AWP | Neo-Noir (Well-Worn)

The AWP | Neo-Noir in Well-Worn (WW) is the second step from the bottom of the scale, with a band of 0.38 to 0.45. That is 14% of the skin's range, which spans 0.00 to 0.50 in all. It is a Covert skin: the AWP comes out of the Danger Zone Case and belongs to the collection of the same name.

What the AWP | Neo-Noir looks like in Well-Worn

The colored part of the skin is confined to the middle of the rifle. A woman's face and hair are drawn on the side of the receiver and carry over onto the stock, in violet-blue with purple and raspberry fills and teal highlights. A teal stripe continues down the barrel, and nearer the muzzle pink-purple dots show in it. The barrel, bipod and muzzle brake are bare, and the scope is black.

The float here runs from 0.38 to 0.45, the point at which scuffs are already visible to the eye. The artwork is thinnest on the barrel, so it rubs out first. After that come the stock edges and the rim of the cheek piece. Large fills on the side of the receiver last longer.

Where the AWP | Neo-Noir came from

The author is donschi, a Steam Workshop contributor; his submission "AWP | Neo-Noir" was published on August 23, 2018. By his account this is the centerpiece of the Neo-Noir series, the artwork took months to prepare, and the heroine's left hand holds a badge with the global rank. The Danger Zone Collection came out with this skin on December 6, 2018, and the AWP | Neo-Noir arrived in the same update. Its number in Valve's catalog is 803.

What to check before buying

When choosing an AWP | Neo-Noir, pay attention to the following:

• float within 0.38 to 0.45: near the upper end, wear is more noticeable on the stock edges;


• stickers and a name tag that the AWP | Neo-Noir inherited from a previous owner;


• whether the dots at the muzzle and the thin stripe along the barrel are intact.

The artwork on the AWP | Neo-Noir is applied identically across the whole run. Within a band as narrow as 0.38 to 0.45, copies are almost indistinguishable.

What the AWP | Neo-Noir costs in Well-Worn

Factory New costs about a quarter more, and Minimal Wear about a sixth more. Field-Tested and Battle-Scarred are level, with the gap under three percent. So Well-Worn shares the bottom price tier with Field-Tested and Battle-Scarred.

Of the sixteen Covert AWPs priced in this wear, four are cheaper than this one and eleven are dearer. Closest above are Containment Breach and Printstream, and closest below are LongDog, Hyper Beast and Chromatic Aberration. Highest of all are Desert Hydra, Medusa and Gungnir.

Getting the AWP | Neo-Noir

The Danger Zone Case is the main source. Another is a trade-up of ten skins one rank down. If you build them from the Danger Zone set, which has two Covert skins, the odds of getting the AWP are one in two. Inputs in that set include Desert Eagle | Mecha Industries, MP5-SD | Phosphor and UMP-45 | Momentum.

StatTrak and Souvenir

The skin has a StatTrak version. There are no souvenir packages, and a souvenir copy is something you make yourself through the Souvenir-O-Matic.

Stickers and craft on the AWP | Neo-Noir

The black outlines of the face carry dark stickers well, since they barely stand out over the artwork. Light stickers on the receiver catch the eye and draw attention away, and the violet-teal range of the skin goes better with cool shades.

Who this wear suits

There are three reasons to buy the AWP | Neo-Noir in this wear:

• you want a Covert AWP for CS2 whose face on the receiver stays legible, and you do not want to hold out for Factory New;


• Battle-Scarred costs the same, while Well-Worn gives a shorter wear scale;


• you want the Covert rank in CS2 at a price from the lower half of the AWP row: four finishes out of sixteen cost less than this skin.