M4A4 Fake Howl Guide

This guide is intended to help out the select few that are interested in learning about the history of Fake Howls in addition to the buying, trading and selling of fake Howls.


A fake Howl is a M4A4 Radiation Hazard with a Howling Dawn sticker applied to it (In position 3).
The reason why the Howling Dawn sticker is so special when applied to the M4A4 Radiation Hazard in the correct position is because it vaguely resembles the original M4A4 Howl, but at a fraction of the cost!
The reddish stripes and hue of the Radiation Hazard mixed with the Howing Dawn sticker create a beautiful fake Howl and a small piece of CS:GO history that any player would be proud to own.

Why Are Fake Howls Rare?

Fake Howls are special because they utilize a sticker that is no longer obtainable in CS:GO. In 2014, The infamous M4A4 Howl was released in the Huntsman Case. Along with the Howl, a sticker using the same artwork was added to Sticker Capsule 1. This sticker is known as the Howling Dawn sticker.

Later that year in mid June, the skin became contraband after it was discovered the "artist" had actually stolen the image from another artist who filed a DMCA in regards to the stolen artwork. The art on the skin received a small change, was removed from the Huntsman Case, and became the only weapon skin in CS:GO to be assigned a "Contraband" rarity. As the Howling Dawn sticker used the same artwork, it was also changed and slapped with a contraband rarity as well as being removed from the Sticker Capsule 1. A handful of other stickers made by the same fellow who stole the artwork for the Howl were also removed from the Capsule.
Since this all happened over 6 years ago, and the sticker was only in the Capsule for a little over a month, few of them were un-boxed when compared to other stickers from early 2014. Even after they were removed they did not see widespread popularity due to their appearance and price point when compared to other stickers.

Within a year the price of these stickers shot up to a few hundred dollars, meaning less and less casual sticker crafts were being done. By mixing the expensive craft price of a sticker people thought was ugly onto one skin(Radiation Hazard) in one specific sticker slot(Pos. 3) means 'Real' Fake Howls were not crafted often in the years to come. This is especially true when you consider that a real FT Howl at this time only cost around $400.

The price of the Howling Dawn sticker stayed stable at around $200 for years until mid 2019 when it almost quadrupled in price. Solidifying it as a rare sticker that is almost never applied on any skin other than that of the highest tiers, and even then there were much better sticker combinations for $800 than a single Howling Dawn sticker.

How Rare are Fake Howls?

Fake Howls are decently rare. According to Csgofloat.com, there are only 74 of them spread among player accounts today. This amount is subject to change as more and more accounts become public or get scanned by Csgofloat.com. At the start of my obsession with Fake Howls around a year ago, there were only 63 accounted for.
Check for yourself if you're interested!
"Howl" Owners[csgofloat.com]

The Rarest Fake Howls are without a doubt Souvenirs' and Factory New Fake Howls.

Souvenir Howls are rare because the original nuke collection was discontinued in 2018, meaning they will never be dropped during majors or tournaments again. They also cannot be traded up to, So there are far fewer souvenirs than non-souvenirs. There are even less with Howling Dawn stickers which would require the owner of said souvenir to scrape off one of the 4 tournament stickers and replace it with an already expensive Howling Dawn sticker. Only 6/74 Fake Howls are souvenirs according to Csgofloat.com.
Factory New Fake Howls are very rare.
Like many other older skins the M4A4 Radiation Hazard has a Factory New float cap of .06, much like the famously hard to get skin the FN AK-47 Fire serpent. Acquiring the Radiation Hazard in Factory New is no easy feat. One would have to be extremely lucky with a trade up, or get very lucky drop in game in order to obtain a Factory New Radiation Hazard. Due to how rare FN Radiation Hazards can be, there are far fewer of them than any other wear range. At the time of writing this there are only 3 in the SCM with a starting price of $237. This is a big leap in quantity and price from the 32 MW Radiation Hazard in the SCM with the cheapest starting at a price of $44. Only 6/74 Fake Howls are in Factory new condition according to Csgofloat.com.
Most Fake Howls are often the inventories of niche collectors and traders, and switch hands rarely given their small supply and value to collectors.

Howling Dawn Sticker Position

The position of the Howling Dawn sticker makes a big difference when pricing a Fake Howl. The best slot for the sticker is position 3, right above the magazine. This position makes the sticker visible in game during regular play as well as placing the wolf head close to where it is on the original Howl.


The sticker in other positions does add value to the skin but not as much as position 3. Another reason why I feel people like position 3 is because in the other positions, it can affect the way the sticker looks due to the details on the weapon. It goes without saying that the 4th position or the stock position, is by far the worst as you cannot see the sticker unless you inspect the weapon in game.

Pricing Fake Howls

The prices for Fake Howls varies and is always changing depending on the seller and their knowledge of the skin they possess. I've had people quote me at 35% sticker price, and others have given me prices ranging from 8 arcs up to 13 arcs for FT-MW. As stated in the beginning of this guide when we were discussing the difference between MW and FN Fake Howls, FN Fake Howls are much rarer and thus much more expensive than MW Fake Howls and wont fall near the price points of FT/MW ones. Some people offer very interesting trades in order to buy or sell one of these special M4's.
FN and Souvenir Fake Howls are much harder to price as they are much rarer, expensive and are almost never sold on the market. A good place to start looking for more accurate prices is Reddits r/GlobalOffensiveTrade sub Reddit where they show up from time to time. For pricing on a FN or Souvenir version of a Fake Howl, it might be worth it to reach out to an owner of one of these legendary skins to find out more.



If you enjoyed this brief rundown of Fake Howls please rate this guide as it would make me very happy :)
if you have any other questions, additions or just want to tell me i'm wrong and dumb please feel free to message me anytime! I appreciate any feedback

[TheAmerican]

I like it, though at 2k currently, the sticker alone is still quite impressive

[Bit]

M4A4 | Cheap Howl
I like the ring of that, might have to rename it

[.]

WOW! I didn`t noticed this . M4A4 | Cheap Howl

[twitch.tv/Garuda]

ty