CS2 Service Medal Explained: Colors, Ranks & Why You Can’t Trade It (2026)
By Ryxens · Published · Updated
Short answer: a CS2 service medal is a free yearly profile trophy you earn by playing, not by buying or opening anything, and it’s the one profile cosmetic on this site that can’t be traded, gifted, or sold. Hit Profile Rank 40 (Global General, roughly 172,000 XP) and you can claim that year’s medal, resetting your rank in the process. Do that again in the same calendar year and the medal’s color upgrades, up to six resets for the top red tier, before the whole thing resets to a new design on January 1.
What a CS2 service medal actually is
Answer: a permanent, account-bound trophy that shows how much you played in a given year, earned purely through XP from official game modes like Premier, Competitive, Deathmatch, and Wingman. There’s no purchase involved anywhere in the process.
That makes it the odd one out compared to nearly everything else covered on this site. Charms come from capsules, pins come from capsules or the market, but a service medal only comes from playing, and once you have one it stays locked to your account. It cannot be traded, gifted, or sold through Steam by design, unlike a pin, see our CS2 pins guide for the tradeable version of a similar profile-trophy idea.
How the Rank 40 reset and color tiers work
Answer: reaching Profile Rank 40 unlocks the option to claim your medal, and claiming it resets your profile rank back to the start. Do that reset again before the year ends and the medal’s color climbs a tier.
| Reset count this year | Medal tier |
|---|---|
| 1st reset | Base tier (a plain tone, called gray by some guides and white by others) |
| 2nd reset | Green |
| 3rd reset | Blue |
| 4th reset | Purple |
| 5th reset | Pink |
| 6th reset | Red (highest) |
Reaching Rank 40 six separate times in one calendar year to hit red takes real, consistent playtime, this isn’t something you back into by accident. Every December 31st the clock resets, whatever tier you landed on for that year is locked in permanently on your profile, and January 1st brings a brand new medal design tied to the new year. A 2024 red medal and a 2025 red medal are two separate items, neither carries over or upgrades the other.
Does a service medal do anything besides sit on your profile
Answer: no. It has zero effect on matchmaking, competitive rank, or gameplay of any kind, it’s purely a visible record of how much you played that year.
It also isn’t automatically shown, your profile can only display one trophy item at a time, and a service medal competes for that same single slot against pins and Major or Veteran coins, see our CS2 pins guide for how that one-slot display rule works and what else it applies to. If you’ve got a red service medal and a rare pin, you’re picking one to actually show.
FAQ
Can you buy or trade a CS2 service medal?
No. Service medals are earned purely through playtime and XP, never purchased, and they’re permanently account-bound. They cannot be traded, gifted, or sold through Steam.
How do you get a CS2 service medal?
Reach Profile Rank 40 (Global General), roughly 172,000 XP earned from official game modes, then claim the medal, which resets your profile rank. Doing this again within the same year upgrades the medal’s color tier.
What are the CS2 service medal color tiers in order?
Six tiers per year, from a base tone through green, blue, purple, pink, and red at the top. Each tier requires reaching Rank 40 and resetting again within the same calendar year, so red requires six resets total.
Does a service medal carry over to the next year?
No. Every January 1st brings a new medal design tied to that specific year. Your previous year’s medal stays on your profile permanently, but it’s a separate item from the new year’s medal.
Where to go next
See our CS2 pins guide for the tradeable profile trophy that shares a service medal’s single display slot, and our CS2 charms guide for how the site’s other purely cosmetic, non-competitive items work.
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