Key Takeaways for A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide to CS:GO Skins
- There are five kinds of wear: Factory New, Minimal, Field Tested, Well-Worn, and Battle Scarred
- CS:GO skins first came out as part of the Arms Deal update.
- Skins are purchasable on the Steam Community Market or many other third-party sites and applications.
Table of Contents
A Brief Overview of Skins in CS:GO
CS:GO skins are an inseparable part of the modern-day Counter-Strike experience. The Arms Deal update in August 2013 brought skins to the franchise for the first time ever. These days, some even call CS:GO skins the ‘original NFTs’ due to characteristics such as an independent marketplace and heavily volatile pricing. Some are bright and flashy while others are more toned-down and simplistic.
Yet, each one holds a certain amount of value and prestige to many collectors all around the world. They won’t make any player better or worse, but it adds another layer to the classic gameplay and gives a personal touch to one’s weapons.
If you’re looking for a community that can provide more tips for your CS:GO needs or find new teammates to play your favorite titles with, be sure to check out the Z League App. If you’re a new player, be sure to check out our Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide to CS:GO Weapons as well.
Cases and the Marketplace
CS:GO skins are basically ‘created’ and considered available in circulation as drops from opening cases in game. These cases typically have around 15 different skins, each with varying rarity with those in the upper-end being worth a lot more. Different finishes for each weapon in the game can be obtained, however opening cases comes with a high degree of uncertainty, and more often than not the gamble fails to pay off.
Skins have been around for over ten years at this point in time and with an extremely high amount of different finishes in circulation, it’s much better to buy each one individually off the Steam Community Market. The prices seen on the Steam Marketplace are usually considered as the base market price for regular skins that have a fair amount of stock in circulation such as the AK-47 | Asiimov or AWP | Hyper Beast.
For the most sought-after finishes, however, the available listings on Steam may be too few to give a good estimate or it may simply not exist at all. These reasons are why the more dedicated collectors opt to conduct an extensive amount of research and explore third-party websites for their prized possessions. Do note, however, that third-party websites are not regulated by Valve and one must always take the necessary precautions beforehand.
Float Values and Patterns
Skins are divided into five different types of wear: Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field Tested, Well Worn, and Battle Scarred. These are all separated on a zero-to-one metric scale, with skins closer to a float value of 0 looking much newer and vice-versa.
Factory New (FN) is present in skins with a float value of 0.00 to 0.07. These are the most pristine variation of skins available on the market, and naturally catch a higher price than the rest. Minimal Wear (MW) is classified on skins with a float value of 0.07 to 0.15, however, the changes as compared to FN are not that prevalent.
Field Tested (FT) is the middle-ground for all skins as it is a relatively cheap option without having to sacrifice much of the aesthetic. The float values for FTs are from 0.15 to 0.38 and are in abundance in any kind of market. Well Worn (WW) is where the imperfections on the skin’s textures are a lot more easily seen, coming with float values in between 0.38 to 0.45. The final category, Battle Scarred (BS), is the most worn-out any skin can come in and is also one of the most abundant in the market alongside the Field Tested category, having a large sample size with float values between 0.45 to 1.00.
The idea of higher-float skins being more expensive and desirable doesn’t always apply. Not all skin finishes are the same. Some focus on looking like a more scraped-off paint job as the float value gets worse, while others simply get a darker appearance as they go down the pecking order. These skins are also known as ‘brightness skins’, wherein many players opt to even go for the Well Worn or Battle Scarred variations due to their cheaper price and very negligible aesthetic difference.
Patterns are also what make certain skins unique from one another. A good example is the AWP | PAW, which has a number of cats drawn all over the sniper rifle. Two of the best patterns for the skin are #41 and #350, which showcase a golden cat in the very middle of the skin. Regardless of float value, these fetch a higher price than any other pattern the skin may have.
StatTrak and Souvenirs
StatTrak is an additional attachment to a skin that serves as a kill-counter. It tracks in-game kills a player picks up with the said weapon and is directly visible on the skin. These variations of skins fetch a higher price than non-StatTrak finishes, usually up to twice or thrice the price.
Souvenir skins are those dropped from Souvenir Cases a player can receive when a CS:GO Major is ongoing. These skins will all have four different Gold stickers on them in the form of the tournament’s logo and team stickers. In previous tournaments, players would get Gold versions of autograph stickers but this has since been changed to just the team logos.
One of the rarest and most prestigious skins in the game is the Souvenir AWP | Dragon Lore with four Kenny “kennyS” Schrub Gold stickers. The AWP | Dragon Lore is already expensive enough on its own and can fetch a couple of thousand dollars, however the variation above sold for a staggering $65,000 due to the four kennyS stickers on it.
