CS2 Nuke Guide (2026): Callouts, Both Floors, Outside and Setups

Nuke is the map that breaks the rules the other six teach you. Its two bombsites are stacked — A on the upper floor, B directly below it — so the CTs can rotate between them in seconds, sound travels through floors, and "which site?" is often really "which floor?". It's also one of the oldest maps in Counter-Strike (first released in November 1999, redesigned for CS:GO in 2016) and one of the four maps that stayed in the Active Duty pool through every swap since April 2024. This guide covers Nuke in Premier Season 5: the callouts on both floors, Outside control, the A execute through Squeaky and Hut, Ramp and Secret hits, vents and noise, CT setups and retakes. Checked 8 November 2026.

How Nuke works: two floors, one building

Terrorists spawn in the west. From T Spawn they can go inside through Lobby — the hub of the T side, with Trophy and Control off it — or outside into the yard the map files call Outside, with Silo in the middle and Garage at the far end. From Lobby, two doors lead onto A: Squeaky (named for the noise it makes) and Hut. A also has Heaven, a raised platform above the site, with Hell beneath it, and the CTs' main entrance from the east, which players call Main.

B is the floor below. Terrorists reach it down Ramp from Lobby, or by taking Outside and going down Secret at the far end. Vents connect A and B directly; Decon sits beside B, and the CTs have Tunnels on their side. That's why CT rotations on Nuke are the fastest in the pool: a player on A can be on B through the vents before a B execute finishes.

Nuke callouts on both floors

Nuke has more official names than any other map in this series — 27 in the map files — plus 21 common player names. When you call, say the floor if it isn't obvious: "one Heaven" is upstairs, "one Ramp" could be either end.

On A, learn Tetris (the default plant cover), Mustang, Rafters and Heaven; on the A clear, csdb.gg's common order is Hut, Sandbags, Tetris, Heaven, Rafters, Mustang. On B: Dark, Doors, Window, Big Box and Headshot (a CT spot that watches Ramp). Outside: CT Red and T Red are the two red containers that frame the yard.

Outside: the yard

Outside is Nuke's only true AWP lane. The yard's long sightlines run from Garage and CT Red towards T Red and Silo, so a Terrorist who walks into it without utility simply dies. Two things happen Outside. Terrorists take it to reach Secret and hit B from the far side — which means walling off Garage and CT Red with smokes and crossing with several players at once. And CTs use it as their early warning: the Outside player's silence is information too. If the yard is quiet, expect Lobby.

T side: the A execute through Squeaky and Hut

The A execute is Nuke's signature hit, and the grenades are the whole plan: blind the two angles that see both doors, burn out Hut, then go through both doors at once.

Squeaky is the trap: opening it dry into a pre-aimed rifle is one of the most common throws on the map, so burn a flash on it every time. Our addition — a second flash thrown into Squeaky — gives the player opening it a clean peek.

T side: Ramp and Secret

B can be hit from two ends. The Ramp take: clear Ramp with a flash from Control and a Molotov on Headshot, then go down with a smoke on Doors and hold the post-plant from Dark and back Ramp. The Secret split: take Outside behind a smoke wall, send four through Secret and one down Ramp, and hit B from both ends together.

The round-steal everyone remembers is the A fake to vent drop: throw the full A execute, show two players at Hut, then drop the rest through the vents onto B before Heaven repositions. It only works when the A noise covers the metal sound of the drop.

Vents, noise and sound

Because the sites are stacked, Nuke is the loudest map in the pool. You hear players above and below you, metal floors give away rotations and the vents announce every drop. The table below ranks the noisy moves by how much they give away — BoostPirate's coaching ranking, not a measurement:

CT side: hold chokes, not sites

The usual Nuke CT default has two on A (Heaven or the site, and Hut/Squeaky), one on Ramp, one Outside or in Garage, and one flexing between B and Secret. The principle: hold the information chokes — Squeaky, the Ramp barrels, Lobby, the Garage window — rather than the sites, and spend grenades keeping the Terrorists out of Lobby and off the yard. Three looks to rotate:

The AWP works best Outside or holding Main from the site. Anchors sit at Hut, Big Box or Dark; the Ramp player is usually the first body into a B retake. Save some grenades for post-plants — the Terrorists have to watch above and below, and a well-timed flash through the vents or down Ramp catches them looking the wrong way.

Key smokes and Molotovs, in words

Lineup names from csdb.gg's Nuke lineups and strategy page (reviewed 4 July 2026). Valve's in-game map guides (since 18 March 2026) open from the pause menu during the first five rounds of each half in Competitive.

Retakes and post-plants

Nuke retakes use the floors. A retakes come from Heaven and Hut with a flash thrown down onto the site; B retakes drop through the vents or push Doors and Window together. As a Terrorist after a B plant, hold from Dark, Doors and back Ramp, and keep one player watching the Secret stairs. After an A plant, hold the site boxes and Squeaky, and don't forget Heaven — a CT who reappears there sees the whole site. The retakes and post-plant guide has the general method.

Common Nuke mistakes

Nuke in Season 5

Nuke's layout hasn't changed in 2026. The only Nuke line in Valve's notes this year was cosmetic:

1. 27 January 2026Adjusted hanging hard hat model render bounds to prevent shadow popping when model exited the view frustum.
2. 5 November 2026The newest update we read changed Retakes only — nothing on Nuke.

In Premier, since 22 September 2026 Team 1 picks one map, Team 2 picks two maps, Team 1 picks a final map, and one of the four maps is drawn at random. Nuke is a specialist map that many players avoid picking, so it's a good one to master: when the draw lands on it, a team that knows its timings has an edge. Continue with the Inferno guide, the Ancient guide and the IGL guide for calling a Nuke half, and check the map pool guide for the full Season 5 pool.