AK-47 | Case Hardened (Field-Tested)

AK-47 | Case Hardened in Field-Tested (FT) is a rifle with temper colors on the metal, where the price is set by the pattern as much as by wear. It is Classified rank, from The Arms Deal Collection, and its source is the CS:GO Weapon Case. You can buy the AK-47 | Case Hardened for CS2 in all five wears.

What the AK-47 | Case Hardened looks like in Field-Tested

The color lies on the metal alone. The top cover is brass-gold at the front and a deep blue-violet at the back. The side is brass-olive, with sparse blue patches and rusty orange flecks. The magazine is mostly blue-violet, with golden streaks along the top edge. The gas tube and the front block are brass with blue around the edges, and the front sight is blue. The handguard and stock are ginger-brown wood, and the grip is reddish brown. This is one of the possible patterns, since the layout of the patches is different on every copy.

Temper color is a thin surface layer, so in Field-Tested the scuffs show first on the edge of the cover, on the facets of the side and around the rivets. Blue patches on flat planes last longer, while the wood simply darkens and picks up scratches. The float band for this wear of the AK-47 | Case Hardened is 0.15 to 0.38.

Where the AK-47 | Case Hardened came from

Valve drew the AK-47 | Case Hardened itself, and the Steam Workshop has no submission for it. In Valve's catalog it stands at number 44. The Arms Deal Collection was released on August 14, 2013, and the skin has been in the set since the release.

What to check before buying

In an AK-47 | Case Hardened listing, check these parameters:

• pattern index: it determines exactly how the blue and the gold are spread across the body;


• float: judge an AK-47 | Case Hardened by the number and not by the wear label, because the 0.15 to 0.38 band is wide;


• the name tag and stickers that this copy already carries.

The pattern is decided when the skin drops, and for the price it matters no less than the float. Copies where blue covers most of the body are called "blue gems", and they cost many times more than an ordinary copy. Two listings with the same float can differ in price by an order of magnitude, so look at the pattern and not only at the wear label.

What the AK-47 | Case Hardened costs in Field-Tested

The ratios below apply to ordinary bodies, without rare patterns. The other wears set against FT:

• Factory New costs almost twice as much;


• Minimal Wear costs about a quarter more;


• Well-Worn is cheaper by about a seventh;


• Battle-Scarred is cheaper by about a sixth.

Among Classified AK-47s in Field-Tested, the Case Hardened is third of fifteen. Above it come the AK-47 | Hydroponic, more than four times dearer, and the AK-47 | Jet Set, almost twice as dear. Below it come the AK-47 | Panthera onca, about a third cheaper, and the AK-47 | Red Laminate, four and a half times cheaper. The StatTrak version in this wear costs more than twice as much as the ordinary one.

Getting the AK-47 | Case Hardened

The skin comes out of the CS:GO Weapon Case, and no other case has this finish.

The alternative to buying is a trade-up: ten skins from the rank below, taken from the same set, give the AK-47 | Case Hardened. The Arms Deal has two Classified skins, the other being the Desert Eagle | Hypnotic, so the chance of landing the rifle is one in two.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Case Hardened

The AK-47 | Case Hardened has a StatTrak version. Souvenir copies of the finish turn up too, but no packages were released for it, as those were made only for the tournament map collections. Such copies are built through the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on an ordinary skin from your inventory.

Temper color takes up the metal while the wood stays ginger-brown, so stickers end up beside the blue and gold of the body. Dense stickers with a clear outline read with confidence there, whereas fine graphics get lost in the patches. Gold and white stickers go well with the brass, while red ones fight the wood.

Who this wear suits

Buying the AK-47 | Case Hardened in Field-Tested is right if at least one of these holds:

• you are after a specific pattern, and in a middle wear it costs less than in Factory New;


• you want a tempered AK for CS2, where scuffs on the edges do not get in the way;


• you do not need the kill counter, since an ordinary copy is cheaper than the StatTrak version by more than a factor of two.

Compare listings by the pair of float and pattern: the wear label hides both the wide float band and the different layouts of blue.