The Complete Guide to CSGO Skins

CS:GO skins have been a part of the CS: GO experience since 2013 when they were first introduced to the game, and nowadays, users can buy, sell or trade skins using various available markets at their disposal. Over the years, a lot of information has accumulated about the CSGO skins which is why we are going to provide you with everything that you need to know about the CSGO skins guide in this guide so let’s get into it.

What are CSGO Skins?

CSGO Skins are cosmetic items that players can use to alter the appearance of their CS: GO character’s equipment such as guns, knives, or even gloves. Each cosmetic item has a unique look and in no way shape or form does it affect the gameplay mechanics or the damage output of weapons. They are purely cosmetic and players can trade them amongst each other via the Steam-powered market or various skin trading websites. Depending on multiple factors, items can range in price and there are a few ways a user can obtain them.

Types of CSGO Skins

CS: GO skins come in various types and all of them have their own characteristics as well as prices. There are eight different types of CS: GO skins so let’s take a closer look at all of them.

Consumer Grade

This type of skin is displayed in white color and it is the most common skin type in the game. They are usually received as random drops for playing CS: GO and are worth a few cents each.

Industrial Grade

These skins are displayed in light blue color and are a bit rarer than the consumer-grade skins, however, still pretty common. They are usually received as weekly rewards and can range in terms of worth from a few cents to a few dollars.

Mil-Spec

Mil-Spec skins are shown in blue color and are usually received from any weapon case. Many of these skins are available on various markets, and you can easily add them to your inventory cheaply.

Restricted

Restricted skins are much more difficult to obtain and are displayed in purple color. Prices of skins of this type can vary as these skins are usually considered to be a sweet spot for trading.

Classified

Classified skins are displayed as pink and are very hard to obtain and usually very expensive. If you want to add these to your inventory, you should be ready to spend some money.

Covert

Covert skins are displayed in red and are considered to be the rarest regular skins that you can get. Most knives as well as some assault rifles, pistols, and AWPs are of covert quality and usually cost a lot.

Contraband

This kind of skins is displayed in orange and is a type of skins that have been removed from the game at some point. Currently, the M4A4 Howl is the only contraband item in the game.

Legendary

Legendary skins are gold in color and they encompass all CSGO knife skins as well as gloves. They are extremely rare to get and their value can range from a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars.

CSGO Skins Wear Levels

Among other things, the value of CS: GO skins is largely determined by their level of skin wear. The skin wear essentially shows in what condition is a specific CS: GO skin or item. There are different levels of skin wear such as battle-scarred, well-worn, field-tested, minimal wear, and factory new ranging from the lowest quality to highest, and while some very damaged items can be worth a lot of money, it is usually the better the skin wear level, the more valuable the skin is.

Battle-Scarred

The battle-scarred wear level is the lowest skin wear level that an item or skin can have, and in most cases, the skin design on it is barely recognizable, but this can vary. Usually, it is the cheapest kind of skins available and players only choose to go for the battle-scarred versions of skins if they can’t afford a better quality of the same skins. However, there are exceptions to this such as in the case of the battle-scarred AWP Asiimov skin which has an entirely black scope and has been dubbed by the community Blackiimov. Believe it or not, this skin is more expensive than the AWP Asiimov skin in factory-new condition.

Well-Worn

The well-worn tier of skins is usually referred to as the starter tier by the community and is usually the tier to which new players, as well as players who don’t wish to spend a lot of money, gravitate towards. The skins in the well-worn tier usually look all right and don’t cost a lot of money to buy. There is also a plethora of them available on every market which lowers their value in terms of price even more. Overall, the well-worn tier of skins probably has the best deals when it comes to the price to quality ratio.

Field-Tested

The field-tested tier of skins is right smack in the middle in terms of skin wear. They are considered to be the middle child and while they generally tend to look better than the well-worn and battle-scarred skins and worse than minimal wear and factory-new skins, sometimes that logic doesn’t apply. The same goes for their pricing. Sometimes they are cheaper than the lower tier items and sometimes, they are more expensive than the higher tier items. Overall, just be careful when you are going into the field-tested category and do your research.

Minimal Wear

The minimal wear tier of items is usually the most sought-after tier when it comes to item quality. They are almost always cheaper than the factory-new skins and have little to no visible damage on them unlike their field-tested, and well-worn counterparts, however, they tend to be more expensive for these exact reasons as well as due to always being in high demand, which often results in smaller supply and therefore sometimes, inflated prices.

Factory-New

Here we come to the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the factory-new tier of items. There is not much to say about the factory-new tier of skins other than the fact that these skins have no damage on them as the name implies, which is why the price usually reflects that fact. The skins of this tier are the most expensive of all, and some specific factory-new skins can be worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars which is a lot of money no matter how you look at it.

What makes CSGO Skins so Expensive?

When we are talking about CS:GO skins in terms of their price, it is obvious that it ranges from a few cents per item to hundreds or even thousands of dollars per item at any given time, however, what makes a CS: GO skin so special to a point that it can reach such expensive prices. The answer to that question is not one single thing, but a combination of different factors which all affect the price of a certain item to a certain extent.

The first thing that affects the prices of CS: GO skins is the item rarity or the type which we already mentioned above at the start of this article. Some CS:GO skins are rarer than others and depending on that rarity, they can be worth quite a bit of money. Covert and Contraband items are much more valuable than their consumer-grade or industrial-grade counterparts. They are much harder to obtain, and therefore, their price reflects that.

The second important factor that affects the value of CS:GO skins are of course the condition of the skin, or as we already mentioned above, the skin wear level. Factory-new and minimal wear skins are usually more desirable due to their looks and lack of damage to the skin itself. For that reason, they almost always cost more than the same skin of lower wear such as battle-scarred or well-worn.

Last but not least, special features like the StatTrak technology, or the Souvenir status also greatly affect the value of skin or an item in CS: GO and while such special skins rarely pop up on the market, when they do, their price tends to hit huge values, so much so that many are holding on to this kind of items as future investments.

In short, all of the things mentioned above in this section affect the value of CS:GO skins separately as well as in combination with each other, which means that if by chance you stumble on a Souvenir skin with StatTrak technology on it, in perfect factory-new condition, you are probably gonna gave to drop some serious money if you want to add it to your collection.

Most Expensive CSGO Skin Ever Sold

To this day, there are many CSGO skins that are worth a lot of money if somebody was to actually sell one of them that is. After all, it is the scarcity and the rarity of the skin that in part makes it so expensive. While over the years, many skins such as the AK-47 Case Hardened Blue Gem and M4A4 Howl with StatTrak in factory new condition have sold for a lot of money, the most expensive CSGO skin ever sold was in fact the Souvenir AWP Dragon Lore in factory new condition. This particular factory new Souvenir AWP Dragon Lore skin contained unique stickers from G2 Esports, Cloud9 along with the one from the popular AWP player Tyler Latham, more widely known as Skadoodle within the CS: GO community. This one-of-a-kind Souvenir AWP Dragon Lore skin was sold for a huge price of $61,052.63 and to this day it remains the most expensive CSGO skin ever sold. You can read more about it, its price, and its history by checking out the article on The Most Expensive CSGO Skin.

Most Expensive CSGO Knife

Even among the highest tier of the most expensive knives, there is a champion, and that champion just happens to be the M9 Bayonet Crimson Web skin in factory-new condition. The M9 Bayonet Crimson Web skin is a covert knife that can be obtained by opening one of the eleven different CS: GO cases and the chances of obtaining one are close to zero so if you are planning on getting one and don’t want to buy it on the market, be ready to open a lot of cases. In the history of CS: GO, a single M9 Bayonet Crimson Web CS: GO skin in factory-new condition was sold on a third-party marketplace for over $60 000. While some other knives have sold in the past for thousands of dollars, none of them have ever come close to the astonishing price that the factory’s new M9 Bayonet Crimson Web skin was able to achieve. For more information about the topic, take a look at our article on The Most Expensive CS: GO Knife.

CSGO Knife Skins – The Top of the Top

It comes as no surprise that certain CSGO skins can sell for a lot of money nowadays. This is especially true for CS: GO knife skins which can sometimes be worth thousands of dollars just like the M9 Bayonet Crimson Web. While these kinds of knife skins are usually rare and very difficult to get, they do occasionally pop up for sale, and when they do, they sell fast and more often than not end up in people’s collections. However, on an off chance that you encounter one such skin, we are gonna go over a few of the most expensive CS: GO knife skins.

The list of sought after knife skins is somewhat long and would require an article in itself or maybe even a couple of them, however, among the most expensive and sought after CS: GO knife skins are the Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem, the Karambit Crimson Web in factory-new condition equip with the StatTrak technology and Butterfly Knife Doppler in factory-new condition, also equipt with StatTrak. Other notable CS: GO knife skins include the StatTrak Karambit Gamma Doppler in factory-new condition as well as the Karambit Lore and the Karambit Fade, both with StatTrak and with factory-new wear.

CSGO Gloves Skins – New in The Game

Similar to weapon skins in CS: GO, gloves are a part of the standard equipment for every player, and as such, they are a customizable element of the game and are considered to be rare among the CS: GO community. In December 2020 when Operation Broken Fang was introduced to CS: GO, as per usual, a new case was added to the game, aptly named the Operation Broken Fang Case, and among various rewards that a user can get from the Operation Broken Fang Case if he/she chooses to open one were a bunch of new CS: GO glove skins. However, a new rumor started circling around the CS: GO community that more glove skins will be added to CS: GO with this case. This was later all but confirmed by various leakers and YouTubers as the new glove skins have been found within the CS: GO game files. In total, seven new sets of gloves have been found in the files, however, two of them are identical. Why Valve chose to add two identical glove skin sets to the game is unknown at the time of writing this, as well as any information regarding the exact release date of said glove skins. We will update the article accordingly as new information surfaces.

How to Get New CSGO Skins?

When it comes to new CSGO skins, they don’t really pop up that often, and while keeping up with the new information is generally a good idea, an average user shouldn’t really think too much about it. If you want to know more about the new skins in CSGO, then the first stop for every user should be the CS: GO release note blog. The blog is updated with information from official sources every time a new skin collection or a new operation has been introduced to CS: GO.

If you are the user who wants to get their hands on one of the new CSGO skins as soon as they come out, your best bet might be the official Steam-powered market or a prominent third-party CS: GO trading site such as the SkinCashier. The deals will likely not be the best in terms of price, but if you have money to burn and are not that concerned about the price, then you are likely to find what you are looking for on day one.

If you want to get one of the new items for free, then your only other option is to play CS: GO and hope that you receive it via a random drop. However, as the name implies, the random drops are indeed random, which means that the chances of the user receiving that specific item are very small, however, you may just get lucky enough and Valve might drop you the item on your first game. Stranger things have happened.

Trading CSGO Skins

Trading CSGO skins has become an important aspect of CS: GO and many people participate in it for various different reasons. Some simply see it as fun and wish to get their hands on specific items that they like but couldn’t get to drop for them, others search for rare items in factory new condition so they can keep them in their collections, and some are just always looking out to get the best deals possible and an item at a good price. There are those who see trading as a potential investment and turn CS: GO skin trading into a career. The reasons are many and the possibilities are endless, but there are only a handful of options at your disposal if you wish to engage in skin trading.

Your first option is the official Steam-powered market where you can trade skins with other players and get keys that you can use for opening weapon cases that drop for you during regular CS: GO matches. As mentioned above though, some players find the Steam-powered market a little too restricted in terms of trading rules so they prefer to seek the services of a third-party market such as SkinCasher. To learn more about trading CSGO skins on SkniCashier, check out our SkinCashier Skins Trading article.

Buying CSGO Skins

Buying CS:GO skins is extremely easy and doesn’t take a lot of time, provided that you know what you are looking for. However, just as they are when it comes to trading and selling skins, your options are somewhat limited. The first option is to buy skins using the official Steam Market, shower using it comes with a few restrictions which make it less than ideal. The other alternative that you have at your disposal is to buy skins by using a third-party skins trading site such as the SkinCashier.

Selling CSGO Skins

If you are looking to sell some CSGO skins and make your inventory a couple of items lighter, your options are split between the Steam-powered official market and various third-party CSGO trading websites such as the SkinCashier. While the official market is decent, using it requires the user to spend their earnings on the platform for other products, and as such, offers them no way to cash out the money that they may earn so it is by no means perfect. That is why websites like the SkinCashier are a great alternative as they allow you to get the money that you earn right to your pocket by using one of the many available payment methods. Check out SkinCashier to learn more about buying, selling, and trading CS: GO skins.

How to get Free CSGO Skins?

If you are a player looking to expand your CS: GO inventory and wish to get your hands on more exotic skins like covert knives, a specific bayonet, or any other CS: GO item, then you will be wanting to get some new CSGO skins, and lucky for you, there are a couple of ways of going about that available at your disposal.

The first, and easiest thing that any player can do in order to get new skins and expand their inventory is to simply play the game and receive them through the skins drop system. What this means is that after every couple of CS: GO matches that you play, you as the player will receive an item drop directly into your inventory. This drop can either be a specific CS: GO skin like a mil-spec rifle or a karambit knife, or any other item ranging in rarity as well as skin quality such as battle-scarred, minimal wear, field-tested, or even factory new. In addition to that, your drop may instead be a weapon case for which you will need to get a key to open. There are many weapon cases available in the game and by opening them, the player will receive a random item from the skin pool available for that specific case. The downside to both of these options is the fact that every drop is random so the chances of you getting something that you want is extremely low which is why many players choose to go to use the next method of getting skins in order to get what they want.

Alternatively, there are websites and markets that offer users free CSGO skins in exchange for a little bit of their time. Such a website allows the player to complete random surveys and in exchange, they receive a free CSGO skin or a certain amount of currency that can be spent on the said website which the player can then use to purchase the skin or the item that they may desire. Be careful though, user experience has shown that a site like this can often be a scam which is why it is always a better idea to stick to the already proven methods. For more information, check out our article on Free CSGO Skins.

The Best CSGO Weapon Skins

We all know that skins for CS: GO weapons come in all shapes, sizes, and designs, and while over the years, many different unique CS: GO skins have been added to the game, only a small number of them have become extremely sought after. Nowadays, such skins are extremely rare and those who are somehow able to get their hands on them could potentially earn a lot of money. However, not only rare skins are neither sought after or expensive, as there are many other factors that make a specific skin special and therefore, very desirable which is why we are going to go over some of the Best CS: GO skins for the most popular CS: GO weapons below.

CSGO AWP Skins

If you are somebody who prefers to stay far away from the heat of the action and take your targets out from a distance, then your go-to weapon in CS: GO is likely the AWP sniper rifle. Due to its ability to hit targets from a large distance, its accuracy, and its one-shot killing potential, the AWP has become one of the most popular CS: GO weapons within the community. As such, it has a wide variety of skins available and while some of them are not that rare, they are indeed special and very popular. One such skin that is considered to be one of the best AWP skins within the CS: GO community is the AWP Dragon Lore skin. If you want to get your hands on this item and learn everything there is to know about the AWP Dragon Lore skin, then head over to our AWP Dragon Lore article. Aside from it, other popular CS: GO skins for AWP are The Medusa skin, the Gungnir skin as well as the Prince.

CSGO AK-47 Skins

When it comes to assault rifles, the AK-47 is a favorite of many players, and for good reasons. The AK-47 is very effective at both close and long-range provided that you know how to use it properly, it holds thirty rounds in a single magazine which is good for longer shootouts, and has some serious firepower, and deals a lot of damage with the potential of a one-shot kill if you are able to hit a headshot. Due to such high popularity, the AK-47 has a lot of skins made for it, and some of those are very popular with players. One of the more popular designs is the AK-47 Fire Serpent which you can learn more about by reading our AK-47 Fire Serpent article. Other AK-47 popular skins include the Rat Rod, Frontside Misty, and Neon Revolution.

CSGO M4A4 Skins

Coming from the Counter-Terrorist side, the M4A4 is a very popular assault rifle in CSGO and as such, it is a weapon that has many different CSGO skins for a player to choose from. These skins can range from very cheap to extremely rare and expensive with the M4A4 Howl skin belonging to the latter category of skins. The M4A4 CSGO skin is the most controversial CSGO skin and has a very interesting story behind it. This CSGO skin is one of the most expensive skins out there, especially if it comes with the Stattrak technology equipt, so check out our article on the M4A4 Howl skin to learn more about it. Aside from Howl, there are many more noteworthy M4A4 CSGO skins with some of the best being the M4A4 Neo-Noir, the M4A4 Hellfire, the M4A4 Desolate Space as well as the Poseidon, and the M4A4 Evil Daimyo among many other skins.

CSGO M4A1-S Skins

The M4A1-S is the counter-terrorist counterpart assault rifle to the popular AK-47 and just as its counterpart, it is extremely popular among the CS: GO players for pretty much the same reasons why the AK-47 is. It comes as no surprise that Valve has released many skins for the M4A1-S and among the best ones are the Hyper Beast, Cyrex, the Decimator as well as the Basilisk. Other honorable mentions include the Nightmare as well as the Chantico’s Fire.

CSGO Deagle Skins

Desert Eagle, more commonly known within the CS: GO community as Deagle is among the most popular pistols and a popular choice for a secondary weapon of many players due to its high damage and stopping power. As such, many skins have been created for it and some of the best Deagle skins in the game are the Light Rail, the Mecha Industries, and the Bronze Deco. Additional sought-after desert eagle skins are the Blue Ply and the Kumicho Dragon.

CSGO USP-S Skins

The USP-S is the starting weapon of the Counter-Terrorist forces in CS: GO and it the weapon of choice for most ECO rounds when you need to save money for later. The USP-S is fairly accurate and has a high firing rate which makes it a very popular player choice, so naturally, there are quite a few skins for it. Among the more interesting ones are the Cyrex, Cortex, and the Flashback. Other skins USP-S skins that most people are looking to buy are the Torque and the Guardian.

CSGO Glock 18 Skins

The Glock 18 is the starting Terrorist pistol and is the counterpart to the USP-S, and while it is admittedly not as popular as the USP-S within the CS: GO community, many players still choose to use it due to its burst-fire mode that allows the user to shoot three bullets at the same time allowing you to deal more damage by sacrificing your firing rate a little. Regardless to say, there are many Glock 18 skins and some of the best ones that you can buy or sell are Moonrise and Sacrifice. Other notable Glock 18 skins include Warhawk, the Water Elemental, and the Weasel.

CSGO MP5 Skins

The MP5 is a Submachinegun or SMG for short in CS: GO and if you are looking for a good weapon that is effective at close range, and can deal a lot of damage with its fast firing rate at the cost of range, then this is definitely the weapon for you. Needless to say, due to its popularity, there are a plethora of MP5 skins to choose from, and some of the best ones that many are looking to buy are the MP5 Phosphor and Mp5 Gauss. Other noteworthy MP5 skins include the Lab Rats, the Co-Processor, and the Dirt Drop.

Summary

This article will be encompassing everything there is to know about CS: GO skins, their rarity, wear level as well as other details that can affect the prices of skins, Additionally, the article will cover some of the most expensive skins ever sold, as well as the best skins for some of the most popular weapons in CS: GO. Lastly, the article will provide information on where and how you can buy, sell or trade skins for CS: GO.

If you’re interested in CS:GO skins and want to learn more about it, check out our other posts as well:

• Which factors influence the worth of CS:GO Skins?
• CSGO Wear Levels – How does it Work?
• AWP Dragon Lore – The Legendary CS:GO AWP Skin
• The importance of CS:GO Skins economy in Steam Market

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions