You select a CS2 case, then suddenly you see a skin with a certain rarity color. If you’re new, you don’t yet know what these colors mean. Blue, purple, pink, red.
It all looks nice, but confusing. But if you want to thoughtfully build your skin collection and buy and sell skins profitably, you need to understand this. Below, we’ll break down the skins of different colors.
Skin Rarity in CS2
If all skins were the same, they would be boring. They would have no value. But in CS2, everything is organized. Let’s look at how to navigate skins by rarity.
Gray
The lowest tier. This is Consumer Grade. They look very plain, even inconspicuous. The price of these skins is a few cents. Players can get these skins after matches and via leveling up.
Light Blue
Slightly more interesting than gray skins, but still very plain and very cheap. This is Industrial Grade. These skins are not available in cases. Players can also get them after matches and via leveling up. The price ranges from a few cents to a dollar, rarely more.
Dark Blue
Here begins something resembling a skin with value. This skin is available in a case. These are Mil-Spec skins, and you’ll most likely get one.
These are the most common skins. Some have pretty nice designs. The price ranges from $1 to $10, with some exceptions being slightly higher. If it’s a skin for a popular weapon, you can try to make a profit by selling it.
Purple
The first serious level of rarity. These are restricted skins. These are skins with unique designs and high-quality textures.
You’ll want to show off a skin like this to your friends. The price typically ranges from $5-$10 to $50. It all depends on the weapon and how popular the skin is among players.
Getting this skin is possible, but not easy. The chance is 15.98%. If you want to test this without investing, you should use the CS2 case opening simulator.
Pink
With Classified skins, you can start believing in pleasant surprises. These skins are characterized by complex designs and unusual color combinations. The skin usually looks expensive. The price ranges from $20-$30 to $200-$300.
Red
Covert skins are considered the top-tier. This is the rarest color available in the case. The chance of getting this skin is very, very low.
This skin has everything that’s cool: unique designs, animations, and a high value. The price typically ranges from $100 to thousands.
Contraband
In the entire CS2 world, there’s only one skin that stands out from all the others. It’s the Contraband M4A4 | Howl skin.
The story goes that it was removed from the game due to copyright infringement. This caused the skin’s price to skyrocket to over $5,000. This is a skin that everyone will remember for a long time. Most players can only dream of owning one.
What Else Determines a Skin’s Price?
CS2 skin rarity is important. A lot of other factors determine how much a skin actually costs. Here they are:
Weapon popularity
A red skin for an AWP or AK-47 is expensive. A red skin for a pistol that almost no one uses might cost less than a pink skin for a popular assault rifle.
Because players want a cool skin for something they actually play with every match. The most popular gun will almost always cost more than a rare skin for a useless weapon.
Skin wear
Each skin has a float value. It indicates how scratched or perfect the skin is. The Factory New version looks like new, with all the graphics sharp.
The Battle-Scarred version is worn, has scratches, and sometimes the graphics are barely visible. The price between these two versions of the same skin can differ by three, five, or sometimes even ten times.
Pattern
CS2 skins may look identical across the board. However, some skins feature unique patterns. This can manifest itself in the predominance of a certain color or the presence of unique designs. For example, the AK-47 | Case Hardened skin is exactly like that.
The version with a lot of blue is much more expensive than the regular version. It even has a separate name: “Blue Gem.”
StatTrak
Some CS2 skins are available with a kill counter. This is called StatTrak. It’s displayed directly on the barrel in-game. The price of these skins is higher than the regular versions, sometimes two or even three times higher.
Conclusion
A CS2 skin’s rarity indicates its value. But the price isn’t determined solely by this. There are also factors like wear level, pattern, frag counter, and weapon model popularity. Two identical Covert skins can have very different prices, all due to these additional characteristics.
