USP-S | Guardian (Minimal Wear)

Skin overview

The look of USP-S | Guardian rests on a cobalt slide with a patterned blue surface set against a grey frame and a dark silencer. In Minimal Wear the colour stays saturated and the pattern remains readable, with only slight marks on the edges that are hard to notice in a match. It keeps the CT-blue character of the skin almost intact.

Item type: pistol. The weapon is available only on the Counter-Terrorist side. Restricted sits in the middle of the rarity scale: noticeably rarer than Mil-Spec, yet not truly rare.

Custom Paint Job: hand-painted across the whole body; this is the type where wear shows most, the artwork rubs down to metal.

How the skin looks in Minimal Wear

The slide is painted cobalt blue with a lighter, mottled blue pattern and carries the USP TACTICAL marking on its side. The silencer is dark grey with white text and a logo near its rear end, giving a small bright accent to the front of the pistol.

Minimal Wear adds faint scratches along the slide edges and occasionally near the muzzle of the silencer. The pattern on the slide sides remains intact and the blue keeps its depth. At normal distance in game the skin is practically indistinguishable from Factory New. The frame, grip and silencer markings still look clean.

Minimal Wear wear: float 0.07–0.15

The whole float range of USP-S | Guardian is 0–0.38; Minimal Wear takes the 0.07–0.15 segment (21% of the scale). Within the range, copies with a lower float look cleaner and are valued higher.

Origin of the skin

USP-S | Guardian belongs to The Phoenix Collection, which holds 13 skins.

The source is Operation Phoenix Weapon Case (on sale since Feb 19, 2014).

What it costs in each quality

Compared with the Minimal Wear quality, the others go like this:

• Factory New — 1.7× dearer
• Field-Tested — 26% cheaper

The comparison uses our cheapest listing of each quality; where there is none, the market reference.

By price this skin is 8th of 12 skins Restricted USP-S in this quality (the first being the dearest).

StatTrak™ and Souvenir

There is also a the StatTrak™ version: the counter on the weapon tracks kills. Right now it is 1.9× dearer than the regular one. There is also a the Souvenir version with tournament stickers.

Which stickers suit it

Blue, silver and white stickers match the cobalt slide and the white markings on the silencer. Placements on the slide keep the craft within the painted area, while a single sticker on the silencer can echo its white text.

What to look at before you buy

• Check where the float sits within the grade, since lower values keep the slide edges cleaner.
• Inspect the top and edges of the slide, as these lose paint first.
• Look at the muzzle end of the silencer for rubbed paint on Field-Tested copies.
• Note any stickers or name tag, and whether the copy is StatTrak™ or Souvenir, since both variants exist.

Who should buy Minimal Wear

• Players who want a near-clean look that is hard to tell from Factory New in game.
• Buyers who prefer to keep the blue intact without paying for the cleanest grade.
• Conclusion: a balanced option for everyday play.