Ancient T-side respawn area in Counter-Strike 2

Ancient Guide for Counter-Strike 2

Callouts, bombsites, timings, weapon ranges, and skins.

Ancient is a bomb defusal map with two sites and a middle that links them. The game files mark 18 named places on it - the official callouts you see by your radar and in team chat. The two default plant spots are 2,248 units apart, about 57 metres in a straight line.

A CT gets from spawn to the A plant spot in about 5.4 seconds with the knife out, a T in about 15.7 - almost three times as long. Both are measured along the map, around the walls - more in Timings. This page goes through the callouts, both sites, the timings, which guns suit the distances here, and the skins.

Ancient Map Overview

Where the map came from, and what the game files say about it.

Ancient was made by Valve and came out with Operation Broken Fang on 3 December 2020, first in the reserve group. On 3 May 2021 it moved into the Active Duty pool in place of Train. Before that Valve reworked A: CTs got a second way onto the site, and a raised spot was added for long fights into Tunnels.

The jungle-temple look goes back further than 2020. The props come from de_aztec - in the map files they sit under models/props/de_aztec/hr_aztec/ - and the skybox is sky_hr_aztec_02.

Ancient map logo in Counter-Strike 2

The map

Type	Bomb defusal
Map code	`de_ancient`
Created by	Valve
Released	3 December 2020, Operation Broken Fang
Active Duty since	3 May 2021, replacing Train
In CS2	Since launch, September 2023

From the game files

Named places	18
Spawn points	12 T, 12 CT
Buy zones	2
Bombsites	2 (A and B)
Plant to plant	2,248 u (about 57 m)
Bomb radius	650 u (about 16.5 m)

Sources: Liquipedia, Ancient Upcomer, May 2021

Ancient Callouts

The 18 official names from the map files and the ones players use.

The left map shows only the 18 names stored in the map files. In the lists below they carry an official tag. The right map and every name without a tag is what players call the spots. The two bombsites have their own section, Bombsites.

One trap on Ancient: the game's House is the CT building above Mid, while players say House for the way onto B, which the game calls Side Entrance. Same word, two places - agree with your team which one you mean.

CS2 Ancient radar with the 18 official callouts from the game files, including Bombsite A, Bombsite B, Main Hall, Side Hall, House and Side Entrance — The 18 official place names from the map files, on the in-game radar

CS2 Ancient map callouts showing A Site, B Site, Mid, CT Start, T Start, Main Hall, Side Hall, House, Alley, Ramp, Ruins, Tunnel, and Water — Callouts players use on Ancient

CS2 Ancient T-Side Callouts

T Spawn official: Where the Ts start the round. Two ways out: Tunnel towards B and Split towards Mid and A.
Outside official: The open path along the west edge of the map, from T Spawn up to Main Hall.
Tunnel official: Runs from T Spawn to Water. The usual way for a B rush.
Water official: The short stretch between Tunnel and Ruins.
Ruins official: Leads to Doors and the fast way up to Ramp. The box here is cover against CTs pushing out.
Doors: The double doors between Ruins and T Lower.
Split: Branches off T Spawn towards Elbow and Stairs - the quick way to both Mid and A.
Stairs: Connects Split to A Halls.
Elbow: Links Split to Mid. Ts use it on Mid splits while teammates come through Heaven.

CS2 Ancient CT-Side Callouts

CT Spawn official: Where the CTs start the round. Exits to Temple, CT Lane, House and Alley. How long the runs take is in Timings.
CT Lane: Straight from CT Spawn onto A Site, one of the two CT ways in.
Temple: The second way from CT Spawn onto A Site, added when Valve reworked A in 2021.
House official: The CT building above Mid, between CT Spawn and Top Mid. Players usually call it Snipers Nest. Not the House on B.
Alley official: Connects CT Spawn to Back Halls - the CT way to B.

CS2 Ancient A Site Callouts

A Halls official: The stretch between Stairs and A Main. In the game files: Main Hall.
A Main: Where A Halls opens into Long.
Long: One of the two T ways onto A Site. From here you can clear Boost before going in.
Boost: The ledge on your right as you come out of A Main.
Big Box: The large crate beside the site.
Single: A narrow crate next to Plat, with little cover.
Plat: The raised corner platform next to the site.
Triple Box: Three crates at the back of the site, the safer place to plant.
Short official: The second T way onto A, straight onto the site. In the game files: Side Hall.
Tunnels: Between Mid and Short. Ts go through on A splits, CTs play it from House.

CS2 Ancient Mid Callouts

Mid official: The open middle of the map. Ts come in from Elbow or Heaven. In the game files: Middle.
Top Mid official: The stairs and passage from Mid up to House. In the game files: Top of Mid.
Pit: The large sunken cubby across from Tunnels.
Xbox: The pair of crates near Heaven, used to climb up from Mid.
Heaven: Connects T Lower to Lamp Room and Mid.
T Side Upper official: The upper level on the T side, between Mid and the way to B.

CS2 Ancient B Site Callouts

Lamp Room: The room between Heaven and Dark.
Dark: The short section from Lamp Room to House, with a cubby where CTs often hide.
T Lower official: The lowest ground between Ramp and Heaven. In the game files: T Side Lower.
Ramp official: The slope from T Lower up to B Site, one of the two T ways in.
House official: Connects Lamp Room to B Site, the second T way in. In the game files: Side Entrance.
Pillar: The stone-and-wood structure on the site, the main cover for defenders.
Square: The big block between Back Halls and the site. It splits the CT side into two ways onto B.
Back Halls: Connects Alley to Square.

Ancient Bombsites

How big each site is, where the bomb goes, and every way in.

A Site is the bigger of the two. By the Retake barriers in the game files it covers about 28 × 23.5 metres, against roughly 25.5 × 19.5 for B Site - about a third more floor.

A site

Size, Retake barriers	1,116 × 925 u (28.3 × 23.5 m)
Floor, roughly	665 m²
CT Spawn to default plant	1,342 u (34.1 m)
T Spawn to default plant	3,918 u (99.4 m)
T side entrances	Long, Short
CT side entrances	CT Lane, Temple
Retake plant spots	4

B site

Size, Retake barriers	1,002 × 765 u (25.4 × 19.4 m)
Floor, roughly	494 m²
CT Spawn to default plant	2,423 u (61.5 m)
T Spawn to default plant	3,341 u (84.8 m)
T side entrances	Ramp, House
CT side entrances	Alley, Back Halls
Retake plant spots	4

Spawn distances are measured along the map, from the middle of each spawn to the default plant spot - the times are in Timings. In Retake mode the bomb starts already planted on one of four fixed spots per site. They are the dots on both maps below: the filled one is the default.

A Site

Four ways in: Long and Short from the T side, CT Lane and Temple from the CT side. The second CT way came with Valve's rework of A in 2021.

Both T ways take about the same time. The run through Main Hall to Long is only about half a second longer than the one through Mid to Short, so the choice between them is about where the CTs are, not about speed.

CT Spawn sits right next to the site: 1,342 units to the default plant, against 3,918 for the Ts. After the plant, the retake comes almost at once, from CT Lane and Temple - keep both covered.

B Site

Two T ways in: Ramp from T Lower, and House from Lamp Room - the game calls it Side Entrance. CTs come through Alley and Back Halls, where Square splits the way onto the site in two.

From CT Spawn the default B plant is 2,423 units away, 1,081 more than on A - about 27 metres extra. A lone CT on B waits longer for help than a lone CT on A would.

Ancient Timings

How long the runs take - straight through the walls and along the map.

Every route below has two distances. Straight line is the gap between the two points, walls and all. Along the map is the shortest way around the walls on the in-game radar - the way you actually run. Time is the second distance divided by run speed: 250 units a second with the knife, 215 with an AK-47, 200 with an AWP. Stairs, height and boxes are not counted, so treat the seconds as a close estimate, not a stopwatch. Times are measured from the middle of each spawn. The 12 T and 12 CT spawn points sit close together, so depending on where you start, every time can be about half a second shorter or longer.

Route	Straight line, u	Along the map, u (m)	Knife, s	AK-47, s	AWP, s
T Spawn → Ruins	1,299	1,463 (37.1)	5.9	6.8	7.3
T Spawn → first seen from Top of Mid	1,559	2,099 (53.3)	8.4	9.8	10.5
T Spawn → Main Hall	2,156	2,210 (56.1)	8.8	10.3	11.1
T Spawn → Middle	1,561	2,226 (56.5)	8.9	10.4	11.1
T Spawn → B plant	2,610	3,341 (84.8)	13.4	15.5	16.7
T Spawn → Long exit	3,233	3,383 (85.9)	13.5	15.7	16.9
T Spawn → A plant	3,221	3,918 (99.4)	15.7	18.2	19.6
CT Spawn → House	961	961 (24.4)	3.8	4.5	4.8
CT Spawn → A plant	1,299	1,342 (34.1)	5.4	6.2	6.7
CT Spawn → Temple exit	1,361	1,394 (35.4)	5.6	6.5	7.0
CT Spawn → Top of Mid	1,652	1,706 (43.3)	6.8	7.9	8.5
CT Spawn → B plant	2,041	2,423 (61.5)	9.7	11.3	12.1
A plant → B plant	2,248	2,915 (74.0)	11.7	13.6	14.6

Straight lines miss the most on the T side. To Middle the real run is 2,226 units against 1,561 in a straight line, to B Site 3,341 against 2,610 - the Ts have to go round the big block in the middle of the map either way.

Ancient routes from T Spawn and CT Spawn drawn on the CS2 radar, with the A to B rotation and the sightline from Top of Mid — The routes from the table on the in-game radar. Orange - T routes, blue - CT routes, green - the A to B rotation, dashed - the views from Top of Mid and from Temple down Long.

What the numbers mean

On A Site CTs reach the default plant in 5.4 seconds with the knife, Ts in 15.7. CTs are there about 10 seconds first - an early rush onto A meets players who are already set.

The fastest T attack on A comes out of Long: from T Spawn through Split, A Halls and A Main, 13.5 seconds with the knife, 15.7 with an AK. A CT who goes left out of spawn through Temple is at its exit in 5.6 seconds and looks straight down Long - about 19 metres to where the Ts come out. The CT is there about 8 seconds first, enough to set up even with an AWP, so a Long take needs a smoke on Temple.

On B Site it is 9.7 seconds against 13.4, under 4 seconds of head start. B is the site where a fast T hit can still catch the CTs setting up.

From CT Spawn to Top of Mid is 1,706 units - 6.8 seconds with the knife. Pull out the AWP on arrival (1.25 seconds to deploy) and the CT is ready at about 8.1. A T heading for Middle first comes into view from Top of Mid at about 8.4 seconds with the knife, 9.8 with an AK. The race for Mid is close: a T who sprints in arrives almost with the AWP, a T with a rifle gives the CT more than a second.

The rotation from the A plant to the B plant along the CT side is 2,915 units - 11.7 seconds with the knife, 13.6 with an AK. That is how long a lone CT on B has to hold before help from A arrives.

Weapons on Ancient

Which guns fit the distances on this map, and which don't.

Every gun in CS2 has an accurate range - how far its first shot, fired standing still, stays tight enough to rely on. Ancient has fixed distances between the spots where fights happen. Compare the two and you get a useful picture of which weapons suit each sightline. The distances below are straight lines between positions on the in-game radar that can see each other, so they are approximate. The accurate range figures are from the game update of 18 March 2026.

Duel	Distance, u (m)	Area
Middle → T Side Upper	1,136 (28.8)	Mid
Top of Mid → Middle	838 (21.3)	Mid
Ramp → T Side Upper	780 (19.8)	B
Temple → Long	756 (19.2)	A
A plant → Long	757 (19.2)	A
Short → CT Lane	626 (15.9)	A
T Side Upper → T Lower	617 (15.7)	B
B plant → Back Halls	549 (13.9)	B
B plant → Ramp	415 (10.5)	B
A plant → Short	360 (9.1)	A
A plant → CT Lane	285 (7.2)	A

Ancient duel lines on the CS2 radar with distances in units and metres — The duels from the table on the in-game radar. Straight lines between the two positions, in units with metres in brackets.

Accurate range is only one number. The guide for each gun has the rest: damage at every distance, how many hits it takes through armour, movement, and the spray pattern for every single bullet. The links are on the gun names below.

The main difference from a map like Mirage: no fight in this list is longer than 30 metres. There is no long lane that only a scope can hold, so rifles cover almost the whole map.

Mid: rifle distance

The fights in Mid are 20 to 29 metres: Top of Mid to Middle about 21, Middle to T Side Upper about 29. The M4s (M4A4 27.7 m, M4A1-S 28.2 m with the silencer) cover all of it, give or take a metre. The AK-47 covers the Top of Mid fight standing (21.7 m) and gets within a metre of the long one crouched (28.2 m).

The AWP works here too, but Ancient's Mid sightlines are short enough that rifles remain accurate and viable.

A Site: short and medium

On A Site the fights run from 7 to 19 metres. The long one is down Long: about 19 metres from Temple and from the plant. That is AK distance (21.7 m), and the FAMAS (18.6 m) is right at its edge. The Galil AR (16.3 m) is short of it.

Around the plant it gets close: 9 metres to Short, 7 to CT Lane. An SMG is in range there - MP9 15.9 m, MAC-10 11.0 m, UMP-45 10.6 m. The MP9 also reaches the Short to CT Lane fight at about 16 metres.

B Site: SMG distance

On B Site the plant is about 10.5 metres from the top of Ramp and 14 from Back Halls. The MP9 covers both, the MAC-10 and UMP-45 the Ramp side. The approach is longer: Ramp to T Side Upper about 20 metres, which is rifle distance again.

On a pistol round the Desert Eagle (24.6 m) and the USP-S with its silencer (23.8 m) reach every duel in the list except the long one in Mid. The Glock-18 (20.1 m) covers both sites.

Shotguns are left out of this: their accurate range is 2-3 metres by design and says nothing about where they work.

Rule of thumb: rifles cover Mid and the long A fights, SMGs work well around both plant spots, and the AWP is a choice here, not a must.

Common Mistakes on Ancient

Seven common mistakes, each tied to a measurement above.

Each point below links back to the measurement behind it.

Dry Long: Walking out of Long with no smoke on Temple. A CT is at the Temple exit about 8 seconds before the first T reaches Long, and it is only 19 metres away. Timings
Early A rush: CTs reach the A plant about 10 seconds before Ts. A rush with no utility meets players who are already set. Timings
Dry Mid: Walking into Middle with nothing on Top of Mid. The AWPer is ready at about 8.1 seconds, the first T comes into view at 8.4 - the race is close. Timings
Slow B setup: CTs reach the B plant only 3.7 seconds before Ts. A B player who stops to buy or chat gets caught walking in. Timings
Lone B peek: Help from A takes 11.7 seconds with the knife. A lone CT on B Site who peeks Ramp early dies with nobody near to trade. Play for time and call what you see. Timings
Galil down Long: Temple to Long is about 19 metres, the Galil AR is accurate to 16.3. On a force-buy, take the close fights by Short and CT Lane instead. Weapons on Ancient
Two Houses: The game's House is above Mid, the House players mean is the way onto B. Calling "House" without saying which one sends help to the wrong side of the map. Callouts

Ancient Skins & Collections

Ancient skins by market listings and price, and how to get them now.

Ancient has no case of its own. Its skins come in one collection, The Ancient Collection, added with Operation Broken Fang on 3 December 2020, the same day as the map.

The collection below has three tabs. Most listed are the skins with the most offers across the markets I track. Prices update every 15 minutes, and the range on each card runs from the cheapest variant to the most expensive one, wear and Souvenir variants included.

The Ancient Collection

19 skins. The top one is the M4A1-S | Welcome to the Jungle, a Covert skin for the rifle that covers almost every fight on this map - see Weapons on Ancient.

Consumer Grade

SSG 08 | Jungle Dashed

$0.11 - $9.73

View prices →

Consumer Grade

R8 Revolver | Night

$0.11 - $4.78

View prices →

Consumer Grade

SG 553 | Lush Ruins

$0.13 - $1.50

View prices →

Consumer Grade

P90 | Ancient Earth

$0.14 - $0.84

View prices →

Consumer Grade

Nova | Army Sheen

$0.14 - $0.30

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

AUG | Carved Jade

$3.28 - $35.78

View prices →

Industrial Grade

P2000 | Panther Camo

$1.35 - $6.78

View prices →

Industrial Grade

MP7 | Tall Grass

$1.26 - $3.15

View prices →

Every skin with a price for every wear is on the Ancient Collection page.

How to get them now

The collection does not come in the weekly drop, and the Operation Broken Fang store closed on 15 May 2021. What is left: souvenir packages from Majors, trade-up contracts, and the market. Souvenir skins first came in the Stockholm 2021 Ancient Souvenir Package, after the map joined the Active Duty pool.

Browse all collections and all CS2 cases, or check what your own skins are worth with the Inventory Value Calculator.

Sources: CSGO Database, The Ancient Collection CSGO Database, all collections

Ancient Data Download

Every number on this page in one file, with the method behind it.

The data this guide is built on is in one JSON file: the 18 official callouts with their coordinates from the map files, the 22 player callouts, all 24 spawn points, both bombsites with the four Retake plant spots each, the route timings straight and along the map, and the duel distances from Weapons on Ancient. Each part says how it was measured.

Use it in a video, a tool or your own guide - it is free under CC BY 4.0, as long as you link back to this page. Checked against CS2 build 1.41.8.8.

Download cs2-ancient-data.json (JSON, 29 KB)