10 Best Butterfly Knife Skins in CS2 That Look Amazing + Prices

Looking to enrich your inventory with some of the best butterfly knife CS2 skins? You’re in the right place, so keep reading to discover the top 10 coolest butterfly knives CS2 has to offer. The only note you should bear in mind is that the prices listed here are valid for November 2023, and the community market is so dynamic that the pricing range can shift quickly.

What Makes These 10 Skins Special

It’s all about reputation, history, taste, and art. Counter-Strike 2 offers you plenty of butterfly knife skins, but we love these because they stand out as custom-designed masterpieces owned by the best CS2 pro players in the world. Besides, who wouldn't want a skin like Slaughter that became famous during several tournaments, like ESL Pro League Season 17, when TECHNO4K killed Jame with it and continued his killing spree with 2 more victims in the IHC team? Butterfly knives are exquisite as they are, but the skins we describe below make them even more classy and irresistible.

Rating of the best CS2 butterfly knife skins:

Excited about the details? Let’s get to it!

#10 Bright Water

This is one of the most elegant military-styled balisong skins in the game, introduced by Valve in the Dreams & Nightmares collection. The exquisite Covert design is a perfect accessory for those who own blueish camouflage or play on maps with lots of blue, gray, or black colors. The floating hydrographic texture covers the entire blade with a camo pattern. It’s a pretty skin for any hardcore fan’s collection and a weapon of choice for pro players like b1t and kennyS. 

Highlight: Bright Water is a super popular item among the high-ranking CS2 players.

Quantity (FN): less than 300 offers

Pro owners: b1t, kennyS, olofmeister, Keoz, and others

Cases: Dreams & Nightmares, Operation Riptide

Price: 

$590.03 (BS) — $792.55 (FN)

ST: $624.78 (BS) — $834.04 (FN)

#9 Damascus Steel

Despite its advanced age, this one takes its rightful place on our list of the top butterfly knife skins in CS2. The Covert Damascus Steel butterfly knife still holds a high popularity rate since its first introduction in the "Take a trip to the Canals" update on March 15th, 2017. Valve's captivating design mimicking the texture of steel forged with the namesake smithing technique looks insane on this weapon. The custom-designed texture of fluctuating white and gray ripples covers both the blade and the handle parts. 

Highlight: Finally, a weapon strong enough to match your resolve.

Quantity (FN): less than 300

Pro owners: b0RUP and Liazz

Cases: Spectrum 2, Spectrum

Price: 

$710.87 (BS) — $854.72 (FN)

ST: $709.97 (FT) — $1,033.94 (FN)

#8 Autotronic

The "Operation Riptide" update gave us another long-standing favorite in the line of awesome butterfly knife skins in CS2. The aesthetics of the Autotronic on a butterfly knife convey simplicity and minimalism. Valve designed this Covert item in a gunsmith style with a clean and polished vibe in mind. It features a blood-red color covering the steel blade’s upper half and the dark black handle with metal mesh inserts. This simple but effective combination is perfect for a player who prefers to get straight to business.

Highlight: Like Bright Water, Autotronic skin has a high popularity rate among the top players, granting it a spot on our list of the coolest butterfly knives in CS2.

Quantity (FN): less than 100

Pro owners: torzsi, fear, kennyS, nitr0, Stewie2k, olofmeister, pashaBiceps, and others

Cases: Operation Riptide, Dreams & Nightmares

Price: 

$792.68 (BS) — $1,799 (FN)

ST: $876.49 (BS) — $1,998.83 (FN)

#7 Slaughter

Want to paint your game set in total scarlet? Here you have it, the Slaughter, one of the best butterfly knife CS2 skins. The fact that this particular balisong is the most popular knife among LEM, SMFC, GE ranked players only proves this statement. This is an astonishing achievement for a design introduced to the global fan base all the way back on July 1st, 2014, in the "Operation Breakout" update. This item displays a magnificent, sophisticated pattern of metallic red shades that flows like a river over the entire blade and touches the grip. It gives us chills just to look at it, and it is sure to make the same vicious impression on your teammates and opponents.

Highlight: Valeria doesn't pay Javier to ask questions... she pays him to pry out answers.

Quantity (FN): ~300 offerings

Pro owners: dexter, GuardiaN, kennyS, bondik, ZEDKO, w0nderful, and others

Cases: Operation Breakout Weapon

Price: 

$942.64 (FT) — $1,147 (FN)

ST: $964.57 (FT) — $1,378.51 (FN)

#6 Crimson Web

Another red-themed amazing butterfly knife skin in CS. This is a weapon to elevate your in-game experience. Introduced on July 1st, 2014, the design depicts a detailed crimson spider web wrapping around the entire blade. In contrast, the handle is covered in dark black, granting the skin its simple yet effective contrasting look. Everyone in the crowd will notice you if you have a mean-looking Crimson Web butterfly knife. With its unique hydrographic style pattern, the skin pairs nicely with red gloves. Over 20 professional players have this knife.

Highlight: Be careful where you walk, you never know where the web is spread.

Quantity (FN): less than 30

Pro owners: Woro2k, FalleN, tarik, ZEDKO, Skadoodle, and others

Cases: Operation Breakout Weapon

Price: 

$574.34 (BS) — $5,996.19 (FN)

ST: $599.63 (BS) — $27,460.69 (FN)

#5 Case Hardened

This item instantly catches onlookers’ attention with its multicolored patina pattern that flows through the whole rusty blade and into the grip. We just love how fantastic it looks with a color palette of violet and pink splashes, light blue stains, and yellowish layers. Depending on the knife's condition and light reflections, the Case Hardened design changes both in colors and splash shapes. It’s another time-proven skin since this Covert knife was introduced on July 1st, 2014. Still, it works well — and it is favored by pros.

Highlight: A little color never hurt anyone.

Quantity (FN): around 50 offers

Pro owners: SENER1, matys, and SZPERO

Cases: Operation Breakout Weapon

Price: 

$630.18 (BS) — $1,254.99 (FN)

ST: $637.71 (BS) — $1,626 (FN)

#4 Marble Fade

Marble is always about luxury, so the Marble Fade is one of the best butterfly knife skins in CS2 that Valve released in the "Take a trip to the Canals" update on March 16th, 2017. The skin’s design concentrates on metallic splashes of dark blue, black, yellow, red, and pink. The grip has red inserts that complement the marbleized pattern painted with silver and black metallic paints. This weapon’s look simply shouts ‘luxurious style’ at anyone who looks at you, and around 30 pro players own this expensive beauty.

Highlight: The blade is made of many colors, but soon it all looks red.

Quantity (FN): over 1K

Pro owners: Snax, Nodios, rain, SHiPZ, ramz1k, vice, hampus, Golden, and others

Cases: Spectrum 2, Spectrum

Price: 

$1,517.05 (FN) — $1,585.10 (MW)

ST: $1,557.01 (FN) — $1,779.54 (MW) 

#3 Gamma Doppler

You can't miss this one when looking for the coolest butterfly knives in CS2. The item has been trendy among pros since its first in-game appearance on September 21st, 2021. Valve colored this Covert knife's blade in shades of green and indigo with bright emerald inserts on the grip. While in play, you can notice how the blade shines, shifting its palette slightly. The anodized multicolored pattern combines perfectly with the bright coat on the handle. Once again, this ultra-rare skin looks especially impressive if you have matching gloves.

Highlight: s1mple and Perfecto competed at the Stockholm Major 2021 with Gamma Doppler Emerald butterfly knives.

Quantity (FN): over 1K

Pro owners: Perfecto, pesadelo, flameZ, kNgV-, Lucaozy, iM, danoco, rmn, and others.

Cases: Dreams & Nightmares, Operation Riptide

Price: 

$1,588.41 (FN) — $1,799.23 (MW) 

ST: $1,892.90 (FN) — $2,051.55 (MW)

We also can’t help but mention the most expensive knife skin we’ve reviewed in one of our previous guides. His majesty, the Doppler Sapphire butterfly knife—an astonishingly vibrant cobalt blue skin that can cost you up to $19K (FN). NAVI’s b1t used this one in the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 finals. But it’s now challenging to find offerings for it on community markets.

#2 Tiger Tooth 

Getting a win with the Tiger Tooth is something you won’t forget. This unique butterfly knife skin is precisely what the name suggests: a tiger’s fur pattern painted all over the blade in shining bronze and dark-brown stripes. The black handle has dark orange inserts on the grip, complementing the anodized multicolored style. The world first saw this custom-designed weapon in the "Take a trip to the Canals" update on March 15th, 2017. Since then, over 15 famous professionals like stavn, RpK, and pyth have favored this elegant and deadly knife.

Highlight: Like the tiger it is rare... like the tiger it is deadly...

Quantity (FN): ~ 900 active offers

Pro owners: TMB, forsyy, frozen, iM, niko, SunPayus, Lucaozy, and others

Cases: Spectrum 2, Spectrum

Price: 

$1,071 (FN) — $1,206.63 (MW) 

ST: $1,295.95 (FN) — $1,536.54 (MW) 

#1 Lore

The most coveted of them all, and our personal top CS2 butterfly knife skin — the Lore blade. If you ask us, Lore is one of the most outstanding designs ever produced for this knife type. You can’t mistake the signature blinding gold trims and intricate ornaments for any other skin. The handle is painted metallic green and has multicolored marble-styled inserts, complementing the blade’s sophisticated knotwork pattern.

This bright yellow Valve item looks unmatched if you wear yellowish gloves, and killing your opponents with the Lore knife is like art. Big-game stars like b1t, kennyS, AmaNEk, and over 25 others have this Covert beauty in their inventories.

Highlight: CS2 cases with butterfly knife skins are rare. Still, the Lore butterfly knife holds its popularity at a 95 percent rate.

Quantity (FN): less than 100

Pro owners: b1t, AmaNEk, kennyS, misutaaa, npz, pesadelo, pashaBiceps, Staeh, and others 

Cases: Dreams & Nightmares, Operation Riptide

Price: 

$746.99 (BS) — $4,879 (FN)

ST: $753.47 (BS) — $6,041 (FN)

Conclusion

We all know that good-looking CS2 butterfly knives with custom skins are precious and expensive. You can buy the top butterfly knife skins on the CS2 Steam Community Market or in a third-party online shop. However, taking chances with a case drop is also possible if you're feeling lucky and patient. Based on our list of awesome butterfly knife skins in CS2, we’d say the best case for a butterfly knife is either Dreams & Nightmares or Operation Riptide. Go ahead and try your most memorable skin from the above top 10!