CSGO Stickers

We know plenty about CSGO skins, but another facet of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive game is the stickers. These were first introduced by Valve in an update on 5th February 2014. Just like skins, these are only cosmetic items that you can use to customise your in-game weapons. Here, we will look at what they are, the different levels and rarities and the best CSGO Stickers you can get.

CSGO Stickers: What They Are

A sticker is a cosmetic item that you can collect in your Steam inventory. They can be applied to a gun or a gun skin, but only once. When it is placed on a weapon, it will be removed from your inventory and will only exist from thereon on whatever weapon you place it on. Should you decide to trade or sell a skin with a sticker on, then the sticker will go with the skin. However, a sticker that is applied to a vanilla skin (which is the stock weapon skin) can never be traded because vanilla skins can’t be traded.

You can apply no more than four stickers to any one weapon. The only exceptions are the R8 Revolver and the G3SG1 which can have as many as 5 stickers applied.

How to Acquire CSGO Stickers

There are several ways in which you can acquire CSGO stickers:

  1. By opening a CSGO sticker capsule which can be gained in the following ways
    1. There are regular and community sticker capsules that will be dropped as you play the game. You will require a capsule key which can be traded or purchased to open the capsule.
    2. You can purchase tournament sticker capsules from the CSGO in-game store. You will not need a key to open these capsules.
  2. There are souvenir stickers which are special stickers, These can only be found on Souvenir weapons and you cannot get them any other way.
  3. You can buy them from the in-game store after being given a special coupon promotion on your game inventory.
  4. They can be bought from the Steam market
  5. You can trade with other CSGO players.

CSGO Sticker Rarity

Just as with skins, CSGO stickers come in a number of different rarities:

  • Blue stickers: High Grade
  • Purple stickers: Remarkable
  • Pink stickers: Exotic
  • Red stickers: Extraordinary
  • Gold stickers: Contraband

Then there are Souvenir weapon skins which have their own exclusive CSGO stickers and you cannot get these in any different form

CSGO Sticker Quality

This is where they are different from skins. These do not have a fixed quality when you receive them. In addition, CSGO stickers won’t degrade with the passing of time. However, you can alter their appearance with a ‘scrape sticker’ option. You can use this to create an illusion of regular wear and tear to make it look authentic. Every time you click this option, the appearance of your chosen sticker will degrade even more, in a similar way to the exterior quality of the CSGO weapon skins.

Remember though, if you do use the scraper option on one of your stickers too many times, then eventually you will scrape off the sticker entirely. The good news is that, before you do this, there will be a warning pop-up which will confirm that by scraping it again, you will be removing it entirely and destroying your sticker.

CSGO Sticker Variants

Most of the CSGO stickers will only come in the normal variant. However, there are some stickers that also have a Foil or Holo variant dropped into the same sticker capsule in which the normal variant has been dropped. Meanwhile, some stickers are only available in Foil or Holo variants.

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The complete list of sticker variants in order are:

  • Paper: This is a standard shiny sticker which has a solid backing. If you scrape this, you reveal paper backing until it has been removed entirely.
  • Glossy Sticker; These are the standard shiny stickers but without a backing. If you scrape this you will reveal the finish of the weapon it is on.
  • Glitter Sticker: This is another standard sticker with a paper backing. It has a special fractured texture which will create a special effect.
  • Holo Stickers: Another standard sticker with paper backing. This has additional texture layers which create a special holographic effect. Different parts of the same sticker are able to use a different pattern for a holographic reflection.
  • Foil Stickers: These standard stickers are embossed, which makes them look metallic in appearance.
  • Gold Stickers: This is simply a foil effect on a gold sticker.
  • Lenticular Stickers: These are shiny stickers that give an illusion of extra depth. They seem to have the ability to move and change depending on the angle.

How You Acquire Skins

There are several ways to acquire skins, which means that you can start collecting no matter what your experience or budget. These can be given out as rewards for playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – whether you are playing on the official server or community servers – in random drops which can occur at regular intervals.

For some missions, you may even receive a weapon case as your loot drop. You can only open these cases with keys that can be purchased from the CSGO in-game store for just $2.50. They can also be acquired via trade or purchase from the Steam Community Market.

Of course, you can also get them by buying skins or trading them on the CSGO marketplaces.

Beware the Commission

However, you do need to remember that any transaction made on the market will be conducted using your Steam Wallet funds. Valve Corp will take a 15% cut on any CS: GO-related purchase made on CSGO marketplaces. Also, it is not possible to withdraw any money or funds from your Steam Account Wallet. If this were not the case, Steam might then be considered a ‘banking or financial institution’. This would then make the company subject to numerous different regulations that it would otherwise avoid.

Currently, Valve has placed a $500 limit on all Steam Wallet funds and has placed a $400 maximum sale price on any singular item from the Steam Community Marketplace.

That is why many Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin transactions actually take place off of the Steam Market. The Valve Steam API allows third-party to link to a player’s Steam account. This means that any trade or purchase of CSGO skins – with no minimum or maximum prices, can take place on sites such as OPSkins and CSGOShop. Both of these sites allow players to withdraw the funds received from the sale of a skin directly into financial services and platforms such as PayPal.

CSGO Stickers Fun Facts

Here are some fun facts you might want to know about CSGO stickers…

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  • By scraping some of the stickers you can reveal different easter eggs
    • If you scrape the Welcome to the Clutch sticker enough you can reveal ‘Welcome to Hell’.
    • If you scrape the T-Rekt enough you can reveal T_REKT
    • If you scrape theQueen of Pain sticker enough you could reveal Suffer Fool ♥
    • If you scrape the Knife Club sticker enough you could reveal Do not talk about the knife club!
    • If you scrape the Don’t Worry, I’m Pro sticker enough, you could reveal a cool smiley face.
    • If you scrape the CS on the Mind sticker enough, you will reveal CS
    • Stickers in the Skill Group sticker capsule all have easter eggs.
  • The Inspecting stickers used to have solid background colours which would correspond with how rare the sticker was.

The Best CSGO Stickers to Buy

Ultimately, just like CSGO skins, the stickers allow a player to express who they are in all different ways – on and off the CSGO battlefield. There are fancy stickers, cool stickers, whatever style floats your boat, there really is something for everyone.

Even when you have customised a weapon with a skin, you get to customise it even more with the addition of stickers. No doubt, a sticker can come with a price tag if you are after specific ones, but they really can add a whole new level if you buy the best ones. There are some, such as those you find in the Katowice 2014 collection which are notoriously overpriced and way out of the reach of most CSGO players. But that isn’t always the story. Although some can be crazy priced, rare – and usually both, there are ways you can get regular, non-tournament stickers and great value for money!

So, let’s take a look at some of the best CSGO stickers you can buy so that you invest your money wisely and spice up your Steam inventory without breaking the bank. 

The Best 5 CSGO Stickers on the Market

Before we start looking at our favourite 5 CSGO stickers, it is worth mentioning that we didn’t include the Howling Dawn contraband sticker. This sticker has been discontinued from CSGO although you can still find it on trading sites and marketplaces for pretty eye-watering sums of money!

Number 1: Crown – Foil

We will start our list with the most expensive one we will recommend. This is the only one we will look at that can cost you $100 or more. That being said, it is worth every single cent that you spend on it and that is no exaggeration. Right now, for good reason, this is one of the most popular CSGO stickers you will find in the Steam Marketplace. In addition, it is also pretty rare. What’s more, as the icing on the cake, the sticker can make the worst of skins look good with its unique, bright and stunning golden-yellow glow.

Ideally, the Crown Foil will be used on the scope of an AWP, but you can position it wherever you like depending on your own preferences.

The crown foil sticker costs around $510

Number 2: The Battle-Scarred Holo

This one is cheap and cheerful and comes at the bargain price of just $3 from the Steam Marketplace. This is one that really gives you some bang for your buck. It features scars that look like claws and the Holo variant of this Battle Scarred CS GO sticker can be a very attractive addition to all sorts of rifle skins. Although the default variant of the sticker is pretty good in itself, the holo version of the CSGO sticker is what makes it worthy of this top list!

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If you put this CSGO sticker on your M4 skin then it really will stand out from the crowd.

Number 3: The Incineration Holo CSGO Sticker

The Incineration was originally a kill medal that was awarded for killing an enemy that was set on fire in Halo 3: Multiplayer. It was then added to the CSGO game as a sticker which you could get through the Halo Capsule. However, even if you aren’t a Halo player you just have to look at it to see why it is one of the best stickers to have. This CSGO incineration sticker has a flaming, fiery skull icon… and having one of these will certainly make you one of the coolest players on the battlefield.

It will look awesome on any of your weapon skins – but looks extra cool on an AWP. What’s more, they can cost you as little as just $2.30.

Number 4: The Unicorn Holo Sticker

Who doesn’t love a legendary unicorn? This was one of the brightest, fin and most colourful stickers in the entire game when it was first released – available from the Enfu Sticker Capsule. The holographic version of this sticker amplified these colours even more, which has made it one of the favourites of CSGO fans and players all over the world. The even better news? You can whack it on your weapon for around just $3.

The Unicorn Holo sticker is an excellent choice if you are on the hunt for a sticker for your Shotguns, Rifles or SMG.

Number 5: The Dragon Lore Foil Sticker

Most Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players will struggle to buy an AWP Dragon Lore given its price tag. However, they can, instead, purchase a Dragon Lore sticker whilst they save up. This sticker features a fire-breathing dragon and is certain to make every AWP shot that you take feel even better. What’s more, the foil version of the Dragon Lore sticker comes in at just around $12.

As we may have suggested above, get this iconic sticker and it will look absolutely perfect on any of your AWP skins!

The Effect on Value of Scraping Stickers

As we mentioned earlier on, you can scrape the stickers which will give them a more rough and ready look. This is obviously something you may do for aesthetic reasons, but what about the value? If you do this to a super-expensive sticker, will you devalue it?

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Basically, scraping any CSGO sticker will make it look more worn. Some stickers look better when scraped whilst others, not so much. Very much in the same way that there are some Battle-Scarred CSGO skins that are actually favoured over the Factory-New versions. Usually, whether or not the sticker is better scraped will be purely a personal preference.

If you consider yourself a minimalist, then you may wish to try it out on some less valuable stickers. However, if you have a sticker that you like because of its bright and bold colours, then you would probably be better to leave them as they are. Sticker scraping is mostly used to remove a background from a tournament sticker.

CSGO Stickers: Conclusion

Hopefully, we have opened up a new, cool part of the CSGO world – and you know all that you need to know about stickers – and the best ones for you to buy. If none of our preferred stickers are what you are looking for, then fear not. The Steam Marketplace has all sorts of different CSGO stickers that you can buy. You can simply head over to the market and Steam store, search through the excellent selection of stickers they have and choose the most exotic sticker that suits your style the most. You may choose your stickers based on your skins or your weapons… or simply because it looks nice. 

Over time, Valve Corp continues to keep adding excellent new and unique CSGO stickers to the collection – all of which never fail to impress their players. The stickers can range from regular stickers from a capsule created by the community content creators, or tournament stickers. So, it is important to make sure that you keep checking back regularly to see what has been added, keep browsing, and set some time and money aside for CSGO stickers and, whether you are one of the global elite or not, you could be one of the coolest players on the CSGO battlefield.