Hey everyone, it's time to talk about one of the most interesting skins ever added to Counter-Strike.
The XM Solitude uses features added with the addition of Heat Treated skins that allow its template to not only change position and rotation but also color and it uses it to the fullest.

I have gone through all 1000 available patterns of the XM Solitude multiple times in order to categorize and rank them in different ways and I will go over my ranking system. I tried to be as objective as possible but keep in mind that there are always edge cases and it's always important to be active and make your own judgments.

As usual, I have made a collectors group for the owners of the rarest XM Solitudes out there.
If you own one of the 16 golden patterns or one of the P1 sun patterns in either FN or MW come and join my XM Solitude Collectors group!

Tip: To search for a specific pattern in the guide press "Ctrl + F" and type the pattern seed.

Lets get into it :)

Color template

Before we get into the main template with its iconic mountains and sun let's first talk about how it's colored.
Usually the skin's template has static colors and the variations come from the position and rotation of the template. In addition, the XM Solitude has another important factor,
its template starts out uncolored and gets its coloring based on a color template.

The color template:

Case Hardening Ramp Offset

In order to pick colors from the color template the game uses a value called: "Case Hardening Ramp Offset".
"Case Hardening Ramp Offset" or in short - "Ramp Offset", is a number between 0 and 1 (just like a float value) and its value will be used to pick the colors from the color template in order to color the main template. The Ramp Offset value is attached to the pattern seed so that the same seed is always going to have the same colors.

Note: Keep in mind that the explanation above is simplified, the true math is far more complicated and uses more elements.

Here are some of the color variations the Ramp Offset can create using the color template:

Main color categories

Now that we have understood how the template gets colored - let's look at the main color categories based on their Ramp Offset ranges. Do keep in mind that the color is a gradient and the transition is always smooth so there is a gray area on the edges where it's hard to tell which category a certain coloring belongs to (it's not really a hard cutoff as presented below).

Ramp Offset ranges:

Golden patterns: 0.000 - 0.017
Defined by their yellow - golden outlines surrounding every element of the template with mountains that are black on one side and blue on the other, featuring a red sun above them - the Golden patterns are the rarest variant and the most desired by far.
Their very small Ramp Offset range makes them so rare that only 16 patterns out of all 1000 are Golden patterns and they vary very minimally in shading.



Green mountains patterns: 0.02 - 0.35
Green mountains patterns are characterized by green colored mountains that range from pale bright green to a dark green verging on blue with a contrasting red and orange sky.



Blue mountains patterns: 0.35 - 0.90
The blue mountains patterns feature dark to light blue mountains starting with a red sun that becomes brighter and more orange as the Ramp Offset gets higher.
The blue mountains are the most common variant having a very large Ramp Offset range.



White sun patterns: 0.90 - 1.00
Just like the previous category - white sun patterns also have blue mountains but with a brighter shade. What makes them stand out though is their bright yellow sun verging on white.
Being found on the very edge of the Ramp Offset range - White sun patterns are the second rarest variant.

Fire & Blood

If you paid close attention you might have noticed that there is a small range missing from the categories listed above.
Right between the Golden patterns and Green mountains patterns, the 0.018 and 0.019 ranges are missing.
The reason they are missing is that amongst all 1000 existing patterns, none of them landed on those ranges making them both non-existent and the rarest theoretically possible patterns in the game.
As mentioned before - the coloring of the template is a transition, thus, there must be a transition between the Golden patterns and the Green mountains patterns and that transition is very sharp and drastic.





Characterized by their red and orange outlines - these patterns are colored similarly to golden patterns but with outlines that make for very interesting and unique patterns. But if they are theoretical - how do we know how they would look like?

The 1001 patterns cap that every skin other than charms has, has been arbitrary chosen by Valve and not a technical limitation of any sort. This means that while patterns with these ramp offset ranges don't exists within the 1000 existing patterns (bonus points if you know why it's 1000 as opposed to the 1001 stated above ;) ), we can extend the patterns' range and see what they would look like and which patterns they would be if the cap wasn't there.
If we increased the range to 10,000 patterns - we would have some patterns that look like this:



To close off this section - let's see what we could get If we removed the limit completely:

Let's put the Ramp Offset (coloring) aside and look at the template's positioning.
A well positioned sun makes for the most sought after patterns but they are also the hardest to rank because they contain a lot of different elements that need to be balanced.

I tried my best to be as objective as I can and this section's goal is to show my criteria in order to reach that objectiveness.

Here are the 4 main elements that create a good sun pattern:



Whole sun:
Since the main part of a sun pattern is the sun itself - a good visible, whole sun is required for a good ranking.

Centered sun:
Like all patterns - when there is some element we want from a pattern template - we want it to be as central as it can be on the best, most visible part of the weapon.

Sky on top:
While the sky doesn't seem important at first, it plays an important role on the XM Solitude. When there is near to no sky - the mountains overshadow the sun and the pattern in general making it more of a mountains pattern than a sun pattern.

No bolt obstruction:
The XM's model has an unfortunate bolt placed near the center of the body. When that bolt obstructs the sun it's very visible and disrupting and so, while it's not the most important factor - I decided to prioritize patterns on which the sun is not covered by the bolt when ranking.

Tiers based on the criteria

Tier 1:
Criteria:
1. The sun must be centered.
2. The sun must be whole.
3. The sun must have sky above it.

Ranking within the tier:
The lower the sun is without being cut off - the better.
The more centered the sun is - the better.
Patterns with the sun obstructed by the bolt are worse.

Tier 2:
Criteria:
1. The sun must be whole or with minimal cutoff.
2. The sun must have sky above it.

Patterns are not ranked within this tier and are ordered numerically.

Tier 3:
Criteria:
1. At least half of the sun must be visible.

Patterns are not ranked within this tier and are ordered numerically.

Due to the Golden patterns' tiny Ramp Offset range they are by far the rarest. Out of all 1000 patterns only 16 of them have the Golden patterns' color scheme.
Because of that, I decided to put them all in one section (this section) and divide them within it into Sun, Mountains and Waves subsections.

Note 1: Every pattern in this section is ranked to the best of my abilities.
Note 2: Due to their very low quantity I allowed for a bit more leniency around the edge cases to be able to categorize them.

Ramp Offset range: 0.000 - 0.017

Sun patterns

Tier 1:
There is only one Golden pattern that fulfills the T1 criteria and it does so perfectly, making it the undisputed P1.

#95



Tier 2:
Like T1, there is only one pattern that fulfills the criteria for T2. whether the sun is too cut off for a T2 is arguable but since it's far better than T3 and is the only one - I decided to put it in T2.

#871



Tier 3:
#154 | #220 | #863



Note: #863's ranking is a bit problematic. #154 is a tiny bit better in height than #220 but they are very similar. #863, on the other hand, is very different and it's really hard to compare and tell if it's better or worse than the other two. From the information I gathered, people's opinions seem to vary on which is better so my final decision after looking at them for months now was to put #863 last. You may disagree - make your own judgement.

Tier 4:
This tier is only applicable to golden mountains patterns because I wanted to show all of them.
Patterns in this tier are sky dominant patterns that only have a sliver of the sun / suns left.

#112 | #304 | #533

Mountains patterns

Tier 1:
Once again there is only one pattern that fits in T1.

#379



Tier 2:

#180 | #652



The reason there is only one T1 pattern is because while #652 looks perfect from the side and #180 may look perfect when not looking closely enough - they are not:



Tier 3:
T3 patterns are mountain patterns that have big chunks of sun showing but are still mountains dominant. They approach sun patterns but don't have enough sun / sky showing.

#731 | #743



Note: While they are worse when it comes to mountains, their darker barrel may appeal to you more instead of having bright clashing clouds.

Waves patterns

The clouds at the base of the mountains look like waves hitting them - hence the name.
On different Ramp Offset ranges these patterns are very common and would be considered mixed and uninteresting but due to the rarity of golden mountains patterns - they are rather special.

Patterns:
#12 | #650 | #669



Patterns #12 and #650 are almost identical in height with pattern #12 edging #650 on the Y axis by only 0.003! (0-1 range). I think another cool detail about pattern #12 is the centered sun under the barrel.
#650 on the other hand is the pattern with the lowest Ramp Offset of all patterns with a value of, coincidentally, also 0.003.

The images of all Tier 1 patterns are shown due to color differences. Keep in mind that while the patterns are divided into color categories - the ranking within those categories is based on position alone and not a specific shade within that color (Ramp Offset) range.
If there is a specific shade you are looking for, go through the images.

Green patterns:

Ramp Offset range: 0.02 - 0.35

Tier 1:
#355 | #837 | #194 | #554 | #320 | #424 | #901


Note: #320 and #424 are more centered but are higher up and lack sky so they are ranked worse. #901 has a better position but the bolt covers a part of the sun so I moved it to the end.

Tier 2:
Ordered numerically:
#79 | #196 | #229 | #261 | #330 | #409 | #443 | #735 | #801 | #854 | #909 | #945 | #973

Tier 3:
Ordered numerically:
#11 | #68 | #98 | #126 | #199 | #218 | #223 | #306 | #367 | #387 | #466 | #470 | #474 | #479 | #541 | #543 | #594 | #620 | #660 | #773 | #912 | #921

Blue patterns:

Ramp Offset range: 0.35 - 0.90

Tier 1:
#913 | #800 | #33 | #105 | #333 | #997 | #135 | #717 | #815


Only #913 and #800 don't have a bolt covering the sun so they are first.

Tier 2:
Ordered numerically:
#36 | #89 | #91 | #99 | #133 | #147 | #173 | #258 | #305 | #311 | #395 | #437 | #585 | #602 | #621 | #655 | #694 | #732 | #924 | #930 | #979 | #984

Tier 3:
Ordered numerically:
#13 | #30 | #58 | #88 | #106 | #121 | #146 | #167 | #174 | #175 | #188 | #206 | #226 | #228 | #249 | #252 | #262 | #272 | #300 | #349 | #377 | #380 | #384 | #413 | #421 | #422 | #438 | #445 | #451 | #469 | #522 | #532 | #536 | #548 | #590 | #596 | #632 | #636 | #663 | #665 | #677 | #748 | #766 | #775 | #789 | #806 | #823 | #829 | #836 | #845 | #860 | #884 | #932 | #936 | #971 | #983 | #986

White sun patterns:

Ramp Offset range: 0.90 - 1.00

Tier 1:
#948 | #225




Tier 2:
Ordered numerically:
#61 | #109 | #297 | #730 | #885 | #925

Tier 3:
Ordered numerically:
#142 | #266 | #521 | #567 | #607 | #649 | #651 | #689 | #752 | #764 | #781 | #904 | #942 | #998

Two suns don't really fit into the body of the XM but although they are always cut off on the sides - they still leave us with some interesting symmetrical patterns.

Ranking criteria:

Tier 1:
1. Close to equal amount of sun on both sides (there is no perfect pattern).
2. At least half of the sun - vertically, must be visible.
3. The sun must not be cut off at the top because that leaves very little sun with no sky and is very mountains dominant (making it a bad mountains pattern).

Tier 2:
1. At least half of the sun - vertically, must be visible.
2. The sun must not be cut off at the top because that leaves very little sun with no sky and is very mountains dominant (making it a bad mountains pattern).

Because there is no objectivity to what height is the best height - I will not rank them and instead order them by their Y value (height, low to high) in both categories.
Because there are very few patterns that are good enough - I will not divide them into color categories.



Tier 1:
Ordered by Y value (height).
Interestingly, although green mountains have a far smaller Ramp Offset range than blue mountains, they have double the amount of T1 patterns.

#353 | #770 | #946 | #101 | #46 | #915 | #251 | #172 | #827 | #478 | #210 | #317



Tier 2:
Ordered by Y value (height).
#715 | #57 | #110 | #785 | #410 | #530 | #704 | #927 | #603 | #927 | #190 | #576 | #139 | #574 | #534

Ranking criteria

Due to mountains patterns being common, the criteria for them is very strict and only the best, full mountains patterns are listed. That's why, instead of being ranked they will be divided by color categories (Ramp Offset ranges) and ordered based on their ramp offset within the transition.
The mountains don't perfectly fit on the body and will always have either slivers of sun up top or bits of clouds (that look like waves) at the bottom. Since the sun is very visible on top and the clouds are not visible below the taper line (where the XM curves inwards), I don't allow the sun at all and do allow the clouds as long as they are below the taper line:
It's important to note that while some patterns may seem perfect at first glance or when viewed from the side - they might not be, as shown in the image below. The patterns listed are only the truly best ones.

Gold green mountains

These patterns are on the low end of the Ramp Offset range between 0.02 - 0.10 and they are recognizable by the mountains colored yellow on one side and vibrant green on the other.



#812 | #589


Note: Although #589 has a higher Ramp Offset than #812, its contrast between the green and yellow seems to be better.

Green mountains

These patterns are at the Ramp Offset range of 0.10 - 0.35 that represents the green shades range. They will be ordered from light to dark green.



#765 | #935 | #960 | #916 | #566 | #868 | #124 | #724 | #491

Between Green and Blue

This one pattern shows perfectly how the transition between colors is smooth by being right on the edge of both of them, not quite green and not quite blue.
Its ramp Offset is 0.338 which technically puts it at the edge of the green range but I thought it would be interesting to show it separately.

#551

Blue mountains

These patterns are at the Ramp Offset range of 0.35 - 1.00 that represents the blue shades range. They will be ordered from dark to light blue.



#597 | #32 | #17 | #335 | #881 | #90 | #72 | #627 | #290 | #404 | #572 | #687 | #2 | #204 | #113 | #402 | #202 | #354 | #990

Ranking criteria

Like the mountains patterns, there are a ton of clouds patterns which is why, once again, only the best ones will be shown and ordered by color transition rather than ranking.
The clouds simply aren't tall enough to cover the whole body and that's visible on every pattern, nor do they cover the back (the part that faces you in game). Because of that I only picked the patterns that are the most centered and since they are very common, there are still a lot of them.
I put them all in one category - Ramp Offset 0.02 - 1.00 (excluding golden patterns). They transition from Dark blue at the top and white at the bottom to bright blue at the top and white at the center and bottom.





#809 | #749 | #94 | #462 | #716 | #193 | #326 | #956 | #186 | #143 | #8 | #578 | #276 | #63 | #248 | #374 | #645 | #629 | #733 | #608 | #708 | #301 | #720 | #373 | #741 | #640 | #200 | #351 | #819 | #244 | #151 | #742 | #265 | #137 | #486 | #161 | #163 | #767 | #439 | #934 | #138 | #751 | #3 | #538 | #805 | #822 | #595 | #44 | #964 | #557 | #260 | #503 | #999 | #19 | #668 | #441 | #16 | #347 | #490



Fun fact: #490 is the pattern with the highest ramp offset of all patterns with the value of - 0.9995.

Mixed patterns

Patterns that combine different elements on the template are considered mixed and I thought I would show some examples:

Float effect

If you are interested in getting an XM Solitude, it's important to keep in mind that it scratches and those scratches are very opaque and visible.
FN (0.00 - 0.07) is practically flawless in all of the areas that matter.
MW (0.07 - 0.15) starts getting scratches on the barrel as the floats gets higher.
FT (0.15 - 0.38) is where it flips and almost all of them, even closer to 0.15 are very visibly scratched.
WW and BS are not even worth talking about.

Huge thanks to my friend Oskar for all of the technical information, this guide would not have happened without him.

And of course - thank you for reading it, I hope you enjoyed it :)

Tens of hours of researching, ranking, writing, image editing and many more steps go into these guides so if you enjoyed - a like, a favorite and an award would be very much appreciated <3



Once again, if you own one of the golden patterns or P1 sun patterns in FN or MW come join my XM Solitude Collectors group.

Check out my other guides here: My guides

Have a wonderful day!



This should be obvious but since it has happened before - Unless given direct permission by me - I do NOT permit anyone to copy this guide in any way. SeanErren 14/07/25