Definition
Minimal Wear (MW) is the second of the five wear tiers in CS2. A skin lands in Minimal Wear when its float value sits in the range 0.07 ≤ float < 0.15. The boundary at 0.07 is shared with Factory New; the boundary at 0.15 opens into Field-Tested.
A wider bucket than Factory New
MW covers 8% of the float space (0.07–0.149) versus FN's 7%. The width matters because the visual difference between the bottom of the bucket and the top is larger than in FN. A 0.071 float MW looks essentially Factory New to the eye; a 0.149 float MW shows clear scratches on most textures.
That internal variance produces three trading bands inside MW:
- 0.07–0.08 — the "FN-look MW" band. Visually indistinguishable from a borderline FN on most skins. Trades 0.85–0.95× a standard FN price on liquid skins; sometimes at price parity with high-float FN copies.
- 0.08–0.13 — standard MW. The middle of the bucket. Standard market price for the exterior.
- 0.13–0.149 — high-float MW. Shows visible wear on textures with scuff baking. Trades at the bottom of the MW band, sometimes close to top-of-FT pricing.
Why MW is the most-bought exterior for budget collectors
MW is the buyer's sweet spot on a large class of skins. The reasoning: FN carries a 1.5–3× premium, which is too much when the visual difference is invisible at gameplay distance. Field-Tested visibly degrades on textures with detailed paint, which collectors notice. MW threads the needle — clean enough that it looks new in-match, cheap enough that the FN buyer is overpaying.
The price differential FN vs MW depends heavily on the skin. Texture-detailed skins (Hyper Beast, Asiimov, Vulcan) show a wider FN-vs-MW gap because the wear is visible. Uniform-color skins (Dopplers, Fades) show a narrower gap because the wear is invisible.
The full FN-vs-MW comparison across the most-traded skins is in Factory New vs Minimal Wear price difference (shipping in week 13).
Float clipping — which skins ship in MW
Most skins that clip out of Factory New still reach into Minimal Wear. The classic examples:
- Five-SeveN Hyper Beast — clip 0.06–0.80. Almost the entire MW band is accessible.
- AK-47 Redline — clip 0.10–0.70. MW from 0.10 to 0.15, an effective 5% width.
- AWP Asiimov — clip 0.18–1.00. No MW at all; starts at low Field-Tested.
- Karambit Fade — clip 0.00–0.08. MW from 0.07 to 0.08 only — a 1% sliver, almost no copies exist.
The clip values are immutable per skin. The patterns, floats and wear pillar covers the full mechanism.
How to read a Minimal Wear float
Right-click the item in your Steam inventory → copy the inspect link → paste into CSFloat or any community float checker. The four-decimal float reads instantly. If the result is between 0.07 and 0.149, the item is Minimal Wear; pay attention to whether it sits in the FN-look sub-bucket (0.07–0.08) for low-float pricing. The full lookup workflow is in how to check a skin's float in CS2.