Glock-18 | Water Elemental (Field-Tested)

The Glock-18 | Water Elemental in Field-Tested (FT) is one of the oldest finishes this pistol has. It is also close to its cheapest grade: only Battle-Scarred comes in lower, and only by a few percent. Of the seven Classified Glocks just one is dearer, Twilight Galaxy. The rank is Classified, and the skin drops from the Operation Breakout Weapon Case.

What the Glock-18 | Water Elemental looks like in Field-Tested

The base is crimson red, with dark burgundy swirls and white speckling over them. A turquoise-blue splash of water with white highlights lies on top: it holds the middle of the slide, and streaks and droplets run from it down the grip. Barrel and trigger are dark gray, and a red ring sits at the muzzle. The splash reads as a mass of water throwing spray, but the creature inside never quite resolves — no actual elemental figure is to be found.

The thin turquoise spray on the grip, where the hand sits, holds up worst, along with the slide edges where the splash is cut off. The large turquoise patch in the middle of the side is the last to go. The red base works against the skin here: pale scuffing shows at once, and in Field-Tested it needs no close look.

Where the Glock-18 | Water Elemental came from

The data credits the finish to FLaMmenWerFeR, while the Workshop submission went up on June 15, 2014 under Cursed Badlucker, titled "Glock-18 | Liquescent". The author put the idea literally: a water elemental splashed across a red galaxy. Hence the crimson base with white speckling, much like a night sky. The Breakout Collection was released on July 1, 2014, and the catalog number of the finish is 353.

What to check before buying

What counts when buying a Glock-18 | Water Elemental:

• the float, which shows how much of the spray on the grip has already gone;


• the stickers that come with the copy, and the name tag.

The artwork is printed identically across the run. The float sits between 0.15 and 0.38. That span is wide, so the number in a listing tells more than the grade name.

What the Glock-18 | Water Elemental costs in Field-Tested

The ratios against the other grades:

• Factory New costs about two and a half times as much;


• Minimal Wear runs level with Field-Tested;


• Well-Worn is dearer by a few percent;


• Battle-Scarred is cheaper by a few percent.

Four of the five grades cost practically the same, Factory New aside. The one worth paying up for is Minimal Wear, and only because the difference in money is slight while the spray on the grip survives better.

By rank the pistol stands second from the top of seven. AXIA and Snack Attack come in a little below; Mirror Mosaic, Shinobu and Vogue are several times cheaper. The single dearer finish is Twilight Galaxy, and its lead is tenfold.

Getting the Glock-18 | Water Elemental

There is one source, the Operation Breakout Weapon Case. In a contract, ten skins a rank below, from this collection can turn into a Glock-18 | Water Elemental.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the Glock-18 | Water Elemental

The Glock-18 | Water Elemental 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.

The red background is loud by itself, so stickers for it are chosen cold: blue, turquoise and silver autographs carry the splash onward. Red and orange ones disappear into the base. Free room for a CS2 craft on this Glock is scarce, so the usual limit is a single sticker at the base of the grip.

Who this wear suits

Buying the Glock-18 | Water Elemental in this grade is worth it if:

• a classic Glock from the era of operations is wanted for CS2, rather than a recent finish;


• overpaying for a clean grade holds no appeal, the neighboring grades costing the same;


• the float matters, scuffing on a red base catching the eye.

Nearer 0.38 the spray on the grip has been eaten away by the hold, and the slide edges are pale. The splash looks whole to roughly 0.22.