CSGO Nerfs AWP and M4-A1s, Replaces Dust II with Anubis

After a successful major in Rio, Valve has already started changing things up for the upcoming Blast Paris Major. With the latest update to CSGO, Valve decided to shake up the game and pivot away from traditional maps to something different, adding Anubis to the Active Duty Map pool. The new Active Duty Map Pool will be Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Vertigo, Ancient, and Anubis. The Paris Major will feature the new map pool.

Along with the map shake-up, Valve nerfed M4-A1s, which had taken over the M4-A4, . The last update change was the AWP magazine size reduction from 10 to 5 bullets.

[twitter url="https://twitter.com/CSGO/status/1593727088506605568"]

The Complete Release Notes for 18/11/2022 are as follows:

[ MAPS ]

– Anubis has been added to Active Duty.

– Dust II has been removed from Active Duty.

[ GAMEPLAY ]

– AWP magazine size reduced from 10 bullets to 5.

– Reduced the M4A1-S range modifier from 0.99 to 0.94.

New CSGO Active Duty Map - Anubis:

Valve added the community-created Bomb Defusal map Anubis to the game in March 31, 2020 update for scrimmage mode only.

Image Souce: CSGO

Soon Valve moved the map from Scrimmage to Competitive. Valve removed the map a year later and re-added it on the CSGO 10-Year Anniversary.

While the map follows the traditional design, it has narrow lanes and multiple site entries for both CTs and Ts. With such a little map, it will be interesting to see how the players will utilize the corners and numerous entries.

Anubis replaces Dust II in the active duty map pool.

Weapon Nerfs:

The most critical nerf has to be the reduction in the magazine size of the AWP. While the reserve size remains at 30, a 50% reduction in magazine size means players have to reload more often than they used to, giving the opposition a better chance to counter AWPs. Along with AWP nerfs, Valve also nerfed the dominant M4 i.e. M4-A1s. A six percent reduction in damage at a long distance might lead to some players switching back to the M4-A4. And bring back situational M4s instead of one dominant M4.

More changes might come to the M4 and CSGO as a whole as Valve looks to balance it ahead of the Paris Major.

Image Source: CSGO Twitter