Every CS2 skin carries a hidden number called a float, and that number decides which of five wear conditions your skin shows: Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field-Tested, Well-Worn, or Battle-Scarred. The float runs from 0.00 (pristine) to 1.00 (thrashed), and it drives both how a skin looks and how much it costs. Get the wear right and you can own a skin that looks near mint for half the price of a true Factory New.
Last updated: June 14, 2026. Verified against current CS2 mechanics, June 2026.
The Float Scale and the Five Wear Conditions
Think of the float as a wear percentage baked into the item the moment it drops. It never changes after that. The 0.00 to 1.00 range is carved into five buckets, and the name you see in your inventory is just a label for where the float lands.
| Condition | Float range | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Factory New (FN) | 0.00 to 0.07 | Crisp, vivid, almost no scratches |
| Minimal Wear (MW) | 0.07 to 0.15 | Light wear at edges, looks clean from gameplay distance |
| Field-Tested (FT) | 0.15 to 0.38 | Visible fading and scuffs, the most common bracket |
| Well-Worn (WW) | 0.38 to 0.45 | Heavy scratching, faded colors |
| Battle-Scarred (BS) | 0.45 to 1.00 | Worn hard, exposed metal, blotchy paint |
A couple of things collectors learn fast. First, the brackets are not equal in size. Field-Tested spans a huge 0.23 of the scale, which is why FT prices and looks vary so much within a single listing. Battle-Scarred covers more than half the entire range. Second, the float is continuous, so a 0.15 Field-Tested and a 0.37 Field-Tested are both "FT" but can look like different skins.
How Wear Actually Changes the Way a Skin Looks
Here is the part that trips up new buyers: the wear condition does not affect every skin the same way. Two skins at identical float can age completely differently because each has its own wear texture map.
- Skins that stay clean high: Some finishes barely show wear even at 0.30 plus. The AK-47 Redline, for example, keeps its red and black looking sharp deep into Field-Tested because the scratching lands on already dark areas. Many pattern-heavy or dark skins hide wear well.
- Skins that wreck early: Bright, solid-color or chrome-style finishes punish high float. A skin with a lot of light paint can look scuffed and blotchy by 0.20. Anything relying on a clean metallic surface tends to need a low float to shine.
- Knives and gloves: Knife finishes like Doppler and Marble Fade often cap at low float anyway, so wear matters less, but Fade percentage and pattern matter a lot. Browse the knife hub to see how finish and float interact on blades.
This is why I never buy a wear bracket blind. A skin's reputation for "aging well" or "aging badly" is worth more than any rule of thumb.
How Wear Drives Price
Float and price move together, but not in a straight line. The relationship is steepest at the extremes.
- Factory New commands a premium because it is the rarest natural drop bracket for many skins and looks the cleanest. On some skins FN is several times the price of Field-Tested.
- Sub-floats matter. Within Factory New, a 0.00x float can carry its own premium over a 0.06 FN, especially on skins where collectors chase the lowest possible number. The same goes for the lowest float inside any bracket.
- Battle-Scarred is cheapest on most skins, but not always. On a few finishes, an extreme high float (think 0.90 plus) becomes a novelty and can actually carry a small premium among collectors who want the "most worn" example.
- The bracket edges create value cliffs. A skin at float 0.149 is Minimal Wear; at 0.151 it is Field-Tested and noticeably cheaper, even though they look nearly identical. Smart buyers hunt right at those edges.
You can see these gaps live across marketplaces on our deals page, and compare the full spread for any skin in the price-comparison catalog.
Picking the Best Value Wear for a Skin
This is the question that actually matters, and the answer is always "it depends on the skin." Here is the process I use.
- Decide if you want it for display or trading. For inspecting up close, a low float pays off. For gameplay, you mostly see the weapon at a distance and a clean Field-Tested looks the same as Factory New.
- Check how that specific skin ages. If it hides wear well (dark or busy finishes), go down to Field-Tested or even Well-Worn and save real money. If it wrecks early, you may need Minimal Wear or low FN.
- Hunt the bracket edges. A 0.16 to 0.18 Field-Tested often looks almost Minimal Wear but prices like a mid FT. A 0.08 Minimal Wear can look nearly Factory New for a fraction of FN money.
- Compare across markets. Float pricing varies by platform. Always check more than one. Our markets guide breaks down where to buy and sell.
For popular picks, the wear that gives best value is often well documented. Start with our best-of guides, or dig into a specific weapon like the AWP or AK-47 to see which wear collectors actually recommend.
Wear, Trade-Ups, and Inventory Value
Float does more than set looks and price. It feeds the trade-up system. When you trade up ten skins, the output float is calculated from the average float of your inputs, so low-float inputs can produce a low-float, higher-value output. If you experiment with this, our trade-up calculator does the float math for you.
Wear also shifts your collection's worth over time. If you hold skins, knowing the float distribution of your inventory tells you what you actually own, not just the named conditions. The inventory value calculator reads floats into real numbers. And if you are sourcing from unopened drops, the container hub shows which cases feed which skins.
The Bottom Line
CS2 skin wear is just a float number wearing one of five names, but understanding that number is the difference between overpaying for a label and buying a skin that looks fantastic for less. Learn how your specific skin ages, hunt the bracket edges, and always read the float instead of trusting the condition tag. When you are ready to compare real listings across every major marketplace, the live skin catalog and deals page show you exactly where the best wear-for-money sits right now.
Remy, SkinWise