AK-47 | Elite Build (Field-Tested)

The AK-47 | Elite Build in Field-Tested (FT) is the middle option by price: four times under the clean grade, a quarter over the worn ones. The rifle is almost monochrome black here, and the whole design comes down to a thin gold trim along the edges. The finish runs the full 0.00 to 1.00 scale, so all five grades exist. The band for this grade is the usual 0.15 to 0.38, and the finish runs the full scale, so all five grades exist. The rank is Mil-Spec, and the skin drops from the Chroma 2 Case.

What the AK-47 | Elite Build looks like in Field-Tested

The base is graphite black, with dark gray mottling across the top cover. A narrow gold-orange line is laid along the edges of the handguard, the receiver sides and the stock. Gold also picks out the winged badge on the gas tube, the AK logo on the side, the rivets and the grip checkering. The magazine is black and olive and carries MASTER SERIES 7.62x39 in orange. Barrel, gas block and front sight take no paint at all.

There is no picture on the body: the trim and the gold markings do all the work, and Field-Tested eats exactly those. The gold along the handguard edge and the stock goes first, and the fine strokes of the lettering break up after it. The wide black panels show almost nothing, so the rifle holds its outline longer than a pale finish would.

Where the AK-47 | Elite Build came from

The finish was drawn by a Steam Workshop author under the handle M1nD, who posted it on January 2, 2015 as "AK47 - MASTERY (Elite Build)". He stated the idea plainly: nothing fantastical, nothing cartoonish, the classic shape with detailed hardware. The lettering on the magazine comes from the same place, the series being called Mastery.

The skin reached the game on April 15, 2015 with the Chroma 2 Case. Valve's catalog numbers the artwork 422, one of the early AK finishes still in service in CS2.

What to check before buying

What matters on an AK-47 | Elite Build listing:

• the float, which on a black base shows in the gold at the edges rather than in the background, the trim going patchy by 0.38;


• whether the copy carries stickers and a name tag from a previous owner;


• the version, as StatTrak is sold as a separate item and asks more than the plain one.

No lucky roll is available here: the artwork is identical on every copy, with no pattern spread.

What the AK-47 | Elite Build costs in Field-Tested

The other grades against this one:

• Factory New is about four times dearer;


• Minimal Wear about half again as much;


• Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred are around a quarter cheaper.

Seven Mil-Spec AK finishes carry a price in this grade, and the Elite Build stands fourth of them counting up. Steel Delta is the nearest below and Crossfade the nearest above, both within a few percent. Uncharted and Wintergreen cost roughly a third as much, Green Laminate more than eight times as much, and Black Laminate holds the top of the group.

Getting the AK-47 | Elite Build

The Chroma 2 Case is the only one that has ever carried the finish. A trade-up cannot produce it either: Mil-Spec is the bottom rank of that collection, so there is nothing to feed a contract with.

As an input it works. Ten Mil-Spec skins of that set return one Restricted skin: the AWP | Worm God, the MAG-7 | Heat or the UMP-45 | Grand Prix.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Elite Build

The AK-47 | Elite Build has a StatTrak version. Souvenir copies of the finish turn up as well, though no Souvenir packages were ever made for it: packages only ever covered tournament map collections. Those copies are built with the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on a normal skin from the inventory.

Black overrides almost nothing: every color reads on this base except black. Gold and orange stickers pick up the trim and the badge, white and light blue give the hardest contrast. The stock and handguard are open; the side panel with the AK logo is better left bare.

Who this wear suits

Taking the AK-47 | Elite Build in Field-Tested is reasonable when:

• a dark rifle for CS2 is wanted without paying four times over for Factory New;


• StatTrak is the plan and the clean grades are out of budget;


• the skin is bought as trade-up fuel toward a Restricted finish.

The argument against: up close the finish is plainer than its name suggests, the gold thin to begin with and partly gone at this float.