Counter-Strike 2 is one of the best tactical shooters out there, and the culture around trading and getting the best skins in the game is almost impossible to ignore. However, it’s common knowledge that CS2 skins are unbelievably expensive, some even costing in the thousands.

Because of that, a good portion of the fanbase can't enjoy these skins because of the hefty prices, and Valve is fully aware of it. To combat this, on May 23rd, 2024, Valve released an update that allows you to "rent" skins.

As weird as that sounds, it's a nifty idea that will enable players to get a taste of the best cosmetics that Valve has to offer. Of course, there are some caveats, so let's take a look at how all this works and how you can start renting skins for your CS2 Loadout.

CS2 Skin Renting Explained

Before you go and start renting skins, there are two requirements you need to fulfill. You need,

• A case that can be rented (Currently, the Kilowatt Case)
• A case key

Sadly, not all skins in the game can be rented. Currently, it’s only limited to the Kilowatt case. For the key, it is easily available on the Steam store for purchase. The case can also be bought at the same place or can be earned as a drop by just playing the game. Both the case and key aren’t that expensive, costing around $12-15.

Once both the case and key are in the inventory, the skins can be rented by following these steps.

• Open CS2 and navigate to the Inventory.
• Then just look for the Kilowatt case, select the Containers tab from the top, and filter out everything but the cases.
• Click on the Kilowatt Case and then select Unlock Container.
• Then, select Open to Rent and confirm to rent all the skins of the case.

Keep in mind that renting the case will consume both the case and the key, but it will give access to all the skins of that case for seven days. The skins will disappear from the Inventory after the time limit is over.

Which Skins Can Be Rented?

At the time of writing, only the skins in the Kilowatt case can be rented. There is hope that Valve will bring this feature to more cases in the future. There are so many great cases out there that when given the option to rent can allow players to enjoy some great skins for a discounted price. Cases like Operation Riptide and Recoil are some of the best in the game. With that said, here are the skins of the Kilowatt cases that can be rented.

Kukri Knife (13 Color variants of different rarities, but only one is rentable)

Covert

• AK-47 | Inheritance
• AWP | Chrome Cannon
• Classified
• M4A1-S | Black Lotus
• USP-S | Jawbreaker
• Zeus x27 | Olympus

Restricted

• Glock-18 | Block-18
• Sawed-Off | Analog Input
• M4A4 | Etch Lord
• MP7 | Just Smile
• Five-SeveN | Hybrid
• Mil-Spec
• MAC-10 | Light Box
• SSG 08 | Dezastre
• XM1014 | Irezumi
• Tec-9 | Slag
• Nova | Dark Sigil
• UMP-45 | Motorized
• Dual Berettas | Hideout

It’s also worth mentioning that the conditions of these skins are random, but that shouldn’t be an issue since the skins will be available for a limited time. The entire case has a solid collection of skins that are all added to the Inventory upon renting. All of these skins have different rarities, the popular AK47 and AWP skins are of the Covert Rarity so you are getting a pretty sweet deal.

For patterns, it’s the same as any skin. The skin pattern is completely random for every skin you get out of the case. It also changes every time you rent a case again. Again, the skin conditions are negligible because you don’t actually own the skins. Also, none of these skins are tradeable.

Frankly speaking, this is a much better value than opening a case and getting a random skin. Of course, it’s limited to seven days but the choice between one random skin forever and all of the skins for seven days boils down to your preference.

Conclusion

To sum it up, the ability to rent skins is a solid feature, especially for casual CS2 players. For example, if you have a week of work or school and want to play CS2 a bit, renting a case can allow you to enjoy some skins for a very low cost during that week. Plus, the Kilowatt case has some pretty solid skins. Renting skins is a great entry point into the CS2 skin market. Understanding skin patterns, conditions, and rarity is a hassle for beginners. Renting allows you to check these things out without emptying your wallet.