Wear level is the label the whole market prices around — pick the wrong one and you either overpay for a look nobody sees or buy a scarred finish you hate. CS2 sorts every skin into five named conditions, fixed forever at drop, and the gap between two of them can double a skin's price.
The five wear levels and how often they drop
CS2 groups skin condition into five named wear levels: Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW) and Battle-Scarred (BS). The wear is set at drop time by the float value and never changes — skins do not degrade with use. Drop odds are heavily skewed, and that scarcity is the main reason Factory New commands a premium on nearly every skin.
| Wear level | Float range | Drop odds |
|---|---|---|
| Factory New (FN) | 0.00 – 0.07 | ~3% |
| Minimal Wear (MW) | 0.07 – 0.15 | ~24% |
| Field-Tested (FT) | 0.15 – 0.38 | ~33% |
| Well-Worn (WW) | 0.38 – 0.45 | ~24% |
| Battle-Scarred (BS) | 0.45 – 1.00 | ~16% |
Why the label matters more than the look
For pricing, the label beats the look. Markets index every listing by wear name, so the jump from a 0.08 Minimal Wear to a 0.06 Factory New of the same skin can double the price while being nearly invisible in game. You are often paying for the word on the listing, not a difference your eye can catch at arm's length.
How to buy the right wear
Compare the whole ladder before you commit — our wear price ladder lines up every condition side by side. For most covered finishes, Minimal Wear or Field-Tested delivers nearly the Factory New look at a fraction of the cost. Open finishes like Fade are the exception: they show their wear clearly and genuinely justify Factory New money.
The smart-money move is to buy the cleanest wear whose scratches you cannot actually see in game, then bank the difference. Watch the skin deals today feed for FT and MW copies that undercut the Factory New look without the Factory New price.