CS2 Weekly Drops and Terminals Explained: Care Package, Armory Pass and Cases

CS2 has four ways to get items from the game itself: the Weekly Care Package you earn by ranking up, sealed terminals that sometimes come in that package, the paid Armory Pass, and cases you open with a key. Everything else is trading. This guide covers how each one works, what it costs and when Valve changed it, from Valve's own release notes and the game's text.

The short answer

Way to get items	What you pay	What you get	Needs Prime
Weekly Care Package	Nothing: rank up once in the week	Your pick from four items: cases, skins, a sealed terminal or graffiti	Yes
Sealed terminal	The price of the offer you accept	One item from the terminal's collection, chosen from its offers	Only to get one from the package; sealed ones sell on the market
Armory Pass	The pass, in the in-game store	40 credits to spend on collections, a case, charms or stickers	Yes
Cases	The case plus a key ($2.49 in the US Steam store)	One random item, with published odds	No

Weekly drops: the Weekly Care Package

CS:GO had random weekly drops. CS2 changed that at launch. Valve's notes of 27 September 2023: "Replaced weekly drops with a weekly Care Package. Choose from weapon cases, weapon finishes, and graffiti."

How it works, from the game's own text:

1. You need Prime. The game says Prime Status is required to earn XP and weekly rewards.
2. The first time you rank up (earn an XP level) in a week, you get the package.
3. It shows four items. You claim with a balance of rewards, and some items take both of your rewards. An item that takes both is untradable.
4. A case from the package still needs a key you buy to open it.
5. Unclaimed rewards wait in the store, but they're lost once you earn your next package.

Which collections can drop

Valve's notes name the weapon collections it adds to and removes from the drop list. Since 2025 it has added Ascent, Boreal and Radiant (31 March 2025) and Harlequin and Achroma (21 January 2026), and removed eight older ones. Valve doesn't list which weapon cases are offered, or the older collections that were in the pool before 2025. Our CS2 drop pool page has the confirmed pool with today's price of every skin, the removed collections, and a picker that ranks the four items your package offers by value.

When does the weekly drop reset?

There is no fixed reset day or time we can source. Valve hasn't published one, and we found none in the game files (build 1.41.9.1). The game shows the time left to the weekly rollover instead: on the care package screen, and since 16 November 2023 in the reduced XP message in your profile tooltip. Check there rather than trusting a time from a forum post.

CS2 terminals: buying from Genesis and Dead Hand

Two collections don't drop as skins at all. Their items come through terminals, and the game's text (build 1.41.9.2) says you purchase them: "One item may be purchased from this Terminal." Valve's Dead Hand announcement words it the same way: "You can purchase Dead Hand Collection items from Dead Hand Terminals".

• Genesis Collection, 16 September 2025: 17 finishes from community contributors. Valve's notes: "Access items in the Genesis Collection via the Genesis Uplink Terminal, available as a weekly drop." The item is called Sealed Genesis Terminal in your inventory.
• Dead Hand Collection, 11 March 2026: 17 finishes plus 22 new gloves as rare special items, through the Dead Hand Terminal, also a weekly drop. In game: Sealed Dead Hand Terminal.

How a terminal works

From the game's own text and Valve's notes:

1. A sealed terminal is a normal item: it can be traded and sold on the market.
2. Unsealing it makes it non-tradable and non-marketable.
3. It then shows offers from its collection, one at a time. Each offer is a specific item with a price. The game says "Prices are global and adjusted automatically based on demand".
4. You can decline an offer to see the next one, up to a final offer.
5. You buy one item at most. Buying uses up the terminal.
6. The terminal and its offers expire, so an unsealed terminal won't wait forever.

Since 4 March 2026 you can set a max offer limit, and the game only shows offers up to that price. On 17 September 2025 Valve enabled unsealing of Sealed Genesis Terminals for customers in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

What a terminal costs

A terminal itself costs nothing if it comes from your care package; you only pay if you accept an offer. That's the main difference from a case: you see the exact item and its price before paying, and nothing is random once the offer is on screen. The trade-off is that you don't choose which items the terminal offers, and declining moves you toward the final offer.

Sealed terminals also sell on the market, so a care package terminal has a resale value of its own. Our drop pool page shows today's price of each sealed terminal next to every skin in its collection. That's the price of the chance to buy, not of a skin.

The Armory Pass and Armory Credits

The Armory opened on 2 October 2024. It's the paid route:

• You need Prime to buy a pass, in the CS2 in-game store. Valve doesn't print the price on its Armory page; the store shows it in your currency.
• Activate the pass in the Armory. Each pass unlocks 40 Armory Credits, and you make progress toward credits whenever you earn XP.
• Since 7 November 2024 there's no free first credit on activation: all 40 are earned by playing.
• Up to 5 passes can be active at once, and they progress together.
• Credits can't be bought or traded. Items you redeem can, after the 7-day trade and market hold Valve put on everything from the in-game store, trade offers and the market on 2 October 2024.

What credits buy right now

The list in the game's files (build 1.41.9.2, 22 October 2026):

Reward	Credits
Spy Tech Collection (one weapon skin)	4
Arabesque Collection (one weapon skin)	4
Overpass 2024 Collection (one weapon skin)	4
Fever Case	2
Dr Boom Charms	3
Missing Link Community Charms	3
Missing Link Charms	3
Small Arms Charms	3
Auto Racing Stickers	1
Fruits And Veggies Stickers	1
2025 Community Stickers	1

Valve hasn't published the odds inside an Armory collection, or how much XP one credit takes. Whether a pass pays for itself depends on today's skin prices: the Armory Pass calculator values every reward per credit against what a credit costs you.

How the Armory has changed

• 2 October 2024: launch with 3 weapon collections, 2 charm collections, 2 sticker collections, the Gallery Case and the Desert Eagle | Heat Treated.
• 7 November 2024: the first credit is no longer granted on activation.
• 15 January 2025: Heat Treated no longer available.
• 31 March 2025: Train 2025 Collection, the Fever Case and a Limited Edition XM1014 | Solitude added.
• 14 August 2025: M4A1-S | Solitude added as the Limited Time item.
• 1 October 2025: Dr Boom and Missing Link Community charms, 2025 Community and Sugarface 2 stickers added; the Gallery Case, Graphic Collection and Character Craft stickers removed.
• 21 January 2026: a Limited Edition AK-47 | Aphrodite added.
• 8 July 2026 (Season 5): Spy Tech and Arabesque weapon collections, Fruits & Vegetables and Auto Racing stickers added; Train 2025 and Sport & Field collections, Sugarface 2 and Elemental Craft stickers removed.

Valve hasn't said when the current rewards will rotate out. Most removals were announced in the same notes that made them; once, on 10 September 2025, Valve gave a "last chance" warning three weeks ahead.

Cases and keys

Cases no longer drop at random after matches. You get them three ways: as one of the four items in your care package, for 2 credits in the Armory (the Fever Case is the only one there now), or by buying them on the Steam Market. Every weapon case needs a key, which costs $2.49 in the US Steam store. Souvenir packages are the exception: they open without a key. In Germany and the Netherlands, containers open only through the in-game X-Ray Scanner, which reveals the item inside; keyless containers like Souvenir Packages are exempt (Valve's notes, 16 March 2026).

Every weapon case uses the same rarity odds. From the rules published for CS:GO in China in 2017, which we assume still apply in CS2, a knife or gloves comes up about 0.256% of the time, or 1 in 391 openings. (The 0.26% and 1 in 385 you often see are the same figure rounded up.) Each grade is five times rarer than the one below it.

• To see what a case gives back on average with the key, use the case calculator. At today's prices most cases give back less than they cost to open.
• To try any case without paying, open it in the case simulator.

Which route makes sense

• Rank up every week with Prime. The care package is free and it's the only way to get a sealed terminal without buying one. Check the four items on the drop pool page before you claim, because the difference in value between them can be large.
• Terminals suit you if you want a Genesis or Dead Hand item and the offer price is right. Set a max offer limit first.
• The Armory is worth it if you want the items themselves, or if the calculator shows the rewards beating the pass price.
• Cases are the most expensive route on average. If you only want one specific skin, buying it on the market costs less than opening cases for it.