The Rarest Skins In PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

There's no shortage of video games that let you jump, guns blazing, out of a helicopter amidst an ever-shrinking wall of poisonous gas. Despite the competition, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG) still remains one of the most popular games in the battle royale genre, due to its attention to realism and strategic gunplay. While some players are only in it for the thrills and kills, getting rare skins — and the chance to sell them on the Steam Community Market — motivates many "PUBG" players to drop into the battlefield over and over again.

Depending on who you ask, the skin system in "PUBG" is either fun and addictive or stingy and frustrating. Players compete in matches to earn in-game currency known as Battle Points (BP), which can then be used to open loot crates. Though it's technically possible to get rare items in a crate, low drop rates make it highly unlikely. For example, Ars Technica estimated that you'd have to open six crates a week for 80 years to get a hold of a particular Black Sleeveless Biker Jacket.

Players that don't like those odds can speed up the process by spending actual money to buy skins and outfits in the "PUBG" Store. Or, they can choose to buy rare — and flat-out discontinued — skins individually or in sets on the Steam Community Market, though many of those items carry big price tags.

To help you decide whether to seek out these beloved skins or to just brave Erangel in your birthday suit, here are some of the rarest skins in "PUBG."

Though the Red Hi-top Trainers are also a part of the PlayerUnknown set, they're worth an individual mention. "PUBG" cemented the shoes' scarcity and value when they discontinued them in 2017 along with the rest of the skins in the Pre-Order Crate.

Less serious than the Black Military Boots, these rare high-tops are the perfect kicks for players who bring a more casual vibe to the battlefield, without resorting to wearing sandles.   

That said, if you spot a player sporting a pair in the game, you might want to sprint away as fast as you can: it could be a signal of how badass the player is, considering the sneakers were only available when the game first launched. Otherwise, they probably bought them on Steam for around $100. That doesn't make it the most expensive skin in the game — but, considering you could get a pair of IRL Nikes for less, the price should serve as an indicator for how rare these high-tops are. 

"PUBG" may have kicked off the battle royale craze back in 2017, but cinema buffs know the concept predates the video game. Years before "PUBG" was a twinkle in the eye of the game's creator, Brendan Greene, the 2000 film "Battle Royale" popularized the idea of dropping a bunch of folks onto a remote island to fight to the death. If there were any doubts about the inspiration behind "PUBG," this homage to the junior high school characters at the center of the Japanese film made it official.

If you're an avid "PUBG" player, we don't need to tell you that there aren't many ways to get your hands on an Ivory School Uniform. PC players could've picked up the set in the Gamescom Invitational Crate in 2017, though it has since been discontinued. As for console players, you're out of luck unless you bought the Survivor Pass 3: Wild Card DLC in 2019.

If you fall into neither of those categories, you'll have to resort to buying the outfit on Steam. The bad news is they are currently listed for almost $2,000, and they have sold for well over $1,000 previously. The good news is, Steam users are requesting to pay less than $200, which may signal that the price will be going down in the future.

If you like the scholarly style of the Ivory School Uniform, but are afraid its white color will give away your position on the battlefield, the set comes in black, too. In fact, though they come in different colors, the two sets have a lot in common: they're both nods to the violent Japanese film "Battle Royale." And, since "PUBG" discontinued both sets in 2017, they're extremely rare and often sell for large amounts of money on Steam.

That said, if your dream is to slay your foes while dressed as a Catholic school girl, all hope is not lost. It's entirely possible to get the outfit without breaking the bank if you buy each item individually: the Black Mandarin Jacket, the School Shirt, and the Velcro Trainers all currently carry a price tag of less than $1, while the Black Pleated Mini-skirt may cost you around $30. For whatever reason, an unlocked set of the outfit is listed for much more, currently around $1,000.

Many of the rarest items in "PUBG" are flashy, silly, or both. To dominate your opponents while wearing a rare, over-the-top tuxedo is hilarious, and could be worth the occasional death in Erangel because you stick out like a sore thumb.  

With its camo baseball t-shirt and matching green high-tops, the Warrior outfit is one of the more straightforward sets in the universe of rare "PUBG" items. But given the game's realistic tone compared to cartoony battle royale games like "Fortnite," the rare skin set might be attractive to players with a soldierly fashion sense. 

The Warrior set originally sold for $9.99 in 2017 as a limited-edition Xbox One exclusive to promote the game's launch on the console. Those uninterested in the Warrior set's intense going-into-battle look could've opted to buy a sporty white two-piece tracksuit instead. Either way, players had only three days to choose, and after that, both outfits were discontinued. Upon release, some Redditors found the set unappealing — but scarcity has a way of changing public opinion as the Warrior set is now one of the more sought-after "PUBG" skins on Xbox One.

Some players prefer to wear light-hearted apparel, like the Baby Bear Face Mask, when wreaking havoc in "PUBG." But if ironic cosmetics don't do it for you, the Reaper Mask might be more up your alley. With its metallic sheen and skeleton grin, this rare mask is an overt way of showing other players that you are a killing machine on the battlefield — if you're willing to fork over around $700, that is.

Like the Survivalist Slacks, this creepy mask is so rare because players literally had to travel to Germany to get it – the Reaper Mask was only available to players who went to the 2018 PUBG Global International in Berlin. After the tournament, "PUBG" discontinued the mask along with the rest of the Wasteland outfit, so if you just can't live without it, Steam may be your only option. Otherwise, you'll have to terrify your opponents the old-fashioned way: by defeating them in combat.

As pointed out on the PUBG Reddit, the Instructor set is yet another example of "PUBG" paying tribute to the critically-acclaimed film "Battle Royale." If you haven't seen the film that inspired the battle royale gaming fad, imagine pretty much any last-person-standing video game but with a class of junior high school students, and you've got the right idea. The Instructor outfit was pulled from one of the film's iconic but nameless characters, the training video announcer, who describes the rules of the game to the contestants before they go on to brutalize each other with guns, poison, and anything else they can get their hands on.

As they did with the school uniform skins, "PUBG" originally made the Instructor set available in the Gamescom Invitational Crate in 2017. Held annually in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is a big player in the world of video game conventions. "PUBG" launched the crate to promote their tournament at the convention, which saw 80 players fighting it out over a prize pool of $350,000.

If you didn't get the Camo Hotpants, the Camo Cap, and the Orange Shirt back then, you may have to pay upwards of $70 today to nab the complete set. Whether you're a die-hard fan of the movie "Battle Royale" or you just like the way the outfit looks, keep this in mind: this set, along with many other rare sets, might be way cheaper if you purchase each item individually.