Counter-Strike: Global Offensive service medals are an in-game display item that Valve releases to the community as a small token of appreciation. These uniquely designed items are released annually. Once you collect a service medal, you have the option to proudly display the item wherever your avatar is shown in-game and on your Steam profile! Furthermore, a player is only able to collect the medal during its release year.

You might have heard of service medals before and might have some yourself. However, did you know that your service medal can be ranked up? We’ll walk you through how to make sure you collect your service medal and how to level up your medal’s rarity.

How to Collect a Service Medal

Starting in 2015, Valve has released an annual service medal. As mentioned before, your service medal is a decorative display item shown on your Steam profile and in-game. Service medals cannot be purchased or traded, which makes them a nifty item to collect.

At the start of every year, players become eligible for that year’s service medal. As you play the game, you earn experience points that count towards unlocking the service medal. When the player reaches Global General (Rank 40), they have the option to reset their profile rank and earn that year’s service medal.

Remember, to earn a specific year’s service medal, you must play throughout said year for at least 40 levels. Unfortunately, medals from the previous years are attainable.

How to Rank Up Your Service Medal

2021 CS:GO service medals. From left to right, levels 1-6.

Let’s say that you play enough CS: GO to reach level 40 and claim the 2021 service medal. What happens next? Keep playing! Service medals have different ranks that are reached every 40 levels. Specifically, every time you level up your service medal, your rank is reset to zero. Then, you’ll start all over again until you get enough experience points for the next medal tier!

Every time you rank up your medal, it’s considered more “rare” and changes color.

There are six different collectible service medals for 2021, and they are classified in the following way:

Level 1: Consumer Grade (silver)

Requires the player to reach rank 40 x 1

Level 2: Industrial Grade (green)

Requires the player to get rank 40 x 2

Level 3: Mil-Spec (royal blue)

Requires the player to get rank 40 x 3

Level 4: Restricted (purple)

Requires the player to get rank 40 x 4

Level 5: Classified (dark magenta)

Requires the player to get rank 40 x 5

Level 6: Covert (red)

Requires the player to get rank 40 x 6

How to Earn Experience Points

At the end of every match, a player earns experience points. The amount of points earned depends on two things: your score and the game mode. This is because every game mode has a different point multiplier used to calculate the number of points you’re rewarded. In competitive matchmaking, the experience points are allocated based on the number of rounds won.

Furthermore, multipliers are always rounded down to the nearest decimal. The maximum number of points that can be earned in a casual game is 1,000.

Game modes and their multipliers:

Arms Race: 1.0 * score
Casual: 4.0 * score
Competitive: 30 * rounds won
Deathmatch: 0.2 * score
Demolition: 2.5 * score
Flying Scoutsman: 4.0 * score
Wingman: 15 * score

New Player XP Boost

If you’re a new player, consider yourself lucky! Not only do you get to experience learning CS:GO, but you also receive an XP boost. Players receive an XP boost through their Recruit and Private ranks.

Weekly XP Bonus

Additionally, there is a 5,000 bonus point pool awarded when players finish a round. Initially, 3,500 points are awarded as 3x the player’s earned experience points in a match. The rest of the points are a 1x bonus. However, as soon as the player reaches the 5,000 point pool, they will stop accumulating bonus points.

Overwatch XP Award

Experienced CS: GO players eventually have the opportunity to opt into the Overwatch program. As an Overwatch Investigator, you will review demos of suspicious players that have been repeatedly reported to Valve.

If you successfully identify a guilty player, you will receive an XP award based on the number of accurate verdicts you produce and your Overwatch Investigator score. As you become more accurate, your Investigator score will increase.

If you’re looking to gain as much XP quickly, Overwatch may not be your best option. Each case earns approximately 30 XP. What’s more, your XP is not instantly applied as you go through cases but is retroactively awarded after the case is confirmed.

XP Award Penalty

As you’re grinding the ranks for your coveted service medals, be aware that earning too many points can activate an “award penalty.” If you earn too much XP during a given week, your account activates a reduced multiplier. This will significantly affect the number of experience points you’re awarded as you play. The following multipliers are community tested and should be used an approximation:

Earning less than 4,500 XP per week

4.0 * gained XP (1x Earned XP + 3x Weekly XP Bonus)

Earning 4,500 - 7,500 XP per week

2.0 * gained XP (1x Earned XP + 1x Weekly XP Bonus)

Earning 7,500 - 11,167 XP

1.0 * gained XP (1x Earned XP, No Weekly XP Bonus)

Earning more than 11,167 XP

0.175 * gained XP (0.175x Earned XP)

Are you a superstar Service Medal collector or have a favorite medal to display? Let us know on Twitter! Stay tuned to Dignitas for more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive guides.

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