You can find out more details over on its microsite, or via a changelog on the CS blog. Operation Riptide is one of the biggest updates CS:GO has received in a long while. More broadly, I'm just excited to see such substantial changes coming to a game that's now nine years old and which has previously felt a little unloved. I stopped playing CS:GO almost entirely when my kid was born, and suddenly carving out a focused hour of play became impossible. Valve say that these matches typically last around 25 minutes. I'm particularly interested in the new 'short matches.' When looking for a competitive match, players can now choose between the normal length and new shorter matches where a team only needs to win 9 rounds. Here's a sneak peek at Dust2 changes: /2nCfoFktYi- CS:GO SeptemTo see this content please enable targeting cookies. We're adding new maps during the Operation and updating Ancient and Dust2.

Valve tweeted this video to show the wall in action: That means terrorist snipers should no longer be able to headshot CTs as they run towards one of the bomb sites three seconds into a round. Specifically, they've added a wall that breaks line of sight between the terrorist spawn and the double doors near the Counter-Terrorist spawn. Valve's changes to Dust2 are similarly substantial: they've added a wall. It theoretically encourages teamwork among counter-terrorists, but it could also lead to clumsy stand-offs or tail-chasing in one-on-one situations. When introduced to Counter-Strike, the riot shield ended up banned from almost all competitive matches because the playerbase felt it was unbalanced - or at least led to unfun situations. It'll break after taking a certain amount of damage - and in Danger Zone at least, it doesn't protect you at all from melee attacks.

You can't shoot while holding it, meaning it's most useful as a way to protect armed teammates as they take cover behind you. When put away, it moves onto your back, and provides protection from behind. The riot shield provides protection from bullets when held in front of you. Now they're usable by counter-terrorists in casual hostage rescue matches, meaning you can use them in maps like you could back in the original Counter-Strike.

Ballistic shields were introduced to CS:GO's Danger Zone mode back in 2019, but Danger Zone is a very different beast.

Can riot shield stop bullets