Razer recently introduced a new feature for its Huntsman V3 Pro keyboards, allowing players to essentially execute perfect counter-strafes every time. Naturally, this has rubbed pro CS2 players the wrong way, with some calling for the feature to be banned in competitive play.
The feature in question is Razer Snap Tap, announced by the gaming gear manufacturer on July 9. It’s available only on the Huntsman V3 Pro line of keyboards and aims to allow the player to perform “flawless counter-strafing” and “land those game-winning headshots with ease.” It functions by removing the need to spam A and D, and instead lets you hold A or D and press either when necessary. The software allows you to chain counter-strafes, so you can be moving straight left and just tap D once to execute a perfect counter-strafe, and then continue moving without releasing A. Robin “ropz” Kool, one of the best CS2 pros on the scene, said the feature “shouldn’t be allowed” since it is “literally a macro or script.”
Jimmy Malavong, Razer’s senior esports ambassador, replied to ropz’s statements, saying that Razer made it “a real concern” to iron things out with the professional scene before releasing the feature. “I made sure that Tournament Organizers would allow this feature,” he said on X (firmly Twitter), saying how it falls in the same grey area as the jumpthrow bind in CS:GO. Nikola “lobanjica” Mijomanovic, a prominent Counter-Strike streamer and content creator, asked Malavong for a Huntsman V3 Pro keyboard so he could test out the feature and “see if this can fix what Valve devs are incapable of fixing.”
Razer’s Snap Tap has been compared to Wooting’s (another keyboard manufacturer) long-awaited Rappy Snappy feature. That company also released a statement on X on July 11, saying there are crucial differences between the two features and that Rappy Snappy was developed with “maintaining integrity” in mind. The difference boils down to Snap Tap executing a button press automatically, while Rappy Snappy looks to register your counter-strafe faster during the second button press.
From the information available, both of these features are, to put it bluntly, external assistance. Whether minor like Rappy Snappy or borderline macro-level like Snap Tap, they attempt to reduce or outright remove the room for user error when executing a counter-strafe. In the end, Valve will determine whether or not this falls in line with mere technological advancement in keyboard manufacturing or external tools. We reached out for comment.
Correction July 15 12:15pm CT: This article has been updated to more accurately describe how the software functions as it does not automatically execute counter-strafes for the player. We regret this error.
