Career & the Locker

Every rated match moves a player along their Career. Matches earn XP, XP adds up to levels, and every level pays Stacks, which players spend in the Locker on banners, frames, nameplates, titles, backgrounds and a pinned stat for their player card. Career is on by default; admins tune it under Settings → Application → Career (see Admin settings).

Earning XP

Each rated match earns XP per match (default 100), plus Extra XP for a win (default 50), multiplied by the band of the rating the player brought into the match (XP by rating). A rating below every band earns ×1. A new install has no bands, so everyone earns ×1 until an admin adds some. 5stack.gg uses these:

Rating going in	XP multiplier
Below 5,000	×1
From 5,000	×1.5
From 5,500	×2
From 6,000	×3
From 6,500	×4

Every XP per level (default 1,000) is a level, and every level pays Stacks per level (default 100). A match whose Elo was voided, or one the player abandoned, earns nothing.

Players who were already on the instance when Career arrived were counted from their match history, so nobody starts from zero. Changing the formula recounts every player from their history the same way.

• A finished match's page has a Match Rewards panel with your lines: Played, Win, Rating band and XP earned.
• The top bar shows your level and your Stacks. Only you can see your balance.
• Career unlocks notifies you when a level unlocks an item ("Level 100 reached: you unlocked Centurion"), and Career rewards when an admin gives you an item or Stacks.

Level rewards

Level rewards is the Career's battle pass: 52 milestone items, from the Recruit title and Standard frame at Level 1 to the Founder set at Level 1000. It shows the next unlock and roughly how many matches away it is.

The Locker

Career, in the Cosmetics section of the navigation, opens your card and the Locker. Its tabs are Banners, Frames, Nameplates, Titles, Backgrounds and Profile stat, then Awards for items that come with awards, and Rewards with Level rewards and your Stacks History.

5stack.gg's Locker holds 549 items: 100 banners, 108 frames, 101 nameplates, 100 titles, 100 backgrounds and 40 stat looks. Items are graded like CS2 skins: Consumer Grade, Industrial Grade, Mil-Spec, Restricted, Classified, Covert and ★ Special. Anything animated is ★ Special.

Each item is Owned, For sale (75 to 2,000 Stacks), or Earn only (a level or award unlocks it). Filter by grade and status, sort by Rarity, Price, Level or Name, and search by name.

Trying on a look

Click a tile to preview it on Your card, locked items included. Changes add up: Apply Look buys and equips everything you've tried at once, after a confirm that shows the total and what you'll have left. Take off empties a slot.

• Colorways: many items come in several colorways.
• Custom color: nameplates take any hue and saturation. Brightness is set for you so your name stays readable.

Wear and patterns

Banners and frames roll a wear (Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field-Tested, Well-Worn or Battle-Scarred) and a pattern when you buy them; backgrounds roll a pattern only. Reroll rolls again for 100 Stacks.

Backgrounds

A background is a full scene behind your whole profile page, and the cards on it turn to frosted glass. Players who'd rather not see other players' backgrounds turn off Player Backgrounds under Settings → My Account.

Profile stat

Pin one real number to your card: Kills, Headshots, Aces, No-scopes, Wallbangs, Wins or Matches. It's your actual count, updated after every match, shown in one of the stat looks. Your first pick is free; changing it costs 250 Stacks.

Where your look shows

Your banner, frame, nameplate and title show next to your name across the site: on your profile's hero card, in player rows and lists, and on the profile menu card.

Other ways to earn

Prizes

Tournament organizers set a Prize Board: for each placement (1st, 2nd, 3rd and MVP), the Locker items and Stacks every player on that team wins. Players see it as What you can win on the tournament page. Admins set season prizes per season the same way; they're shown on the leaderboard while the season runs and paid with the season awards when it ends. With awards off, each place still wins the Stacks and items on its board.

Some items can only be won, such as the Champion title, the Seraph frame and the Kintsugi banner for tournament winners. A finished tournament's podium shows its winners as mini player cards.

The 5stack.gg clan tag

Players who wear the 5stack.gg clan tag in imported Valve or FACEIT matches earn 100 Stacks for every such match, plus a 2,000 Stacks bonus the first time. The tag is read from each imported match's demo (see External Matches), and the player gets a Supporter thanks notification. The Wear the 5stack.gg Tag spotlight walks through joining the Steam group and picking the tag in CS2.

Admin settings

Settings → Application → Career (/settings/application/career):

• Career Levels: the on switch. Turned off, the Career page says "Career levels are turned off on this server."
• Formula: XP per match, Extra XP for a win, XP per level, Stacks per level, and the XP by rating bands (Add Band, each with From rating and Multiplier). Save Formula recounts every player's level from their history.
• Who Sees Career: the Minimum role that sees Career (default User). Players below it keep earning XP and Stacks; it's only hidden from them.
• Items cost Stacks: off makes every shop item free and hides Stacks. Level and award items still have to be earned.
• Grant Reward: give Stacks, an item, or both, to players you pick or to a team's roster (Add a team's roster), with an optional Reason that goes into their notification. Negative Stacks take Stacks away.