CS2 Trust Factor Guide & How to Improve Yours

Matchmaking in Counter-Strike can be a hellish experience. To combat this, Valve has constructed its own seven (well… three) circles of hell, which they enforce using the CS2 Trust Factor.

Other than CS Ranking, Trust Factor is the main thing that will affect your Counter-Strike experience. Why does it exist? How is it calculated? How can you improve it? We’ll tell you all about it here.

How Does the Trust Factor Work in CS2?

Back in the CS:GO days, matchmaking was a crapshoot. Sometimes you’d end up with fun, positive teammates, other times you’d end up with trolls, griefers and cheaters. That’s why Valve decided to do something about it and created Trust Factor.

Trust Factor is basically a hidden rating based on your in-game interactions and your Steam account status. Get reported a lot, get muted a lot, be mean to people, and you’ll fall into low trust along with other trolls, griefers and accused cheaters. At least that’s the idea. Valve has consistently refused to share the exact details of their Trust Factor Algorithm. The aforementioned attributes seem to have a major impact on your standing. Your Trust Factor has three general statuses—High, Medium, and Low, with Low being the one you want to avoid at all costs.

How to Check Trust Factor in CS2

Well here’s the thing, you can’t. However, the competition you face off against might be a tip off. If you keep ending up in teams filled with automuted mics, are surrounded by mean players and possible cheaters… you’re probably in the lowest circle of Trust Factor Hell. So the best way to check Trust Factor in CS2 is to simply observe your surroundings.

How to Increase Trust Factor in CS2

Given that Valve is pretty secretive about CS2 Trust Factor, it’s hard to say. If you’re playing on a smurf account with only CS2 bought on it and no other games, you may immediately be slotted in with the bad boys. If you have a 10-year veteran coin (even if you didn’t play much Counter-Strike) you might be surrounded by (relative) angels.

So how to increase Trust Factor in CS2? Well… quoting “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, just be kind, hope you get placed in the right ranks and your trust factor should soar. However, we know that this might be hard if you’re starting your CS2 journey on your new account. That’s why it’s important that you don’t only use your account for CS2. With “regular looking trades”, good in-game behavior and playing to your rank, your Trust Factor should increase.

Trust Factor vs. Playing With Friends

One thing you should look out for is partying up with friends. If you or someone else in your party has a lower Trust Factor, you will be stuck playing at that level regardless of the other players’ Factors, and it may even impact your standing negatively.

That’s why, if you know a friend has a low Trust Factor, it might be a good idea to get someone to give them a good account instead, or convince them to start fresh. This can be particularly annoying if your friend has started off that particular account by smurfing or griefing. Recovering Trust Factor can be a hard task.

Conclusion

We’re going to keep this short and sweet. If you’re looking to keep your trust factor high, be sure to not be that guy griefing and swearing at everyone, play at your level, use your Steam account for other stuff, and you will increase your Trust Factor in CS2 in no time.