An Essential Guide to CS:GO's Cosmetic Items
An essential guide to CS:GO's cosmetic items, explaining concepts like rarity, weapon condition, value and more!
To the untrained eye, CS:GO’s skins and cosmetics might appear to be quite basic and self-explanatory, but there really is so much detail and diversity to the world of cosmetic items in Counter-Strike. This guide will ensure that anyone wishing to learn more about CS:GO’s items will gain crucial knowledge on everything ranging from rarity ratings, float values, sticker types and more!
Rarity Ratings
Before we can get into any specifics, it is important to first understand how item rarity ratings work. Every single cosmetic item in CS:GO has a color coordinated rarity rating. Gun weapon skins range from Consumer Grade (gray) to Covert (red) rarities. All knives and gloves, regardless of their type or skin are always classified as Covert items. The exception to this rule is Contraband (yellow) weapon skins. There is currently only one Contraband skin in-game; the M4A4 Howl. It gained its unique status as it was removed from its case due to copyright reasons involving its artwork design.
Therefore, with the exclusion of the M4A4 Howl, every individual item in CS:GO is either part of a case, or a collection, in which it was released alongside. For example, the newly released M4A4 In Living Color is part of the Snakebite Case and can only be unboxed exclusively through opening that specific case. Whereas the M4A1-S Blue Phosphor, which was released as part of the Broken Fang Operation, is part of that operations’ Control Collection. Operation Collection skins can only be redeemed as rewards for completing missions during operations and are therefore often more desirable and rarer than case skins.
In order to fully understand and explore all the different cases and collections currently available, I recommend visiting the website CSGOStash.com. It is an excellent website which provides coherent access to all the current cosmetic items in the game.
CSGOStash.com allows you to sort items by their respective case or collection with ease – Image courtesy of CS:GOStash
Float Values and Weapon Conditions
In CS:GO, every cosmetic weapon has a set exterior condition, which can greatly influence its price and appearance. There are 5 different exterior conditions ranging from Factory New to Battle-Scarred. Most of the time, Factory New is the most desirable, and the most expensive condition available. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For certain skins, there are limitations to their available conditions.
A prime example of this is the AWP Asiimov, which is only available in Field-Tested, Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred. This is due to the designated Wear Rating (Float) range for the skin. Every different skin has its own wear rating, a value somewhere between 0.00-1.00. This float value determines the appearance and condition of the skin. Certain items, such as the AWP Asiimov, therefore, have limitations on the possible float values available.
The AWP Asiimov has a 0.18-1.00 float possibility range– Image courtesy of CS:GOStash
For example, say you buy a Well-Worn AWP Asiimov. Its float will be something between 0.38-0.45, as this is the range available for Well-Worn and within the possibility range for the AWP Asiimov. You can check the float rating of any item in-game by inspecting the item from your own inventory or someone else’s, and then by clicking the (i) button located near the bottom left, as shown below. CSGOStash (https://csgostash.com/skin/274/AWP-Asiimov).com has unique pages for every cosmetic item, where you can check the float ranges and conditions available for any specific item.
This AWP has a Wear Rating (Float) of 0.2465 and therefore has a Field-Tested exterior
You can refer to this table for Wear Ratings and their respective Weapon Conditions
Skin Patterns and Weapon Finishes
Float value and exterior conditions are not the only factors which can potentially influence the appearance of a cosmetic item. Depending on the item, there are often a variety of different patterns which can be applied to an item. For example, one AK-47 Case Hardened can look completely different to another Case Hardened, despite sharing the same float value.
This is due to the Pattern Template value of the individual skin. The Pattern Template value decides what part of the pattern texture is displayed on the skin; therefore, each different value produces a different visual outcome. Certain patterns can be identified as being more desirable, e.g., a ‘blue gem’ pattern, where there is maximum blue present. These unique patterns are often heavily sought after on Case Hardened skins.
The AK-47 Case Hardened Pattern
StatTrack Items
Alongside weapon conditions and patterns, many cosmetic items can also come in StatTrack form. When opening a case, you have a 10% chance of the item you receive as being StatTrack. These items keep track of how many kills you have received with the specific skin.
As there is a decreased chance of unboxing StatTrack items, they are usually more expensive than non-StatTrack variants. Furthermore, they are only available from opening cases and not part of any operation or map collections.
The StatTrak™ Swap Tool can be used to transfer recorded kills between different skins
Stickers
Stickers can be used to personalize and customize any cosmetic gun weapon in CS:GO. Stickers come in two forms: Tournament Stickers and Regular Stickers. Like weapon skins, stickers also have their own differing rarities.
Stickers are available in paper (blue), holographic (purple), foil (pink) and gold (red) rarities
Tournament Stickers
Many of the most desirable stickers are from CS:GO’s Major tournament events. Alongside the occurrence of every Major, stickers of all the competing teams, alongside individual player signatures stickers, are made available to purchase with 50% of the proceeds going directly to the organizations and players involved. Therefore, tournament stickers don’t only allow you to personalise your skins, but they are also a great way to support your favorite team!
Every player attending Major tournaments receives their own unique sticker in-game
Regular Stickers
Alongside tournament stickers, regular stickers are also available in the form of sticker capsules and as operation rewards. Many of these capsules are available for purchase from the in-game main menu and have an unlimited supply available, unlike tournament stickers.
There are currently 20 different sticker capsules in-game alongside multiple operation sticker collections
Souvenirs
Souvenir skins are special versions of collection skins, available as part of CS:GO’s Majors. Every souvenir skin has 4 golden stickers pre-applied onto them, representing the teams, tournament, and an individual player from a specific match of the tournament. These skins can be acquired through Souvenir packages, which are basically cases, redeemable as a reward for successful choices in Pick’Em Challenges. These challenges involve predicting the winning team in tournament matches. Some souvenir skins can be very desirable, AWP skins with the signature of a well-known awper can sell for higher amounts than say an AWP skins with a non-awper players’ signature.
Each Souvenir skin includes four stickers: the two teams, the tournament sticker, and the player MVP of the round
Collectable Pins
Similar to service medals, which can be redeemed after reaching level 40 in-game, collectible pins can be equipped and displayed alongside your username in the scoreboard. Pins can be obtained through capsules and range through different rarities. Pins are also available in ‘Genuine’ form. These rarer variants can only be purchased through the official valve store or whilst attending an official Major event. There are currently 3 different Pin Series available alongside the Half-Life: Alyx Collectible Pins.
Agents
We’ve covered most of the main accessories available in CS:GO, however we cannot forget about Agent Skins. They were first introduced as part of the Shattered Web Operation and released again with Operation Broken Fang. Agent skins range through multiple different rarities and many of them also have unique voice lines in-game. Agents can also be customized with patches, similarly to stickers on weapons, with patches ranging from High Grade (blue) to Exotic (pink).
Agents can be redeemed during operations as rewards
Additional Accessories
As if all this weren’t enough, players can also customize their choice of in-game music through the vast array of Music Kits available, which also come in StatTrack alternatives. Graffiti Sprays can also be purchased, and are a common item drop in-game. Those wishing to customise maps as well as items, can use these sprayable graffities mid-match.
Conclusion
In this article, I’ve gone over all the main cosmetic items and accessories available in CS:GO. There are a lot of unique items and intricate details in CS:GO, so in future guides, I plan on going into greater depth on more specific aspects of the world of CS:GO’s cosmetics, such as the importance of sticker placement on impacting the value of a skin. But for now, I’d recommend checking out CSGOStash.com to get a good overview of all the individual items and their prices.
Hopefully by reading through this article you have gained a greater knowledge of CS:GO’s cosmetics, however if you have any further questions, feel free to add me on Steam, and I'll be more than happy to go over anything with you.
