How to Play FACEIT CS2?
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FACEIT is arguably the only thing keeping CS2 alive for amateur players who are looking for relatively high-quality matches that are free from bots, players with less than 500 hours, or cheaters. The platform offers its own matchmaking and ranking systems, along with an Anticheat that’s actively maintained and updated—unlike Valve’s software. Moreover, FACEIT brings a bunch of solid perks to the table, such as anti-smurf policies, subscription plans that unlock additional features on the platform, various tournaments and ladders, as well as a support team that, while not perfect, often seems to genuinely care.
Recently, FACEIT received a major update, which has only increased interest in the platform. In this article, we will walk you through the steps on how to play CS2 on FACEIT and explore its key features.
How to Play FACEIT CS2: Requirements
What’s really cool about FACEIT is that almost anyone can jump in for free. While there are some basic FACEIT requirements to play CS2, they’re more like a formality. Still, it’s good to know what’s needed before you dive in.
Contrary to popular belief, FACEIT is not affiliated with Valve. You don’t need CS2 Prime status to play on the platform. Moreover, the 20 hours you need to play in CS to access Premier mode is not necessary either. While FACEIT guides mention these hours, they state that new accounts with less playtime are to be verified, but nothing about being unable to play.
FACEIT won’t let you queue for CS2 unless your Steam profile confirms you own the game. Thus, if your profile or game details option on Steam are set to private, you have to switch them to public. To do it:
Navigate to your Steam profile.
Press “Edit profile.”
Click on “Privacy Settings” and make sure that both “My profile” and “Game details” are set to Public.
- One Account Rule: FACEIT tries very hard to prevent people from smurfing on the platform. Therefore, one of the major requirements to play there is to have only one account. This means that one Steam account can be linked to a single FACEIT account without exceptions. If you try to create multiple accounts on the platform, you risk a permanent ban.
- Anticheat Installation: Last but not least, a feature that makes FACEIT special and, perhaps, keeps the whole amateur CS2 alive is the Anticheat. To even begin queuing on the platform, players have to download and launch this program, as well as log in with their FACEIT account credentials. Once again, it's their own software that’s not affiliated with Valve in any way and has nothing to do with VAC.
FACEIT: Benefits and Subscription Options
Apart from the obvious pros of FACEIT, like the Anticheat and overall higher-level games, there are extra perks that come with the platform’s paid subscriptions. Thus, there are two main plans available to choose from: a Game and Premium subscription. What to pick is kind of controversial, but for now, let’s just go through the benefits they provide. Here’s a picture with a detailed comparison provided by FACEIT.
With the FACEIT 2.0 update (November 2024), some new features were introduced, making the platform even better. Let’s review the most notable ones.
How Does CS2 FACEIT Work: Premium Matchmaking
The return of the Premium queue is one of the standout features of FACEIT 2.0. Not only does it allow you to avoid 4- and 5-man stacks, but it’s literally a Pay2Win feature now, with ELO gain/loss in these games being higher as compared to free matchmaking. Love it or no, there’s no argument that now, with FACEIT Premium, you can rank up faster. Here’s a comprehensive comparison of match types provided by FACEIT.
If you’re subscribed, you can select a match type in the same “Play” tab below the maps and servers buttons. The downside of Premium queue is that finding a match can take notably longer as compared to other match types (up to 10–20 minutes in our experience), especially late in the night and early in the morning.
FACEIT Match Analysis and Improvement
A major reason why people love FACEIT is that the platform is also a tool for self-improvement in many ways. With features like Track and demo replays, you can analyze your performance and identify areas to work on. Let’s find out how to do it.
Reviewing Match Statistics and Performance
Let’s kick off with FACEIT's newly introduced feature called Track. To access it, you don’t need any subscription or special access. Just play games so that the platform gets some data to analyze, and then head to the “Track” tab in the main menu on the left of the screen.
There, you’ll discover a wealth of data covering nearly every aspect of your games: general activity, ELO gain/loss progress, maps success rate, clutch percentage, and many other metrics. What’s really cool is the ability to filter the data based on match types, time ranges, game modes, and even specific maps. Explaining the full functionality of the Track feature would require a separate article, but for now, we want to highlight its incredible potential for helping players identify their strengths and weaknesses clearly. Go ahead and explore it yourself!
Using FACEIT Stats for Personal Improvement
Seeing stats and understanding where you do well, and what makes you lose is good, but how can you actually use it for personal improvement? Stats are only helpful if you act on them. For example, if your Track data shows low entry success, spend time practicing clearing angles and prefiring.
If you see that your recent headshot percentage is below your average — practice tracking and aiming.
If your utility damage is slightly off — go and check out NadeKing’s videos to sharpen your nade skills.
You’ve got the idea. Use track to see where you fall off, and just focus on these aspects in your practice.
Learning From FACEIT Demos and Replays
Reviewing demos is one of the best ways to improve. Although progressing by analyzing your own demos requires a better understanding of the game, any high-level player, including pros, will confirm that this is perhaps the best thing you can actually do.
FACEIT allows accessing Matchrooms and downloading demos within 30 days after the game was played. Thus, you can go to your match history (Stats tab on your profile page) and pick any match you’d like to review. What’s even cooler, you can do the same with any player’s games. To download an archive with the demo file, just go to a Matchroom and click “Watch Demo.”
How to Play FACEIT: Setting up Your First Match
To make match history and stats appear, you need to play some games. So, now let’s see how to actually start playing FACEIT CS2.
Connecting CS2 to FACEIT
Assuming that you’ve already registered on FACEIT and linked your Steam account, the first step is to connect CS2 to your FACEIT profile. Head to Settings, then Game Settings, and press “Add Game.”
Then, select CS2 from the available options, click on it, and then press “Connect Game” on the page that appears.
Before You Start a Match
Once you’re done, head over to the “Play” tab in the main menu. On the “Play” page, the “Matchmaking” tab is usually selected by default. From here, you can tweak the settings to customize your first match.
Match Settings
Before starting looking for how to play CS2 FACEIT, you can check/uncheck “Verified only” depending on your smurf concerns. If you are new to FACEIT or CS2 in general, it would be better to leave it checked. Here, you can also deselect three maps you don’t want to play (only if you’re subscribed). The maps can be switched after every game, so don’t worry — the only rule to follow is to choose at least five.
Playing on FACEIT CS2 Server
Next to the “Maps” tab, you’ll find the “Servers” tab. The available countries may vary depending on your region, but the general rule applies to everyone — make sure to leave at least four servers selected, ideally those closest to your location, and you’re all set!
How to Queue to Play FACEIT for CS2
Once you’re all set, you can finally click the “Play” button to start searching for a match. Typically, the search is about 1–2 min, but it can change depending on your ELO, region, and game type.
Accepting a Match and Entering the Lobby
When the match is found, you will get a pop-up notification with a sound. Press “Accept” if you’re ready to play.
Map Veto Process and Team Selection
The next step is server and map selection. FACEIT randomly picks captains for the two teams (giving priority to premium users), who then take turns banning servers and maps until only one is left. The selected server and map will be used for the match. Captains can communicate with players during this process through the general and team chats available in every match room. Once this step is complete, you’ll have three minutes to connect. Press “Connect” with “Anticheat,” or just copy the IP, paste it to the CS2 console, and hit “Enter.”
How to Play on FACEIT CS2 Tournaments
Matchmaking isn’t the only thing FACEIT has to offer. Another great way how to use FACEIT for CS2 is various tournaments for solo, duo, and full stacks.
Overview of Tournament Types
To browse tournaments, go to the same “Play” page, but instead of “Matchmaking,” select “Tournaments” at the top of your screen.
Here, you can browse through all the available tournaments and pick the ones that suit you best. Keep in mind that you can register for only one at a time. Most of the time, the prizes are FACEIT points (the internal currency you can use in the platform’s shop), though there are some exceptions.
The page offers filters to make navigating tournaments effortless, even for newcomers. To gain a clearer understanding of the various tournament types and their prizes, take a moment to browse through the options and apply filters. The interface is designed to be user-friendly and highly intuitive, making it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Joining and Competing
Once you find a tournament you’d like to join, click on it and then press “Join Tournament” at the top right of your screen. On this same page, you will also find detailed FACEIT CS2 requirements for the particular tournament. Make sure you meet the specific requirements before registering. Good luck, and have fun!
That’s it for our FACEIT CS2 guide! You will surely find it useful. Leave comments below if you have any questions left. Hop in and enjoy the experience!
