Operation Broken Fang was the tenth operation in CS:GO, running from December 2020 to April 30, 2021. The $15 pass unlocked weekly missions paid out in stars, a Premier mode with map bans, new agents, stickers, patches and an operation case with a new glove model. Below is how the operation worked, what you could earn and what it changed in the game.
The operation was timed to the New Year holidays and was one of the largest CS:GO updates of its time. It is long over, but its items, including the Operation Broken Fang Case, still trade on the market and carried over to CS2 together with players' inventories.
How to join
To take part you needed the Operation Broken Fang pass, which became available as soon as the patch was installed.
Before buying, it made sense to look through the rewards available for stars. The pass was sold in the Steam store, and activating it gave you the special Operation Broken Fang coin.
That unlocked new missions, stats, stickers, patches and skins. The headline feature, though, was the new modes, some of which were open only to pass holders. Other points worth noting:
the coin could be upgraded all the way to platinum;
rewards stayed claimable until April 30, 2021;
a new Premier mode was added;
operation stats were tracked;
completing missions gave a profile rank XP booster.
How missions worked
After activating the pass, players received a set of missions available for the week. Completing them earned operation stars, with a weekly cap.
Compared with Operation Shattered Web, the reward system was reworked. Rewards no longer unlocked in a fixed order; instead, players chose what to spend their stars on:
new agents;
a random weapon skin;
the Operation Broken Fang Case and other items.
Valve also let players buy missing or extra stars with real money, and there was no limit on how many could be bought. Whether that was worth it was up to each player.
What the operation offered
The operation introduced several new collections at once, plus its own case:
the Operation Broken Fang Case (17 items plus a chance at gloves);
The Control Collection (19 items);
The Chaos Collection (19 items);
The Ancient Collection (19 items);
Broken Fang stickers;
Metal Skill Group patches for agents;
Recoil graffiti and stickers.
This is what the new gloves from the operation case look like. Today you can buy them on the market or get them through a trade-up of 5 Covert skins, as explained in our guide to crafting knives and gloves in CS2. Every glove model is covered in our overview of the gloves in CS2.
The agent lineup grew as well. CTs got SWAT gear, and Terrorists got The Professionals faction. The star cost of an agent depended on its rarity (all factions are covered in our article on types of agents in CS2):
Distinguished: 5 stars;
Exceptional: 7 stars;
Superior: 10 stars;
Master: 25 stars.
The pass coin could be upgraded and came in 4 tiers:
bronze: granted with the pass;
silver: 33 stars;
gold: 60 stars;
platinum: 100 stars over the operation.
The first week allowed up to 10 stars, and every week after that no more than 6. Missed weeks therefore had to be made up by buying stars.
New game modes
Valve did not add a competitive 1v1 mode. Instead, the operation brought two new modes.
Retakes: 3 Terrorists against 4 CTs, played to 8 rounds and open to everyone during the operation. The bomb is already planted when the round starts; CTs spawn near the site and must defuse it while the Terrorists hold the site.
Premier: a competitive format with map bans, similar to captain's mode in Dota 2, except that maps are banned instead of heroes. Teams take turns striking maps until one remains. It was available only to pass holders. In CS2 the Premier name now belongs to the main ranked mode with CS Rating.
Before each match the game set:
who bans first;
which 6 maps are removed;
which side you start on;
the match start.
Other changes in the update
Besides the new Operation Broken Fang skins, players got several long-requested features. First, detailed player stats returned: you could track your progress over a chosen period and in any game mode.
Valve also added a chat wheel for communicating with teammates. With voice chat available not everyone needs it, but it helps pass information quickly when playing with strangers. The lines are grouped into:
pre-round;
movement;
commands and team management;
reports;
bomb status;
responses;
grenades.
New maps arrived too: Ancient, Engage and Apollo for matchmaking, Elysion and Guard for Wingman, and Frostbite for Danger Zone (a mode that does not exist in CS2).
Broken Fang was one of the richest updates in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The pass cost more than the Shattered Web one, but the amount of new content justified the price. The operation ended long ago, so its collection skins, gloves and case can now only be found on the market: LIS-SKINS lists them at current prices, and you can sell unneeded skins from your inventory to fund the ones you want.
