Paint Seed & Patterns Explained
How the 0-1000 paint seed works, which skins it matters on, and the famous seeds worth real money.
What the paint seed actually does
The paint seed (also called pattern index) is a whole number from 0 to 1000 rolled when the item is created, alongside the float. It seeds the placement of the skin's texture on the weapon model: where the pattern starts, how it is rotated and which part of the artwork lands on the most visible surfaces - the playside of a blade, the receiver of a rifle.
Like float, the seed is permanent. Unlike float, it is not a quality scale - seed 5 is not better than seed 900 by default. It only matters on skins whose texture varies meaningfully with placement.
Skins where the seed matters (and where it does not)
| Skin family | What the seed changes | Top outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Case Hardened | How much rare blue lands on visible surfaces | Blue Gem |
| Fade | How much of the full gradient is shown | High fade percentage |
| Marble Fade | How red, blue and yellow interleave | Fire & Ice |
| Crimson Web | Where and how many webs land | Centered triple web |
| AK-47 Aphrodite | Amount of pink wash on the body | Pink Dust |
| Most other skins | Effectively nothing visible | No premium |
On uniform finishes (solid colors, repeating camo patterns, printstream-style designs) every seed looks the same and carries zero pattern premium. The seed economy lives entirely on the randomized-texture skins above.
Famous seeds every trader knows
- AK-47 Case Hardened seed 661 - the "scar pattern" Blue Gem, the most famous seed in the game. Top-condition examples have drawn six and reportedly seven figure offers.
- AK-47 Case Hardened seeds 670, 955, 179 and 387 - the rest of the Tier 1 blue gem shortlist.
- Karambit Case Hardened seed 387 - the legendary Blue Gem Karambit; its owner reportedly declined offers above one million dollars.
- Crimson Web knives with a clean centered web on the playside (best seeds vary per knife model) multiply the price of an otherwise identical knife.
- AK-47 Aphrodite seeds 110, 423 and 869 - Tier 1 Pink Dust.
FloatSkins automatically checks every listing against known special-seed lists and labels Blue Gem, Pink Dust, Fire & Ice and Doppler phases right on the item - you do not need to memorize seed tables.
How tier lists work (and their limits)
Pattern tier lists are maintained by collector communities, not by Valve. A Tier 1 ranking means the community agrees the seed produces the best-looking result on that specific weapon. Two important caveats:
- Tiers are weapon-specific. Seed 661 is the AK blue gem; the same seed on a different gun maps the texture differently and may be worthless.
- Lists differ slightly between sites at the lower tiers. The headline seeds (Tier 1) are universally agreed; Tier 3 and below get fuzzy.
When a pattern matters, always verify with screenshots of the actual item, not just the seed number - float and sticker placement change the final look too.
How to check a seed
- Every FloatSkins listing shows the paint seed in Item Details, with known patterns labeled next to it.
- FloatDB lets you search items by exact paint seed - useful for hunting a specific pattern across millions of indexed items.
- In game, inspecting shows the look but not the number; third-party inspect tools decode it from the inspect link.
See float and patterns on real listings - 1% seller fee, 0 buyer fees.
More in SkinsWiki
Float Value & Wear Explained
What float is, how it is generated, float caps, and exactly how it moves a skin's price.
Doppler Phases: Ruby, Sapphire, Black Pearl & Emerald
The exact paint indexes behind every phase, how rarity works, and the price ladder from Phase 3 to Sapphire.
Fade, Marble Fade & Case Hardened
Fade percentage, true Fire & Ice, and per-weapon Blue Gem tiers - the three pattern economies in depth.