Reviewed 22 September 2026

Glossary

Plain-language meanings for the terms that CS2 listings take for granted.

Float

The fixed number saved on every skin. It decides which wear band the item falls in, and playing with it changes nothing. The float guide has the detail.

Wear

The label attached to a range of float values, from Factory New through Minimal Wear, Field-Tested and Well-Worn to Battle-Scarred. Finishes with a cap may never show some of these labels.

Pattern seed

A number that sets where the texture lands on the gun. For Case Hardened, Fade and Doppler, it determines whether two items that share a name can sensibly be compared at all.

Trade-up

A contract that takes in ten skins of one rarity and gives back one skin of the rarity above. You may mix collections, and the float gets remapped into the output's own window.

Rare special

The gold slot of a weapon case, which usually holds knives or gloves. Valve's odds are about 0.26 percent, split among every item in that slot.

StatTrak

The version with a kill counter. It appears often on case skins but is missing from many map-collection skins, Dragon Lore and Desert Eagle Blaze among them.

Souvenir

An item taken from a major's souvenir package, frequently carrying gold stickers from the event. Treat it as its own thing, not a stand-in for StatTrak.

Contraband

A rarity Valve applied once new copies of an item stopped appearing. The M4A4 Howl is the contraband rifle, and Howling Dawn is the contraband sticker. No other items use the grade in general.

Collection

The design group that a trade-up looks at. It does not always match the case the item dropped from.