Stickers are the oldest way to make a Counter-Strike weapon your own, and in CS2 they are more flexible than they have ever been. This guide covers how applying, placing and scraping work today, which finishes exist, and what to check before a valuable sticker goes on a gun.
What a sticker is
Stickers arrived in CS:GO with the February 5, 2014 update. A sticker sits in your inventory as its own item until you apply it. From that moment it stops being a separate item and becomes part of the weapon: trade or sell the gun and the sticker goes with it. Stickers put on a default (stock) weapon stay with you, because stock weapons can't be traded.
Most stickers come out of capsules, including the team and autograph capsules released for each Major. Some only exist pre-applied on Souvenir weapons. The Cologne 2026 Major broke the pattern by selling its stickers one at a time for tokens instead of in capsules, which our guide to Major sticker capsules covers in detail.
Applying and placing a sticker
The February 6, 2024 update replaced the old fixed slots with free placement. When you apply a sticker you can drag it anywhere on the weapon model, rotate it and zoom in to line it up precisely. The same update raised the limit to five stickers on every gun and kept the old preset positions as an option if you want the classic look. Stickers applied before the update kept their original size and position. Knives can't take stickers at all.
Since the Armory update of October 2, 2024, you also pick a scrape level while applying. That lets you put a sticker on already worn rather than scraping it afterwards.
Placement is final. Once you confirm, there is no tool to move or rotate that sticker again; your only options from then on are scraping it or removing it. Spin the model around and check the first-person view before you click.
Scraping and removing
Scraping wears a sticker down so it looks used, from a light scuff to a faint outline. Since October 2024 you set the exact level with a slider, and Valve's notes are explicit that an applied sticker's scrape level can only go up, never back down. There is also a one-step remove button. Either way, a fully scraped or removed sticker is destroyed. It does not come back to your inventory.
People scrape for looks: a faded team logo, or an autograph with its border worn away. A few stickers hide easter eggs underneath, such as Welcome to the Clutch, which reads "Welcome to Hell" when scraped far enough. On rare stickers, though, a scrape is a one-way trip in value as well as looks, so treat the slider as permanent from the first notch.
Sticker slabs
In November 2025 Valve added the Sticker Slab, a charm that seals one sticker from your inventory. The slab hangs on a weapon like any other charm, and you can crack it open and discard it at any time to get the sticker back. That gives you a way to display an expensive sticker without using it up. It only takes stickers from your inventory, so a sticker that is already on a weapon stays where it is.
Sticker finishes
The word in brackets in a sticker's name is its finish, the visual effect it has on the weapon. A sticker with no bracket is plain paper.
| Finish | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Paper | Flat print with no effect |
| Glitter | Small sparkling flecks that catch the light as the gun moves |
| Holo | Rainbow sheen that shifts with the viewing angle |
| Foil | Metallic, embossed look without the rainbow |
| Gold | Gold foil; the top finish in Major team and autograph sets |
| Lenticular | Artwork that changes as you tilt the weapon, like a lenticular print |
| Embroidered | Stitched-cloth look, similar to an agent patch |
Lenticular stickers first appeared in the Ambush Sticker Capsule that shipped with the February 2024 update, and only a small number of designs use the finish. Embroidered stickers arrived with the Budapest 2025 Major stickers in November 2025.
Rarity grades
Separate from the finish, every sticker has a rarity grade, shown by its colour: High Grade (blue), Remarkable (purple), Exotic (pink) and Extraordinary (red). Finish and grade are related but not locked together. Which finish lands in which grade has changed from set to set, so read the grade on the item rather than guessing from the name.
A fifth grade, Contraband, holds a single sticker. In June 2014 Valve pulled the Howling Dawn sticker from the Community Sticker Capsule after a copyright claim over its artwork. Owners' copies were replaced with a redesign by the CS:GO team, and Valve said the item would never be produced again.
Before you apply, buy or sell
- Trade protection. Since July 2025, CS2 items you receive in a trade are Trade Protected for seven days and can't be consumed, modified or transferred in that time. You can't apply or remove stickers on a weapon you just traded for, and a sticker you received in a trade can't be applied yet either.
- Applied stickers rarely carry their full price. How much a buyer adds for stickers on a gun depends on the sticker, its scrape, its position and how the whole set looks together. Our guides to overpay and sticker crafts go into that.
- Inspect before you pay. Check every sticker's scrape level and position in the inspect view, not just the thumbnail. A heavily scraped sticker can look fine at a glance.
- Search by sticker. If you want a gun with a specific sticker, the filters on Buy let you search listings by sticker, by the slot it sits in, and by sticker combinations.
Sources
- Stickers — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Counter-Strike 2 February 6 patch notes — Dexerto
- CS2 Update 2024-10-02, The Armory (Valve's notes) — CS2 Meta History
- CS2 Update 2025-11-12, Sticker Slab (Valve's notes) — CS2 Meta History
- Steam will let you reverse your last 7 days of CS2 trades — PC Gamer
- Do Not Pass CS:GO: Weapon Skin Removed After DMCA — Rock Paper Shotgun