Just as we expect the sun to rise in the morning, CS:GO players go into a match expecting the AWP, the iconic sniper rifle that has broken hearts and created legends for the past two decades, to be the same one-shot kill god gun it always has been. Well, it still is, but the AWP has just received a serious nerf. Will the sun be ok?

Specifically, the AWP's magazine size has been cut in half; Valve announced this news with the release of the latest CS:GO patch (opens in new tab), reducing the effectiveness of the M4A1-S at range and removing the Dust 2 from the current Active Duty map pool The new tab is now available.

"The AWP has had its magazine size reduced to 5 rounds.

"Make your ammo count" is exactly what it says, and this is a full 50% reduction in ready ammo, which will no doubt have a huge impact on how many players (and perhaps some pros) deploy this powerful $4,750 weapon. AWPs, in the right hands, can completely change the course of a match. It can completely change the game, and most pro teams designate one or more AWP users. It is not uncommon for an experienced AWPer to chain together two, three, or four kills to win a round, then use the exact same AWP to get another kill in the next round. should consider whether it is worth it.

Most probably. the AWP is already a risky gun as it is. You only need to miss once to give the enemy an opening to get a shotgun shell on you, and a five-round magazine won't change that, but having to reload more often will definitely limit one player's spamming potential, and the possibility of hitting a noscope in a tight space, even if he misses a few shots, will limit the five The CS:GO community has reacted to the AWP nerf with a mix of panic, confusion, and cautious optimism.

"People will actually reload now," writes Redditor Sosen (opens in new tab).

"Also, non-sick AWP players need to be more passive now. You can't keep peeking forever," user mcucsgo added.

Another commenter laughed at the fact that Valve restricted his favorite gun just three days after famous French AWPer kennyS (open in new tab) returned to the game after an 18-month absence.

Indeed, Valve rarely makes dramatic adjustments to CS:GO's gunmetal, and when they do make changes to core weapons, they tend to stick; the last major change to the AWP was a whopping seven years ago. That 2015 patch caused a huge stir among AWP users (opens in new tab). They learned that the nerf to scoped-in movement speed meant that they could no longer do the quick peak angle instant kills they had been doing for years.AWP also received a small nerf to movement acceleration in February 2020, but the tweak was so small that the blog post didn't even make it into the blog post.

Curiously, the five-round magazine change brought the AWP closer to the equivalent of CS:GO's biggest rival, the Valorant; Riot's AWP rifle version, the Operator (opens in new tab) ("Op" for short), also has a five-round magazine. To date, magazine size has been one of the main differentiators between these two rifles.

Perhaps Valve is taking a cue from Riot's tactical shooter, which would be natural after the League of Legends studio's big Ctrl+C+V on the whole Counter-Strike deal.