A couple of months have passed since the game-changing trade-up update. Skin prices have stabilized, so now we can talk about how to craft a knife for less money. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog explains the cheapest covert skins you can use to craft a knife.
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Can you craft a knife from every covert skin?
No, not from all of them. First, some red skins belong to collections and cases that drop gloves instead of knives. In theory, you can use those skins at your own risk, but if you want a 100% chance to get a knife, it’s better to avoid them. Second, souvenir skins cannot be used in trade-ups. Third, some collections do not have any knives at all, so skins from them cannot be used for knife crafting. For example, the Norse Collection and the AWP Gungnir. Not that anyone would want to trade five ultra-rare sniper rifles for a random knife, but technically it wouldn’t work anyway.
AWP Chrome Cannon and Glock-18 Gold Toof
- What you can get from the trade-up: Kukri Knife
- Buy AWP Chrome Cannon Field-Tested for $40
- Buy Glock-18 Gold Toof Field-Tested for $36.6
In this article, we focus on Field-Tested skins. The float of trade-up skins affects the float of the knife, and a Field-Tested knife usually looks like a good balance between price and appearance.
Obviously, the type of knife you can get from a skin affects its price. Interestingly, two of the cheapest skins come from the Kilowatt Collection. That’s because this case only drops the Kukri Knife. It’s not a bad knife, but it’s also not a Karambit.
FAMAS Commemoration
- What you can get from the trade-up: Classic Knife
- Buy FAMAS Commemoration Field-Tested for $37.5
The Classic Knife is not considered top-tier in CS2, but some players really like it. Because it’s a niche knife, crafting a Classic Knife is fairly cheap: just under $200 if you use five FAMAS Commemoration skins.
AK-47 Legion of Anubis и Desert Eagle Printstream
- What you can get from the trade-up: Skeleton Knife
- Buy AK-47 Legion of Anubis Field-Tested for $41
- Buy Desert Eagle Printstream Field-Tested for $44
The Fracture Collection is not very expensive, but the Skeleton Knife looks stylish. The best part is its animations — they look amazing. Unlike the previous example, where only the AWP Chrome Cannon is truly popular, here both skins are beautiful and popular, making them harder to sacrifice for a trade-up.
M4A4 Desert Strike
- What you can get from the trade-up: Huntsman Knife
- Buy M4A4 Desert Strike Field-Tested for $39.5
The Huntsman Knife is big and good-looking. One downside is its sharp, angular shape, which not everyone likes. This may be why the M4A4 Desert Strike is relatively cheap. If you’re lucky, you can get a Fade or Case Hardened knife.
M4A4 The Battlestar
- What you can get from the trade-up: Bowie Knife
- Buy M4A4 The Battlestar Field-Tested for $44
M4A4 The Battlestar is not the most impressive M4A4 skin, but it can give you a Bowie Knife. The knife is named after music legend David Bowie and features a large blade. It looks solid in hand, and almost any finish looks great on it.
How can you check which knife comes from which skin?
You need to look at the collection the skin belongs to. Find the collection, then find the case with the same name and check its gold drop. For a deeper explanation of trade-ups, read our complete guide.
