CS2 Patch Notes January 22, 2026: Arrival of Anubis, Premier Season 4, Gameplay Changes, and more

Valve has just finally released the CS2 New Update, and it's around 8-9 GB. The CS2 Season 4 for Premier has finally arrived featuring a major change in the active duty map pool. Anubis has finally made its entry replacing Train. Apart from that, devs have increased material fidelity to improve the textures of a handful of weapons, starting from Deagle to AWP. While there are loads of good news to be discussed on this, some community maps, such as Golden, Palacio, Agency, and others are being removed from all game modes.

Moreover, old weapon collections, such as SafeHouse, Dust 2, 2018 Nuke Collection, and the 2018 Inferno Collection has been removed from the system. Keeping that in mind, let's talk about Counter Strike 2 Season 4 changes in the recently released CS2 Patch Notes January 22, 2026.

CS2 Patch Notes January 22, 2026: SMG Mains Will Remember This Update

While Anubis has easily become the main headline of this update, SMG mains must rejoice at this moment as Valve has finally listened to them and taken care of it. Before that, let's take a look at the CS2 Update Notes for January 22, 2026:

Premier Changes

As discussed, Anubis replacing Train in CS2 Season 4 is surely the main attraction of today's update. Since Premier Season 4 has finally begun, here's a brief on the changes:

• Premier Season Four has begun
• Added Anubis to the Active Duty Map Pool
• Removed Train from the Active Duty Map Pool

Check out some community reactions as Anubis Replaces Train in CS2 Active Duty Map Pool

Competitive Changes

As per the norms, the existing ranks will definitely expire, enabling gamers to unlock the same or even better after getting the required number of wins.

• Adjusted underlying per-map competitive matchmaking rank values. Existing per-map competitive Skill Groups have expired, and will be displayed again once the player obtains the required number of wins

Gameplay Changes

Here comes the interesting part apart from the map pool change. As discussed, this CS2 Patch Notes January 22, 2026 has been a bliss for the SMG exploiters. A handful of changes have been made to MP7 and MP5-SD, while PP-Bizon only got an economical change. Here are the changes in detail:

Minor adjustments to the MP7 and MP5-SD:

• Slightly increased damage
• Slightly reduced damage fall-off
• Reduced price by $100.

Reduced the price of the PP-Bizon by $100.

Apart from the weapon changes, a handful of changes have been implemented in movement, especially in jumps. Here's the full list:

• Landing time is now calculated with subtick precision
• Jumping and landing no longer affect stamina. The landing speed penalty is now a simple function of landing time
• Any jump press within sv_bhop_time_window centered on the landing time that hasn't been penalized by sv_jump_spam_penalty_time will be treated as a successful bunnyhop
• Legacy jump behavior can be restored on private servers with sv_legacy_jump

Another exciting news for those who want to grind the game hard. Map Guides can be loaded in casual and retakes modes via pressing the ESC menu.

Sound Changes

Valve has made some changes in the output latency sector in the CS2 Patch Notes January 22, 2026. Meanwhile, gamers can witness a new knife draw animation based on primary fire and alternate fire swings. This might not be a huge deal from the competitive perspective, but it's a huge QoL (quality of life) change in CS2 New Update. Here's the update:

• Reduced audio output latency
• Higher fidelity knife draw and inspect sounds
• Weapon, knife and utility draw sounds no longer overlap when switching quickly between them
• Knife impact sounds are now unique based on primary fire or alt fire swings as well as front and rear attacks. This reflects the different damage amounts dealt with each attack
• Ambient sounds no longer restart from the beginning when transitioning between zones

Weekly Care Package

Gamers can now get their hands on CS2 Harlequin and CS2 Achroma cases. However, four classic weekly care package drops have also been removed. That said, here's some insight on the update:

• Added two all-new weapon collections to the Weekly Care Package drop list: Harlequin, Achroma
• Removed four weapon collections from the Weekly Care Package drop list: Safehouse, Dust 2, 2018 Nuke Collection, and the 2018 Inferno Collection

Armory Change

Only one AK47 skin has been introduced, and it's AK47 Aphrodite. While a few gamers have added it to their inventory, we're yet to get the pricing details about it. In the meantime, check out the cheapest covert skin in CS2.

Miscellaneous Changes

A lot of bug fixes, along with material fidelity changes has been made. Basically, the looks of the following weapons have been upgraded:

• Ak47
• AugAWP
• Berettas
• Deagle
• Galil
• Mac-10
• MP7
• P250
• Tec9
• USP-S
• Bizon
• Cz75a
• Famas
• MP9

Map Scripting

Here are the changes in the map scripting area:

• Fixed a bug where the activator was sometimes incorrect for func_door outputs OnOpen, OnFullyOpen, OnClose, and OnFullyClosed
• Added BaseModelEntity.GetModelName
• Added BaseModelEntity.GetModelScale
• Added BaseModelEntity.GetColor
• Added BaseModelEntity.IsGlowing

Maps

A handful of community maps have been removed and some have been added. Community maps such as Palacio, Golden, and others got removed. That said, here are the details:

• Removed community maps: Golden, Palacio, Agency, and Rooftop from all game modes
• Added community maps Warden, Stronghold, and Alpine to Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch modes
• Added community maps Sanctum and Poseidon to Wingman mode

While Anubis has finally gone live, it's not the old map anymore. A few layouts have changed. That said, here are the changes:

• Bridge drop moved near the Mid Doors
• Mid doors orientation reversed
• Hole added between the E-box and the back of B
• Bombsite A crates moved up the steps on to Walkway
• Scaffolding was added to the pillar on Bombsite A

That's all we have to discuss on CS2 Patch Notes January 22, 2026. In case you're interested in other pieces, check out our latest coverage on Valve remove Rare Cases from CS2.