AWP | Redline (Field-Tested)

This is the Field-Tested (FT) AWP | Redline, and it takes up most of the skin's scale: the rifle's own float runs from 0.10 to 0.40. It is a Classified skin, and in CS2 it drops from the Winter Offensive Weapon Case.

What the AWP | Redline looks like in Field-Tested

A carbon weave covers the whole body, from handguard to buttplate, and the cell is large, so the pattern reads without zooming in. Red marks two areas. The first is a broad arc running along the side of the receiver and down toward the grip. The second is a solid red patch under the magazine. The rear face of the stock is red as well.

The barrel, scope and bipod are black, with no color on them. In Valve's description it is a dry-transfer decal with a red stripe laid over carbon film; on the body of the AWP the stripe runs as a broad arc, not a thin thread.

In Field-Tested the protruding edges wear away: the top of the receiver, the stock corners and the patch by the magazine. The carbon lightens there and the weave stops reading. The red arc lies on a flat surface and is the last thing to go.

Where the AWP | Redline came from

The finish did not come from Valve but from the Steam Workshop, and its author goes by the name emkay. The submission was titled "AWP | Elegant-Red (Redline)" and was posted on November 13, 2013. The Winter Offensive Collection was released on December 18, 2013, and Valve's note called the case that went with it the first one built from community work.

Valve's catalog numbers the finish 259. The same author's AK-47 with the same motif carries number 282 and came out two months later, so the AWP is the first of the two.

What to check before buying

When comparing listings, buyers weigh these points:

• float: the band for this wear is 0.15 to 0.38, and toward the upper limit the weave on the edges smears;


• how intact the red arc is near the grip and on the stock face;


• what a previous owner left on the AWP | Redline, meaning stickers and a name tag.

Copies of this skin do not differ in pattern.

What the AWP | Redline costs in Field-Tested

The skin has three wears, not five. Its scale starts at 0.10 and breaks off at 0.40, so neither Factory New nor Battle-Scarred exists for this finish. Field-Tested itself takes 0.15 to 0.38, more than three quarters of the whole scale.

Both remaining wears cost about one and a half times as much, and Well-Worn nearly catches Minimal Wear even though it looks worse. The Well-Worn band is 0.38 to 0.40, two hundredths of the scale.

Among Classified AWPs the Redline stands in the upper third: only AWP | BOOM and AWP | Silk Tiger cost more. The nearest one below, AWP | Electric Hive, trails by about a quarter. The cheapest skins of this rank, AWP | Duality and AWP | Mortis, cost less than a tenth as much.

Getting the AWP | Redline

The first route is the Winter Offensive Weapon Case. The second is a trade-up: the AWP | Redline also comes out of a contract, with ten skins of the rank below going in. One step down in this collection you will find, for example, FAMAS | Pulse and Nova | Rising Skull.

StatTrak and Souvenir

The AWP | Redline has a StatTrak version. Souvenir copies of the finish exist too, but no packages were ever released for it, since those were made only for tournament map collections. Such copies are built through the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts golden tournament stickers and a player autograph on a regular skin from the inventory.

Stickers and craft on the AWP | Redline

Dark carbon is an even background on which any color except black shows. An AWP has less room for stickers than an assault rifle: the red arc runs across the most open area, the side of the receiver. White and gold stickers give contrast, while red ones merge with the arc.

Who this wear suits

Field-Tested is a justified purchase of the AWP | Redline when:

• you want a carbon AWP for CS2 and the extra half again for Minimal Wear is not in your plans;


• choosing by float matters: nearly the whole scale of the skin lies inside this wear;


• you are planning a craft, and an even carbon background matters more than clean edges.

The wear covers a wide stretch, 0.15 to 0.38; toward the upper limit there is noticeably more scuffing.