Even though CS:GO and CS2 might look the same at first glance, the latter is fairly different in terms of mechanics. This allowed some players to grind and dethrone the old generation of pros, and cement themselves as the best CS2 players.
If you’re new to CS2 esports, find below who the best players are so you can pay attention to their moves during games and even download their demos, if you’re feeling like it. Please note that this list may rapidly change over time because of meta changes or simply because new players keep popping up.
Senzu celebrates one of The MongolZ’s victories at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Michal Konkol | © BLAST
Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold is one of the best CS2 players in Asia — and in the whole world. The 19-year-old Mongolian has been playing a key role in making The MongolZ one of the scariest teams to play.
He’s very capable with both the AK-47 and the M4A1-S, and the only reason he isn’t higher on this list is because he hasn’t fully figured out how to bring out his best form in playoff matches, but that could come with experience.
xertioN playing for MOUZ at IEM Cologne 2025. Credit: Michal Konkol | © ESL
Dorian “xertioN” Berman is arguably the best player who came out from MOUZ NXT, the academy team of MOUZ. He excels at finding opening kills on the T-side and is also smart with his grenades.
He’s been a consistent rifler for the past three years and is on the pathway to being MOUZ’s highest-rated player for the second year in a row.
sh1ro playing for Spirit at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © BLAST
Spirit’s superstar Danil “donk” Kryshkovets is perhaps the most aggressive player in the world, and to balance out this aggressiveness, there’s likely no AWPer better than Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov. The Russian sniper, currently playing for one of the best CS2 teams, is someone who takes calculated risks with the AWP and knows how to sit patiently and hit his shots consistently.
He’s been overly criticized by some fans this year as a result of Spirit not winning too many tournaments. However, there’s no other AWPer who could fit Spirit’s system so well whilst putting great numbers.
flameZ playing for Vitality at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Michal Konkol | © BLAST
Barring donk, flameZ has been the best entry-fragger in the world of 2025. The Israeli superstar sacrifices his life many times so that the likes of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Robin “ropz” Kool can win the clutches near the end of the rounds.
Aside from sacrificing himself for the team, flameZ also gets plenty of opening frags, and single-handedly win games for Vitality from time to time. Think of him as that supplementary third star that every superteam has.
XANTARES playing for Aurora at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Michal Konkol | © BLAST
Whether you follow Counter-Strike esports or not, you’ve probably come across the expression XANTARES-peek while playing. This is because of İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş’ capability of killing an enemy in the blink of an eye since the CS:GO days.
If anything, the CS2 mechanics enhanced XANTARES’ playstyle even more because peeker’s advantage is at an all-time high. He’s the best player in Turkey and the reason why Aurora put up a good fight in S-tier events.
NiKo playing at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 for Falcons. Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © BLAST
Even though donk is working rapidly to become the best Counter-Strike rifler of all time, for now, that title still belongs to Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. Nobody has been as consistent as NiKo when it comes to manning the AK-47 and the M4A1-S/M4A4. His game sense, spray control, and reactions are top notch, even now that he’s entering what could be the final years of his career.
While lots of fans joke about NiKo not having a Major trophy, the truth is that he doesn’t need one. After all, the Bosnian has already guaranteed his seat in Counter-Strike’s pantheon.
ropz celebrates Vitality’s BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 title. Credit: Michal Konkol | © BLAST
Ropz had already proven himself previously in MOUZ and FaZe, especially the latter, as he helped them to win an Intel Grand Slam and a Major after getting the call-up from Finn “karrigan” Andersen. And, the Estonian accomplished it all again with Vitality in 2025, this time being the best sidekick that ZywOo could ever get.
Together with ZywOo, he can win a 2v5 situation on a whim, all because of his clutching capacity and the brains to peek opponents at the perfect time.
m0NESY worried after Falcons lost a crucial round at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Michal Konkol | © BLAST
m0NESY is the only one really keeping up with donk and ZywOo. The Russian AWPer could have won the Best Player of the Year Award in 2024, had he and G2 won the Perfect World Shanghai Major. He’s the type of player who gets creative and constantly comes up with new plays, rather than just copying what everyone else is doing.
He faced a couple of bumpy roads this year, but we all know it’s a matter of time before he helps Falcons to win a big trophy. When m0NESY is feeling it, there’s nobody who can stop him from carrying games.
ZywOo playing for Vitality at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Michal Konkol | © BLAST
Even though it feels almost unreasonable to put ZywOo in second place after everything he’s won with Vitality in 2025 — plus the seven MVP awards he added to the tally — we couldn’t put him above donk. However, that doesn’t take anything away from ZywOo, who’s been remarkably consistent in nearly every series of the year.
If you’re new to CS2, ZywOo is the best player to watch as he can single-handedly win a round regardless of whether he’s using the AWP, the AK-47, the M4A1-S, or just a Desert Eagle. He’s good at everything and has rightfully stripped the greatest of all time title from Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev.
donk playing for Spirit at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © BLAST
The things we’ve witnessed donk do in these past two years are unmatched. The 18-year-old hyper-carries Spirit constantly thanks to his potential to kill all players defending a bombsite. He even has more kills with AK-47 than deaths on CT-side in 2025, which is the most ridiculous individual statistic I’ve ever seen.
That’s why Spirit’s game plan revolve around leaving donk as comfortable as possible. All they have to do is support him with utility and let him do his thing. If he keeps up like this in the coming years, not only will he be the best among all CS2 players, but also the best Counter-Strike player of all time.
Featured image: Credit: Lee Aik Soon | © ESL
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