Danger Zone

“Introducing Danger Zone — a fast-paced battle royale game mode built on CS:GO's tactical gameplay where players use their wits, skill, and resources to fight to the finish.”
―Official description

Danger Zone is a Battle Royale mode added to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the December 6, 2018 update. As a Battle Royale game mode, Danger Zone sees 18 players enter a single battle arena, scavenge for equipment, and fight to the last man.

Gameplay[]

Danger Zone is a battle royale mode where players scavenge for equipment and engage in combat with each other in a shrinking battle arena, and the last surviving player (or player team) wins. The mode has maximum 18 players per game, either in Solo or in Duos.

Danger Zone is set on large open maps exclusive to the mode. The map is divided up into hexagons. At the start of a game, players need to choose an area of the map from which the player will spawn into. Once the game starts, players will be rappelled into their preferred spawn area. Players start equipped with nothing except their Fists as a weapon, one Medi-Shot, a Tablet to see the map and purchase items, as well as one equipment of the player's choice.

Danger Zone[]

After the game starts, players will need to gather equipment and fight to the last man. The safe space on the map gradually shrinks, forcing players closer together and making combat more frequent.

Danger Zone does not feature conventional respawning. Players can only respawn when they're playing in Duos, while his teammate is alive.

Equipment & Cash[]

Danger Zone does not feature conventional item purchase. Additional weapons and equipment can be collected from randomized spawns around the map, or purchased with Cash.

Scattered around the map are supply boxes, containing weapons and equipment that can be collected once they're broken. Supply boxes with secondary Weapons, Grenades, or Medi-Shots can be broke open with fists or other weapons. Supply boxes with primary weapons require a weapon of some kind (Melee weapon, Gun, or Grenade) to be opened.

In addition to supply boxes, Cash can be obtained to purchase additional equipment. Bundle of Cash can be found around the map, each providing $50 when picked up. A $100 exploration award is also given if the player travels to another hexagon zone and staying there for a short period of time. A $700 bonus can be obtained by surviving expansions of the Danger Zone.

Danger zone ranks — The new Danger Zone Ranks, in order left to right, top to bottom.

The Tablet is used to purchase equipment with cash. Players are provided a menu of items to purchase with their money, and upon purchase, a drone will deliver the purchased item to the tablet that ordered the item.

Locked gates can also be found around the map. These requiring a fee of money to be opened, additionally they can be blast open using an explosive.

Locked Safes containing money can also be found. They come with explosives wrapped around them, and arming these explosives will destroy the safe, allowing the player to collect the money inside.

In the late game, large crates will be dropped from the sky containing better weapons.

In the July 22, 2019 update a skill group system was introduced to Danger Zone. Unlike Wingman & Competitive matchmaking, players from all skill groups are queued together (rather than attempting to put players from specific skill groups in the same match).

Ranked and Unranked Danger Zone[]

As of the June 3, 2021 update, Danger Zone (similar to Competitive and Wingman) was split into two modes. Ranked, where players' skill groups can be seen & factor heavily into finding other players, and Unranked, where players' skill are still calculated based on their performance, but skill groups cannot be seen & there are no restrictions on skill groups for partying with other players.

Ranked Danger Zone is only available for players with Prime status, while Unranked is available for non-Prime players and Prime players that toggle "Ranked Matches" to "Unranked Matches" in the "Play CS:GO" window.

Weapons & Equipment[]

Danger Zone features new weapons, equipment, and items. These include:

Hammer
Spanner
Axe
Diversion Device (An alternative version of Decoy Grenade)
Frag Grenade (An alternative version of HE Grenade)
FireBomb (An alternative version of Molotov)
Breach Charge
Tablet
Parachute
Fists
ExoJump Boots
Bump Mine
Ballistic Shield
Radar Jammer
An alternative version of the C4 with a compass
An alternative of the Armor that can be picked up

Deployment Perk[]

At the beginning of a game, the player gets to select a deployment perk to drop with. This includes:

Supply Crates spawn around the map. These are identifiable by a color, letter and number which tells the player what is inside them.

Maps[]

Only one map is available for matchmaking at one time.

The following maps are officially available in the listed games.

The following maps were featured in Global Offensive operations.

County

The following maps were made by community members and have been officially available in Global Offensive for a certain period of time.

Ember (February 21, 2022 - September 27, 2023)
Frostbite (December 3, 2020 - September 21, 2021)
Jungle (November 18, 2019 - July 23, 2020)
Vineyard (February 21, 2022 - September 27, 2023)

The following maps were either cut prior to or after the release of the listed games, or have yet to be released.

Fall

Behind the scenes[]

Information on Danger Zone was first added to the game files in the May 31, 2016 update. The mode is referred to as "survival" in the game files. Additional files were added to the game files throughout 2017.^[1]^[2].
Information on Danger Zone's map was first added to the game files in the October 10, 2016 update. The map was referred to as "island" in the game files.