Whether you love it or hate it, Vertigo is here to stay for the foreseeable future. The quick rotations and verticality makes the map unique in how it plays. It also happens to be one of the most boost-heavy maps in the game. Both the CT and T sides have opportunities to catch opponents off guard from above (and below!) by stacking on a teammate’s head.

In Counter-Strike 2, knowing the boosts on Vertigo will make your defense dynamic, and your offense robust. In this blog, we’ll cover the six boosts we consider essential on de_vertigo.

Bottom B to Wood

To boost behind the plywood at B Stairs, simply boost on the higher stack of drywall, and crouch jump onto the ledge behind the wood. This is an alternative to the stairs themselves, but it’s important you clear the Danger area behind the wood with a Molotov, or other utility. The plywood there is extremely thin and can be easily shot through. It also has a propensity to expose parts of your player-model through it if you’re positioned a certain way, giving away your position.

Bottom B Railing Boost

Just to the left of the previous boost, you can achieve a similar boost that’s a bit trickier to pull off, but is generally preferred. By having your teammate on the center of the railing, you can position yourself on the raised pole to crouch jump on your teammate’s head. Your teammate does not need to crouch for this, as seen in the gif above. This angle is a headshot angle, and is a great way to challenge a CT player in the default position, or anyone on the far left side of the bombsite. You can also jump into site, as also seen above.

Back Crane

This boost allows you to see just outside of Yellow, and a bit of Shelf. This is a risky boost, as you’re both exposed to a flank from the sidewalk. You can also be spammed through the metal wall. Still, worth knowing and throwing in this boost every now and then to catch your opponents off guard.

Sidehall Boost

Similar to the previous boost, this one is high risk, high reward. Successfully pull it off and you’ll net a few easy frags, and maybe even the round win. It allows you to see into the end of Yellow, most of Shelf and a bit of A Ramp itself. It’s a little clunky to set up, because of the small area of the traffic bollard to stand on.

Middle Boxes

This boost is a good way to mix up your Middle play, and is best done in conjunction with another player playing off of contact. It’s not great to fight into the Middle and Ladder areas, however. It’s an awkward angle to fight Ts.

Drywall Stack

Also sometimes called “Stacks”, this boost is located at the back of A site, next to Elevator. From here, it’s possible to see over the normal A execute smokes to Shelf and Sandbags. Holding the angle from behind the metal pole is ideal, since there is no other cover in this position.

How to find your own boosts using Refrag

Vertigo offers many opportunities to boost, and the ones we’ve shown are just a few that are the most useful. With Refrag’s tools, it’s incredibly easy to craft your own clever head-stacks as well..

In an empty server running the NADR mod, you can use the .botboost command to spawn a bot directly below you. Simply go to a position you’d like to test a boost in and type the command.

To see what it would look like from the enemy POV, from the top of the boost, aim at the spot you would peek from as the enemy and type .bot. Then, type .bring to teleport that bot to your current position. You’re now free to noclip out from the boost and see what it looks like from the enemy POV. For a complete list of commands, see the Refrag Wiki.