CS2 Patch Notes (Jul 8): Cache Back, C4 Rework

TL;DR

• Cache is back in the Active Duty map pool, Overpass is out. Premier Season Five starts on the new pool — expect queue times and map vote habits to shift immediately.
• C4 explosion damage was redesigned on every defusal map. Damage now comes from precomputed values baked into each map instead of a generic formula, and the shockwave expands over time instead of hitting instantly. Retakes and post-plant positioning that relied on exact "safe distance" spots should be re-checked.
• Dust II, Inferno, and Cache got small clipping/visibility fixes — nothing that should break existing lineups, but boost/pixel spots tied to those exact locations are worth a second look.

Premier and map pool

Cache is in the Active Duty pool, Overpass is out, for Premier Season Five. This is a full swap, not a rotation tweak — Overpass content (lineups, guides) is now off the main competitive path, and Cache is back on it after being out of the pool for a while.

Gameplay: C4 explosion rework

This is the biggest engine-level change in the patch. Valve rebuilt how C4 damage is calculated on all official defusal-mode maps:

• Damage now follows precomputed simulation values baked into the compiled map, instead of a generic map-wide formula.
• The explosion shockwave now expands outward from the charge over a short duration rather than applying damage instantly everywhere in range.
• The old "map-wide minimum one point of damage" floor is gone, so being technically in range no longer guarantees a scratch.

Practical effect: distances and angles that used to count as "safe" from a post-plant explosion may no longer be safe, and vice versa. Any content that tells players exact standing spots to survive a plant (not lineups, but post-plant/retake guides) needs re-testing against the new damage model before we publish anything that depends on it.

Map changes

• Cache — various clipping adjustments (no bombsite geometry changes reported).
• Dust II — fixed a pixel gap and a clipping issue at Outside Tunnel.
• Inferno — clipping fix at Top of Mid to stop a pixel-boost exploit.

None of these are wall/box removals or new boost spots, so existing smoke/flash/molotov lineups on these three maps should still land. Still, any lineup keyed to a wall lean or exact pixel angle at Dust II Outside Tunnel or Inferno Top of Mid should get a quick in-game re-check before we bump its patch_verified date.

Also in this patch: several community Workshop maps rotated in and out of Casual/Competitive/Deathmatch/Wingman (Boulder, Fachwerk, Shelter, Debris, El Dorado added; Warden, Stronghold, Alpine, Sanctum removed). These don't affect our official-map lineup content.

Skins and economy

The Armory rotated its available collections: two new weapon collections (Spy Tech, Arabesque) and two new sticker collections (Fruits & Vegetables, Auto Racing) went in, while the Train 2025 and Sport & Field weapon collections and the Sugarface 2 and Elemental Craft sticker collections came out. If you're tracking Armory pull odds or pricing pages, the outgoing collections are the ones to flag as no-longer-obtainable through the Armory going forward.

Everything else

Workshop mapmakers get a new "Custom Paint Job Extended" option (dedicated overlay mask texture, independent overlay UV randomization) plus a handful of new VScript functions. Sticker rotation precision on the application screen is now half-degree instead of whole-degree. None of this changes how the game plays for a regular match.

"Re-designed effective range and extent of C4 explosion damage on all official defusal-mode maps... Added Cache to the Active Duty Map Pool... Removed Overpass from the Active Duty Map Pool."

— Full official notes on Steam