8 best & most profitable cases to open in CS2 (2024)

Cases in Counter-Strike can make you an absolute fortune if you're lucky enough, with the best and most profitable options housing the most expensive skins in the game.

The real appeal of cases - and skins as an extension - in CS2 is that they can be sold for real-life money, dramatically increasing their demand, as one lucky pull could genuinely earn you thousands.

Best cases you can buy in CS2

#8 - Kilowatt Case

• Price: ~£1.69
• Best skins: Kukri Knives, AK-47 | Inheritance

The Kilowatt case has a low entry cost, but comes with the chance to get some really expensive cosmetic items. To start with, the case offers the exclusive Kukri Knives, where even the worse versions don't go for less than £200. 

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Specific versions of the Case Hardened, Fade, and Slaughter Kukri Knives can also net you over a grand if you sell them.

Moving onto the guns, the two Covert level skins in here give you the chance of owning weapons that go for over £800 in their Stat Trak Factory New variants. Even the lowest ones will still net you £50, while the lower-tier guns have a solid ROI that is much easier to acquire.

#7 - Gamma 2 Case

• Price: ~£1.59
• Best skins: Lore Knives, Gamma Doppler Knives

Coming in as a bit of a budget king is the Gamma 2 Case, which costs a measly £1.59 and gives you the chance to strike gold, both figuratively and literally.

While the AK-47 | Neon Revolution skin is a great pull, netting you around £44 for the FN version, the real draw here is the outstanding knives on display. Most of the golden Lore Knives are on offer here, alongside the extremely highly coveted Gamma Dopplers too.

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Pulling the right pattern on a Gamma Doppler could net you hundreds of thousands - not bad for investment under £2, even if the chances are exceedingly low.

#6 - Spectrum 2 Case

• Price: ~£1.15
• Best skins: AK-47 | The Empress, Butterfly Knife | Damascus Steel

While the Spectrum 2 Case might not have the sheer highs of the Gamma 2, it does have a wider range of solid to great options that make it more reliable to open in the long term.

Relying on the luckiest pulls isn't a great way to open or evaluate cases, so the larger number of decent options will make sure that you still make a profit - even if it is small.

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There are seven skins here that will either make you profit or mean that you break even, and the AK-47 | The Empress skin is definitely the best of the bunch outside of the knives.

#5 - Danger Zone Case

• Price: ~£0.50
• Best skins: AK-47 | Asiimov, Talon Knife | Fade

In terms of pure price to performance though, pretty much no case can match Danger Zone, with a number of skins that can more than make back the 50p you invested.

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The best of the bunch is definitely the AK-47 | Asiimov, which might just be my personal favourite skin in the entire game. Its white, orange, and black colourway is incredibly distinct and looks clean in any inventory.

Furthermore, while the knife options overall are quite weak, there are a few Fade variants that you can get - with the Talon Knife being the most valuable and best-looking of the bunch.

#4 -  Huntsman Weapon Case

• Price: ~£7.60
• Best skins: AK-47 | Vulcan, Huntsman Knives

The Huntsman Weapon Case is where we start to spend a bit more, but the increased investment is definitely worth it when it comes to the potential outcome.

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At the top of the bunch here is the AK-47 | Vulcan, which will net you £770 for the FN version alone - over £200 more than the most expensive knife too.

Like the Spectrum 2 though, the Huntsman Case shines in the number of skins that meet or exceed the price of the case, making an overall safe bet with huge upsides. Even the cheapest skins in the case are still worth at least £2, so you can use a bad pull to fund your next key.

#3 - Winter Offensive Weapon Case

• Price: ~£4.61
• Best skins: Karambit | Case Hardened, M9 Bayonet | Case Hardened

If you're feeling super lucky then there are a few better case choices than the Winter Offensive Weapon Case, as it houses some lovely Slaughter and Fade knife skins, alongside the mythologised Case Hardened options.

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The Karambit in particular holds the record of the most expensive bid on a skin due to its extremely desirable pattern. You'd be looking at just under £2,000 for a standard FN version, but the potential price skyrockets with the right look.

Outside of the knives, you're looking at a few great weapon skins like the M4A4 | Asiimov and AWP | Redline, but all but three options in this case will give you your money back so definitely give it a shot.

#2 - Operation Hydra Case

• Price: ~£14.35
• Best skins: AWP | Oni Taiji, Sport Gloves

There are loads of great skins to get from the Operation Hydra case, from the expensive Oni Taiji AWP to the respectable Cobra Strike Dual Berettas.

However, the main attraction here is definitely the different gloves on offer - particularly those within the Sport Gloves group.

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These options typically go for at least £1,000 in their worst form, and ones like Pandora's Box can stretch up beyond £11,000 even. I've opted for this over the Gloves Case due to the larger number of great 'common' items, as the likelihood of you getting a pair of gloves is indeed very low.

#1 - CS:GO Weapon Case

• Price: ~£68.90
• Best skins: AK-47 | Case Hardened, AWP | Lightning Strike

What better way to end than where it all began, as there is no other choice for the best CS2 case than the first one ever released in CS:GO.

A big part of the extortionate prices here is due to the rarity. The case's age means that there are not many left to open, and thus all of the skins included are much rarer, which makes all the common skins I got from this case back in the day even more painful in hindsight.

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At the top of the pack are the AWP | Lightning Strike and the AK-47 | Case Hardened, which will both net you at least £400 - with the Case Hardened giving the potential for hundreds of thousands if the right pattern is found.

You are, of course, running the risk of a big loss here - as the worst skins 'only' go for ~£15, but you can score pretty big so if you've got the cash to splash then why not?

What is the most profitable case in CS2?

In our eyes, the CS:GO Weapon Case is the most profitable option in CS2, giving you the best chance of pure profit despite the biggest potential loss.

This is unsurprising considering the case's gargantuan entry price, but this almost guarantees that you'll make a fair amount back, leaving you with little chance of a complete dud and a high chance of a profit.

Furthermore, the amount of profit on offer here is off the charts, with certain skins going for hundreds and even thousands, making the £67 cost of entry seem rather measly in the grand scheme of things.

It's not going to be one to open all of the time, but it's definitely one that you should try if you're really trying to hit big, as you never know what outcome you might get.

How do case odds work?

Each item rarity has a specific drop rate that's universal across every single case, meaning that you're - in theory - just as likely to get standard Shadow Daggers are you are to get a Lore Karambit.

This is independent of a weapon's specific durability, which can significantly change the sale value of just about every skin in the game - especially on the higher end.

Here are the individual case odds in CS2, as revealed by Skinport:

This means that, on average, eight out of every ten cases you open will result in a Mil-Spec item, which is often worth less than the price you paid to open it. This is where the benefits of cases like the Huntsman and Spectrum 2 come into play, as their low-end drops almost always let you break even.

With Exceedingly Rare Special items - otherwise known as Knives or Gloves - occupying a drop rate of 0.26% though, don't hedge your bets on getting one on a regular basis. Many players go through hundreds, if not thousands of cases without ever hitting the Gold jackpot, as the odds here are exceedingly against you.

Make sure to check out our Counter-Strike homepage for more guides like this, with tips on the best crosshair codes, the best settings, and Dust2 grenade spots to help you climb the ranks.