How The Weekly CS2 Drop System Works

Would you believe us if we said you can earn money from playing Counter-Strike? Since Valve loves its players so much, they have implemented an item drop system that allows players to receive free items just by playing the game.

Active players will be rewarded for keeping the game alive by getting free items they can use or sell in the community market. In this article, we’ll talk about how the item drop system in Counter-Strike works, so you can start getting cool stuff too!

Valve has created an incentive for Counter-Strike players to continue playing the game in a weekly manner. Players who are active and meet certain requirements will have the right to receive item drops through a system called the Weekly Care Package.

The Weekly Care Package is the only drop system implemented in CSGO. As you can already guess, players are eligible to receive a weekly package that contains item drops. A few years ago, the drop system worked differently. Players could randomly receive item drops upon completing a match on an official Valve game mode. The drops could vary between cases or weapon skins.

However, the new Weekly Care Package system has completely taken over how CSGO drops work. Now, players can expect to consistently receive item drops instead of the uncertainty of the previous drop system. The addition of the Weekly Care Package has allowed players to expect item drops every week instead of being left in the dark and depending on luck.

You can receive Weekly Care Packages by simply playing the game, but there are several requirements you must meet before you can obtain your first package. There are two things you must do.

#1 Having A Prime Account

The most important requirement to receive a Weekly Care Package is to have your account protected by the Prime Status, or as most players in the community call it: a Prime Account.

In December 2018, Valve decided to make Counter-Strike free-to-play by removing the $14.99 price tag, allowing more players to enjoy the game. However, they have shifted the paywall by adding more features to the Prime Status.

The Prime Status can be purchased for $14.99, which is the same price as the game when it was paid. It is a one-time purchase, and is not a subscription, so you won’t have to pay money every month or anything like that.

It is also worth noting that players who had paid for CSGO previously would automatically be granted the Prime Status, which is a gesture from Valve that ensures the free-to-play move is fair for original players.

Having a Prime Status will give you several benefits such as access to ranked matchmaking, but most importantly, the eligibility to receive item drops. Even ignoring the drop system, the Prime Status is extremely worth it if you want to get the full value of the game.

That being said, receiving item drops isn’t really “free” since you will have to spend money on a Prime Status. However, you can always grind these item drops and sell them on the community market and make back your $14.99 eventually. After making your money back, you can continue receiving item drops forever since the Prime Status is permanent.

#2 Leveling Up Your Profile Level

We can consider having a Prime Status as the passive requirement to receive Weekly Care Packages. However, money doesn’t fall from the sky, as you must play the game to receive these drops. Hence, the second requirement is to level up your profile.

Every player will have a profile level ranging from 1 to 40. This is not to be confused with your matchmaking rank! All you need to do to level up is play the game – it’s pretty simple.

For every match you complete on an official Valve matchmaking server, you will receive XP points depending on the outcome of the match and how well you played. The XP points will start accumulating, and once you have collected enough, you will level up your profile badge to the next level.

This is the requirement to receive a Weekly Care Package. Right after you level up, you will have a Weekly Care Package sent directly to your inventory.

Realistically speaking, it is very easy to level up your profile if you are actively playing the game. If you’re playing a few matches every day, you don’t have to worry about anything as you will level up before you know it.

You must remember that you can only receive XP points and level up if you are playing on Valve’s official game modes, such as Competitive, Premier, Deathmatch, Arms Race, etc. You will not get XP from playing on private or community servers.

However, we must remember that this is a “Weekly” Care Package. So, you can only receive one package per week. You must level up once a week to receive item drops, and leveling up a second time in the same week won’t reward you with another package.

Getting XP Points

The amount of XP you receive depends on how well you played. You will still receive XP points for losing, but trying your best and winning will definitely help speed up the process.

You can refer to this table to see how the XP points are calculated:

For Counter-Strike’s ranked game modes, the number of rounds your team has won is the determining factor in receiving XP points, so try to win as many rounds as possible even if you are losing the game.

Meanwhile, unranked game modes such as Arms Race, Casual, and Deathmatch will reward you based on individual performance, as “score” is added up by kills and assists.

So, if you are looking to play Counter-Strike solely for item drops, you should look at unranked game modes if you are confident in your skill. However, if you play a lot of Counter-Strike and play ranked modes, you will eventually get to the XP goal just by playing matches.

Weekly Care Packages always follow the same format. A package contains four items every time. These items include.

• 1 weapon case
• 1 weapon skin
• 2 graffiti sprays

Though there are four items in total, you can only keep two. Yep, that’s right, you can only select two items to keep, and the unchosen items will disappear.

If you are looking to make a profit from getting these Weekly Care Packages, we highly advise you to select the weapon case and weapon skin. Graffiti sprays are usually worth around $0.03, while weapon cases and weapon skins can range from $0.10 to $2.00. Now, let’s examine what you should expect to receive from the three different types of items.

Weapon Skins

Weapon skins are a big “hit or miss” when it comes to Weekly Care Packages. You might get a P250 | Sand Dune worth a couple of cents, or get a rare skin drop that is worth anything over $5. The value of these weapon skins depends on their rarity. The higher the rarity, the higher the price.

Unfortunately, Valve has never revealed the rarity probabilities for weapon skins. However, the Counter-Strike community has come together to create a rough estimate of the drop odds.

Consumer and Industrial grade skins are essentially worth pennies on the market. These are the skins that will fetch you up to three cents, and you will most likely receive a skin from one of these categories.

There is only a 5% chance to receive anything other than the two lowest categories. Mil-Spec is the same rarity as the lowest rarity in weapon cases, so you shouldn’t expect to receive too much money from them either.

You are hoping to get a Restricted or Classified grade skin if you really want some decent money, yet the odds of receiving one are extremely low. Additionally, you can only receive regular versions of these skins, as there are no StatTrak or Souvenir versions in the discussion. As of this article’s publication, weapon skin drops come from eight collections, which include.

• The Dust 2 Collection
• The Train Collection
• The Safehouse Collection
• The Lake Collection
• The Italy Collection
• The Bank Collection
• The 2018 Nuke Collection
• The 2018 Inferno Collection

The two most expensive drops you are praying to receive are:

• SG 553 | Integrale from the 2018 Inferno Collection valued up to $130
• M4A1-S | Control Panel from the 2018 Nuke Collection valued up to $70

Still, you shouldn’t get your hopes too high since these drop chances are very unlikely.

Weapon Cases

Weapon cases are probably the most reliable drop of them all since cases are almost always good to give you some decent money. There are three types of weapon cases in Counter-Strike.

• Active Cases (99% chance to drop)
• Rare Cases (1% chance to drop)
• Discontinued Cases (0% chance to drop)

That being said, you can only receive Active Cases or Rare Cases from drops. So, let’s ignore Discontinued Cases for the remainder of this article.

Active Cases are a pool of five weapon cases that were the most recent releases in the game. So, if a new case is dropped, the oldest case in the Active Cases pool will be cycled out. The cases that have been moved out of the active pool will go to the Rare Cases pool.

Rare Cases are generally released many years ago, or rotated out because it is an Operation case. As we’ve discussed earlier, the odds of receiving a case from this group are very unlikely, as it is only 1%. As of this article’s publication, the five cases in the Active Cases pool include.

• Kilowatt Case ($0.54, introduced February 2024)
• Revolution Case ($0.20, introduced February 2023)
• Recoil Case ($0.10, introduced July 2022)
• Dreams & Nightmares Case ($0.74, introduced January 2022)
• Fracture Case ($0.17, introduced August 2020)

With the case rotation system in mind, the Fracture Case will be moved to the Rare Cases pool if a new case is introduced in the future since it is the oldest. We won’t deny that the prices for these cases are pretty underwhelming, but there’s a very good reason why. These are the five cases 99% of players will receive every week. Since there are millions of players receiving them weekly, the supply of these cases will increase every week and exceed the demand, leading to lower prices.

A good portion of cases in the Rare Cases group will fetch you some decent money. Since these cases do not drop as often, the supply of them will go down, leading to higher prices. Here are five Rare Cases you should be happy to receive.

• CS:GO Weapon Case ($74.99, introduced August 2013)
• Operation Bravo Case ($34.90, introduced September 2013)
• Operation Hydra Case ($17.63, introduced May 2017)
• CS:GO Weapon Case 2 ($11.29, introduced November 2013)
• Huntsman Weapon Case ($7.68, introduced May 2014)

Still, the chances of getting a Rare Case is 1%, and the chances of getting one of these five cases from the 29 available choices are extremely slim.

Graffiti Sprays

The graffiti sprays are the most underwhelming drop in the Weekly Care Package, and unfortunately, they take up two out of four slots. We highly recommend never taking a graffiti spray unless there is actually one you like and are willing to use.

Graffiti sprays are almost always worth $0.03 or less, which is less than the worst possible weapon skins you can get. Choosing a graffiti spray over a weapon case is also a big mistake.

However, there are rare cases where you might get a CSGO Graffiti Box instead, which is worth a little over $1. Still, the chances of obtaining such a drop are less than 0.1%, so again, don’t get your hopes up.

Though the chances of getting valuable drops are pretty low, we still can’t complain as we are essentially getting free money just by playing the game we all love. So, it never hurts to maximize potential by getting Weekly Care Packages as efficiently as possible. Here are four effective tips to help you get your packages quickly.

Play Your Best

As we have thoroughly discussed earlier, XP points are required to level up and receive the package, so you should look to get as much XP as possible for every match you complete.

Even if you are playing on unranked game modes, it is advisable to always try your best as your score and the number of rounds won are the primary aspects that calculate how much XP you will receive at the end of a game.

Understand The Weekly Reset

Here is a pro tip not everyone knows about. As we know, the Weekly Care Package resets every week, but do you know when exactly? The Weekly Care Package cycle resets every Wednesday, at 1 AM GMT time exactly. This information should help you plan out when to get your XP points effectively. So, if you have already received your Care Package for the week, you must wait until Wednesday to grind for another one.

Saving A Level-Up Before The Reset

With the weekly reset schedule in mind, you can actually devise a plan to immediately get your next Weekly Care Package. On Monday or Tuesday, you should start collecting XP points for your next level-up. Once you are close to leveling up, stop playing and wait for Wednesday to kick in. Once the cycle has reset, you can play one or two games and immediately level up your profile rank so you can get the Weekly Care Package instantly.

Optional: Use Multiple Accounts

Though it is considered unethical, you can always have multiple accounts with a Prime Status if you’re looking to get as many Weekly Care Packages as possible. If you have three accounts, you can receive up to three Weekly Care Packages a week. Yes, you will have to pay for the Prime Status on each of these accounts, but again, it is a one-time purchase so you will make more money in the long run. Yes, creating “smurf” or alternate accounts isn’t appreciated by the community, but you can always queue up for unranked game modes so you aren’t ruining ranked games.