Team Spirit rifler Danil “donk” Kryshkovets has become the highest-rated player in FACEIT’s Counter-Strike 2 history. On July 28, 2026, the 19-year-old reached 5,434 Elo, edging past the previous record of 5,415 set by Swedish prodigy Liam “MaiL09” Tugel. With eight days left in Season 8 at the time, donk still had room to stretch the gap even further.
What makes the run remarkable isn’t just the peak number, but how he got there. donk began Season 8, following FACEIT’s periodic soft-reset, at 3,935 Elo. From that point he gained 1,499 Elo across 152 matches, translating to an average FACEIT Rating of 1.49 — a level of consistency almost impossible to sustain over that many games. FACEIT’s own tracking account called it out directly, noting the sheer volume of matches behind the climb.
The Elo surge lines up with a broader hot streak for the young Russian star. Season 8 began shortly after Team Spirit reached the final of IEM Rio 2026 against Team Vitality, and donk has carried that form into official competition since, posting a 1.46 rating across Spirit’s run at the IEM Cologne 2026 Major. For a player already regarded as one of the best in the world, the FACEIT numbers are simply the visible tip of a much longer stretch of dominant play.
donk previously held the FACEIT Elo record himself back in July 2025, at a peak of 5,350. That mark lasted roughly six months until MaiL09 — then just 16 — broke through the 5,400 barrier in November 2025, becoming both the new record holder and the youngest player ever to top the FACEIT leaderboard. A season later, donk has taken the crown back, and by a wider margin than before. MaiL09, meanwhile, currently sits at 4,188 Elo, well down the EU rankings after taking extended breaks this season; he’s since returned to Metizport’s roster ahead of the tier-two circuit.
For sportsbooks and bettors tracking Counter-Strike 2, individual form metrics like FACEIT Elo are increasingly used alongside map stats and head-to-head records when assessing player and team markets. donk’s rookie resume already includes an MVP award at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 and the HLTV Player of the Year title that same year, edging out ZywOo and m0NESY. He also popularized the “donk-slide” peek technique now copied across the pro scene, and has finished five straight FACEIT seasons at No. 1.
With days remaining in Season 8, the gap between donk and the rest of the leaderboard looks set to widen further, though his focus will soon split between FACEIT grinding and Team Spirit’s official matches at BLAST Bounty Season 2 2026 — a tournament where his form will be tested against elite opposition rather than solo queue.
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