Snap Tap / SOCD Detection in Counter-Strike 2

Razer’s Snap Tap, Wooting’s SOCD (Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions) and ‘Null Bind’ Scripts allow for users to prevent the simultaneous pressing of two keys, making perfect counter strafing in CS2 trivially easy. Pressing a movement key in the opposite direction at the exact moment the primary movement key is released allows for the quickest stopping time, and the shortest time until a player is accurate when shooting. Pressing the opposite movement key too early or too late will result in a small period of time where there is effectively no movement key being pressed, delaying the counter strafe effect. Snap Tap / SOCD / Null Bind Scripts make it impossible for there to be any time between when the primary movement key is pressed and when the counter strafe movement key is pressed, making perfect counter strafes trivially easy. Many people online have expressed concerns over the feasibility of detecting these tools (in the event of a future ban on their usage), and so the purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate the practicality of detecting Snap Tap (etc.), and to determine how prevalent the usage of these tools is in pro play at the moment.

Snap Tap, SOCD and Null Bind Scripts work by preventing the simultaneous pressing of two keys, and key presses are recorded in CS2 demos, so it is possible to detect when players are pressing multiple keys at the same time. If every tick of a demo is analyzed, players using Snap Tap will (in theory) never have any ticks where both left and right buttons are pressed (the most common buttons used for Snap Tap). Any human playing on a regular keyboard setup will have simultaneous key presses throughout their games, because humans are human. While it is technically possible for a player not using Snap Tap to not have any ticks pressing both left and right over the course of a demo, it is highly unlikely.

It is not clear when Snap Tap (the first mainstream iteration of this technology) was made available to professional teams, but according to Mouz’s Reddit account, the team, which is sponsored by Razer, only began testing the new feature after their elimination from IEM Dallas, which ended on June 2nd of this year. There were also rumors that G2 and Mouz may have been using Snap Tap at IEM Dallas or at previous tournaments, but there has been no confirmation of this from the teams. According to statements by Razer employees on X, Razer received approval from tournament organizers before pushing the update to their keyboards. Snap Tap was officially announced and released to consumers on July 9th. Wooting, another keyboard manufacturer, released their version of Snap Tap (SOCD) on July 23rd. Wooting stated that Snap Tap / SOCD should not be allowed in competitive play, but given that it was, they would add support for it on their keyboards.

Several recent tournaments were analyzed to determine the prevalence of Snap Tap (and equivalents) in professional play. Demos (obtained through HLTV) were analyzed using a script which examined every tick, and determined whether or not each player was pressing both the left and right keys. The number of ticks each player was holding both right and left keys (“overlapping ticks”) was recorded for each demo. All available demos from ESL Pro League Season 19, IEM Dallas, BLAST Spring Final, and Esports World Cup were analyzed.

ESL Pro League Season 19

At EPL, 4 players were found to have at least one game where the demo recorded zero ticks where left and right inputs were being overlapped. 2 of those players had zero overlapping input ticks for all of their games played.

For KRIMZ and Maka, in their games that did have some overlapping ticks, the smallest number of overlapping ticks was in the hundreds (this is consistent with the general population of professionals found in the demos), making it highly unlikely that the zero overlapping tick demos were pure chance that the players did not hit the left and right keys at the same time for any ticks. For both players, the maps that did not include any overlapping ticks were part of the same series. For these two players, there were no series with one map having zero overlapping ticks, and another map having some overlapping ticks. For Skullz and YEKINDAR, all of their demos showed zero overlapping ticks. Other Liquid players had normal amounts of overlapping ticks, consistent with the general population of players at EPL.

IEM Dallas 2024

At IEM Dallas, 6 players were found to have at least one game where the demo recorded zero overlapping input ticks. 2 of those players had zero overlapping input for all of their games played.

Skullz had zero overlapping ticks in Liquid’s opening game against complexity, but a normal amount of overlapping ticks appeared in all subsequent games. jL only had zero overlapping ticks in his last game of the tournament against Heroic. huNter had zero overlapping ticks show up in his quarterfinal and semifinal games against FaZe and 9z, but a normal amount in his other games. nexa, huNter’s teammate, had games with zero overlapping ticks in all of his playoff maps, but in none of G2’s group stage games. Both electronic and YEKINDAR showed zero overlapping ticks in all of their games played. Once again, for players with a combination of zero and non-zero overlapping tick games, there were no series with a combination of zero and non-zero overlapping tick maps (if a player had zero / non-zero overlapping ticks on map 1, they also had zero / non-zero overlapping ticks on maps 2 and 3).

BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024

At BLAST Spring Final, only two players showed as having zero overlapping tick games, both of whom only had zero overlapping tick games.

Both nexa and electronic had zero overlapping ticks in all games they played. Both players also had games with zero overlapping ticks at the previous tournament, IEM Dallas 2024.

Esports World Cup 2024

EWC was the first tournament after Snap Tap was released to the general public. At EWC, 8 players were found to have games with zero overlapping ticks, all of whom had zero overlapping ticks for all of their games played. 2 players had very low overlapping ticks over 3 maps in a series, and so were included in this analysis.

Skullz and KSCERATO both had significantly lower (< 20) overlapping ticks on all 3 maps in their quarterfinal match up against Mouz, relative to their other games played in the tournament. All other players listed (aliStair, frozen, rain, Cabbi, iceburg, FL1T, torzsi, and jL) were found to have zero overlapping ticks in all games played at the tournament. jL was the only player who had zero overlapping tick games found at a previous tournament (2 / 5 maps at IEM Dallas). electronic, who had zero overlapping ticks in every single map at his previous tournament (BLAST Spring Final), did not have any games with zero overlapping ticks at EWC.

For all 6 players with all zero overlapping tick games at EWC (excluding Cabbi and iceburg due to not playing at ESL Pro League), their overlapping tick counts at ESL Pro League were consistent with the general population of players (in the hundreds on a given map). Tournament organizers have allowed the use of Snap Tap (and equivalent tools) in their tournaments, and so the number of players using these tools will likely continue to grow as time goes on.

According to prosettings.net, 13 / 16 of the players found with zero overlapping tick games use some variation of the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro, the keyboards which first received Snap Tap. huNter and aliStair both currently use the Logitech G Pro X TKL according to prosettings. huNter did not have any zero overlapping tick games at his most recent tournament (EWC), and the zero overlapping tick games found for aliStair are from ESL Pro League, which ended over 2 months ago. skullz uses the Wooting 60HE, which recently received an update supporting SOCD, but may have used another keyboard in the past before he moved to Furia (his former teammate, YEKINDAR, uses Razer Huntsman V3 Pro). It is possible the information from prosettings may be inaccurate or outdated.

• KRIMZ: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• Maka: Razer Huntsman Pro V3 TKL

• skullz: Wooting 60HE

• YEKINDAR: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro

• jL: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• huNter: Logitech G Pro X TKL

• nexa: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• electronic: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• KSCERATO: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• aliStair: Logitech G Pro X TKL

• frozen: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• rain: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• Cabbi: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• iceberg: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• FL1T: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

• torzsi: Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL

There was a very clear distinction between games where players had zero overlapping ticks, and games where they had some. There were very few games where players had a non-zero amount of overlapping ticks close to zero overlapping ticks (< 50), showing a clear difference between games where the tools are being used, and games where they aren’t. It may be possible for their to be some bug in the demos / parser causing players to show up as having zero overlapping ticks, but given that the same players are showing up with overlapping tick game across tournaments, this is unlikely. This method for detecting Snap Tap / SOCD / Null Bind Scripts is very simplistic, but seems to be effective. It would be relatively easy for someone to bypass this detection method (by turning the tools on / off during a game to input some overlapping ticks), but more nuanced detection methods could be devised.