Everything About CS2 Skin Rarity and Float

There are thousands of different skins in Counter-Strike, and they all have their own colors, styles, and price tags. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog is going to break down everything about CS2 skins rarity, float values, wear levels, and how all this stuff actually affects the price.

You can find a skin for any vibe and budget on CS.MONEY. Buy smart and play by your own rules!

Types of CS2 Skins: by Rarity, Wear, and Collection

The economy is a massive part of CS2. Every item falls into specific categories. The main things players and pro traders look at are how rare an item is, how it looks (its wear), and what collection or case it comes from. The harder it is to get a skin, the more expensive it will be on the market.

CS2 Skin Rarity Levels and Their Colors

To keep players from getting lost in thousands of items, the devs created an easy color system. Each color shows the drop chance when you open a case or get your weekly drop. The cooler the color, the harder it is to pull.

All CS2 skin rarities from worst to best:

Base CS2 Skin Rarities: Consumer, Industrial, and Mil-Spec

Let us start with the most common drops. White is Consumer Grade, and light blue is Industrial Grade. Usually, you will not find these in modern cases anymore. They cost just a few cents and mostly pop up in your free weekly drops. Blue is Mil-Spec. This is the baseline for most cases. When you open cases, you will get a blue skin about 4 out of 5 times. A lot of popular budget loadouts start right in this category.

Check out the examples of CS2 skins in each category:

• Consumer Grade: PP-Bizon Thermal Currents, Dual Berettas Silver Pour, MP9 Buff Blue
• Industrial Grade: Zeus x27 Electric Blue, MP7 Coral Paisley, AK-47 Varicamo Grey
• Mil-Spec: USP-S Silent Shot, MP9 Broken Record, SG553 Heavy Metal

High-Tier CS2 Skin Rarities: Restricted, Classified, and Covert

Now we are getting to the good stuff. Purple means Restricted. These are nice-looking, popular items with detailed designs. They might only cost a couple of bucks, but they look awesome. Pink means Classified. These beautiful skins are often used in trade-up contracts to craft top-tier Covert skins. Red is Covert. These are the most wanted guns in any case. The chances of unboxing one are super low, and their prices can definitely shock a new player. Since most red skins are in the same cases as knives or gloves, a Covert skin usually starts at around $50 and goes way up from there.

Here are the examples of CS2 skins in each category:

• Restricted: AK-47 Blue Laminate, USP-S Guardian, Galil AR Crimson Tsunami
• Classified: Desert Eagle Mecha Industries, P250 Visions, AK-47 Case Hardened
• Covert: AK-47 Legion of Anubis, AWP Chrome Cannon, USP-S Neo-Noir

Unique CS2 Skins: Contraband and Extraordinary

There are two more rarity levels in the game. Extraordinary skins can be simply explained with one word: gloves. Fun fact: knives, which are also rare drops from cases, are actually classified as Covert skins in the game files.

There is only one Contraband skin in CS2: the M4A4 Howl, which makes it one of the rarest items ever. It has a wild and interesting history behind it. Honestly, we are pretty sure there will never be another skin like it in CS2.

• Why M4A4 Howl Will Remain The Only Contraband CS2 Skin?

CS2 Skin Wear Levels

Besides color and rarity, every skin has a wear level that shows how scratched up it is. There are five exteriors in the game, from best to worst:

• Factory New
• Minimal Wear
• Field-Tested
• Well-Worn
• Battle-Scarred 

Important tip: unlike in real life, CS2 skins do not degrade over time. If you buy a Factory New skin, it stays Factory New forever, no matter how many matches you play with it.

What is a Float Value

Float is the exact number that represents the wear of the skin. It gets generated once the moment the skin drops, and it ranges from 0 to 1.

Depending on the wear level, the skin will look different. Sometimes it looks like all the paint got scraped off. For example, on the AWP Atheris, as the float goes up, the background completely fades away, leaving only the snake. Other times, the design stays intact, but the skin just gets darker (like the AWP Duality) or even changes color completely (like the MP5-SD Kitbash).

How Float and Rarity Affect CS2 Skin Prices

CS2 market rules are generally pretty simple. A red item with a low float is going to cost way more than a blue item with a high float. But there are some trader tricks. Smart players always look for Field-Tested guns with a float right around 0.15. They look almost perfect with barely any scratches, but they cost way less than Minimal Wear skins. It is the best way to save some money.

• Top Seven BS Skins Better Than FN

Premium for the Perfect Numbers

You always have to pay extra for nice numbers. Collectors will drop insane amounts of money for skins with floats like 0.00001 because they rank among the cleanest in the world. The same goes for skins with the absolute highest floats, though the overpay there is usually a lot smaller.

There are also collectors in the community who hunt for unique or meme float combinations. That could be numbers like 1337, 420, or repeating digits like 67 or 69.

How and Where to Check CS2 Skin Float

You can check a skin’s float in three easy ways:

1. Inside CS2. When you inspect your skin in-game, there is an info button at the bottom. The float shows up right there.
2. In your Steam inventory. Steam recently added float values, so you can see them when checking out your items.
3. On CS.MONEY. When you log into our site, your inventory shows all your float values. Plus, when you click on a skin page, you get even more useful stats, like the pattern index, how rare the float is, and if it has any rare stickers.

FAQ

What is the rarest skin tier in CS2?

Contraband. It literally only has one skin: the M4A4 Howl.

Does skin quality get worse over time in CS2?

No. A skin looks the exact same whether you have played one match with it or ten thousand.

What is considered a good float in CS2?

There is no single answer. Different skins can look totally different even if they have the exact same float. We definitely recommend inspecting every specific skin in the game before you buy it.