What is the Counter-Strike 2 Armory?

Counter-Strike 2’s latest October 2, 2024 update takes advantage of the game’s robust skin market with brand new cosmetics. Collectors will enjoy live stickers, several fresh skin sets, community-designed items, and more. Weapon charms will also allow for more in-depth customization than ever before, and players will be able to exchange newly released items in the Armory for Experience Passes! Here’s everything we know about the Armory, how to access it, what items it contains, and how it could impact the Counter-Strike community.

The Counter-Strike 2 Armory contains a variety of items and cosmetics that players can only purchase with Armory Credits. According to the official release notes it contains “over 100 new items: three new weapon collections, a new weapon case, stickers and (…) brand new weapon charms.” Players earn Armory Credits that they can use to redeem these new items through an experience pass mechanic known as the Armory Pass.

Players can access the Counter-Strike 2 Armory through the in-game store. After the update, a dedicated Armory tab should appear, located in the upper right corner of the store. Here, users have access to a dedicated section where they can browse items and decide to purchase them with Credits/Armory Stars.

The Counter-Strike 2 Armory update adds a ton of fresh cosmetics to the game. Contains community-designed items, new crates and unique stickers. The patch also introduces weapon charmswhich players can place anywhere on their weapons!

According to the official notes, here’s how you equip Charms:

New items in the Armory:

In addition to new items, the Armory adds several new mechanics. Players can now view sticker scratches for accurate placement. Each player also has three complementary weapon amulet squads for each amulet purchased. If these run out, they will have to purchase more weapon charm units. For the full list of Armory skins, check out the official release notes here.

Players can use the in-game Armory Pass to earn credits and exchange them for Armory items. Armory Passes can only be purchased on Prime accounts. Passes are available in-game or via the website.

Once purchased, players can activate the Armory Pass and play the game to complete it with experience points. Players can activate up to five Armory Passes at a time, and upon completion they will receive Armory Credits/Stars. Each participating player immediately receives one free Armory credit/star, but must earn the rest.

Please note that players cannot sell or trade these passes on the Steam Marketplace!

The Counter-Strike community has mixed reactions to the launch of Armory. While many people are excited about the new cosmetics, others criticize the concept as “money-hungry” and putting profit over the needs of the community. Users of the Global Offensive subreddit are frustrated with this change and say one thing “$16 for a pass with no missions, just cosmetic crap? Not from me, man.” and another one calling for Valve’s plan to charge for weapon charm squads “diabolical.”

Players were also quick to notice the similarity between Charms and Valorant’s brothers-in-arms.

One of the main complaints from the community is the lackluster nature of the Armory Pass missions. The pass rewards hard play time, but does not include any unique operations or challenges. It also bears noticeable similarities to Battle Pass mechanics in other free-to-play games such as Overwatch 2 and VALORANT. X.com user Kevin laments: “At what point did CS decline so much to be practically the same as VALORANT?“