Best Models and Patterns of New CS2 Charms. First Community Charms and Why They’re Better Than VALVE’s Versions.
In early October 2025, the developers rolled out a long-awaited update that didn’t quite meet the community’s expectations. The main “gift” from the developers for CS2’s birthday was an update to items in The Armory Pass, where we received two new charm collections. The Missing Link Community collection featured designs from the community in the familiar “sausage” form factor, while Dr. Boom introduced new bomb-shaped charms designed in VALVE’s office. In this article, we’ll discuss which series turned out more successful and review the most original and interesting pieces.
Why Can't VALVE Get It Right?
At first glance, the new charm version looks much more interesting than the usual “sausages.” An accessory shaped like a fragmentation grenade seems more compact and logical (fitting CS lore). However, after looking at the community versions of charms, it became clear that the issue isn’t the form factor at all, but the design. Those very “sausages” hated by many look very fresh, and many associations and ideas immediately come to mind about where they could look great and complement a skin’s appearance.
After all, that’s exactly what these accessories are created for – to diversify and give a second life to skins that have already gathered dust in inventories and on the Steam marketplace. The community knows better than developers what will resonate with the audience, while VALVE just stamps out items without any soul.
The main complaint about the Dr. Boom collection is its incredibly absurd size, which sometimes looks bulkier than the weapon itself. If the developers don’t release some update in the near future to reduce their size, we doubt these charms will be frequent guests on weapons. But it’s not all hopeless, so let’s move on to reviewing the best charms from the new collections that seemed most original to us.
Lil' Smokey
The charm in the form of a smoldering cigar is extremely realistic, and we immediately see several advantages of this item. The first and most obvious is that the sausage shape is absolutely unnoticeable here and takes on the more brutal appearance of a cigar. This resonates much more strongly with the lore of our favorite game and will look more than natural on terrorist weapons. Next is the smoldering effect, which we could see on paper stickers from BLAST Austin Major. Just imagine this combination and mentally transfer it to nighttime Ancient. You may disagree, but for us this is definitely a banger! The charm also has different glow colors (depending on the pattern), which expands the pool of skins where you can attach it without losing the realistic appearance of the cigar.
Lil' Happy
How often do you chat in Steam private messages? If you use this functionality from time to time, you definitely should remember the :steamhappy: emoji. This funny face ended up on the Missing Link Community charm. We love such stories with references, and the authors themselves are especially pleased when the community notices them. This charm is unlikely to become a hit, but we couldn’t ignore it either. The charm itself is quite bright and has a fairly diverse color palette, where the original yellow color of the emoji might even get “rare” status that collectors will chase after.
Lil' Moments
We’re not leaving the theme of “references” and draw attention to a charm in the form of a retro-style photo camera. Seems like nothing special, but people who witnessed the entire development cycle of social networks and the emergence of new services will definitely remember Instagram’s original icon. For many, adding this charm to the “best” category will seem strange, but any design should evoke emotions and feelings, and here it’s implemented one hundred percent.
Piñatita
A charm in the form of a Piñata – a large hollow toy filled with small gifts, sweets, confetti, and other children’s joys. The main feature of the charm is its unusual shape with a “fluffy” effect and, of course, a gorgeous cold gradient. The charm’s coloring strongly reminded us of the Ice Coaled skin collection. If you have this skin in your inventory, you simply must complement it with this accessory.
Eye of Ball
Let’s take a break from familiar designs and switch to novelties in the fragmentation grenade shape. It turned out that the round body of the charm resembles not only a grenade but also an eye, which was very interestingly implemented in this design. Unlike many charms from VALVE, an original idea is noticeable here, which, although it looks obvious, can’t be found in most specimens. It’s worth noting that the variety of patterns is also done tastefully and integrated into the pupil color. It’s nice that the developers didn’t vulgarize the interesting idea and didn’t give us red, blue, and green eye whites.
Lil' Boo
This charm has one fundamental thing that the vast majority of all charms in the game lack – minimalism. Many people associate charms with tackiness, but even avid haters can’t say that this specimen will ruin the appearance of any skin. Black and white design with a light pearlescent effect… Wait, we’ve already seen this in the Printstream collection! Pay attention to the ghost’s eyes in the form of “XX” – these are literally the same “XX” from the Printstream design. For many, this weapon is the style standard, and we see a huge number of examples where it went beyond our community and is used in custom clothing, shoes, mousepads, and even devices. All this speaks to popular recognition, and it’s good that we received another item in the original design.
Lil' Hero
Everyone who first looked at this charm thought of a reference to Power Rangers, and such a “collaboration” evokes mixed feelings. At first it seems very cool, but then you start to doubt and try to understand what this has to do with CS2. We think the main success of the charm is in the incredible similarity of the form factor to the helmet and body of the Rangers themselves. The charm transformed from an ordinary sausage into a popular and cool character without even pressing a unique key combination on the Mystic Morpher. This is only possible in CS2!
Lil' Eldritch
The charm looks like an unknown boss in Elden Ring who got lost and somehow ended up in CS2. The gold polished body of the charm looks very expensive, and there’s no doubt that this is some kind of Secret item in every sense of the word. Once again, we’ll praise the authors for not spoiling the original concept, and all pattern changes only affected the eye color, as if the boss is transitioning to the next stages.
8 Ball IGL
Grenade and billiard ball. Of course, this association suggested itself even earlier than the thought of an eyeball charm. The black eight ball – we’re sure you’ve even seen such a charm in real life, so it was bound to appear in CS2. As you know, this item has another image – it’s a magic prediction ball that will help get answers to any questions. What question concerns you most at the beginning of each round? Which site to play? If you have this item on your weapon, just shake it and it will help make a decision, displaying “B, A or MID” on the mini-screen. Despite all the community’s enthusiasm, a similar idea was already implemented in the game – Sticker | Rush Prediction Ball (lenticular). Therefore, we recognize that the charm is certainly cool, but we don’t see anything “groundbreaking” in it.
Butane Buddy
Most ideas would have been impossible to implement on the old engine, and this charm is another proof of why VALVE needed to transition to Source 2. A charm in the form of a lighter that has a completely transparent glass body and colorful liquid with incredibly realistic pouring physics. This item truly inspires admiration, and the variety of patterns in the form of different colors and amounts of liquid in the lighter is the delicious cherry on top. This is definitely the charm that absolutely everyone will hunt for and will undoubtedly become the most expensive item in its category.
Author: Alex
Alex is an author and esports observer with more than seven years of experience. He specializes in analyzing new releases in the world of computer games, gaming services, and in-game economies. Alex shares practical experience and an expert perspective on the development of gaming, helping readers understand complex mechanics and stay up to date with the latest news.
