Best CS2 Crosshair Settings: What Pro Players Actually Use
Most players approach crosshair settings the same way: they copy a pro's config, feel awkward for a few days, switch to something else after a week, then repeat the whole cycle the next time they watch a tournament. After a month of that, their aim is worse than when they started.
The crosshair choice was barely the problem. The constant switching was, and what pro players actually do differently with their configs is almost never what any guide about crosshair settings covers.
What Each Crosshair Setting Actually Does
The in-game crosshair menu has more sliders than most players need to think about. Most are self-explanatory, but a few regularly cause confusion.
Style
Style is the most consequential decision in the whole menu. Classic Static locks the crosshair in place regardless of movement or shooting, Classic expands while you shoot as visual feedback on spray spread, and Legacy only expands on fire rather than movement. According to ProSettings.net data, virtually every competitor uses Classic Static, and that has been consistent across multiple years.
Gap
Gap controls the space between the crosshair lines and the center of the screen. Negative values pull the lines inward toward each other, which most pros prefer because it keeps things compact without needing a center dot. A gap of -3 to -5 is the standard at the top level, while positive values push the lines outward into the wider cross shape you often see on streamers who prioritize visibility over precision.
Length
Length determines how far each line extends from the gap, and the majority of pros land between 1 and 3. Longer lines are easier to locate during fast scans but cover more of the enemy model at close range, which matters when you are trying to land precise headshots.
Thickness
Thickness at 0 or 1 is where pros consistently land. Thicker crosshairs are easier to track at a glance but obscure fine head-level detail, which costs you on precision tapping.
Alpha
Alpha controls opacity on a scale of 0 to 255. You set this to 255 and never revisit it, because a semi-transparent crosshair looks stylish in settings and becomes invisible under the stress of a live duel.
Outline
Outline adds a dark border around each crosshair line to help it stand out on bright surfaces. Most pros skip it because it adds visual weight, making the crosshair feel heavier than it needs to be.
T-Style and Deployed Weapon Gap
T-Style removes the top line of the crosshair, leaving an upward-opening shape. A small number of players prefer it because it removes obstruction directly above the target's head, though it never caught on at the pro level.
Deployed Weapon Gap changes the crosshair gap automatically depending on whether you are holding a rifle or a pistol. Most pros leave this off so the crosshair behaves identically regardless of weapon slot, keeping the visual reference consistent.
Why Classic Static Is the Only Style Worth Using
The entire job of a crosshair is to give your brain a stable visual anchor. Dynamic crosshairs expand after you shoot, which sounds like useful feedback until you realize the expansion tells you the bullet has already left the barrel. By the time the crosshair indicates inaccuracy, the shot has already missed.
Classic Static removes that noise: the crosshair stays fixed, you put it on the enemy's head, and you shoot. Over thousands of repetitions, your brain builds a precise internal model of where the center of your screen sits, and that model only functions if the reference point never shifts.
Changing your crosshair configuration resets the calibration your muscle memory is built around, even when the changes feel minor. Players who cycle through new configs every two weeks often describe their aim as feeling off without being able to pinpoint why, and the crosshair rotation is almost always the reason.
Follow Recoil: The CS2 Setting Most Guides Get Wrong
CS2 introduced a setting called Follow Recoil that does not exist in CS:GO, and most crosshair articles either skip it entirely or dismiss it in a single sentence.
When Follow Recoil is enabled (cl_crosshair_recoil 1), the crosshair physically moves up and sideways to track the weapon's actual spray pattern as you fire. Instead of bullets leaving your static crosshair and traveling in a recoil arc, you have to imagine that you can watch the crosshair move through that arc in real time.
This is not a competitive tool: virtually no professional player uses it in official matches because their spray control is already internalized muscle memory, and a moving crosshair disrupts that model rather than reinforcing it. For players still learning AK-47 spray control, it speeds up the process significantly because you are seeing the pattern instead of guessing at it.
The practical way to use it: you enable Follow Recoil in a practice server, spray a full magazine at a wall, and watch where the crosshair travels, then disable it and try to replicate the same mouse compensation without the visual guide. The gap between what you see with it on and what your hands actually do without it is exactly what you need to drill. Use it as a diagnostic tool and turn it off once the pattern is internalized.
Crosshair Color: The Practical Guide
Color is the setting most players overthink, but the goal is simple: the crosshair needs to be visible against any surface, on any map, in any lighting condition. Any color that disappears against a specific wall texture is the wrong color for that map.
Color | Best Visibility | Problem Areas | Pro Examples |
Cyan | Most surfaces, all lighting | Overpass water areas | s1mple, EliGE, dev1ce |
Green | Indoor maps, dark environments | Ancient foliage sections | NiKo, b1t |
White | Universal contrast | Overexposed bright angles | donk |
Yellow | Dark corridors, night maps | Mirage T-side smoke plays | Various Tier 2 pros |
Cyan and green dominate the pro scene because they contrast well across the widest range of CS2 map surfaces. One specific case worth knowing: green crosshairs nearly disappear against the foliage textures on Ancient, so if that map is in your regular rotation, cyan or white is the practical switch.
Pro Player Crosshair Settings at a Glance
The following configurations are sourced from ProSettings.net and direct player config databases. All codes can be pasted into Game > Crosshair > Share or Import Crosshair Code.
Player | Style | Length | Gap | Thickness | Color | Code |
donk | Classic Static | 1 | -4 | 1 | White | CSGO-LdXHk-hatWX-JjEa8-tuLDN-5tbJD
|
ZywOo | Classic Static | 2 | -3 | 0 | Cyan | CSGO-wAD3c-ykt5L-zvZ98-vBisR-6sWPA
|
m0NESY | Classic Static | 2 | -3 | 0 | Green | CSGO-3wvGJ-zrMeX-ecRBH-Q74om-EGnfO
|
NiKo | Classic Static | 1 | -4 | 1 | Blue | CSGO-Umk5s-uxPQA-eDfJW-qWMyR-znjPK
|
b1t | Classic Static | 2 | -3 | 1 | Yellow-Green | Available on ProSettings.net |
According to CS2Pulse analysis of the top 50 active pro players, over 90% use Classic Static style with gap values between -3 and -5. None use outlines, dynamic styles, or center dots as a standard setup, and that pattern has held stable across multiple competitive seasons.
How to Import a Crosshair Code
You do not need the console for this, since CS2 has a built-in sharing system that handles it in a few seconds.
You open Settings from the top-left corner of the main menu, then navigate to Game > Crosshair. At the top of that page is a Share or Import Crosshair Code option. You paste any code from the table above and the crosshair updates instantly without a restart.
For those who prefer manual console entry, the core commands are:
cl_crosshairstyle 4 // Classic Static
cl_crosshairsize 2 // Line Length
cl_crosshairgap -3 // Gap Between Lines
cl_crosshairthickness 1 // Line Thickness
cl_crosshaircolor 4 // Cyan (0=Red, 1=Green, 2=Yellow, 3=Blue, 4=Cyan)
cl_crosshairalpha 255 // Full Opacity
You save these in your autoexec.cfg file so they load automatically every time the game launches. The file path is: Steam > steamapps > common > Counter-Strike Global Offensive > game > csgo > cfg.
The Setting That Matters More Than All the Others
Gap, Length, Thickness; None of it matters as much as picking something reasonable and not touching it for 30 days. Aim is a physical skill built through repetition, and every crosshair change shifts the reference point your muscle memory is calibrated against, even when the change feels minor.
Players who improve consistently almost always have crosshairs they have not changed in months. Players who plateau often have a folder of bookmarked pro configs they rotate through, convinced the right one is out there somewhere.
Players who figure this out early are rarely the most talented in the server, just the ones who stopped tweaking long enough for their hands to actually learn something.
F.A.Q
What is the best crosshair size for CS2?
Most pro players use a line length of 1 to 2 with a gap of -3 to -5. This keeps the crosshair compact and centered without blocking the enemy model at typical engagement distances. Larger crosshairs tend to obscure head-level targets at close to medium range.
Should I use a dot in my CS2 crosshair?
A center dot can help AWP players because it gives a single precise focal point for a weapon that rewards pixel-level accuracy. For rifles and pistols, most pros skip it because the negative gap between the four lines already creates a natural center without adding extra visual noise.
Does crosshair color affect aim?
Not directly, but a crosshair you cannot see costs you real reaction time when you are scanning a corner at speed. Cyan and green contrast best across the widest variety of CS2 surface textures, which is why they have dominated pro configs across every competitive season.
Can I copy a pro crosshair exactly and expect the same results?
You can copy the settings, but the feel will be off until your muscle memory adjusts to the new visual anchor. Give any new crosshair at least two to three weeks before deciding it does not work. First-day impressions are almost always wrong because your hands are still calibrated to the previous one.
What does Follow Recoil do in CS2?
Follow Recoil makes the crosshair physically track the weapon's spray pattern as you fire, so you can see where your bullets are going in real time. Pro players do not use it in competition because their recoil control is already built into muscle memory. For players still learning spray patterns, enabling it during practice sessions is one of the fastest ways to internalize AK-47 and M4A4 recoil, then you turn it off once the pattern sticks.
