USP-S | Neo-Noir (Field-Tested)

The USP-S | Neo-Noir in Field-Tested (FT) keeps the face on the slide and the raspberry fills intact, while the teal strokes on the suppressor have already thinned out. By float the grade covers 0.15 to 0.38. It is a Covert rank skin that drops from the Spectrum Case. What sets this finish apart is that its grades barely differ in price: from Battle-Scarred up to Factory New the gap is under a fifth.

What the USP-S | Neo-Noir looks like in Field-Tested

The base of the slide, frame and suppressor is dark brown, almost black. Raspberry and pink fills run along the slide, with white highlights and teal strokes, and the grip is dark with purple-blue and teal lines. The suppressor is dark, with a mint-white glare along the top and a raspberry glow along the bottom, and the muzzle end is left as bare steel. The main element is a stylized woman's face with strands of hair in the rear third of the slide, with a large raspberry fill beside it. A teal rectangle can be made out at the front edge of the slide.

In this grade wear shows first on the round surfaces. The thin teal strokes and white highlights on the suppressor go first, followed by the front edge of the slide, the serrations and the sight hump. The wide raspberry fills on the flat side and the artwork on the grip last longer, so the face still reads near the top of the band.

Where the USP-S | Neo-Noir came from

The finish was drawn by an artist who goes by donschi. He posted the submission to the Steam Workshop on March 12, 2016, under the working title "USP_Noir". In the description the author called the work a black-and-white illustration with a few bright accents on top. The Spectrum Collection came out on March 15, 2017. In Valve's skin catalog the item is number 653, and Valve's own description names the scene outright: a blue-and-raspberry figure on a black-and-white ground.

What to check before buying

On a USP-S | Neo-Noir listing, check these:

• the float: the band is 0.15 to 0.38, and toward the top the suppressor starts to gray;


• the state of the teal strokes, which go before the rest of the artwork;


• the name tag and stickers this USP-S already carries.

The pattern is fixed, so price does not depend on it. From 0.15 to 0.38 the scuffing builds up visibly.

What the USP-S | Neo-Noir costs in Field-Tested

The grades of this pistol are packed unusually tight:

• Factory New is dearer by roughly a tenth;


• Minimal Wear is dearer by a twentieth;


• Well-Worn is dearer by only a few percent;


• Battle-Scarred is cheaper by roughly a twentieth.

Neighboring grades differ by a matter of percent. There is no point dropping below FT to save money, since you would pay almost as much for a dirtier suppressor. The tight spread comes from the dark base, where the brown ground hides scuffs.

Among Covert USP-S skins in Field-Tested this finish is the most expensive, with only three neighbors. USP-S | Kill Confirmed is cheaper by roughly a third. USP-S | Printstream and USP-S | The Traitor cost a third as much, which is a different price class already.

Getting the USP-S | Neo-Noir

There is one source, the Spectrum Case. Instead of buying, you can trade up: ten skins one rank down from the same collection produce a USP-S | Neo-Noir. The Spectrum Collection has two Covert items, and which one comes out is not known in advance.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the USP-S | Neo-Noir

The USP-S | Neo-Noir has a StatTrak version. No Souvenir packages were ever made for this finish, because packages only ever covered tournament map collections. A souvenir copy can still be built by hand. The Souvenir-O-Matic puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on a normal skin from the inventory. That is why the odd souvenir copy turns up where no package was ever made.

A pistol has little room for stickers, and here what there is is taken: the slide holds the face and the raspberry fill. What remains is the suppressor, a flat surface where a sticker sits whole. The finish takes cool colors: teal, purple and white work with the base, while warm ocher fights the raspberry.

Who this wear suits

Field-Tested on the USP-S | Neo-Noir makes sense when:

• you want a Covert USP-S in CS2 and a surcharge for clean edges holds no interest;


• an intact design on the slide matters: the face is untouched in this grade;


• the pistol will be played in CS2, not inspected in an inventory.

The saving on the lower grades is token, and that is the main case for FT. Paying extra for Factory New only makes sense for an untouched suppressor.