mLkoach / Guides

What is a good ADR in CS2?

The honest answer is “it depends on who you play against”. So here are the numbers, level by level, taken from the demos of 1,015 FACEIT players rather than from a gut feeling.

Median ADR by FACEIT level

Median per player: half the level does better, the other half does worse. Levels 7 to 10 are grouped — beyond that, the sample becomes too thin to honestly tell an 8 from a 10.

In other words: an ADR of 80 is ordinary at level 4 or 5, very good at level 2, and not enough at level 7. The number alone says nothing; it's the gap to your level that matters.

What ADR measures — and what it doesn't

ADR is average damage dealt per round. Its main strength: it doesn't depend on who finishes the target. Putting 90 damage into an enemy a teammate finishes earns no kill, but it won the duel — and ADR counts it.

Its blind spots, however, are real:

• It ignores timing. A hundred damage in a round already lost is worth as much as a hundred damage on match point. Nothing in ADR tells them apart.
• It rewards long rounds. A player who survives and shoots a lot piles it up; the one who takes the entry and dies fast hits a ceiling, even when that's their job.
• It says nothing about the rest. Flashes that open a site, smokes that cut an angle, the defuse: zero damage, and often the round.

Three ways to raise it, in order of return

1. Stop dying first for nothing

The first death of a round deals, on average, almost no damage. Every lost opening is therefore a round with near-zero ADR — and a 4 against 5 for the others. In our base, the opening balance (opening kills minus opening deaths) is one of the measures most tied to real impact. Waiting for utility, or changing angle, costs three seconds and wins a round.

2. Deal damage without your gun

A well-placed HE before an entry is worth half a duel won: the enemy fights at 60 HP. Our base's median is around 8 damage per HE thrown; the top quarter of level 7 and up goes above 15. It's the fastest lever to work on, because it needs no aim speed — just knowing three lineups per map.

3. Take duels in the right order, not more often

Taking more duels doesn't raise ADR: it raises deaths too. What raises it is taking duels with the advantage — after a flash, with numbers, or on an enemy who's already been hit.

Read next: how to analyse your CS2 demo and what really separates FACEIT levels.