Best CS:GO Knife Skins – Stand Out From the Crowd

With all the options available to players in CS:GO knife skins are some of the most desirable cosmetics you can get in the game. However, what makes a certain skin desirable can depend on the player. From rare knives to expensive knives, and even some community favorites, here are our picks for the best CS:GO knife skins available today!

The Classic Classic

Released: 2019
Where else could we start our list but with the Classic Knife? It might be a little cliché, but as far as we’re concerned, paying homage to the more than 20 years of Counter-Strike is worth some points on a best CS:GO knife skins ranking. Reminiscent of the original knife from Counter-Strike, the knife is a love letter to the original nostalgic design.

As part of the CS20 Case it was the primary chase item from the set, and was un-boxable in 13 unique finishes. That whole case featured incredible skins. But chasing the classic was a real test of patience, or luck, for those trying to game the CS:GO case odds. Our choice goes to the Factory New Fade. It feels like just the right balance of new CS:GO and old-school Counter-Strike. You just can’t beat the classics.

Sting Like a Bee

Released: 2021
You can’t go wrong with butterfly knives. Almost every skin looks incredible, because on a butterfly knife CS:GO has some of the most exiting animations. Plenty of knives have great animations that make them fun to spam, but the handle flipping around in your hand is one of the most iconic CS:GO animations for sure.

Of course, this iconic status among CS:GO knifes comes with a major downside: its price tag. Not a single butterfly knife would make the list of the cheapest knives in CS:GO. Most of them hover around the $1000 range. But for some this is a price worth paying to have arguably the coolest knife in the game. Our call for this is the Battle-Scarred Autotronic, that deep red stands out so well on this skin.

For The Fans

Released: 2015
Making a list of the best of anything is hard, never mind something with as devoted a fanbase as CS:GO. Everyone’s tastes are different. It’s impossible to account for everything when ranking something like knife skins. But no matter how long we spent working on a list of the best CS:GO knives, it could never be complete without at least 1 set of Shadow Daggers.

They’re by far the most unique looking melee weapon in the game. This knife skin has a cult following that want you to know how much they love it. They’ve been released a few times since their debut in the Shadow Case back in 2015, which does go a long way to bringing down the cost. Compared to the other knife skins on this list, our pick of the Vanilla Shadow Dagger is practically a steal at around $240. Which really goes to show just how expensive CS:GO knife skins have gotten.

King Karambit

Released: 2013
We all saw this coming. The Karambit is easily the most popular knife skin in the game. When it released more than 10 years ago, it was super sought after and it’s only gone up since then. Our specific pick was a tough call for these, because choosing a karambit as the single best is a tall order.

With so many variations in color and pattern since they released in 2015’s Chroma Case, Doppler knife skins are very unique, you’re unlikely to ever see exact duplicates as you play the game. If you ever see our pick in your competitive matches, know that a Factory New StatTrak™ Karambit Doppler Sapphire could run you almost $2000.

Why So Expensive?

The basic gist of it is simple, you’re very unlikely to ever open a CS:GO knife skin from a case. The ones that have been opened are very valuable. With less than 1% chance to open a yellow or higher, not even being guaranteed to be a knife, you’re looking at a real shot in the dark to ever get one. With cases for desirable CS:GO knifes going up over time, it’s unlikely that any knife gets cheaper without a re-release.