Outside area on Nuke in Counter-Strike 2

Nuke Guide for Counter-Strike 2

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

Nuke is a bomb defusal map built on two floors: B Site sits right under A Site. The game files mark 29 named places on it - the official callouts shown by the radar and in team chat. The two default plant spots are 714 units apart on the radar, with B 370 units lower - about 20 metres in a straight line.

A CT gets from spawn to the B plant spot in about 15 seconds with the knife out, a T in 20 to 21.5 - about 6 seconds later. I timed both in game with a stopwatch, two runs each - more in Timings. This page goes through the callouts, both sites, the timings, which guns suit the distances here, and the skins.

Nuke Map Overview

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

A Site is the upper bombsite, B Site is directly underneath it. Someone can be standing below you with nothing but a floor in between, and footsteps come through it clearly. Nuke has no mid. Outside, the yard on the south side of the plant, does that job, and it is the ground both teams fight over first. From Outside, Ts have three routes into the sites: down through Secret into Tunnels and on to B through Decon; into A through Mini, from where Vents drop straight down to B; and up through Hell and Heaven into A. The indoor route starts at T Spawn and runs into Lobby, then into A through Squeaky or Hut, or through Trophy and Control Room towards Ramp and down to B.

Nuke came out in November 1999 in Counter-Strike Beta 4.0, built by Jo Bieg - the oldest map in today's Active Duty pool. It borrowed its sky and desert textures from the Half-Life level Surface Tension, and in the 1.6 mission text the Ts were after a nuclear missile, not a reactor. Counter-Strike: Source turned the missile base into a nuclear power plant, and the CS:GO journal named it Cedar Creek - the name on the logo.

In the CS:GO beta the pro player and mapper Salvatore "Volcano" Garozzo made his own version, de_nuke_ve, and Valve later took his changes into the official map. Then Valve rebuilt Nuke from the ground up: the new version came out on 17 February 2016 and went into Active Duty that April, taking Inferno's place while Inferno went off for its own rework. The original B had a room behind it where you could not plant - players called it bombsite C.

Nuke map logo in Counter-Strike 2

The map

Type	Bomb defusal
Map code	`de_nuke`
Created by	Jo Bieg; 2016 remake by Valve
Released	November 1999, Counter-Strike Beta 4.0
Active Duty	Current run since April 2016
In CS2	Since launch, September 2023

From the game files

Named places	29
Spawn points	16 T, 16 CT (plus 4 + 4 for Wingman)
Buy zones	2 (plus 2 for Wingman)
Bombsites	2, B directly under A
Plant to plant	804 u (about 20 m)
Bomb radius	650 u (about 16.5 m)

Sources: Counter-Strike Wiki, Nuke Liquipedia, de_nuke (1.6) Robert Briscoe, the 2016 remake Steam discussion, bombsite C

CS2 Nuke Callouts

The 29 official names from the map files and the ones players use.

The left map shows only the 29 names stored in the map files. In the lists below they carry an official tag. The right map shows the player callouts, and every untagged name in the lists is a player-used callout. The two bombsites have their own section, Bombsites.

The radar on Nuke has two floors, so the official map is split into two levels. Tunnels, Decon, Observation and Vents are on the lower floor, under A and Outside. Most of the official names match what players say; the differences are small - Roof for T Roof, Control for Control Room, Vents for Vent - and one name players rarely use, Catwalk.

CS2 Nuke map with all 29 official callouts labeled — The 29 official place names from the map files, on both floors of the in-game radar

CS2 Nuke map with community callouts for upper and lower areas — Callouts players use on Nuke

CS2 Nuke Outside Callouts

T Spawn official: Where the Ts start the round, with ways on to Lobby and Outside.
CT Spawn official: Where the CTs start the round, next to Hell and Outside.
Outside official: The open yard between Silo, Garage, Secret and Mini. It does the job of a mid on Nuke, with ways on to both sites.
Silo official: The large silo on Outside, reached from T Roof. From the top you can walk onto the roof above A without a jump.
T Red: The red shipping container on Outside, next to Silo.
Garage official: The large warehouse near CT Spawn and Secret, a common CT sniper spot over Outside.
Secret official: The staircase from Outside down into Tunnels. It is on both floors in the game files.
CT Red: The red shipping container on Outside, near Garage and Mini.
CT Box: A box near CT Spawn, by the stairs out of the spawn area.

CS2 Nuke Lobby Callouts

Lobby official: The room closest to T Spawn, connected to Squeaky and Vending.
T Roof official: The roof above Lobby, reached by the ladder near T Spawn or the one inside Lobby near Hut. From here you can move onto Silo. In the game files: Roof, which also covers the roofs around it.
Squeaky official: The area next to Lobby with the door onto A.
Vending official: The room with vending machines between Lobby and Trophy.
Trophy official: The trophy room between Vending and Control Room.
Control Room official: The room connecting Trophy with Ramp. In the game files: Control.

CS2 Nuke Ramp Callouts

Open full size

Main callouts around Ramp on Nuke in CS2

Ramp official: The large area between Control Room and Admin, with the slope down to B.
Big Box: The three boxes on the left of Ramp as you come from Control Room.
Boost: The boxes on the right of Ramp as you come from Control Room.
Headshot: A box at the far end of Ramp, a common CT spot.
Stack: The boxes on the left of Ramp as you come from Admin.
Admin official: The room between Ramp and Hell, across from Control Room.
Hell official: The area under Heaven, between CT Spawn and Locker Room.
Locker Room official: The room next to Hell, with a window over Garage and CT Red.

CS2 Nuke A Site Callouts

Heaven official: The raised room above Hell, reached by a ladder, looking over the whole of A.
Catwalk official: The walkway beside Heaven, on the same level, towards CT Spawn.
Rafters official: The ledge from Heaven along the back wall of A.
Crane official: The overhead crane above the middle of A, reached only from Rafters.
Hut official: The metal structure on A with the way in from Lobby.
Hut Roof official: The roof of Hut, with a view of the Mini entrance.
Tetris: The boxes in front of Hut.
Vent official: The way into the vents that join A, B and Secret. In the game files: Vents.
Mini official: The room joining A with Outside.

CS2 Nuke B Site Callouts

Tunnels official: The lower-level tunnels joining Secret, Decon and the way to B.
Observation official: The room with a large window over B.
Dark: The corner by the stairs on B.
Decon official: The room with a single door between Tunnels and B.
Doors: The double doors from Tunnels or Observation towards B.

Nuke Bombsites

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

The game files hold the exact zone where you can plant on each site. On B Site it is about 13.8 × 15.4 metres, on A Site about 9.4 × 11.2 - B has 1.6 times the room to plant, 166 m² against 105, one floor down, right under A.

A site

Plant zone, game files	372 × 440 u (9.4 × 11.2 m)
Plant zone area	105 m²
CT Spawn to A, out of Heaven	about 8 s
T Spawn to A, out of Hut	about 11.5 s
Ways in	Hut, Squeaky, Mini, Heaven
Retake plant spots	4

B site

Plant zone, game files	544 × 608 u (13.8 × 15.4 m)
Plant zone area	166 m²
CT Spawn to default plant	14.7 - 15.0 s
T Spawn to default plant	20.3 - 21.6 s
Ways in	Ramp, Vents, Decon, Doors
Retake plant spots	3

The plant zone is the invisible shape in the map files that decides where the bomb can go. On A it is one box; on B it is made of six pieces, one of them cut at an angle. The times on Nuke are not taken from the radar - with two floors, ladders and drops the flat map gets them wrong - so I timed the runs in game, with the knife out: to the point where you step onto A, and to the plant spot on B. In Retake mode the bomb starts already planted on one of the fixed spots per site: four on A and three on B. They are the dots on both maps below: the filled one is the default.

A Site

Four ways in: Hut and Squeaky from Lobby, Mini from Outside, and Heaven from above.

A is close for the CTs: in game a CT comes out of Heaven at about 8 seconds, the first T out of Hut at about 11.5 - 3.5 seconds later. The CT run has no room for error: it takes a clean climb and a clean drop onto the site, because a hard landing slows the run.

B Site

Four ways in: down Ramp, down Vents from A, and through Decon or Doors from Tunnels.

In game a CT reaches the B plant in 14.7 to 15.0 seconds, a T in 20.3 to 21.6 - on B the CTs have about 6 seconds to get set.

Nuke Timings

How long the runs take, timed in game.

On the other maps, the timings come from the in-game radar. On Nuke that does not work: the radar has two floors, and ladders, drops and stairs make a flat radar route unreliable. So every time below is a run timed in game with a stopwatch, from spawn with the knife out, normal running, no bunny hops. Where there were two runs, both are given. Spawn points differ, so a run from another spot can be a few tenths of a second shorter or longer.

Route	Time, s	Why it matters
CT Spawn → Garage	6.93	Covers the T exit by Silo
CT Spawn → A, out of Heaven	about 8	First CT on A
CT Spawn → Mini, outside	8.64	Covers the T exit by Silo
CT Spawn → Mini exit on A	9.91	Covers the Squeaky doors
CT Spawn → Ramp	10.54	Covers Control Room and part of Trophy
CT Spawn → B plant	14.71 / 15.02	First CT on B
CT Spawn → T Spawn, through A and Hut	22.67 / 22.82	Spawn to spawn
T Spawn → right side of Silo	9.77	View on Garage
T Spawn → A, out of Hut	11.46	First T on A
T Spawn → Trophy	11.71	On the way to Ramp
T Spawn → Vent, through Squeaky	12.14	The fast way down to B
T Spawn → Silo roof, over the roofs	12.8	Lookout over Outside
T Spawn → Secret	14.6	The way down to Tunnels
T Spawn → B plant	20.31 / 21.56	First T on B
T Spawn → CT Spawn, through Ramp and Admin	22.43 / 22.59	Spawn to spawn

CS2 Nuke map timings and routes for T and CT sides — The timed routes on the upper radar. Red - T routes over Outside, orange - T routes through Lobby, blue - CT routes.

What the numbers mean

On Outside the CTs are early. A CT is in Garage at 6.9 seconds and outside Mini at 8.6, and the first T reaches the right side of Silo, where he can see Garage, at 9.8. An AWPer in Garage is set almost 3 seconds before that T looks out - which is why the spot by Silo is where Ts often get picked.

The fast T rush goes out of Squeaky and, without taking the fight, straight down Vent to Decon and B. The first T is at the vent at 12.1. A CT running to the Mini exit on A is there at 9.9 and covers the Squeaky doors with 2 seconds to spare.

On Ramp it is closer: the CT gets there at 10.5, the first T is in Trophy at 11.7 - about a second behind.

From spawn to spawn the two sides take almost the same time, about 22.5 seconds. The CT way through A and Hut looks shorter on the radar, but it needs a clean climb up to Heaven and a clean drop onto A - a hard landing slows the run.

Weapons on Nuke

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. Nuke 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. Height is not counted either, so from Heaven down to Hut the real distance is a little longer. The accurate range figures are from the game files as of 18 March 2026.

Duel	Distance, u (m)	Area
Silo → Garage	1,464 (37.2)	Outside
Heaven → Hut	807 (20.5)	A
Ramp → Trophy	736 (18.7)	Ramp
Control Room → Admin	672 (17.1)	Ramp
Squeaky → Vent	553 (14.0)	A

CS2 Nuke map weapon duel distances — 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.

Nuke has one long line, across Outside. Everything indoors is 21 metres or less - rifle and SMG distance.

Outside: scope distance

From the right side of Silo to Garage is about 37 metres - the spot where Ts often get picked by a CT sniper, see Timings. The AWP (69.3 m), the SSG 08 (47.2 m) and the AUG scoped (38.3 m) cover it. The SG 553 scoped (37.1 m) is 10 centimetres short, and every rifle without a scope is far out of range.

A and Ramp: rifle distance

Heaven to Hut is 20.5 metres - AK distance (AK-47 21.7 m), past the FAMAS (18.6 m) and the Galil AR (16.3 m). On Ramp the two lines, to Trophy and from Control Room to Admin, are 18.7 and 17.1 metres: the AK covers both, the FAMAS only the second one and is 10 centimetres short of the first.

Squeaky to Vent, 14 metres, is SMG distance. The MP9 (15.9 m) and the MP7 (14.4 m) cover it, the MAC-10 (11.0 m) and the UMP-45 (10.6 m) do not.

On a pistol round the Glock-18 (20.1 m) covers the three shortest fights. The USP-S with its silencer (23.8 m) and the Desert Eagle (24.6 m) add Heaven to Hut.

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: a scope suits Outside, rifles cover A and Ramp, and an SMG is enough from Squeaky to Vent.

Common Mistakes on Nuke

Seven common mistakes, each tied to a measurement above.

Each point below links back to the measurement behind it.

Dry Silo peek: Looking at Garage from the right side of Silo with nothing thrown first. The first T gets there at 9.8 seconds, a CT AWPer has been in Garage since 6.9 - he is waiting for you. Timings
AK at Garage: Taking the Silo to Garage fight with an AK-47. It is about 37 metres, 15 past the AK's 21.7 - only scoped guns are accurate there. Weapons on Nuke
Slow Squeaky rush: Rushing out of Squeaky to drop down Vent to B. The first T reaches the vent at 12.1 seconds, a CT covering the Squeaky doors from the Mini exit is there at 9.9 - 2 seconds before you. Timings
Late Ramp: Walking through Trophy towards Ramp without utility. The CT is on Ramp at 10.5 seconds, the first T in Trophy at 11.7. Timings
Early B rush: Running at B with no utility. In game a CT reaches the B plant in about 15 seconds, a T in 20 to 21.5 - about 6 seconds later. Bombsites
SMG from Heaven: Holding Hut from Heaven with an SMG. It is about 20.5 metres, past the MP9's 15.9 and every other SMG - an M4 or a Deagle reaches it. Weapons on Nuke
Rough drop: Rushing up to Heaven and jumping onto A as a CT. The run is only fast with a clean climb and a clean drop: a hard landing slows the run and eats into the 3.5-second lead the CTs have on A. Timings

Nuke Skins & Collections

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

Nuke has no case of its own. Its skins come in two collections: The Nuke Collection from 14 August 2013, the Arms Deal update, and The 2018 Nuke Collection, added for the London 2018 FACEIT Major in September 2018 to replace the older one.

Each 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 2018 Nuke Collection

18 skins, no Covert. The top two are Classified: the M4A1-S | Control Panel and the Tec-9 | Remote Control. The M4A1-S is a rifle that covers every indoor fight on this map - see Weapons on Nuke.

Consumer Grade

Five-SeveN | Coolant

$0.02 - $0.33

Nuke Guide for Counter-Strike 2

Nuke Map Overview

The map

From the game files

CS2 Nuke Callouts

CS2 Nuke Outside Callouts

CS2 Nuke Lobby Callouts

CS2 Nuke Ramp Callouts

CS2 Nuke A Site Callouts

CS2 Nuke B Site Callouts

Nuke Bombsites

A site

B site

A Site

B Site

Nuke Timings

What the numbers mean

Weapons on Nuke

Outside: scope distance

A and Ramp: rifle distance

Common Mistakes on Nuke

Nuke Skins & Collections

The 2018 Nuke Collection

Five-SeveN | Coolant

UMP-45 | Facility Dark

PP-Bizon | Facility Sketch

P250 | Facility Draft

Nova | Mandrel

Galil AR | Cold Fusion

Negev | Bulkhead

MP7 | Motherboard

M4A1-S | Control Panel

Tec-9 | Remote Control

Glock-18 | Nuclear Garden

AUG | Random Access

MAG-7 | Core Breach

AWP | Acheron

MP5-SD | Co-Processor

P250 | Exchanger

UMP-45 | Facility Dark

Nova | Mandrel

P250 | Facility Draft

Five-SeveN | Coolant

PP-Bizon | Facility Sketch

MP7 | Motherboard

Negev | Bulkhead

M4A4 | Mainframe

The Nuke Collection

M4A4 | Radiation Hazard

Sawed-Off | Irradiated Alert

MAG-7 | Irradiated Alert

PP-Bizon | Irradiated Alert

P90 | Fallout Warning

XM1014 | Fallout Warning

UMP-45 | Fallout Warning

Tec-9 | Nuclear Threat

Tec-9 | Nuclear Threat

P250 | Nuclear Threat

M4A4 | Radiation Hazard

P90 | Fallout Warning

UMP-45 | Fallout Warning

XM1014 | Fallout Warning

Sawed-Off | Irradiated Alert

MAG-7 | Irradiated Alert

PP-Bizon | Irradiated Alert

Sawed-Off | Irradiated Alert

UMP-45 | Fallout Warning

MAG-7 | Irradiated Alert

P90 | Fallout Warning

XM1014 | Fallout Warning

M4A4 | Radiation Hazard

P250 | Nuclear Threat

How to get them now

Nuke Data Download

More CS2 Maps

Mirage

Dust2

Ancient

Anubis

Inferno