CS2 & CSGO Ranks

This page lists all of the ranks that are in CS2 so you can look through and learn about the rankings that you may be working towards. It has all of the necessary information for each rank as well as the statistics for the percentage of players in each rank!

All CS2 & CS:GO Ranks

Silver – Ranks 1 to 6

Gold Nova – Ranks 7 to 10

Master Guardian – Ranks 11 to 14

Top Four – 15 to 18

The CS2 Ranking System Explained

The top-level Counter-Strike players love climbing up the ranked ladder and trying to get as high as possible. Starting from the bottom of SIlver and making your way through Gold Nova, Master Guardian and further is a long and tedious, yet rewarding journey. Counter-Strike 2 and its predecessor, Counter-Striker: Global Offensive, use ranking systems as a way of showing a player’s skill level.

All CS2 Ranks

How To Get A Rank On CS:GO

One thing that is important to mention is that you can’t get a CSGO rank without unlocking competitive mode. To get into competitive mode you need to grind until your account is Level 2 while you have Prime Status unlocked. To do this you just need to play the more calm modes like casual or deathmatch. These are great modes as they help new players get better and develop their key skills before they make the step up to competitive play. After you have hit level 2 you need to win ten ranked matches to be given your rank. While you are in the process of winning these games you will be unranked.

After you play these games, you will be placed in a starter rank which is usually on the lower side of the ranking system. However, if you have previous experience with Counter-Strike, your ranking may be different and a little higher.

CSGO Player Rankings Distribution

Silver Rankings (32.5% Of Players)

Silver is where most players start their CSGO career, especially the players who are lacking in experience in shooter games as a whole. Reading this information might help you understand why so many players are in the Silver rankings, with over a third of CSGO players populating these areas.

Silver 1 – 4.2% of Players

Silver 1 is the lowest rank in the game and is the rank that most players start on before jumping to the higher Silver ranks.

Silver 2 – 4.3% of Players

Silver 2 is very similar to SIlver 1 and is again known as a common place for new players to start in as they wait to rank up higher.

Silver 3 – 4.4% of Players

This is the last of the lower-tier silver ranks and is the starting point for players before the skill really picks up.

Silver 4 – 5.3%

After Silver 3, silver 4 is the beginning of the higher silver ranks. Even though it is still in the silver ranks and quite far from Gold Nova, Silver 4 is a lot more skilled than the lower silver ranks.

Silver Elite – 6.6%

In the CS fanbase, Silver Elite is known as the “ELO hell” of the silver bracket, with it being the place where people get stuck as they attempt to get into Gold. This rank is usually filled with people who can reach Gold Nova but can’t stick it out long enough to stay in those ranks. A common thing in this rank is the addition of Smurf accounts. These are made by people who are typically in the higher ranks and come into the higher stage parts of Silver to make it harder for people to progress.

Silver Elite Master – 7.7%

SEM is the last rank that people play before hitting the real “ELO hell” of the CSGO competitive ranking, Gold Nova. All the things that we said about Silver Elite are true to Silver Elite Master but even more amplified. As well as this, you have the players who are Gold Nova skill-wise but struggle to stick to that rank.

Gold Nova Rankings (34.45% Of Players)

Gold Nova players find themselves in the middle point of CSGO ranks, with them being above the lower-level players of Silver and the higher-level skills in Master Guardian. Gold Nova is the first skill group where the technical skill of players stands out and is also known as the place where players spend most of their CS career as they attempt to make it higher.

Gold Nova 1 – 8.6%

Gold Nova 1 is the beginning of the true CSGO experience as players from Silver get the first experience with what the competitive experience on Counter-Strike is really like. Gold Nova 1 is a huge step forward from Silver and the knowledge of maps becomes even more useful and prominent with opponents.

Gold Nova 2 – 8.8%

GN2 is quite similar to GN1 with it being the place where payers start to hone their skills and get used to playing in Gold Nova as a whole. After going through Silver and Gold Nova 1, players in Gold Nova 2 are used to the skill level and are ready to progress more.

Gold Nova 3 – 8.9%

Gold Nova 3 is known as “high Gold Nova” and is similar to Silver Elite in the way that players are usually good enough to take the next step but are struggling to keep the wins frequent.

Gold Nova Master – 8.1%

Gold Nova is the final step for players who are looking to get out of “ELO hell”, as they progress through GN3, they are ready to take the big step into Master Guardian.

Master Guardian (23.3% Of Players)

Master Guardian is where players are above average and have finally made it out of ELO hell. This rank is where players are starting to become more serious in the way that they play. The players in this rank are looking to go into the professional eSports scene and use third-party match rooms like ‘FACEIT’ and ‘ESEA’ to try and improve their skills.

Master Guardian 1 – 7.5%

Master Guardian 1 is where the players with high-level skill and the Gold Nova level players start to separate, with some players looking at MG1 as a similar level to some of the Gold Nova ranks. However, if you have made it into Master Guardian, you have the skill to get into those legendary ranks as long as you have the time and consistency to get better.

Master Guardian 2 – 6.5%

Master Guardian 2 is quite similar to MG1, however, the middle of this rank is where you can see who has been practising on the third-party matchmaking sites that we mentioned earlier and have been putting in longer hours than other players.

Master Guardian Elite – 5.2%

Master Guardian Elite is the last of the blue ranks in CS and is the pitstop a lot of players take before they get into these higher levels. However, this rank is fairly similar to Silver Elite Master and Gold Nova Master, as players in this rank are good enough for the next step but struggle to have the consistency to progress further.

Distinguished Master Guardian – 4.1%

Distinguished Master Guardian is the first black rank in CS with it being known as the place where you start to run into the most skilled players in competitive matchmaking. DMG is viewed differently from the other Master Guardian ranks as the players in this rank are a lot better than the average.

Legendary (9.8% Of Total Players)

The final four rankings are where you really start to come up against the best players in the world. If you have made it into this rank and you can hold your own, we suggest you take the step into the pro scene!

Legendary Eagle – 3.2%

As the second black rank and the first in the legendary rank, Legendary Eagle is where the players with tournament and competitive experience find themselves coming up against the world’s best.

Legendary Eagle Master – 3.2%

LEM is similar to Legendary Eagle and is where you will meet the best players. However, the players in this ELO usually start to explore the options past the simple CS matchmaking and will start to look for tournaments where they can play against semi-pro and professional players.

Supreme Master First Class – 2.6%

SMFC is the second highest rank in all of CS. The players who reach this rank will have extra motivation to reach the top of all of CSGO’s ranks.

The Global Elite – 0.8%

The best players in the world reside in this rank and if you have reached this rank, you need to look at making CS your career as you have the skill to go further.

CS:GO Rank Table

Rank	Emblem	Percentage of Players
Silver I		3.9%
Silver II		4.2%
Silver III		4.4%
Silver IV		5.2%
Silver Elite		6.3%
Silver Elite Master		7.5%
Gold Nova I		8.1%
Gold Nova II		8.7%
Gold Nova III		8.4%
Gold Nova Master		7.9%
Master Guardian I		7.1%
Master Guardian II		6.5%
Master Guardian Elite		5.8%
Distinguished Master Guardian		4.3%
Legendary Eagle		3.1%
Legendary Eagle Master		2.3%
Supreme Master First Class		1.1%
Global Elite		0.8%

The CS2 Premier Rank System Explained

The Premier Mode is the newest mode in CS2 and it has quickly overtaken competitive mode as the optimal way to rank in CS2.

Valve didn’t shy away from the complaints that players had about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and understood the issues that Copmpettive Mode had. They took these issues on board and made a new way to rank while playing CS.

They added three new systems, the Veto System, the Rating System and the Leaderboard system, each adding to the improvements that ranking had had with the new game.