The Karambit Case Hardened is one of the most iconic knife skins in Counter-Strike 2. Among its 1,000 possible patterns, a small number produce a blade dominated by vivid blue — and those are what the community calls Blue Gems. Fewer than 50 Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gems exist worldwide, and the rarest of them, pattern #387, is valued at up to $2 million. Here’s everything you need to know about the elusive Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gems in CS2.
What is a Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem?
The legendary Karambit, along with the Case Hardened finish, arrived in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Aug. 14, 2013, as part of Valve’s Arms Deal update, the path that first introduced weapons skins to the game.
Every Case Hardened skin is assigned a pattern seed, a number between zero and 999, at the moment it’s unboxed. That seed permanently determines how the texture maps onto the weapon model. The same seed will always produce the same pattern on the same knife, but it will not look identical on a different weapon model.
Of all the colors on a Case Hardened skin, blue has become the most valuable over the years. A Karambit qualifies as a Blue Gem when its play side, the side visible during gameplay, is predominantly blue, with roughly 50 percent coverage as a loose baseline. Higher-tier seeds often reach 85 to 100 percent coverage, which makes them even more desirable. Skins with predominantly gold patterns are sometimes called Gold Gems, but the value gap is enormous.
Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem Patterns Tier List
The community organizes Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gems into five tiers. Different sources, though, draw tier boundaries slightly differently, so the tiers can vary from trader to trader.
| Tier | Coverage | Pattern Seeds |
|---|---|---|
| S-Tier | ~100% | 387 |
| A-Tier | 90-99% | 442, 269, 321, 73, 955, 853, 902, 507, 776 |
| B-Tier | 80-89% | 905, 698, 670, 130, 375, 664, 828, 74, 282, 453, 868, 377, 891, 798, 341, 541, 713, 661, 494, 4, 182, 823, 273, 838, 917, 82, 721, 510, 809, 470, 179 |
| C-Tier | 50-75% | 262, 322, 30, 256, 139, 782, 989, 888, 11, 844, 92, 919, 112, 770, 330, 463, 306, 34, 429, 965, 811, 522, 803, 20, 575, 638, 914, 580, 236, 310, 916, 515, 631, 407, 371, 841, 555, 711, 632, 398, 598, 420, 283, 856, 202 |
| D-Tier | <50% | 25, 38, 335, 694, 424, 852, 849, 152, 727, 468, 106, 265, 194, 961, 138, 708, 942, 323, 325, 652, 749, 622, 334, 187, 974, 615, 405, 499, 432, 450, 643, 800, 381, 509, 426, 244, 935, 793, 913, 185, 945, 116, 434, 695, 151, 32, 177, 103, 588, 797, 401, 879, 839, 28, 497, 690, 363, 689, 875, 278, 775, 418, 259, 284, 595, 490, 286, 928, 985, 655, 953, 791 |
Pattern #387 sits alone in S-tier, as it is the widely agreed “God Tier” pattern, featuring essentially perfect blue coverage across its blade. While a couple of these knives have been found in various wears, only one Factory New copy exists in the world, with a float of 0.048.
How much does a Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem cost?
Like any Counter-Strike skin, a Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem’s price is driven by two things: pattern and float. The jump between tiers is step—a Factory new A-Tier trades in a completely different market than a C-Tier—and within any given tier, lower floats command meaningful premiums.
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Sub-0.01 Factory New floats can push prices 20-40% higher, while minimal wears take a significant hit in price compared to the Factory News. While most Well-Worn or Battle-Scared copies are considered too low a grade for serious traders, one particular “duped” (accidentally re-created by Steam Support) Well-Worn #387 sold for $118,000 in June 2023.
The defining price moment in Karambit Blue Gem history came in September 2021, when ohnePixel acted as middleman for a private offer of 1.2 million Euro in Bitcoin for the FN #387. Current valuations pin the knife around $1.5-$2 million, but no sale has been completed in recent years.
How to get a Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem
There are three ways to get a Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem: unboxing one, buying one on the secondary market, or trading up for one. Of these, only the secondary market is an actually viable avenue to pursue. Unboxing a Blue Gem is improbable, Knife drops from any case sit at around 0.26 percent—and that’s before you need the right knife type (roughly one in five), the Case Hardened finish (roughly one in 13), a qualifying Blue Gem seed, and Factory New condition (around seven percent).
Stack all of that together and the odds of pulling a FN #387 specifically land at approximately one in 131 million case openings. Nine #387 Karambits have ever been unboxed across all conditions. Only one is Factory New. Even for other Blue Gems, the odds remain incredibly high.
Trade Ups follow a similar story. Valve’s gold Trade Up system, introduced in Oct. 2025, lets players combine five Covert-rarity (red) skins from the same collection into a guaranteed knife. But the output is determined by the collection, with no pattern guaranteed. That means, you can’t Trade Up your way into a specific pattern, making Blue Gems unlikely to appear once more.
What the update did do is flood the broader knife market with new supply, dropping knife prices down significantly. For most collectors, that means buying on the secondary market is now cheaper than it was before the Oct. 2025 update.
Karambit Case Hardened Blue Gem history
While it took years before the community mapped the entire Blue Gem pattern tiers, Blue Gems were already trading for tens of thousands of dollars. The FN #387 was unboxed in those earliest weeks of the skin economy by a player known as “2sh0ts,” passing through multiple owners, until it landed with its current owner.
A Chinese collector known as “Newb Rage,” also identified by a Japanese name meaning “Blue King,” reportedly purchased the knife for $100,000 and has shown no interest in selling it since then. In September 2021, popular CS streamer ohnePixel acted as a middleman for a private offer of 1.2 million Euro in Bitcoin. Newb Rage’s response was simple: “1.2 is low.” He has shown no interest in selling since.
In late 2024, a Chinese player allegedly unboxed a second Factory New #387 with a lower float than the existing copy. Authenticity is still debated within the community. If confirmed, the implications for the current holder’s valuation would be significant.
Blue Gem Karambits have been through market crashes, duplication drama, and the recent supply spike that knocked billions off the overall skin market. The top tiers have mostly held up anyway. As for the #387, the $1.5 to $2 million number is still theoretical.
It’s based on a rejected offer and a lot of community hype, since it’s never actually sold at that price. If a second Factory New copy turns out to be real, that would change things fast.
Until then, “Newb Rage” still owns what’s widely considered the most expensive skin in Counter-Strike 2.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Where can I buy Karambit knives?
The most reliable way to get a Karambit knife, like the Case Hardened, is through a reputable skin marketplace like Tradeit.
What is the rarest Karambit Case Hardened pattern?
Pattern #387 is the rarest and most valuable pattern in CS2, featuring essentially 100% blue coverage on the play side. Only one Factory New copy has been confirmed to exist.
Does float value affect the blue coverage on a Karambit Case Hardened?
No—float affects how worn the skin looks, but not the blue coverage. But a Factory New and a Battle-Scared will have the same amount of blue on their blades.
