Every Prime account in CS2 can get free items once a week: a care package with four rewards, of which you keep two. It is the only way to get cases without paying for them. Here is how to earn it, when it resets, what can be in it and what to do with what you get.
How the care package works
- Prime only. Accounts without Prime Status get no weekly drops.
- Rank up once. Your first profile rank-up of the week, worth 5,000 XP, unlocks the care package.
- Pick two of four. The package shows four rewards. You choose two, and they go straight to your inventory.
- One per week. Later rank-ups that week give nothing extra.
- Use it or lose it. The week resets every Wednesday at 01:00 UTC. A package you did not earn or claim before then is gone.
XP comes from official matchmaking: Premier, Competitive, Wingman, Deathmatch and Casual all count. XP is boosted at the start of each week, so the first matches after the reset get you to the rank-up fastest.
What can be in it
The four options are drawn from the active drop pool: weapon skins, cases and, since 2025, Terminals. The update of 22 September 2026 added one more option: a chicken egg. PC Gamer and other outlets found that picking the egg uses both of your choices for that week. The egg, its feed and the chicken cannot be traded or sold, as we covered in our Rush Hour update article.
Knives and gloves never come from the weekly drop directly. To get one you still have to open a case or a Terminal, or use the knife trade-up.
Which cases drop now
Valve does not publish an official drop table. According to CSDB, the cases in the active pool are:
| Case | Rare items |
|---|---|
| Fever Case | Knives (Nomad, Paracord, Skeleton, Survival) |
| Gallery Case | Kukri Knife |
| Kilowatt Case | Kukri Knife |
| Revolution Case | Gloves |
| Dreams & Nightmares Case | Knives (Butterfly, Bowie and others) |
Older cases such as the Chroma or Bravo cases no longer drop. Their supply only shrinks, which is why they cost more on the market than active-pool cases. Terminals work differently from cases: you get offers instead of opening it with a key, as explained in our Terminals guide.
Keep, open or sell?
A dropped case is not a free knife. Opening one still needs a key, which costs $2.49 according to CSDB, and Valve’s published odds give a knife or gloves 0.26% of the time. About four in five openings give a blue Mil-Spec skin, usually worth less than the key.
That is why many players sell their drops. Active-pool cases usually sell for under a dollar each on the Steam Market, but they add up, and the money stays in your Steam wallet for something you actually want. If you want to see what a case gives before spending a key, open it for free in our case simulator.
The Armory Pass
The Armory Pass is a separate, paid option. It costs $15.99, needs Prime, and earns up to 40 Armory Stars through XP. Stars buy rewards, including current cases at a fixed star price. It does not replace the free weekly drop; you get both.
Get the most from your drop
- Play your matches early in the week, while the XP boost is active.
- Check the market price of all four options before you pick.
- Think twice about the chicken egg: it costs you both picks and cannot be sold.
- Claim the package before Wednesday 01:00 UTC.
