Counter-Strike 2

Knife

Utility, both sides.

Knife
Utility · both sides

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Full history

Until you pick a month the page shows every change. Pick the month you last played to keep only what is new to you. The date is shared by every weapon page.

Since you last played

Changed in 5 updates

7 balance changes across 5 updates, condensed below to what still matters.

0 buffs and 2 nerfs in total: trending weaker.

Biggest balance changes

  • ▼
    Damage Knife impact sounds are now unique based on primary fire or alt fire swings as well as front and rear attacks. This reflects the different damage amounts dealt with each attackadjusted 4 times across 3 updates, net nerf
  • ▼
    The number of levels to reach Golden Knife have been reduced to 16.
  • ◆
    Draw time Unified deploy duration for all knives to be exactly 1.0 seconds
  • ◆
    Range Knife attacks will now prioritize enemies and will only hit teammates if there are no enemies in range

Most recent change 21 January 2026

  • ◆
    Damage Knife impact sounds are now unique based on primary fire or alt fire swings as well as front and rear attacks. This reflects the different damage amounts dealt with each attack

Using the Knife now

Free. Pull it out to move faster while not fighting.

Every Knife change, update by update

All 72 lines Valve listed for the Knife since Apr 2012, newest first, fixes and visual changes included. Last changed 22 May 2026.

  • ◆
    Adjusted finger animation on Bayonet model. visual

  • ◆
    Talon and Karambit knives are now held correctly while defusing.

  • ◆
    Draw time Added missing knife draw animations visual

  • ◆
    The Karambit crouch animation has a strange wrist rotation. visual

  • ◆
    Various knife sound adjustments. visual

  • ◆
    Various knife sound adjustments. visual

  • ◆
    Damage Knife impact sounds are now unique based on primary fire or alt fire swings as well as front and rear attacks. This reflects the different damage amounts dealt with each attack
  • ◆
    Draw time Higher fidelity knife draw and inspect sounds visual
  • ▼
    Draw time Weapon, knife and utility draw sounds no longer overlap when switching quickly between them visual
  • ◆
    Wall penetration Fixed some small interpenetrations in Butterfly Knife animations fix

  • ◆
    Viewmodel animation fixes for the Bowie, Bayonet, Kukri, Nomad, Paracord, and Skeleton knives. visual

  • ◆
    Fixed issues with the classic knife's inspect animations. fix
  • ◆
    Draw time Fixed the deploy for the Stiletto knife. fix
  • ◆
    Draw time Fixed the deploy for the Butterfly knife. fix
  • ◆
    Updated Talon knife inspect while 'fidgeting' to be more responsive. visual
  • ◆
    Draw time Adjusted Flip knife animation when inspecting immediately after deploying. visual
  • ◆
    Draw time Adjusted Bayonet knife animation when inspecting immediately after deploying. visual

  • ◆
    Fixed knife slashes applying a 'dry' attack decal on wet surfaces. fix

  • ▼
    Draw time Improved deploy +quick inspect animations for all knives. visual

  • ◆
    Fixed finger placement during Huntsman knife in-game inspect animation fix
  • ◆
    Fixed a bug related to changing inspect scenery while inspecting knives fix

  • ◆
    Fixed fingers crossing into butterfly knife geometry during inspect animation fix

  • ◆
    Damage Adjusted the score calculation in Casual, Competitive, and Wingman to exclude knife and utility damage

  • ◆
    Added left hand to Bowie Knife view model visual

  • ◆
    Fix for Kukri knife hold animation during team intro sequence visual

  • ◆
    Fixed a regression with Butterfly Knife inspect sounds. fix
  • ◆
    Draw time Added a catch sound for Kukri knife draw animation. visual

  • ◆
    Fixed a bug with the Kukri knife inspect animation fix

  • ◆
    Fixed a 'broken wrist' animation with the Survival Knife fix

  • ◆
    Range Knife attacks will now prioritize enemies and will only hit teammates if there are no enemies in range
  • ▼
    Damage Knife attacks no longer predict damage effects or sounds on the client
  • ◆
    Damage Knife attack immediately after switching to a knife will always deal full damage amount

  • ▼
    Reduced falloff distance of knife impact and swish sounds visual

  • ◆
    Adjusted team select and team intro knife animations to work with Shadow Daggers visual

  • ◆
    Fixed knife spinning not feeling as fast as in CS:GO fix

  • ◆
    Fixed a bug where knife slashing couldn't be interrupted with an inspect fix

  • ◆
    Added nametag positions for all knife models visual

  • ◆
    Fixed a regression with inspecting Huntsman knives. fix

  • ◆
    Ballistic Shield will now block all melee attacks (knife, axe, fists, etc.)

  • ◆
    When holding a knife, the default crosshair will now behave like other crosshairs.

  • ◆
    Fixed a bug that sometimes showed default knife in spectator UI. fix

  • ◆
    Fixed holstered knife rotation on Anarchist character models. fix

  • ◆
    Fixed an issue that caused the killcount HUD to disappear when using knives. fix
  • ◆
    Fixed taser and knife icons overlapping. fix

  • ◆
    Fixed a bug that caused the server to not animate Heavy Assault Suit players properly when using knives. fix

  • ◆
    Damage Fixed a bug that caused knife swings to do reduced damage in the 0.4 seconds after their deploy animation finished, as if you had just taken a swing. (Sorry Snax!) fix

  • ◆
    Draw time Unified deploy duration for all knives to be exactly 1.0 seconds

  • ◆
    Added convar mp_drop_knife_enable (defaults to ‘0’) that allows players on community servers to drop their knives.

  • ◆
    Fixed a sound synchronization bug with some Falchion knife animations fix

  • ▼
    The number of levels to reach Golden Knife have been reduced to 16.
  • ◆
    Two kills are needed to upgrade with each weapon (unless you get a knife kill or kill the enemy leader).
  • ◆
    Fixed game reporting the wrong name of the player who got to knife level in Arms Race. fix

  • ◆
    Fixed the butterfly knife having a quickswitch advantage. fix

  • ◆
    Fixed upside-down label position on butterfly knife model. fix

  • ◆
    Resolved an issue that was preventing users from earning knife-related achievements in Arms Race. fix

  • ◆
    Updates have been made to the Vote UI: -- The vote thumbs and counts now also display on the vote result, so you get a summary of why it passed or failed. -- Now when a vote fails because it was cast recently, we show that warning message before we would show the failure for an individual voter recently casting a failed vote. -- Fixed the result numbers sometimes not showing the very last vote that caused it to succeed or fail. -- The player list is now scrollable when there are more than 10 selectable players. -- Added a new convar - "sv_arms_race_vote_to_restart_disallowed_after" that should be set to the weapon level after which no restart match vote will be accepted. This convar is currently set in GameModes.txt for each of the modes of play, and is set so that a vote to restart will work until someone reaches the knife level.
  • ◆
    Fix for z-fighting on Phoenix arms at the wrist on the left side that occurs when carrying the knife and looking directly upwards.
  • ◆
    Removed the custom bind for the Zeus in the options screen. Moved knife/Zeus bind down with the rest of the specific item binds.
  • ◆
    Added rumble effect to knife. visual
  • ◆
    Draw time Fix for player being unable to hear knife deployment sounds when deploying the knife while standing on certain properties. visual
  • ◆
    Draw time Fix for deploy sound for knife not playing when secondary weapon is dropped. visual

  • ◆
    Fix for the hitch just before the Gold Knife kill in Arms Race matches.
  • ◆
    Updates to the Arms Race UI: - Now when someone reaches the Gold Knife level, the HUD shows a message in the chat text, displays an alert, and plays a sound effect. - The scoreboard now displays the winner of the Arms Race match. - The Arms Race weapon progression HUD element in the lower right now properly displays the data for the person you are spectating. visual

  • ◆
    Added money bonus to knife kills.
  • ◆
    Fix for getting the golden knife too early in Arms Race.
  • ◆
    Fix for incorrectly retaining the gold knife on respawn after a suicide, team change, or killed by enemy knife.
  • ◆
    We now remove the golden knife from the player if they had it and lost a level in Arms Race.
  • ◆
    Fix for knife spawning in on the ground with you if you end the round without your secondary weapon (pistol).

  • ◆
    Fixed the alert for when you reach gold knife level showing up when anyone reached it. fix

  • ◆
    Arms Race now ends with a gold knife to convey to the user the difference between killing someone with a knife to steal their level and killing someone with a knife to win the game.
  • ◆
    A knife kill in Arms Race now only sets you back a weapon level if you were killed by an enemy.
  • ◆
    Added a T knife icon. visual