Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s weapon skins are one of the only ways that players can customize their competitive experience, but which ones are the best of the bunch?
Everyone has a different opinion on the hundreds of skins available in CSGO, so it’s a hard question to answer outright. But there are some skins that everyone agrees are impressive, and that’s thanks to how each artist created their design around CSGO’s most powerful guns. It takes serious skill to do, and even if a player isn’t a fan of an art style, CSGO’s skins are still works of art.
The USP-S | Kill Confirmed has everything players want in a weapon skin. It’s flashy and unique, but the way the creator of Kill Confirmed used the USP’s silencer to highlight their artwork is an impressive move.
The Kill Confirmed is expensive, but it isn’t crazy expensive. A high float Minimal Wear or low-float Field Tested version of the popular skin sold for around $50.00 before Operation Broken Fang sent prices skyrocketing.
The AK-47 | Vulkan is another skin on this list that has suddenly risen in price, making it a tough sell for players looking for an affordable upgrade to their collection. But it’s a sleek skin for CSGO’s Terrorist side, and it is still a great pickup for a player’s loadout if it ever goes for a high price.
The most impressive part about the Vulcan is the baby blue color scheme combined with its clean lines and the addition of normal maps to the top of its frame. Blue is a rare option on CSGO skins, and that makes the Vulcan’s tint unique. It’s also one of the best skins for any pro player or team stickers that use the color.
If players look closely, they can see the gun’s normal maps on the AK’s stock, a technique used to create 3D-like textures on flat surfaces, on full display.
The M4A1-S doesn’t get a lot of love these days. Even after a buff to the weapon’s magazine, it’s still underused in CSGO’s professional games and in matchmaking. But that doesn’t mean that the M4A1 can’t look good. While the “Ready Player Two” gets an honorable mention here, the M4A1-S | Nightmare is arguably the better pick.
It’s cheap too, and considering how expensive many other skins have become in the past several months, the Nightmare is a bargain at around $30.00 in Factory New condition. It gives off vibes of the more expensive M4A1-S | Icarus Fell at a fraction of the price.
Sometimes called the M4A1-S’s version of the removed M4A4 Howl, the Nightmare brings a screaming demon to the M4A4’s quieter cousin. Instead of the Howl’s stark lines, the monster extends down the weapon before ending its graphics on the weapon’s silencer.
The Disco Tech is one of the few CSGO skins that uses the game’s holographic weapon finish and creates a simple skin that really shines in the right light. The weapon finish isn’t overwhelmed by graphics or decals, but that’s part of the Mac-10 | Disco Tech’s appeal.
The skin averages around $20, and it’s a nice change of pace from many of CSGO’s other skins. Creators and players seem to prefer skins made with the “Gunsmith” and “Custom” finishes, but the Disco Tech is a great example of a simple skin that can have a big effect.
CSGO’s Neo-Noir skin line is easily one of the game’s prettiest and well-produced series of weapon skins ever released. It’s available for many different weapons, ranging from the AWP to the M4A4. The Glock even received a version with the release of Broken Fang.
Players have flocked to the skin, and that’s thanks to the skin line’s downright awesome illustrations.
While players could choose from any one of the weapons that feature the Neo-Noir skin, the AWP is a great choice. The skin’s creator, donschi, used all of the space on the AWP in their illustration from the tip of the barrel to the end of the stock.
Choosing the best skins in CSGO is a personal choice, but the skins listed above are a good starting point for collectors and really show the variety of different types of CSGO skins that creators have made.
Including all of CSGO’s weapon skin collections, there are a total of 953 different skins available to players. But not all of them can still drop.
Skins from Operation collections such as Shattered Web’s Norse collection can only be found on the Steam Marketplace. This makes skins from these collections much more expensive to buy.
Broken Fang released a new case and three new collections to CSGO, named the Havoc, Control, and Ancient collections.
There’s actually a real answer to which of CSGO’s weapon cases is the best to open. While players chasing a particular item should open cases that contain that skin, finish, or weapon, players who want to roll the dice can check out this list of the best cases to open in CSGO.
CSGO has a ton of different styles of weapon skins in a whole bunch of colors, but it can be overwhelming when players start to collect them. Luckily, there is a great introduction to building a budget CSGO skin loadout available right here.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
