The textbook 7/8/23/7/55 tier distribution applies only to skins with the full unrestricted wear range of 0.00–1.00. A meaningful subset of CS2 finishes have wear range restrictions — skin-specific minimum and maximum float values stored in the item schema — that compress the rolled distribution into a narrower range. These restrictions are why some popular skins have no Factory New variants and others have no Battle-Scarred variants in circulation.
How wear range restrictions work mathematically
When a skin is created, the float roll uses the formula `float = wear_min + (wear_max − wear_min) × U`, where U is a uniform random variable on [0, 1]. For an unrestricted skin, wear_min = 0 and wear_max = 1, so the rolled float is U itself. For a restricted skin, the rolled float is linearly compressed into the [wear_min, wear_max] interval.
Selected wear-restricted finishes
| Skin | Wear range | Available tiers | Notable consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWP Asiimov | 0.18–1.00 | FT, WW, BS | No Factory New or Minimal Wear |
| M4A4 Asiimov | 0.18–1.00 | FT, WW, BS | No FN or MW |
| AWP Boom | 0.10–0.70 | MW, FT, WW, BS | No FN; cap below full BS |
| AK-47 Case Hardened | 0.00–0.75 | FN, MW, FT, WW, BS | BS cap at 0.75 (still BS-tier) |
| M4A4 Howl | 0.00–0.40 | FN, MW, FT | No WW or BS — three tiers only |
| Glock-18 Fade | 0.00–0.08 | FN | Factory New only — single tier |
| Karambit Fade | 0.00–0.08 | FN | FN only — knife with single-tier supply |
| AWP Hyper Beast | 0.00–0.50 | FN, MW, FT, WW, BS | BS available but range cap reduces high-float frequency |
| M4A1-S Knight | 0.00–0.50 | FN, MW, FT, WW, BS | Same as Hyper Beast pattern |
| Five-SeveN Hyper Beast | 0.00–0.70 | FN, MW, FT, WW, BS | BS cap at 0.70 |
Why no-FN skins command less of a 'Factory New premium'
For an unrestricted skin, Factory New is structurally rare (7% of unboxings) and commands a premium that reflects that scarcity. For a restricted-range skin where Factory New does not exist, the most pristine available tier becomes the reference — typically Minimal Wear or Field-Tested. The buyer pool that values 'pristine' aesthetic shifts to the lowest available tier, and that tier inherits a structurally inflated demand profile.
Empirically, the 'lowest tier' premium on restricted-range skins is wider than the equivalent FN-vs-MW premium on unrestricted skins. AWP Asiimov FT (the lowest available tier) trades at a sustained 35–55% premium over WW and 80–110% over BS, which is wider than the typical FT-vs-BS spread on unrestricted skins.
Single-tier skins: structural collectibles
A handful of finishes have wear ranges so narrow that only one tier exists. Glock-18 Fade and Karambit Fade are the canonical examples — both have wear range 0.00–0.08, meaning every rolled instance is Factory New. Single-tier skins behave economically as closed-distribution collectibles:
- All examples occupy the same exterior tier — there is no tier ladder for buyers to climb.
- Float-within-tier becomes the only float-based premium signal — sub-0.001 floats command a much larger relative premium than they would on a multi-tier finish.
- Pattern index becomes the dominant secondary differentiator — Fade percentage on Karambit Fade is the primary value driver after float.
Wear range and trade-up math
Wear range restrictions interact with trade-up contracts in counterintuitive ways. The output float is computed as `output_min + (output_max − output_min) × avg(input_floats)` — meaning the input float average is mapped onto the output skin's range, not preserved across the trade. A trade-up that uses 10 Factory New (avg float ~0.035) inputs into an output skin with range 0.18–1.00 produces an output float of 0.18 + 0.82 × 0.035 = 0.209, which is Field-Tested.
This is why traders targeting specific output tiers must check the output skin's wear range before selecting input floats. Optimizing for Factory New inputs is meaningless if the output skin has no Factory New range; the relevant question is what input float average produces the desired output tier given the output's specific wear bounds.
Battle-Scarred caps and the 'highest float' premium
Just as low-float Factory News command a premium, highest-float Battle-Scarred examples on certain finishes command their own collector premium. AK-47 Case Hardened with floats approaching the 0.75 cap, AWP Asiimov with floats approaching 1.00, and certain other restricted-cap skins have collector subsets specifically pursuing the highest possible floats. The premium is smaller than the low-float premium but consistent, typically 10–25% above a median Battle-Scarred for the same skin.
How to verify a wear range
The authoritative source for any skin's wear range is the in-game item schema, which is exposed via several public APIs and aggregator sites. Three practical verification methods:
- Check the skin's listing on a major third-party pricing aggregator — the wear range is typically displayed alongside other metadata.
- Look at the lowest and highest sold floats on completed sales over the past 90 days — these establish the empirical range.
- For trade-up planning, query the schema directly via the public Steam API, which returns wear_min and wear_max values directly.
Practical takeaways
- Wear range restrictions modify the standard 7/8/23/7/55 distribution — sometimes drastically.
- Restricted-range skins frequently have no Factory New or no Battle-Scarred variants in circulation.
- Single-tier skins are closed-distribution collectibles where pattern and sub-tier float dominate value.
- Trade-up output float is computed using the output's wear range — input optimization must respect this.
- Check the item schema or an aggregator before assuming a tier distribution; the standard-range default is not universal.
Wear range restrictions are the simplest structural feature in CS2 with the largest practical pricing implications. A skin that 'should' be Factory New 7% of the time may have no Factory New variants at all, and the resulting market behavior — concentrated demand on the available tiers, wider tier-edge premiums, and altered trade-up math — propagates through every valuation step. Anyone pricing a skin without first checking its wear range is using the wrong distribution.
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