Glock-18 Fade Tier List (2026)
The Glock-18 Fade has the smallest canvas of the big three Fades, and that makes the pattern seed matter more, not less. The slide is short, so shifting the gold-to-purple gradient a few percent visibly changes the whole gun. Two Factory New Glock Fades can sit $2,000 apart on percentage and colour balance alone. This is the tier list to check before you pay, sorted by fade percentage and by the one thing that's specific to the Glock: whether it's a purple-dominant Absolute Max or a pink-dominant Full Fade. The mechanics of why the seed drives it are in the patterns, floats and wear pillar.
The Glock-18 Fade is a Restricted pistol skin, one of the oldest fades in the game, and one of the most requested. Like every Fade, it grades on a continuous percentage rather than a named seed — but unlike the Karambit or AWP, the Glock community also splits the top of the scale into two distinct looks that trade differently.
How Glock Fade percentage works
Fade paints a gradient — gold, orange, pink, magenta, deep purple — and the seed decides how much of it lands on the visible slide. A low-percentage Glock leaves the pale gold end dominating; a high-percentage one drags the rich purple onto the slide. The scale runs from roughly 80% at the floor to 100% full fade, and an inspect tool reads the seed and reports the number.
Because the slide is small, the difference between an 85% and a 97% is obvious even to someone who doesn't collect — the high-fade one is visibly more saturated across the whole gun. That's why the Glock Fade rewards percentage-chasing more than a big rifle skin does: there's nowhere for a weak fade to hide.
Absolute Max vs Full Fade — the Glock-specific split
Here's the wrinkle that separates the Glock from the other Fades. At the top of the scale, two different colour balances both read as "near-100%," and the market prices them apart:
- Full Fade — a predominance of pink and yellow across the slide. Bright, warm, the classic Fade look. Common at the top end and priced strong.
- Absolute Max — a predominance of purple. The rarest and most valuable balance, because the deep purple reaching that far up the slide takes an extreme seed. This is the grail.
Both can be 99–100% by the raw percentage, but an Absolute Max carries a premium over a Full Fade of the same percentage. If a listing says "100% fade" without saying which balance, assume Full Fade until an inspect screenshot proves the purple. The distinction is invisible in a Steam thumbnail and only shows on a true in-game render.
The tier list by percentage
| Tier | Fade % | Look | FN premium vs 80% floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grail — Absolute Max | 99–100%, purple-dominant | Deep purple carried high up the slide, the rarest balance | 2.5×–3×+ |
| Top — Full Fade | 97–100%, pink/yellow-dominant | Bright full spectrum, warm, saturated | 1.8×–2.5× |
| High | 90–96% | All three colour zones, clean and vivid | 1.4×–1.8× |
| Mid | 85–89% | Good fade, purple slightly thin | 1.15×–1.4× |
| Floor | 80–84% | Gold-heavy, least purple, cheapest genuine Fade | 1× (baseline) |
The visible payoff of chasing the top band is bigger on the Glock than on any other Fade, because the small slide makes the saturation pop. A 96% Full Fade Glock genuinely looks different from an 88% across the table — the percentage isn't a spec-sheet number here, it's the whole aesthetic.
Dollar ballparks (Factory New, mid-2026)
The Glock Fade ships Factory New almost exclusively, so these are FN numbers.
| Grade | What you're buying | Typical ballpark (FN, mid-2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute Max (99–100% purple) | The grail balance, rarely listed | $3,000–$3,500+ |
| Full Fade (97–100% pink/yellow) | Top of the liquid market, bright full fade | $2,400–$3,000 |
| 90–96% | Clean high fade, the value sweet spot | $1,900–$2,400 |
| 85–89% | Solid mid-tier fade | $1,500–$1,900 |
| 80–84% floor | Cheapest genuine Glock Fade | $1,200–$1,500 |
The gap between a 95% and a 100% is around $500 or more, and the gap between a Full Fade and an Absolute Max of the same percentage is another premium on top. Those two spreads stack — which is why a 99% Absolute Max can be nearly triple an 80% floor copy. If you want the look without paying the grail premium, the 90–96% band gives you a slide that reads as a full fade for a lot less than the top.
Float on a Glock Fade
Float is a minor factor here. The Glock Fade clips to roughly 0.00–0.08, so it's Factory New-only with a thin Minimal Wear band, and every copy looks clean. Two copies of the same percentage at 0.02 and 0.06 price within a few percent — the float value is a tiebreaker, not a tier. It matters most as a rank-chaser's detail on an Absolute Max, where a collector wants the lowest-float copy of an already-rare balance. On anything below the top band, buy the percentage and the colour balance first, then let float decide the specific copy.
Which Glock Fade to actually buy
The grade you should chase depends on why you want it. If it's a gun you'll look at every round and you don't care about resale, a 90–96% Full Fade is the honest recommendation — it reads as a full fade on that small slide, it's the widest, most liquid part of the market, and you're not paying the steep top-band premium for a difference you'd need an inspector to confirm. That band moves fastest when you want to sell, too.
If you're buying as a collector or a hold, the calculus flips toward the Absolute Max. The purple-dominant balance is the scarcer asset, it's the one experienced traders actually chase, and it holds its premium better through market dips because supply is genuinely thin — a 99% Absolute Max isn't a gun you can replace by refreshing a listings page. Just go in knowing you're paying for rarity as much as looks, and verify the purple from a real render before the money moves.
The band to be wary of is a "100%" Full Fade priced like an Absolute Max. It happens: a seller with a bright pink-yellow 99% asks purple-grail money and hopes you won't check the balance. Confirm the colour, not just the percentage, and pay the price of what it actually is.
How to check a Glock's fade %
Same flow as any pattern read. Grab the inspect link from your Steam inventory or the listing, paste it into a float-and-pattern inspector, and it reports the fade percentage off the seed. For the Absolute Max vs Full Fade question, the percentage alone won't tell you the colour balance — you need a flat-angle in-game screenshot to confirm whether the top-band fade is purple-dominant or pink-dominant. The full inspect-link walkthrough is in how to check a skin's float in CS2.
Two rules. Never pay a top-band price on the title "100% fade" alone — confirm the percentage from a named tool and the balance from a real render. And ignore the thumbnail: Steam shows a generic Fade slide, not your copy's actual percentage.
FAQ
What's the difference between a Full Fade and an Absolute Max Glock? Colour balance. A Full Fade is pink-and-yellow dominant — the bright, warm classic look. An Absolute Max is purple-dominant, with the deep magenta carried high up the slide, and it's the rarest and most valuable balance. Both can read as 99–100% on the raw percentage, but an Absolute Max carries a premium over a Full Fade of the same percentage.
How much is a 100% fade Glock-18 worth? In Factory New, a top Full Fade (97–100%, pink/yellow) runs roughly $2,400–$3,000 in mid-2026, and an Absolute Max (99–100%, purple-dominant) runs $3,000–$3,500+. A clean 90–96% sits around $1,900–$2,400, and the 80% floor is $1,200–$1,500. The gap between 95% and 100% is about $500 before you factor in the Absolute Max premium.
What is the minimum fade percentage on a Glock-18 Fade? Around 80%. That's the floor of the scale, where the pale gold end dominates and the purple is thinnest. It's still a genuine Fade — just the cheapest grade, and the most gold-heavy.
Why does fade percentage matter more on a Glock than a knife? The slide is small, so there's nowhere for a weak fade to hide. Shifting the gradient a few percent visibly changes the whole gun, which makes the difference between a mid and a top fade obvious even to a non-collector. On a larger canvas the same percentage swing is subtler.
Does float matter on a Glock Fade? Barely. The clip is roughly 0.00–0.08, so every copy is Factory New or a thin Minimal Wear sliver and looks clean. Two copies of the same percentage price within a few percent regardless of float. It only matters as a tiebreaker for collectors chasing the lowest-float copy of a top-band Absolute Max.
How do I check my Glock Fade percentage? Copy the inspect link from your Steam inventory and paste it into a float-and-pattern inspector like CSFloat or tradeit — it reads the seed and returns the percentage. To settle Full Fade vs Absolute Max, you'll also need a flat-angle in-game screenshot, since the percentage doesn't tell you the colour balance.
Buying a Glock Fade? Value your inventory to set a budget first. Then compare it with the Karambit Fade 100% tier list and the AWP Fade tier list — same percentage system, very different price floors — or see the Marble Fade Fire and Ice tier list for the finish where a single seed, not a percentage, sets the value. The complete pattern framework is in the patterns, floats and wear pillar.