★ Karambit | Fade (Factory New)

Skin overview

★ Karambit | Fade is a curved karambit whose blade carries a smooth transition of transparent colours over a chrome base, running from red near the guard through pink into purple towards the tip. In Factory New the gradient keeps its full depth and the chrome underneath gives the colours an even, glassy shine along the whole curve. This is the grade for buyers who want the finish exactly as it was painted, with no interruptions in the colour flow.

Item type: knife. Covert is the top weapon rarity: usually the most prominent items of a collection or case.

Anodized Airbrushed: a coloured coating with an airbrushed design on top; the coating holds while the design fades with wear.

The remaining qualities of this skin: Minimal Wear.

Appearance in Factory New

The paint covers only the blade: transparent colours are airbrushed over chrome so that red sits at the base near the guard, pink fills the middle of the curve and purple with a bluish tint takes over towards the tip. The chrome base shows through the colours, giving the blade a reflective, polished look with lighter highlights along the edge. The grip is dark grey with a fine texture, deep finger grooves and serrations along the back, while the finger ring is bare silver metal. How the gradient is distributed along the blade differs between copies, so the balance of red, pink and purple is not the same on every knife. On worn copies the tip and the spine of the blade lose colour first, followed by the cutting edge, where the chrome starts to show through as lighter spots.

In Factory New the blade shows no visible loss of paint, and the colour transition runs uninterrupted from the guard to the tip. The chrome reflections stay even across the whole curve, which keeps the colours saturated in every lighting. In game, both on inspect and in the hand, the knife looks exactly like the clean image. The dark grip and metal ring are unpainted, so they look the same as on any other copy.

Factory New quality — float range 0–0.07

The whole float range of ★ Karambit | Fade is 0–0.08; Factory New takes the 0–0.07 segment (88% of the scale). The lower the float within the range, the cleaner the surface looks and the higher a copy is usually priced.

Origin of the skin

It drops as a rare special item from:

• CS:GO Weapon Case (on sale since Sep 20, 2013)
• CS:GO Weapon Case 2 (on sale since Sep 20, 2013)
• CS:GO Weapon Case 3 (on sale since Sep 20, 2013)
• Operation Bravo Case (on sale since Sep 20, 2013)
• Winter Offensive Weapon Case (on sale since Dec 18, 2013)
• eSports 2013 Case (on sale since Jul 9, 2014)

And 5 more — souvenir packages and other sources.

What it costs in each quality

By price this skin is 6th of 23 skins Covert Karambit in this quality (the first being the dearest).

StatTrak™ version

This skin has a the StatTrak™ version with a kill counter. Right now it is 8% dearer than the regular one.

What to check before buying

• Look at the float within the range, since on the higher end of Minimal Wear the tip and spine are more likely to show marks.
• Compare the colour distribution on the blade, because the amount of red, pink and purple differs from copy to copy.
• Inspect the tip and the spine closely, as they are the first places where paint wears off.
• Check whether the copy is StatTrak™ and whether it has a name tag, as both change how the item is presented.

Who should buy Factory New

• Collectors who want the gradient untouched from guard to tip.
• Players who inspect their knife often and want it to look clean on every close-up.
• Buyers comparing patterns who want the colour distribution as the only variable.
• Conclusion: the choice for those who want the Fade finish in its cleanest form.