10 Years of CS:GO – Best CS:GO Skins of All Time
Cosmetic items play an important role in other esports, but CS:GO takes this aspect differently. Since it’s been 10 years of CS:GO this year, let’s talk about the best CS:GO skins of all time.
The CS:GO skin market is very similar to the crypto market. There are millions of skins for sale and countless people searching for the right skin to buy. The game has a player base of around 20 million, and I’ve yet to find someone who doesn’t care about weapon skins.
Criteria for Choosing the Best CS:GO Skins
When we talk about the top skins, it’s hard not to discuss the game’s most expensive and popular skins. It doesn’t really matter whether they are Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field Tested, Well Worn, or even Battle Scarred in some cases.
The float value is important for collectors. But for most players, owning one of the best knife skins or one of the high-end AWP skins, even if it’s just a Field Tested version, is a badge of honor. It’s also a symbol that you’re a serious CS:GO player who has invested much into this hobby that many others share.
In-game items may not give you a direct benefit, but they certainly give you an indirect benefit. Because your mental state affects how you play, your mental state can be affected by the skins you use.
If you’ve bought or rented a great skin on Lootbear or the Steam Marketplace (you can only buy and sell skins here), you might feel more confident while competing against others. As strange as it may sound, skins can boost your morale and your belief in your own abilities.
Valve decided to offer the CS:GO community dozens of weapon cases, and some of the best skins in the game can be found in them. However, many are extremely, and a few are considered Contraband items because they can no longer be obtained by purchasing them from another player.
Best CS:GO Skins of All Time
These are the best CS:GO skins of all time:
- M4A4 | Howl
- AWP | Dragon Lore
- AWP | Gungnir
- AK-47 | Gold Arabesque
- AK-47 | Wild Lotus
- AK-47 | Fire Serpent
- AK-47 | Case Hardened (pattern 661)
- Sport Gloves | Vice
- Sport Gloves | Pandora’s Box
- Karambit | Crimson Web
- Butterfly Knife | Sapphire
The first skin on this list cannot be obtained except by directly purchasing it. Every other skin listed here can be unboxed. However, the odds of obtaining one are very low.
The Gold Arabesque and the Dragon Lore are two of the most accessible skins on the list. The first of these items is worth around $1.500-2.000. You can find it inside the 2021 Dust 2 Collection. The second one is worth around $2.000-10.000.
The AWP became extremely popular for one reason: it is used by the best CS:GO player of all time, Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. His fame got transferred to the skin, so now every serious AWP player wants to own a Dragon Lore.
It’s not that easy to get this skin, and if you want the Factory New edition, it’s going to be very expensive. The money is totally worth it though if you’re a collector and can afford it. When he retires, s1mple will most likely go down as the best player who has ever competed in CS:GO.
For many years after that, his legendary status in the CS:GO community will guarantee that the value of a Dragon Lore remains high.
Most Beautiful Skin
The most beautiful skin on the list is probably Gungnir, although the two pairs of gloves are spectacular too. Not to mention the knife skin!
Regarding beautiful skin designs, each person will resonate more strongly with some weapon skins and less with others. If you’re mainly interested in owning skins that look great, you should start by searching for relatively cheap ones. Plenty of amazing skins cost less than $100 or even less than $10.
Their prices will never rise above the $100 mark because they’re not rare enough. But that doesn’t mean they don’t look sublime.
The Value of High-End CS:GO Skins
If you’re considering purchasing one of these skins, you should expect to pay anywhere between a few thousand dollars and tens of thousands of dollars. In some cases, people paid $100.000+ for a single skin.
The thing that makes elite CS:GO skins worth this much money is their rarity and the fact that lots of people want to own them. For collectors, a skin that costs $10.000 is more than a digital item. It’s a piece of esports art. And it’s something that might end up being worth a lot more in 3-5 years.
The reason is simple: CS:GO has a player base of around 20 million. The game’s professional scene is thriving, and new players join regularly. Over the last 10 years, CS:GO has demonstrated that it’s here to stay and that it will always be one of the best esports in the FPS genre.
If CS:GO has 30 million players in 2025 instead of 20 million, the demand for high quality skins will grow, and their prices will skyrocket. In that sense, buying a Dragon Lore is similar to buying a Rembrandt. Its value grows proportional to the age of the game and its community, and several more factors.
Digital communities can create for themselves entire ecosystems in which some things have value just because the community decided to attribute them value. There’s no real difference between a great-looking skin that costs $5 and one that costs $5000. The price difference is made by popularity, rarity, and other factors of this nature.