- There are various factors that affect the price, quality, and appearance of a CS:GO skin, one of them is 'Skin Wear'.
- The 'wear' of a CS:GO skin directly depends on its float value which further determines the price and appearance of the skin.
- Read on to find out everything about CS:GO wear levels, float value, and how all this impacts the skin price.
CS:GO skins are one of the most valuable assets that a player can own in the game. They were introduced in 2013 along with ‘The Arms Deal Update’, a monumental feat in the history of CS:GO that has changed the game as it currently stands today. Valve not only introduced more than 100 skins along with this update but also established the ‘Steam Workshop’, bringing the community ever closer to CS:GO. It has proven to be a successful business model for the developers while also becoming an integral part of the community in quite a positive way.
However, the CS:GO skins are not your regular in-game cosmetics. They have several layers to it and various aspects which dictates its price, quality, appearance, and other such qualities. One such feature is the wear level of the skin that directly influences how a particular CS:GO skin physically looks.
Let us discuss in detail what the different types of cosmetic wear conditions are, how it influences the price of the skin, and how the appearance of a skin changes along with the wear level across different cosmetic items.
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CS:GO Skin Wear Levels - Complete Guide
Skins in CS:GO are not just cosmetic items, they are much more than that. Valve has successfully created a sustainable and intricate eco-system through these in-game cosmetics, involving users, creators, and the developers. The various ways to receive a skin are,
- Directly purchasing one that you like from the Steam Community Market.
- Receiving a random skin as a drop after completing a match or levelling up.
- You can also purchase a case and try your luck to randomly receive either a high or low quality skin. Though it is an extremely rare event, there is a chance of receiving either a knife or a glove via this method at a very cheap price.
- Engaging in a trade is also a viable option, but make sure that you know or trust the person on the other side and it is not some completely random stranger.
What is CS:GO Skin Wear?
When it comes to CS:GO skins there are several aspects that come into play when deciding its price, if it is being traded, bought or sold. One such important feature is ‘Wear’. As the name suggests it is the physical appearance and condition of a cosmetic within the game. This directly helps in dictating the float value of a particular skin which in turn affects its price.
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What is Float Value?
In CS:GO, every weapon comes with its own wear condition whose worth on the market is measured by its float value, which ranges from 0 to 1. Here, 0 stands for the absolute perfect skin condition possible while 1 represents a totally worn down version of that same skin.
The float value of a particular skin is automatically assigned by CS:GO when the skin is randomly dropped or generated via a case, this value lies between 0-1. Also, these values are static and forever permanent. No matter how many times the skin has been used it will never increase or decrease its float value.
As the float value drops the appearance of the skin degrades, this interaction is different for every skin. It may be a difference in colour patter, the skin texture getting worse, stains appearing on the skin, and other such things.
How Skin Wear Affects the Price of CS:GO Skins?
The quality of a skin directly depends on its wear condition, this is one of the main aspects that influences the price of a CS:GO skin. The thumb rule is that lower the float value of a skin more expensive it will be and vice-versa.
However, there are some rare exceptions to this rule if somehow a higher float skin somehow appears better or more appealing to the community at large, increasing its demand along with its price. But CS:GO never reveals the float value directly, instead it categorizes the skins based on different wear levels which are as follows (descending order),
Factory New (FN): Float Value 0.00 – 0.07
This is the best possible quality of skin which a player can obtain. It is bound to be perfect with very slight blemishes or alterations that can easily be ignored when the weapon is viewed while playing.
Minimal Wear: Float Value 0.07 – 0.15
These skins are slightly degraded. The depreciation is barely noticeable which makes these skins still look good in most cases. These skins are a bit expensive, but users usually try to buy their most favorite skins in this quality.
Field-Tested: Float Value 0.15 – 0.38
This is the skin quality from where the damage starts to show. Depending on the skin it can be anything from discoloration, rusting, scratches, and other sort of damages. These skins are available in plenty on the market and players can usually grab them for a good price.
Well-Worn: Float Value 0.38 – 0.45
From here on the skin starts looking quite different, the degradation is very clearly noticeable. Such skins are mostly awarded in random match drops. But even with such high float values there are some rare skins that are actually not too different from their top tier versions, those are definitely worth the grab.
Battle-Scarred: 0.45 – 1.00
The worst possible type of skin that a player can receive and one that is abundantly available. This is the most common skin wear quality for a weapon to have, but at the end of the day they are not all that useless. You can still play with them and even sell a few of them together to purchase one better skin.
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