2hours.gg offers 63 regions worldwide. Picking the right one matters more than people think, a 60ms difference in ping is the gap between feeling sharp and feeling like you're a step behind. Here is how to choose well, especially when your group is spread across multiple cities or countries.
Quick rule: lowest worst ping wins
If everyone is in the same metro, the closest region is obvious. If your group spans cities or countries, you want the region that minimizes the highest individual ping, because the worst-ping player feels every disadvantage. A region where everyone has 40ms beats a region where four players have 20ms and one has 120ms.
Use the group ping test
The group ping test is the right tool for spread-out groups. Share the link with your teammates; each opens it and the page measures their ping to every region. The page then shows the fairest region across all of you, the one that minimizes the worst single ping.
This is more accurate than guessing from geography. Internet routes aren't straight lines; a server in São Paulo can be closer to Lisbon (network-wise) than to some parts of Argentina. The ping test measures real network paths to a host in each city.
Regional clusters
- North America: Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Toronto, Mexico City. East coast is usually best for US-only groups; central (Chicago/Dallas) splits the difference for coast-to-coast.
- Europe: London, Manchester, Paris, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Marseille, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Milan, Madrid, Sines, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Stavanger, Helsinki, Warsaw, Istanbul. Frankfurt is the default that everyone has decent ping to. Stockholm, Helsinki or Warsaw for Nordic and Eastern Europe.
- Russia and Central Asia: Moscow, Novosibirsk, Almaty, Tashkent, Baku. Moscow for European Russia, Novosibirsk for Siberia, Almaty and Tashkent for Central Asia.
- South America: São Paulo, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Quito, Lima. São Paulo serves most of Brazil; Santiago and Buenos Aires the Southern Cone; Bogotá, Quito and Lima the north and west of the continent and the Andes.
- Asia: Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore. Tokyo and Singapore are the regional anchors; Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur are closer for Southeast Asia; Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore for South Asia.
- Middle East and Africa: Tel Aviv, Dubai, Riyadh, Cairo, Lagos, Johannesburg. Dubai and Riyadh serve the Gulf, Tel Aviv and Cairo the eastern Mediterranean, Lagos West Africa and Johannesburg southern Africa.
- Oceania: Sydney, Melbourne. Either serves Australia and New Zealand.
What "good" ping looks like
The ping test and the deploy page colour each region: green up to 100ms, yellow up to 200ms, red above that. Green means fine to play. For competitive play, the feel is finer grained:
- Under 30ms: feels native, like you're on LAN.
- 30-60ms: fully playable competitively. The CS2 average.
- 60-100ms: noticeable but fine for casual play. Tight duels feel slightly off.
- Over 100ms: workable for fun but unfair for competitive 5v5. Look for a closer region.
Trans-continental groups
If your group spans (say) Brazil and Germany, there is no good answer, someone always loses ~150ms. The least-bad option is usually a server somewhere in the middle (Miami or Madrid). For these groups, take turns hosting from each end so the same player isn't always the high-ping one.