• Valve's November 5, 2026 update makes Retakes rounds move faster. Defuses now finish instantly when enough round time remains and no active utility can stop them. The update also cuts the wait between rounds and changes several map-scripting APIs.

Faster Retakes rounds

Players no longer have to wait through a defuse that active utility cannot stop, as long as enough time remains in the round to complete it. Valve also shortened freeze time and the round restart delay, reducing the wait before the next attempt.

Pet chickens received two smaller changes. Ping one during freeze time to request a trick. If you hide customized item text in the game options, its name will no longer appear.

More controls for map scripts

For map creators, Valve added a top-level Entities export and Entities.Spawn. Instance.Precache now accepts entities for precaching. New bot-related methods include Instance.OnBotControl, CSPlayerController.IsControllingBot and CSPlayerController.GetControlledBotPawn. CSPlayerPawn.Reset is also available.

Several existing methods have moved or been renamed. ConnectOutput and DisconnectOutput now sit under Entities, and ConnectOutput takes a config object. The old EntFireAtName, FindEntitiesByName and FindEntitiesByClass methods are now Entities.FireInput, Entities.FindByName and Entities.FindByClass. Instance.EntFireAtTarget is now Entity.FireInput.

The moved and renamed methods still work at their original locations, but Valve has deprecated them. Valve also deprecated Instance.FindEntityByName and Instance.FindEntityByClass. Scripts now produce a clearer error when they call a method on a removed entity, while ConnectOutput logs a warning if its target has no output with the specified name.

Full changelog (Valve patch notes)

[ GAMEPLAY ]

  • Bomb defusal in Retakes mode will now instantly finish when there is sufficient time remaining in the round and no active utility remains to prevent the defuse.

  • Reduced freeze time and round restart delay in Retakes mode.

  • Pinging pet chickens during freeze time will request a trick from them.

  • Pet chicken names are no longer displayed when customized item text game option is set to hidden. [ MAP SCRIPTING ]

  • Instance.Precache now accepts entities to precache

  • Added new top level export Entities

  • Added Entities.Spawn

  • Added Instance.OnBotControl

  • Added CSPlayerController.IsControllingBot

  • Added CSPlayerController.GetControlledBotPawn

  • Added CSPlayerPawn.Reset

  • Moved Instance.ConnectOutput to Entities and changed it to accept a config object

  • Moved Instance.DisconnectOutput to Entities

  • Renamed Instance.EntFireAtName to Entities.FireInput

  • Renamed Instance.FindEntitiesByName to Entities.FindByName

  • Renamed Instance.FindEntitiesByClass to Entities.FindByClass

  • Renamed Instance.EntFireAtTarget to Entity.FireInput

  • Moved and renamed methods are still available in their original location, deprecated

  • Deprecated Instance.FindEntityByName and FindEntityByClass

  • Calling a method on an invalid (removed) Entity now reports that the Entity is invalid

  • ConnectOutput now logs a warning when the target has no output with that name