CS2 Crosshair Settings Explained

There is no single best crosshair, but there is a best crosshair for how you play. Understanding what each command changes takes about five minutes and saves you months of copying other people's settings.

The commands that matter

Every crosshair in CS2 is built from a handful of console variables. You can type these directly into the console while in a server:

cl_crosshairsize 2
cl_crosshairthickness 1
cl_crosshairgap -2
cl_crosshair_outlinethickness 1
cl_crosshairdot 0

• cl_crosshairsize — length of each arm. Smaller is more precise, larger is easier to track.
• cl_crosshairthickness — how heavy the lines are. Above 1.5 it starts hiding distant heads.
• cl_crosshairgap — space in the middle. Negative values tighten it, which most players prefer.
• cl_crosshair_outlinethickness — a dark border so the crosshair survives bright walls.
• cl_crosshairdot — a centre dot. Helps with spray control, hurts long-range precision for some.

Static or dynamic

cl_crosshairstyle 4 gives a static crosshair that never moves. Style 2 expands as you move and shoot. Nearly every competitive player uses 4, because a crosshair that changes shape while you are trying to place it is noise, not information.

Colour

Use cl_crosshaircolor 5 for custom, then set the RGB values yourself. Cyan and pink read well on almost every map; green disappears on Overpass and Ancient, and red vanishes against Inferno's wood.

cl_crosshaircolor 5
cl_crosshaircolor_r 0
cl_crosshaircolor_g 255
cl_crosshaircolor_b 255

Sharing crosshair codes

CS2 can export your whole crosshair as a single string. Open Settings → Game → Crosshair and press "Export". Paste a code someone gave you into the same panel to import it instantly — far quicker than typing ten commands.

How to actually pick one

Set a crosshair, then play a full deathmatch session without touching it. Changing it every few rounds means you never build the muscle memory that makes any crosshair work. Give each one at least a couple of hours before deciding.