Agents are the characters you play as in CS2, and patches are the small embroidered badges you can stitch onto them. Both arrived in CS:GO between 2019 and 2021, carried over to CS2, and neither has had a new release in years. That fixed supply shapes how they trade today.
What agents are
For most of Counter-Strike's history the map decided what your character looked like. Operation Shattered Web changed that on November 18, 2019 by adding agents, which Valve described as "characters that can be equipped on the T or CT side". Each agent belongs to one side and replaces your default model on every map.
Agents are simpler items than weapon skins. There is no float, no wear and no StatTrak, so every copy of a given agent looks the same. What separates them is design, rarity and, at the top end, personality: Valve gave Master Agents their own voice lines and animations. A February 2024 CS2 update went a step further, giving agents with unique end-of-match cheer animations matching defeat animations too.
Three operations, then nothing new
Every agent in the game came from one of three operations.
| Operation | Launched | How agents were earned |
|---|---|---|
| Shattered Web | November 18, 2019 | A battle-pass reward track, ending in a Master Agent |
| Broken Fang | December 3, 2020 | Weekly missions, with agents among the rewards you could choose |
| Riptide | September 21, 2021 | Weekly missions, with agents among the rewards you could choose |
Together they produced 63 agents. Valve has not run an operation since Riptide, and no new agent collection has been released since. No case or capsule contains agents either, so the only way to get one now is to buy or trade for it. If you don't own any agents, the game uses its default models.
Rarity grades
Agents use their own four-step rarity scale, colour coded like other items:
- Distinguished (blue), the most common
- Exceptional (purple)
- Superior (pink)
- Master (red), the rarest, with the special voice lines and animations
Rarity is set per agent and never changes. The Master tier includes all five versions of Sir Bloody Darryl from The Professionals, which helps explain why that crew is so recognisable.
Patches
Patches arrived on February 24, 2020. Valve's notes describe them as "new customization items which can be applied to any agents you own", with an important catch: "Once applied, patches can be removed but not recovered."
A few rules follow from that:
- They only go on real agents. The default T and CT models can't take patches.
- Positions are fixed per agent. Most agents have three patch spots, and where they sit varies from agent to agent: arms, chest, back, stomach or a pouch.
- No scraping. Unlike stickers, patches have no wear. You either keep a patch on or remove it, and removing it destroys it.
- Rarity is mostly invisible. Patches come in High Grade, Remarkable and Exotic, plus gold team patches. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki the rarities don't look different from each other, apart from the gold versions.
The first set, the CS:GO Patch Pack, held 21 patches. Dexerto noted at launch that it turned fan-favourite designs such as Welcome to the Clutch and the Howl into embroidered badges.
Where patches came from
The Counter-Strike Wiki groups every patch into seven collections:
| Collection | Source |
|---|---|
| CS:GO Patch Pack | Patch pack, February 2020 |
| Half-Life: Alyx Patch Pack | Patch pack, March 2020 |
| Metal Skill Groups | Operation Broken Fang shop |
| Operation Riptide | Operation Riptide shop |
| PGL Stockholm 2021 Legends, Challengers and Contenders | Team patch packs for the Stockholm 2021 Major |
Patch packs open without a key, like sticker capsules. The two operation sets were only available while those operations ran, and Stockholm 2021 remains the only Major with team patches. No new patch collection has appeared since, so, like agents, patch supply is effectively closed.
Buying and customising
- Patches go with the agent. If you trade or sell an agent, any patches on it go too. Check every patch slot on a listing, not just the agent's name.
- Plan before you apply. Because removal destroys the patch, treat applying a rare one the same way you'd treat applying a rare sticker. Our stickers guide covers the same one-way logic for weapons.
- Mind trade protection. Since July 2025, items received in a trade can't be modified for seven days, so you can't add or remove patches on a newly traded agent until that window passes.
- Filter by grade. If you're after a particular tier, the rarity filter on Buy narrows listings down quickly.
Sources
- Operation Shattered Web — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- Introducing Operation Riptide — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- Patch Notes for 2/24/2020 — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- CSGO Feb 24 patch introduces patches for agent skins — Dexerto
- Patches — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Patch Collections — Counter-Strike Wiki