In addition to matchmaking, Esport matches and all the many game modes, there is another, independent world in the Counter-Strike cosmos. The world of skins. Whether gaudy, anime style or elegantly simple, with over 1700 skins now available, there’s something for everyone. But what are Counter-Strike skins? Do you really need these colorful extras?
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1. What are Counter-Strike skins?
Counter-Strike skins are textures and patterns applied to the weapons available in the game. Basically, they are cosmetic customizations that change the appearance of weapons. Unlike in the Riot Games shooter Valorant, the basic shape of the weapons always remains identical. Thus, different skins for the probably most famous assault rifle, the AK-47, differ only in the applied pattern. INSERT series of images with different AK-47 skins.
2. Since when do skins exist in Counter-Strike?
With the “Arms Deal” update on August 14, 2013, publisher Valve introduced the first weapon skins in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. On the one hand, there were the “Weapon Case” and the “eSports 2013 Case”, the first boxes that can be opened with a key, and on the other hand, the first map collections for the maps Dust, Vertigo, Inferno, Militia, Nuke, Office, Assault and Aztec. Below you can find the skins of the first skin collections.
The skins of the first CS:GO Weapon Case
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3. What is the use of Counter-Strike skins?
When it comes to the question of the usefulness of skins in Counter-Strike, you’re quickly finished, because skins don’t have a direct influence on the game mechanics. Neither do they improve the accuracy of the weapon, nor do they make you a better player. With a bit of luck, the most you can do is distract your opponents with special expensive and colorful skins and get an advantage.
4. How do I get skins?
There are several ways to get skins in Counter-Strike, but most of them will cost you something.
How do get free skins?
The only really free option to get skins are the in-game drops. If you play enough on the official Valve servers within a week, you automatically get experience points. These points are important for the level of your CS profile, which is displayed in the main menu above your matchmaking rank. Once a week you get a skin dropped to rankup your profile at the end of a match. Besides crates you can get everything from Grafittis, 3-cent skins to really valuable items. Expensive items are of course very rare, so it only helps to play as much as possible.
All the “eSports 2013 Case” skins
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Case openings
If playing a lot takes too long or is too exhausting for you, you can also try your luck with the weapon boxes from Valve. In these crates you can get skins of different classes as well as the very popular “Rare Special Item”, either knives or gloves. To get skins from crates you need two things: First of all, of course, the crate, which you either get via ingame drops or have to buy on the marketplace. In addition, you also need a crate key. You have to buy this key directly from Valve and it will cost you 2.35 Euros. Which skin you get out of the box is a matter of luck. The chance of getting a knife is about 0.26 percent.
Buy skins directly: Steam Market versus SkinBaron
Instead of spending money on a small chance to get the skin you want from a box, you can also search directly in the Steam community market. There, other users offer their items for sale. You can also find your favorite skins for up to 30 percent cheaper on the external marketplace SkinBaron. Other Counter-Strike players offer their skins here as well, but sometimes at much better prices than on Steam’s own marketplace.
Trading instead of buying
If you already have some skins in your inventory, you can also trade with other users. In principle, this doesn’t work any differently than it used to on the playground with Pokémon and Panini pictures. The only difference is that the playground is now, for example, Steam groups, subreddits or forums. When trading, however, you have to be careful not to get ripped off. For example, avoid clicking on links of your potential trading partner. Just like everywhere where high amounts are involved, there are also black sheep in the Counter-Strike community who want to cheat you.
