Huntsman Knife Case Hardened: Blue Gem Seed Patterns
During 2014, Valve released a new update to Counter-Strike 2 called ‘The Hunt Begins’, introducing the Huntsman Case, and with it, a new knife as a rare drop called the Huntsman Knife. Ever since its release, it has been considered a mid-tier knife, with some calling it the successor to the Gut Knife, with which it shares its equip animation.
The unique design of the blade is the highlight of the knife, which rivals the blade of the M9 Bayonet. The addition of a rare equip or inspect animation could perhaps have raised its demand, but it seems a foregone conclusion as things stand now. Over the past couple of years, as the player base for CS2 has risen, the popularity of the Huntsman Knife seems to have gained some ground, with prices on an uptrend for most of the finishes that this knife comes in. Although the costliest variants for the Huntsman Knife have been the various phases of the Doppler and Gamma Doppler finishes, the most expensive finish for the knife is the #1 Blue Gem Case Hardened seed pattern #618.
So what makes this pattern of the finish so particularly pricey, even though the Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald variants of the Doppler finish already look so sick and are extremely rare? With this article, we will help you understand everything there is to know about the Case Hardened skins, what makes them unique, why they are so rare, why they are so talked about, and what makes them so expensive, so that when you are going out to buy one for yourself, you know exactly what to look for.
Ranked List Of Huntsman Knife Case Hardened Patterns
Before we go into the finer details, let’s begin by understanding what the Case Hardened seed patterns are. This little exercise will help you get some important insights if you want to know the value of a Huntsman Case Hardened that you currently own, or that you are looking to buy or trade. Below is a comprehensive list of all Blue Gem seed patterns for the Huntsman Knife. The patterns are divided into separate tiers, some valued more, some valued less. Before we get into the nuances of these, take a look at this index:
| Group | Pattern Seeds |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 618, 652, 721, 29 |
| Tier 2 | 770, 494, 702, 838, 881, 505, 891, 306, 638, 798, 248, 576, 283, 112, 371, 917, 130, 575 |
| Tier 3 | 56, 73, 707, 868, 919, 108, 72, 844, 182, 497, 428, 458, 153, 629, 255, 741, 927, 703, 147, 609, 858, 749, 330, 488, 510, 34, 839, 867, 631, 61 |
| Tier 4 | 557, 379, 671, 464, 528, 424, 854, 502, 398, 426, 780, 699, 664, 468, 630, 38, 782, 587, 841, 188, 222, 612, 8, 823, 976, 547, 116, 411, 657, 643, 788, 898, 95, 808, 10, 989, 916, 811, 367, 282, 633, 761, 902, 414, 92, 358, 776, 830, 694, 809, 853, 114, 899, 311, 768, 964, 334, 376, 658, 883, 806, 18, 27, 704, 280, 499, 553, 961, 522, 156, 335, 262, 445, 457, 716, 965 |
The index is comprised of different tiers, numbered 1-4, each with various seed patterns. Tier 1 patterns are those which have the highest amount of the Blue stain from the Case Hardened pattern and thus are the most sought and expensive. Patterns in the second tier have a lesser amount of blue than the first tier, but are still considered to be good and demand high overpay. Tier 3 and 4 patterns typically have fewer amounts of blue stains on the weapon surface, and skins with these patterns generally have their prices closer to the actual market value.
What Is The Case Hardened Finish?
The Case Hardened finish was one of the first skin finishes released in CS2 in 2013 with the Arms Deal update, initially for the AK-47, and the first 5 knives that came with the case as a rare drop. Its popularity quickly arose, and within a short span of time, every player seemed to want to get their hands on one.
The pattern for the Case Hardened finish comes from a pre-designed color sheet, which has a variety of mottled colors which include blue, purple, and a dull gold, spread on a grayish base. A cookie-cutter method is utilized to transfer the pattern from this color sheet to a particular weapon, which results in all 1000 available patterns being distinct from each other.
Patterns with a higher amount of blue on the playside of a skin tend to be valued the highest. They also tend to generate considerable overpay premiums. Patterns with lesser amounts of blue and greater amounts of gold and gray tend to stay closer to the market value of the skin.
The wear condition does not have as influential an impact with Case Hardened skins as it does with other finishes. Whereas other skins usually have scrapes and abrasions on their surface which tend to damage the original design, higher floats such as Field-Tested and above on Case Hardened skins only result in darker stains on the pattern, with no other wear and tear.
What Inspired The Case Hardened As a Weapon Finish In CS2?
In the early days of mass manufacturing of guns, gun manufacturers were faced with a problem where the guns they made were prone to breakdown during battles, and susceptible to damage from impacts. The cause was determined to be the steel being too brittle as a result of possessing low carbon content. The manufacturers decided to come up with a way to get past this hurdle, and so came up with an ingenious method of adding carbon to their steel.
The solution laid in simple biology. They rounded up charcoal, animal bones, hooves, and hides which could be had for cheap and put them together with the steel to be used for making the guns, sealed them together in a tight container made of strong materials such as ceramic, referred to as ‘the case’, and then heated everything to very high temperatures. The resulting heat would start to vaporize and release carbon. The carbon would bond with the surface of the steel, acting as a shell, and thus ‘hardening’ it. And this is how case hardening of metals was developed. The hot steel would immediately be submerged in water, sometimes with chemicals, to quench it. The distinct discoloration on the surface of the metal was caused by the mixed organic matter, which is the same as that used in the color sheet of the Case Hardened pattern in CS2.
What Is a Blue Gem Case Hardened Skin?
Blue Gems are the tier 1 seed patterns from the Case Hardened finish, where the majority of the weapon’s playside surface is covered in the blue stain from the Case Hardened color sheet. For most knives, a playside surface that is more than 90% covered in the blue stain is crowned a tier 1 Blue Gem. However, this may not always be the case, as some knives with larger blades, such as the Bowie and the Huntsman cannot cover the entirety of it in blue. Blue Gem patterns stand to be the rarest in the game and garner considerable overpay above the average market value.
How Valuable Are These Blue Gem Skins?
There are a number of factors that determine the value of a particular Blue Gem. In other words, not every Blue Gem is equal in value. For each weapon in the game, such as the AWP, the AK-47, the Gloves, and the Knives, we have what is commonly referred to as tiers. These are more or less guidelines agreed upon by the vast majority of the player base as to which skin for a particular weapon is the best, which ones are average, and which ones to steer clear from, with minor differences. The same applies to the in-game knives, and similarly, the same goes for their Blue Gem variants. For instance, a Navaja is a low-tier knife, and its Blue Gem variant may be worth less than USD 4k, while that of a Huntsman, which is a mid-tier knife, may have a Blue Gem variant valued at USD 20k.
But even though the value of Blue Gems varies depending on which knife they are on, the fact remains that these patterns are the rarest in CS2, even in comparison to the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald phases of Doppler skins. This can be substantiated by the fact that Tier 1 patterns for a skin are hardly ever seen listed on third-party markets, owing to their rarity. These patterns are usually part of private collections, are the most expensive variant for any skin, and more often than not have their price run in the tens of thousands of dollars. It has been estimated that it takes close to 3.7 million unboxings for a #1 Blue Gem knife to drop.
The most highly valued Blue Gem is that for a Karambit in Factory New condition with the #1 seed pattern #387, owned by a Chinese skin collector. Initially bought for USD 100k, the collector has listed its sale price to be USD 1.5 million.
How Much Is a Blue Gem Huntsman Knife Worth?
The Tier 1 Case Hardened patterns for the Huntsman Knife may cost anywhere between USD 15-20k, according to historical price data. The #1 Blue Gem Case Hardened seed pattern #618 in Well-Worn condition is currently owned by Krieke, a renowned Belgian skin collector who has a large number of Blue Gem skins of different weapons in his collection. Except for the #1 Blue Gem pattern #618 mentioned above, the rest of the patterns from tiers 1 and 2 may be slightly more affordable and have even been seen listed on third-party marketplaces from time to time, around the same cost as a top-tier Doppler knife.
How Can I Get a Blue Gem Huntsman Knife?
There are a number of methods you can employ to find a Blue Gem seed pattern for the Case Hardened finish of the Huntsman Knife:
- Browsing Third-party Marketplaces: These are your best bet since there are many to choose from and each market has multiple listings. It won’t be long till you come across a decent Tier 2 or even a great Tier 1 pattern.
- Steam Community Market: A tier 2 Case Hardened seed pattern will most likely be well below the Steam Community Market price cap of USD 2k, and therefore, the SCM becomes a viable place to find one.
- Reaching Out: Alternatively, you can reach out to members of the CS2 community on various online forums to ask around and see if anyone owns the pattern you are looking for, and then possibly make a one-on-one trade with them.
- Unboxing: This is the method least advised at this stage for a number of reasons. As mentioned previously, trying to unbox a top Blue Gem Case Hardened knife may take millions of case unboxings, and even then, nothing is guaranteed. The only weapon case the Case Hardened Huntsman Knife comes in is the Huntsman Case, which at the moment of writing has only around 2k listings on the SCM. With such low availability and prices running upwards of USD 10 per case, and factoring in the cost of the key, it would be a gamble akin to Russian Roulette, except that your wallet might end up taking the bullet. Either way, although the unboxing option is available, we advise to steer clear of this path.
Huntsman Knife: Case Hardened
The Huntsman Knife with the Case Hardened finish is an overall good investment at the moment since the weapon case it comes in has few quantities available. As the chance of unboxing one diminishes with each passing day, the price trend is only going to move upwards. The Huntsman Knife Case Hardened comes in all wears starting from Factory New (0.00) to Battle-Scarred (1.00). With higher wear, the colors of the Case Hardened pattern turn a few shades darker, but the wear value has no other noticeable side effect. Check out the market listings available for this finish and see if you can find the pattern you want at an affordable rate:
Concluding Remarks
We hope that you now have an in-depth understanding of the Blue Gem Case Hardened patterns in general, and can make a sound decision in your trading, selling, or buying decision when it comes to Case Hardened pattern finishes. These patterns are the hardest to come across or unbox, which is why they get so much attention from everyone, from professional players to YouTube influencers, from skin collectors to regular players. Having said that, you may still be able to find a Huntsman Knife at a good price, if you give it some time and effort.
