CS2 Anubis Guide (2026): Callouts, Executes, CT Setups

Anubis is the map where the middle is literally under water. A canal runs through the centre, a bridge crosses over it, and the double doors at the top of mid open on to the CT side of both bombsites. Valve took Anubis out of the Active Duty pool in July 2025, brought it back on 21 January 2026 with five layout changes, and kept it for Premier Season 5. This guide covers the callouts on a schematic map, what the 2026 changes did, default executes for both sites with the smokes described in words, CT setups, retakes and the mistakes we see most.

Where Anubis stands in 2026

Anubis was built by a community team, added to CS:GO in 2020 and promoted to Active Duty in November 2022, which carried it into Counter-Strike 2. Valve rotated it out on 15 July 2025 — Overpass came back that day — and returned it on 21 January 2026 in "The Fourth Season" update, when Train left the pool. When Premier Season 5 started on 8 July 2026, Valve swapped Overpass for Cache and left Anubis in place, so the seven maps you can draw today are Ancient, Anubis, Cache, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke.

That matters for how you prepare. Since the Rush Hour update of 22 September 2026, Premier no longer bans down to one map: each team picks two and one of the four is drawn at random. You can't ban Anubis away any more, so if your team avoids it you will still land on it when the other side picks it. Our map pool guide has the full pick rules and every swap since 2024.

How the map flows

Anubis has the usual three lanes, but the middle lane is different from any other map in the pool. From T spawn, Main leads to A past Fountain, B Long runs through Ruins and Outside Long to the Gate into B, and Top Mid drops into the canal area. In the centre, Bridge is a raised walkway that runs toward Mid Doors, with Water and the Canal below it. Through the doors is Middle, the CTs' side of mid, which connects to both sites: Walkway and A Connector lead on to A, while Palace leads toward B.

The CTs spawn at the top of the map with their own quick routes: Tunnel and its stairs run up to A Heaven, and Street runs below Snipers Nest toward B. That gives defenders short rotations on the outside of the map and a long one through the middle — which is why Terrorists who own mid can split a site from two directions while the CTs are still walking.

Anubis callouts

CS2 shows the game's own place name under every player on the radar, so learning those names is the fastest way to make your calls match what your teammates see. csdb.gg, which reads the names from the game files, counts 27 official callouts and 27 community names on Anubis. Here they are by area — the solid tag is a name the game shows you, the outlined tag is a name players use.

Three names cause most confusion. Heaven means two different places: the CT platform over A, and the raised spot at Ruins that looks over B Long (the game calls that one "Heaven (Ruins)"). Water and Canal are the same waterway at two widths — call the side you mean. And Mid Doors is the game's name for what most players call Double Doors.

The January 2026 changes

When Anubis came back, Valve's notes listed five layout changes. Here they are, word for word, with what each means in a round — the second column is BoostPirate's read of the change, not Valve's:

A review of the update on the SIH blog adds two more details: a small gap in the connector now lets both sides throw utility through it, and wooden surfaces can be shot through. Neither line is in the short list above, so test them yourself on a practice server before you rely on a wallbang. The same update also made the MP7, MP5-SD and PP-Bizon $100 cheaper, which helps CT anti-ecos on a map with this many close angles.

T side: the default A execute

A is the site Terrorists can split most cleanly, because Main and A Connector arrive from two sides. csdb.gg's map guide describes the default: smoke Heaven and the CT/Tunnel entrance, molotov the Headshot boxes, and enter from Main and Connector. In order, that looks like this (timings are BoostPirate's advice — adjust them to your team's speed):

1. Take mid first0:10–0:35

   Two players win Top Mid and the bridge with a flash. You need Middle at least half-safe, or the Connector wave walks into a crossfire.

2. Smokes land together≈ 0:40

   Heaven smoke cuts the high CT angle; the CT/Tunnel smoke stops the rotation from spawn. Throw both inside one second so neither fades early.

3. Burn Headshot+1 s

   The molotov flushes the boxes that watch Main. Since January 2026 the site crates sit up on Walkway, so check that new spot too.

4. Two entries, one moment+3 s

   Main and Connector commit together behind a flash over the site wall. The scaffolding on the A pillar is a new close angle: clear it first.

5. Plant for the post-plantafter the kills

   Plant where Fountain and Main can both see the bomb, then play from those two spots rather than on site.

T side: the default B execute

B is entered from B Long through Gate, and CTs on B have to watch several angles at once — Long, the canal, Palace and the spawn side. The default per csdb.gg: smoke Sniper and Street, flash through Gate, and bring the Palace players in as a second wave.

• Sniper smoke — the Snipers Nest window looks straight down the B entry. Without this smoke, nobody walks through Gate.
• Street smoke — cuts the CT rotation from spawn so the site is played two against your five, not four.
• Gate flash — a pop flash over Gate as the first player moves; the second player trades.
• Palace wave — two players hold Palace until the Long group is on site, then push the CT who turns to face Gate.
• Clear the new hole — since January 2026 there is a line between E Box and Back of B; a rotating CT can arrive through it.

An AWPer on B Long is a common way to play the round slowly: one player watches Long and punishes a CT push while the rest take mid. It also keeps the CTs guessing whether the B smokes are a hit or a fake.

Mid control: Bridge, Water and Mid Doors

Most rounds on Anubis start in mid. For Terrorists, Top Mid and Bridge give the first look at Middle; for CTs, Middle and the doors are the first line of defence. The January 2026 changes made two things different here: the drop from Bridge now lands near Mid Doors, and the doors open the other way. Practise the new peeks before Premier — muscle memory from 2025 sends your crosshair to the wrong side of the door.

CT setups

There is no single correct setup, and Valve publishes no side statistics for Anubis (csdb.gg calls it "T-friendly" in pro play without figures). These are three common shapes; the numbers show players per area. They are BoostPirate's starting points, not a pro meta list:

Whatever the setup, the A anchor should know the new cover: the crates that moved up the steps to Walkway and the scaffolding on the A pillar are both CT-friendly spots, but every team now checks them first. Rotate the spot you play every couple of rounds.

Retakes and post-plant

A lost site on Anubis is usually retaken from two sides. On A, players come from Tunnel and Heaven and from Connector; on B, from Street and through Palace or the new E Box hole. Call who goes where before anyone moves, smoke the Terrorists' post-plant spot (Fountain on A, the Gate side on B) and use the incendiary on the bomb only when you are close enough to defuse straight after it burns out. Our planned retakes and post-plant guide covers the general rules, and the smokes guide explains how a smoke puts out the fire you'll find on the bomb.

Common Anubis mistakes

How to practise Anubis

Learn the executes offline before you queue. Start a practice server with map de_anubis, then use the practice commands — sv_cheats 1, mp_buy_anywhere 1, ammo_grenade_limit_total 5 and sv_rethrow_last_grenade — from our practice commands guide. Valve's official map guides help too: since its 18 March 2026 update, a map guide can be opened from the pause menu in the first five rounds of each half in Competitive. Then run the same five rounds every session: A execute, B execute, mid take, an A retake and a B retake.

When the executes are automatic, the next step is reviewing your own rounds — our demo guide shows how. For the other six maps, read the planned Cache, Mirage and Ancient guides, and the flashbangs and molotovs guide for the pop flashes these executes rely on.