One of Valve’s incentives to keep the Counter-Strike player base nice and healthy is the weekly drop system that rewards active players with free items. This feature benefits players who spend hours a week playing their favorite game.
If you’re looking to make use of the weekly drop system, it’s vital to get a complete understanding of how many CS:GO drops per week you can obtain from playing and what the possible contents are.
How The Weekly Drop System Works (Weekly Care Package)
Before figuring out how many drops you can get on a weekly basis, you should first learn how the system works.
In the past, players will only need to play a specific number of matches and will eventually receive a random drop. However, Valve changed the system to an entirely new one, revamping it to the “Weekly Care Package” system.
As you guessed, these Care Packages contain free item drops that can be claimed by players after they have met the requirements to receive one.
How Many CS:GO Drops Per Week Can You Get?
The name of the system already hints that you can only receive one Care Package every week, whereas you could receive multiple item drops when the previous system was still intact. However, don’t let this discourage you.
A Weekly Care Package contains four items: two graffiti sprays, one weapon case, and one weapon skin. These four item categories are guaranteed, but the item itself is completely randomized.
Players will have the ability to choose two of the four item drops in the Weekly Care Package. To answer the question, players can only receive two item drops per week, which can be obtained from a singular Weekly Care Package.
Normally, it is best to select the weapon case and weapon skin, as graffiti sprays are usually worth three cents or less.
How To Get Weekly Care Packages In CS:GO?
Like the previous drop system, the primary requirement to receive free items is to play Counter-Strike matches on official Valve servers. However, there were many flaws to the system which encouraged Valve to change the way players could get free item drops.
In this section of the article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about getting Weekly Care Packages.
Your Account Must Have Prime Status
The first requirement a player must meet before receiving free item drops is to have a Prime-protected CS:GO account.
The Prime Status can be obtained by purchasing the package from the in-game client or the official Steam Store. The Prime Status upgrade costs $14.99, but the price may slightly differ depending on the currency.
It is a one-time purchase, meaning you won’t be billed monthly subscriptions or anything like that.
Level Up Your Account To The Next Level
Here comes the primary requirement players must complete to receive their Weekly Care Packages.
To receive free item drops, players must level up their accounts. We’re not talking about ranking up your skill group; instead, we’re gaining XP points to reach the next level. The game will send a Weekly Care Package to a player every time they level up.
Leveling up in CS:GO is easy. All you have to do is play matches in CS:GO, but make sure you are on official Valve matchmaking servers! Any game mode works; Premier, Competitive, Wingman, Casual, Deathmatch, or Arms Race. Playing on community servers will not reward you with any XP points.
Gaining one level per week in CS:GO is not a difficult task. The speed at which you level up depends on how many matches you are playing, and performing well also gives you more XP points. Still, you can expect to level up from playing a few hours per week.
You can only receive a maximum of one Care Package a week. You can level up multiple times in a span of 7 days, but will not receive additional Care Packages until the week resets. Only your first level-up of the week will count.
When Do Weekly Care Packages Reset?
It’s important to know when the Weekly Care Package cycle resets every week so you can strategically prepare your next level-up.
Community members have learned that Weekly Care Packages are reset every Wednesday in European time zones. This means North American players should have their Care Package schedule renewed on Tuesday night.
Real grinders would purposely play until they have almost leveled up and wait until the new week. Once the weekly cycle has been reset, they will only have to play one or two Deathmatch games and level up, immediately receiving their Care Package.
However, if you are playing a couple hours of CS:GO everyday, you don’t have to worry about anything like this. Just keep playing and you will eventually gather enough XP points for your package.
What Items Can You Get From Drops?
Free items sound nice, but you might be thinking whether it is worth playing Counter-Strike only for the drops. Hopefully, this segment of the article will help you understand what to expect.
To recall, a Weekly Care Package contains four items:
- 2x random graffiti sprays
- 1x random weapon case
- 1x random weapon skin
You can only select two of the four items in the package. In terms of monetary value, it is more financially beneficial to select the weapon case and weapon skin almost every time.
The weapon skin you’ll get is random, but it will usually be white-tier skin worth less than ten cents. However, you might get lucky and receive rare weapon skin drops worth up to $100. Make sure to grind your Weekly Care Packages without missing a week to increase your chances.
Realistically speaking, the best way to profit off the item drop system is through weapon cases, especially when a new one has just been released. New cases can be worth a few dollars, which is not bad considering you’re getting them for free.
To be honest, the item drops from Weekly Care Packages aren’t worth much, and you shouldn’t grind CS:GO solely for the free item drops. The system is intentionally made to reward active Counter-Strike players who play for fun. The Care Packages are just a nice bonus to keep these players happy.