CS2 Float and Seed Explained: Wear Values and Pattern Index

What is float (wear) in CS2?

Every CS2 skin carries a float value: a number between 0 and 1 that the game uses to decide how worn the finish looks. A float near 0 shows almost no scratches or fading, while a float near 1 looks heavily battered. The value is fixed the moment the skin is created and never changes through use, trading or time.

Float is what the game renders from, which is why it is often called the wear value: it directly controls the amount of visible wear applied over the base pattern. Two copies of the same skin can look noticeably different purely because their floats differ, even within the same condition tier. The render above is a real skin at a real float, so what you are looking at is exactly that mechanism.

What are the five exterior conditions?

The continuous float scale is split into five named exteriors, each covering a slice of the 0 to 1 range: Factory New (0.00 to 0.07), Minimal Wear (0.07 to 0.15), Field-Tested (0.15 to 0.38), Well-Worn (0.38 to 0.45) and Battle-Scarred (0.45 to 1.00).

These labels are how the market groups skins, but the exact float inside a tier still matters: a Field-Tested at 0.16 looks much cleaner than one at 0.37. Not every skin exists in all five conditions either. Valve gives each skin its own float cap, a minimum and maximum that restrict which exteriors it can roll. The AWP Asiimov has a minimum around 0.18, so it can never be Factory New and starts at Field-Tested.

What is the pattern seed (pattern index)?

The pattern seed, also called the pattern index or paint seed, is a separate number assigned to each skin when it drops, is unboxed, or comes out of a trade-up. It is independent of the float: where float controls how worn the skin is, the seed decides where the finish texture sits on the weapon and how it is rotated.

The seed is locked in at creation and cannot be changed, so the look it produces is permanent for that item. It only creates meaningful visual differences on pattern-driven finishes such as Case Hardened, Fade, Doppler and Marble Fade. On uniform finishes the seed still exists, but it produces little or no visible change, so it rarely affects those skins' value.

Why do float and seed affect value and rarity?

Float drives value because clean condition is scarce at the extremes. Within the same exterior, lower floats almost always sell for more, and the cleanest examples near the floor of a skin's range command a premium. Capped skins amplify this: when a finish cannot reach Factory New, the lowest available floats become the most sought after.

Seed drives value on pattern-based skins, where certain numbers produce rare layouts. Case Hardened Blue Gems, high-percentage Fades and specific Doppler phases are all seed-dependent, and a desirable seed can multiply a price far beyond an average copy of the same condition. The two work together: the most valuable examples combine a low float with a coveted seed, which is why traders check both numbers before agreeing on a price.

How do you see a skin's real float and seed?

Neither value appears in the standard Steam inventory view, so traders rely on inspect links and float checkers to read them. Getting the exact figures matters because two listings of the same skin and condition can be worth very different amounts. Viewing someone's CS2 inventory covers how to pull an inspect link from a skin you are looking at.

A VSkin showcase lists them directly instead: each skin shows its float, pattern seed, stickers, charm, collection, rarity and exterior on the page, so anyone can verify the exact values without opening a checker. Supported weapons, knives and gloves also render in interactive 3D at that float and seed, so you can see what the numbers actually look like on the model rather than reading them off a label.

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