Best Valorant Knife Skins: Prices and Rarity (2026)

Melee skins are the most expensive cosmetics in Valorant and the least useful — you cannot shoot with them. That is precisely why people buy them: a knife is pure statement, and the community treats them accordingly.

There are around 170 melee skins in the game, and they range from 1,750 VP to 5,950 VP. Understanding that range is the difference between buying well and buying the most expensive thing in the store by accident.

The price tiers, and what they mean

1,750 VP — basic. No unique animations, simple models. Examples: Luxe Knife, Smite Knife, Reverie Sword, Fortune’s Scepter, Intergrade Blade, Storm Maw Axe, Switchback Ascender. These exist to fill a store slot, not to impress anyone.

2,550 VP — budget with personality. Odd shapes and decent models: Wasteland Crowbar, Aperture Stiletto, Kaimana, Prism, Catrina, Titanmail Mace, Chromedek Gauntlet. This is the honest sweet spot if you want a knife that looks like something without spending premium money.

3,550 VP — the popular middle. Xenohunter Knife, Black.Market Butterfly Knife, Minima Karambit, Neptune Hook, Wonderstallion Hammer, Prime//2.0 Karambit, Oni Claw, Reaver Knife, Sovereign Sword. Most of the knives people actually like sit here.

4,350 VP — premium. RGX 11z Pro Karambit, RGX 11z Pro Firefly, RGX 11z Pro Blade, Singularity Butterfly Knife, Reaver Karambit, Mystbloom Kunai, Helix Daggers, E.XO Edge, Araxys Bio-Atomizers. Full animation sets and colour variants.

4,950 VP — Ultra. Elderflame Dagger, Evori’s Spellcaster, Protocol 781-A’s Personal Administrative Melee Unit. The Ultra tier is about spectacle — a transforming dragon claw, a spellbook, a robot arm.

5,350 to 5,950 VP — Exclusive and collectible. Kuronami no Yaiba, Onimaru Kunitsuna, Waveform, the entire Champions line, VCT LOCK//IN Misericórdia (5,440), the VCT Karambit (5,850), and Power Fist at 5,950 VP — the most expensive knife in the game since April 2023.

Price is not rarity, and this is where people waste money

Two knives prove the point.

The most expensive is the RDS Power Fist at 5,950 VP. Expensive, yes. Rare? Not especially — it appears in Featured Store rotations.

The rarest is the Kingdom Knife, which cost nothing. It was the reward from Valorant’s very first Battle Pass in Episode 1 Act 1, required roughly 1.3 million XP, and has never returned in any form. You cannot buy it at any price.

Then there is the Champions line: Champions 2021 Karambit, 2022 Butterfly Knife, 2023 Kunai, 2024 Blade, 2025 Butterfly Knife, 2026 Fan. Each sold only during its VCT event window, and Riot has stated they do not return to the rotating store. They are the only melee skins where “buy it now or never” is literally true.

The butterfly knives, specifically

Butterfly knives are the most requested melee category, and the options split cleanly by budget:

• Black.Market Butterfly Knife — 3,550 VP. The cheapest proper butterfly, and the reason this section exists. Clean, no spectacle.
• Singularity Butterfly Knife — 4,350 VP. Transparent internals and a black-hole finisher.
• Reaver Butterfly Knife — 5,350 VP. Purple energy, top-tier animations.
• RGX 11z Pro Firefly — 4,350 VP. The brightest of the group, with a spectacular open animation.
• Champions 2022 Butterfly Knife — 5,350 VP. Event-only, and the one collectors actually chase.

If you want a butterfly knife and nothing else matters, the Black.Market at 3,550 is the value answer. Everything above it buys animation quality rather than function — and there is no function.

Karambits, if you prefer the spin

Minima Karambit — 3,550 VP, RGX 11z Pro Karambit — 4,350 VP, Reaver Karambit — 4,350 VP, Prime//2.0 Karambit — 3,550 VP, and the Champions 2021 Karambit — 5,350 VP which is unobtainable and therefore the status symbol of the category.

How to buy a knife sensibly

Set a ceiling before you open the store. Knives are the one cosmetic where the expensive option is not better at anything. A 3,550 VP knife animates almost as well as a 5,350 VP one.

Do not chase Champions knives after the window. There is no secondary market. If you missed it, it is gone.

Wait for the Night Market. Premium and below is the band that appears there, which covers most of the 3,550–4,350 VP knives listed above.

Remember the knife you never use. You see your melee for a few seconds per round. You see your rifle for the whole round. If you are deciding where the budget goes, the rifle wins — see best Vandal skins and best Phantom skins.

Related

For store mechanics, Radianite upgrades, Kingdom Credits and how the Night Market works, see skins and economy.