CS2 skin wear and float explained

Every CS2 weapon skin has a wear level that shows how used it looks, from fresh out of the box to scratched and faded. Behind the wear level sits a number called the float value, between 0 and 1. A lower float means a cleaner skin. Wear is one of the biggest reasons two copies of the same skin can have very different prices.

The five wear levels

On CSVOLT the short code sits on every item card, in case contents, in your inventory and on the marketplace. A case can hold the same skin in several wears, each with its own value and drop chance.

What the float value is

The float is a number fixed when the item is created. It decides how much of the paint looks scratched, chipped or faded. Two Field Tested copies of a skin can look quite different: one at 0.16 is close to Minimal Wear, one at 0.37 is close to Well Worn.

In CS2 the float of a skin does not change as you play with it. A skin dropped as Field Tested stays Field Tested forever. Only stickers on the weapon wear down, and only when you scrape them yourself.

Float caps: not every skin can be every wear

Each skin has its own minimum and maximum float. Some skins can only exist between, say, 0.00 and 0.08, so they never come in Well Worn or Battle Scarred. Others start at 0.06 and can never be a perfect Factory New. That is why some skins are only sold in a few wears.

A few items have no float at all. A "vanilla" knife, the plain knife with no paint, has no wear level.

Why wear changes the price

Most players prefer clean skins, so Factory New is usually the most expensive and Battle Scarred the cheapest. But not always:

• On some skins the paint is barely visible in Factory New and the difference to Minimal Wear is tiny, so the gap in price is small.
• Some skins look better worn. Players sometimes pay more for a specific worn look.
• Very low floats inside a tier, such as 0.00x Factory New, can sell above the normal price for collectors.
• Scarce wears cost more. If a skin rarely appears in Factory New, that wear can cost many times more.

Patterns: the second number

Many skins also have a pattern index, a number that decides where the paint pattern sits on the weapon. For most skins it hardly matters. For some it decides everything: how much blue is on a Case Hardened skin, how much of each colour shows on a Fade, or which phase a Doppler knife is. Pattern and float together make every copy of a skin unique.

Wear and StatTrak

StatTrak is separate from wear. A StatTrak skin can be any wear its float range allows. StatTrak usually adds to the price on top of wear. More in StatTrak and Souvenir explained.

Using wear when you open cases

When you read a case's contents, the same skin can appear more than once:

• A Factory New version with a higher value and a smaller chance.
• A Field Tested or Battle Scarred version with a lower value and a bigger chance.

Look at the wear next to the name before you get excited about a skin in a case. The headline version is often the rarest wear. See CS2 case odds explained for reading a table.

Wear when you redeem to Steam

Skins you redeem from CSVOLT arrive in your Steam inventory with their wear level. Check the item card before you redeem so you know what you are getting. See how to redeem skins to Steam.

An example from a case table

Imagine a case lists the same rifle skin three times: Factory New, Field Tested and Battle Scarred. The Factory New line will usually have the highest value and the smallest chance. The Battle Scarred line will be the cheapest and the most likely. When you hit "that skin", check which line it was before you celebrate. On CSVOLT the wear code sits right next to the name, so you can tell at a glance.

18+ only. CSVOLT uses virtual coins and every case is a game of chance. Set limits in responsible gaming.