strike players, so you could say that it runs in the family.
When you are using the AWP in CSGO there is no crosshair on the screen, because the AWP is a deadly one shot sniper rifle that would be overpowered with aim direction. In order to acquire this amazing sniper in a professional game, stavn must spend and save his money wisely by using SMGs and getting early kills with pistols.
When he is down on cash and forced to rifle, stavns crosshair makes use of the central dot to own enemies with accurate sprays and meticulous peeks. By using the teal blue color and an extremely low thickness, stavn can spot enemies through his crosshair easily on any background and immediately aim for the neck up. Using semi-neutral colors for your crosshair can make it more visible when it is placed on an enemy, and it becomes translucent when surveying your surroundings.
Crosshair features:
- Neutral blue color applicable to any map
- Central dot for precision
- Tiny size design to fit character head models
Check out stavn owning with this crosshair:
Heroic stavn vs NaVi on Ancient
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 4
cl_crosshairdot 1
cl_crosshairgap -2
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
9. KSCERATO
Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato is a Brazilian rifler for FURIA Esports that has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars competing in professional Counter Strike tournaments. After arriving on the scene in 2013 when he was only fourteen years old, KSCERATO has made a name for himself as one of the top ten Counter Strike players alive. He has played for plenty of different teams throughout his career, and since joining FURIA in 2018 he has competed in many different tournaments both small and large.
KSCERATO is yet another central crosshair dot enjoyer, in order to add that extra level of accuracy within the arms of the “t” shape. In order to tap the heads of his opponents KSCERATO needs to have a crosshair that is small enough to fit over the character model of enemies, and yet defined enough to still be visible. This is why we see many professional players choosing to use crosshairs that are blue or green, so that they will be easily visible on top of an actual enemy's body.
Crosshair features:
- Tiny, almost atom sized, crosshair to encourage headshots
- Central dot for accuracy
- Neutral blue color
Watch KSCERATO own Inferno with this crosshair:
FURIA KSCERATO vs Imperial on Inferno
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 4
cl_crosshairdot 1
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 0
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
8. Ropz
Robin “ropz” Kool is an Estonian Counter Strike professional who has been a lurker and rifler for FaZe Clan since 2022. His job as a lurker is to identify the movements and positions of the enemy team while detached from the main squadron of his team. In order to excel at lurking, ropz plays within the shadows of the map and hides in corners, behind walls, or even inside hallways so that he can listen and relay information.
Lurking in a game of CSGO is one of the most important jobs on the team, because the information a lurker provides can drastically change the actions a team will take. With his last name being “Kool”, ropz plays it cool while he is lurking behind enemy lines with his basic and effective crosshair.
Neon green is one of the most visible color choices in the game, and it stands out incredibly in positions with low light and darker objects. By using this crosshair in his strategy, ropz has earned over one million dollars from playing in professional tournaments, and most recently won the Intel Grand Slam Season 4 with his current team FaZe Clan.
Crosshair features:
- Neon green color is highly visible
- Small gap for headshot placement
- Longer arms and legs to fit chest-shots
Check out ropz owning with this crosshair:
FaZe ropz vs G2 on Inferno
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 2
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0.5
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 0
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
7. m0NESY
As a russian AWPer for G2 Esports, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov has been nicknamed “The Flash” for his incredibly quick decisions, flicks, and reactions. The AWP has an incredible presence on the battlefield because the enemy team will refuse to peek certain angles or travel down certain paths due to the fear of being one-tapped. At only 18 years old m0NESY is the youngest professional Counter Strike player to be ranked in the worldwide top 10.
He is the first player on this list to use the “yellow” color option, which can be seen as a very risky choice for many of the maps. Although yellow will show up visibly on player character models, it is difficult to see on the backgrounds of maps such as Dust II and Mirage. This crosshair should be chosen by those who are seasoned players of the game that are confident in their crosshair placement, and will not lose sight of it.
Crosshair features:
- Bright yellow color; distinct and visible
- Color blends into certain maps, but contrasts with enemies
- Standard “t” shape with medium appendages
Watch m0NESY own with this crosshair:
G2 m0NESY vs Heroic on Mirage
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 2
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 2
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
6. Broky
Yet another member of FaZe Clan’s dominating professional Counter Strike team is a top player in the world, and his name is Helvijs “broky” Saukants. As FaZe's high class AWPer, and known as the Latvian Laser, broky has blasted his way to earning almost a million dollars in professional CSGO tournaments. His skills and consistency have kept him on the FaZe Counter Strike roster since 2019.
Just like m0NESY, broky’s crosshair is generally insignificant due to its disappearance during rounds when he is handling an AWP. However he must also save his way to buying his role’s signature weapon, and earning extra cash in early rounds is essential for an AWPer’s success.
Broky has an extremely standard crosshair for his early round kills, sporting a simple cross with no central dot in the original neon green color. Once again, going green is tried and true and will always light up your opponents bodies with incredible visible contrast.
Crosshair features:
- Classic neon green color improves visibility and accuracy
- Standard “t” shape is tried and true
- Small size for headshot placement
Check out broky using this crosshair with FaZe Clan on Overpass:
FaZe broky vs NaVi on Overpass
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 2
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 0.5
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
5. NiKo
Coming in as the first member of the top five players in the world, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac is a Bosnian entry frag and rifler for team G2 Esports. You may recognize his last name because earlier we looked at his brother “huNter” and his white crosshair at the number 14 spot on this list.
NiKo has a far more expansive record in Counter Strike and while earning over 1.2 million dollars from tournaments he has played for multiple different professional teams. After resigning from FaZe Clan in 2020, NiKo joined up with G2 esports to then win first place in the PGL major at Stockholm in 2021.
NiKo is another player on this list that prefers to use the smallest crosshair possible, in order to create the most pinpoint accurate marker possible for headshots. As an entry fragger his role is to tap heads as quickly as possible while entering unknown territory, and this crosshair allows him to perfectly align a single bullet with the heads of the enemy team.
Crosshair features:
- Extremely small size to force a “headshot only” mindset
- Classic neon green is visible despite the size
- Equivalent appendages create a square shape
Here is a POV of NiKo dominating with his crosshair:
G2 NiKo vs Vitality on Nuke
Crosshair Settings
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 5
cl_crosshaircolor_r 0
cl_crosshaircolor_g 255
cl_crosshaircolor_b 150
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
4. Ax1Le
As the fourth ranked Counter Strike player in the world, Sergey “Ax1Le '' Rykhtorov is a Russian rifler from team Cloud9. He first became an active player in 2018, and despite being a few years late to the professional scene he has had an incredibly successful career. From 2022 to 2023 he has won first place in four tournaments as a part of two different teams, meaning that he has worked with eight different teammates in that time.
Ax1Le’s crosshair seems slightly different compared to many of the different styles we have seen in this list, because the gap is quite wide and the legs are marginally thicker than usual. By employing the use of a wider gap between the arms and legs of the “t”, this crosshair has the reverse visual effect of a crosshair that is closely compacted together.
Instead of a single dot contrasting on top of an opponent to become more visible, the negative space inside the crosshair displays the actual character model in order to see precisely what is being aimed at. The character model of an enemy will “fill” the inside of the crosshair, making a picture perfect frame for Ax1Le to own his challengers.
Crosshair features:
- Large central gap gives visibility
- Green/blue color can be seen on any surface
- Long appendages can be used to guide sprays
Watch Ax1Le own NIP with this crosshair (and note that his screen resolution causes the video to appear different than other players):
Cloud9 Ax1Le vs NIP on Ancient
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 5
cl_crosshaircolor_r 0
cl_crosshaircolor_g 255
cl_crosshaircolor_b 192
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -1
cl_crosshairsize 3
cl_crosshairstyle 5
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0.5
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
3. sh1ro
Our third ranked Counter Strike player, the 22 year old professional team member from Cloud9 known as “sh1ro”, Dmitriy Sokolov is a Russian AWPer that has had an incredible career since debuting in 2018. In 2022 sh1ro resigned from Gambit Esports in order to elevate his gaming on Cloud9’s CSGO team, and he has won three tournaments with them in less than a year. He has been in the top 5 players ranked by HLTV for two years in a row, and has been the MVP in 4 different tournaments including IEM Katowice 2021.
Sh1ro is another professional Counter Strike player that uses the “size 1” crosshair as a microscopic beacon for headshots. In order to fulfill his role as an AWPer, his early game kill/death ratio is extremely important for saving up money for the expensive sniper rifle. With reaction times faster than what should be humanly possible, sh1ro is able to use this tiny green crosshair to stack kills and stack cash until he is able to use his signature weapon to secure victory.
Crosshair features:
- Microscopic size fits onto the head of any character model
- Equal length appendages create a square shape
- Small gap allows for central visibility
Check out Sh1ro’s gameplay against G2 where he uses this crosshair to kill m0NESY, the number 7 player on our list:
Cloud9 sh1ro vs G2 on Inferno
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 255
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
2. ZywOo
Known as “The Chosen One”, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is both an AWPer and rifler for Team Vitality that is widely considered to be one of the best Counter Strike players that has ever touched the game. Since his debut in 2018 ZywOo has earned almost one million dollars in tournament earnings alone, along with being awarded “Best Player” by HLTV in both 2019 and 2020.
ZywOo has been named MVP of sixteen different tournaments, and he is the only teenager (at the time) who has ever been ranked first on HLTV’s top 20 players of the year. His most impressive feat in a game of Counter Strike is that he ended a map between two different top 30 teams without dying a single time, which is a seemingly impossible task even for professionals.
ZywOo is a fan of the light blue color for his crosshair due to its neutral balance among any of the maps, and as we have seen before it can greatly reduce visual clutter. A crosshair in Counter Strike is less of an exact point where bullets will go, but rather a guidance system to show the range in which bullets will possibly land. Using a neutral and calm color such as blue can be beneficial for reducing distractions when shooting, but still maintaining a clear direction for headshots. At size 1.5, ZywOo’s crosshair is slightly larger than many of crosshairs on this list, but nevertheless he still maintains pinpoint accuracy in all situations.
Crosshair features:
- Blue color is visible and adaptable
- Small size forces pinpoint accuracy
- Longer appendages cause better spray control
Here is a POV video of ZywOo absolutely owning Team OG with his crosshair:
Vitality ZywOo vs Team OG on Inferno
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 200
cl_crosshaircolor 4
cl_crosshairdot 0
cl_crosshairgap -3
cl_crosshairsize 1.5
cl_crosshairstyle 4
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 0
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
1. S1mple
The moment we have been waiting for has arrived, because it is time to discuss the incredible success of the most accomplished Counter Strike player in the world: Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyljev. S1mple is known to all CS gamers as the greatest CSGO player of all time due to the records he has set and his unmatched performance at LAN tournaments.
With a record 21 HLTV MVP medals and several “S-tier” trophies under his belt, S1mple was crowned the best player in the world in 2018, 2021, and 2022. Known as “The Undertaker” for his incredible plays with the AWP, S1mple has amassed almost 2 million dollars in tournament earnings and is currently playing for the team Natus Vincere.
S1mple has one of the most bizarre and unique crosshairs on this list, which makes sense because it sets him apart from every other player in the world. He is the fourth and final player in the top 15 that makes use of the central dot in his crosshair, but his manipulation of the size, width, and gap have made it apart of the design rather than as an extra feature.
S1mple’s crosshair is a perfect square rotated 45 degrees and resting on its corner, which gives it an unusual but precise shape. This crosshair is perfect for players who wish to envision an actual bullet spray, rather than focusing their efforts on guiding bullets into one single point.
- Crosshair features:
- Bizarre dotted design
- Visible green color
- Spray control ready and adaptable for headshots
Check out this amazing gameplay from S1mple as he wrecks through Team Vitality with his bizarre crosshair:
NaVi s1mple vs Vitality on Mirage
Crosshair Settings:
cl_crosshairalpha 200
cl_crosshaircolor 1
cl_crosshairdot 1
cl_crosshairgap -2
cl_crosshairsize 1
cl_crosshairstyle 5
cl_crosshairusealpha 1
cl_crosshairthickness 1
cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0
Thanks for checking out our tier list for the best crosshairs in Counter Strike. Be sure to input one of these crosshairs from your favorite Counter Strike professional into your settings to get your kill rate up and your rank soaring high!
