Each skin in Counter-Strike 2 has several parameters. And a skin’s rarity, also known as quality, is one of the most important things here. You can sort all CS2 skins by rarity types, and you see it in colours of their names. Common, consumer grade, mil-spec, classified, covert and many more. What does it mean? Today, CS.MONEY Blog presents the Ultimate Guide to Skins Rarity/Quality.
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What are skins in CS2?
Skins in CS2 are cosmetic items that change a weapon’s appearance but do not affect its characteristics. Skins appeared in CS:GO more than ten years ago, along with the Arms Deal update. Skins can be obtained through in-game drops, opening cases or exchanging them with other players.
CS2 Skin Rarity/Quality Types
CS2 uses a whole system to classify skins. In total, all skins are divided into eight rarity/quality types. Basically, it’s the colour given to a skin’s name and that’s all. Surely, the CS2 skins database has a lot more Consumer Grade skins then Covert skins just because mostly there are around 7-9 Consumer Grade skins in each Case, and only one skin in a case in Covert.
- Common: Consumer Grade, Base Grade. White.
- Uncommon: Industrial Grade. Light Blue.
- Rare: Mil-Spec, High Grade. Blue.
- Mythical: Restricted, Remarkable. Purple.
- Legendary: Classified, Exotic. Pink.
- Ancient: Covert, Extraordinary. Red.
- Exceedingly Rare: Rare Special, Gloves, Knives. Gold.
- Immortal: Contraband. M4A4 Howl, Orange, one of a kind.
This CS2 skins rarity/quality classification has several nuances.
Firstly, there is only one skin of Contraband Rarity: M4A4 Howl. You can never drop or create an M4A4 Howl copy because it has been completely vanished from the game, except for those items already existing. It happened because of the copyright infringement, you can read more about it in a separate article by clicking the link below.
Secondly, skins of Exceedingly Rare quality/rarity are only gloves and knives, no weapon skins. This category has several more features, which we will discuss below.
What determines a skin’s rarity/quality?
How rarity/quality affects each skin? Basically, it’s only about the chances of receiving it when opening a case. We wrote about the chances of opening a case in a separate article linked below. In short, the higher the rarity of a skin, the lower are your chances of dropping it from the case. The rarest skins have a chance of 1 in 100 or even lower! So, skins of Covert or Classified rarity/quality usually cost much more than Consumer Goods.
Also, a skin’s rarity affects Trade Up Contracts. What’s that? A Trade Up Contract is used to exchange 10 skins of the same rarity level into 1 skin with a rarity of a higher level. It’s an in-game mechanic. Note that contracts are not only an opportunity to get rid of your Consumer Goods! A properly drafted Trade Up Contract can be beneficial. How? Learn here.
Can Covert skins be used in Trade Up Contracts?
No, you can’t. Using Trade Up Contracts won’t work for Exceedingly Rare and Contraband skins. You can get only get skins of the following rarity/quality levels from Contracts:
- Common: Consumer Grade, Base Grade
- Uncommon: Industrial Grade.
- Rare: Mil-Spec, High Grade.
- Mythical: Restricted, Remarkable.
- Legendary: Classified, Exotic.
The only option to get a knife or gloves is to drop it from a case. Or you can just buy it, which would be much cheaper at CS.MONEY Market, a platform for easy and quick skins exchanges, and also stickers, patches and even agents. Be sure to check it out!
Rarest Skins in CS2
Some skins were rare years ago, but times change. For several years, the rarest skins in CS were AWP Dragon Lore, M4A4 Howl, and AK-47 Fire Serpent. AWP Dragon Lore, especially with Souvenir quality. But it still can be crafted through Trade Up Contracts, and people really did it. So now, if you don’t count single-piece ultra-rare patterned knives, the rarest CS skins include:
- AK-47 Wild Lotus
- AWP The Prince
- AK-47 Gold Arabesque
- AWP Gungnir
According to a well-known CS skins database, there are only hundreds of them, thousands for some. For comparison, one of the most popular skins in the game is AK-47 Slate, and it has 2,400,000 items!
How rare are knives in CS2?
Knives in CS2 are classified as Rare Skins, which basically means they are of the rarest items in the game. The chances of getting a knife out of the case are extremely low: approximately 0.26% or 1 in 384 tries. Some knives are so rare that they do not even exist in the game yet! It sounds strange, but the fact is that knives of certain patterns and with certain wear are so rare that they have never dropped of someone’s case. That’s what we call exceptional rarity.
The skin Rarity/Quality system in CS2 allows you to quickly estimate the chance of getting a skin from a case. And it’s also used in Trade Up Contracts. This is a convenient classification that allows you to quickly find the skins you need.
