What is Badge Crafting?
Badge crafting on Steam is the main way to increase your Steam level. It involves turning a complete set of trading cards into a virtual badge for a specific game. Each crafted badge gives you 100 XP, which helps you level up your Steam profile. But that’s not all. You also get a random emoticon, a profile background, and sometimes a discount coupon for other games. Steam badges are a mix of collection, customization, and small rewards. For many users, it's a way to show their activity and build a more detailed and trusted profile on the platform.
While it doesn’t affect your gameplay, crafting badges is an important part of the Steam ecosystem. People who want to reach Steam level 10, 100, or even 500 focus on collecting cards and crafting badges, especially during big Steam sales or limited-time events.
How to Get Steam Trading Cards
To craft a badge, you need all cards from a specific set. Most games that support badges have 5–15 trading cards in a set. There are three main ways to collect these cards:
- Play Games: When you play a game that supports Steam trading cards, you'll automatically receive a limited number of card drops. Usually, this is about 50% of the full set. For example, if a set has 8 cards, you’ll likely get 4 just by playing. You won’t get the full set from playing alone.
- Trade with Other Users: You can trade duplicate cards with friends or other users. This is a good method if you don’t want to spend money and have an active friends list. Trading is especially useful during sales, when more users are online and crafting.
- Buy from the Steam Market: The fastest and easiest way is to buy the missing cards directly on the Steam Community Market. Prices vary, but most common cards cost between 0.03€ and 0.15€. This way, you can complete full sets in minutes and start crafting badges quickly.
What You Get from Crafting a Steam Badge
Every time you craft a badge, you receive several rewards:
- +100 XP: This helps increase your Steam level.
- Random Emoticon: Can be used in Steam chat or sold on the market.
- Profile Background: Lets you customize the design of your Steam profile.
- Game Coupon: Sometimes, you receive a discount code for another Steam game. These are less common now.
In some cases, you can craft the same badge multiple times. For each additional craft, you get XP again, and higher badge levels (e.g. level 2, level 3 badges). This is useful for users who want to level up fast or complete their badge collections.