Item quality

“

Hmmm, have a gander at this little beauty. Click to listen — The Sniper

”

Item quality classifies items into separate groups, differentiated by color.

Normal items

Scattergun
Level 1 Scattergun

Normal items are also called 'stock' items. These are the standard non-unlockable weapons that first shipped with the game, e.g. the Scattergun and the Rocket Launcher. These weapons are available to all players. Since the Mann-Conomy Update, Unique variants of these items can be made by using a Name Tag or Description Tag with a Normal weapon, which are seen by checking the "Show Stock Items" box in the backpack view.

Unique items

The Degreaser
Level 10 Flame Thrower
65% faster weapon switch
-25% burn damage

Unique items, also known as "Unlockables", are items which can be purchased from the Mann Co. Store, dropped randomly through gameplay, obtained through achievements, crafted, traded or gifted. As of the Mann-Conomy Update, certain Unique items gained before the update were changed to Vintage quality.

Vintage items

Vintage Natascha
Level 5 Minigun
On Hit: 100% chance to slow target
-25% damage done

Vintage items are items that were obtained before the release of the Mann-Conomy Update. Most existing Unique items were changed to Vintage items in order to increase their appeal in Trading. However, they bear no difference other than their blue name and a "Vintage" prefix. Some items were excluded and not changed to Vintage items, such as Badges, Promotional items, and Holiday items; In some cases these items that have been returned to users by Steam support are incorrectly assigned Vintage quality.

Unusual items

Unusual Napper's Respite
Level 0 - 100
Effect: Circling Heart
After a long day of burning scouts.

Scream Fortress Update

Main article: Scream Fortress

Two new Unusual items were introduced with this update: the Haunted Metal Scrap and the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker. Besides having the Unusual quality attached to it, the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker has no discerning attributes from the Eyelander.

Unusual hats

See also: Hats

Unusual hats are hats with particle effects attached to them.

Currently, the only way to obtain an Unusual hat is by unlocking a Mann Co. Supply Crate with a Mann Co. Supply Crate Key, or by trading for one. There are 1008 possible combinations between hats and Unusual item particle effects (14 effects × 72 current 'Unusual-able' Hats). The different particle effects are viewable in this animation, and here as they appear in-game; as well as in this video. Two Unusual hats cannot be crafted into another Unusual hat. The result of two combined Unusual hats will produce a Unique hat.

Currently, 22 out of 94 different hats cannot possess any of the 14 possible effects. These hats include:

Dealer's Visor	Cheater's Lament	Ghastly Gibus	Mildly Disturbing Halloween Mask
Bill's Hat	Max's Severed Head	Alien Swarm Parasite	Mann Co. Cap
Ellis' Cap	Wiki Cap	Ghastlier Gibus	Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head
Horrific Headsplitter	Cadaver's Cranium	Spine-Chilling Skull	Voodoo Juju
Halloween Masks	Saxton Hale Mask	Lumbricus Lid	Baseball Bill's Sports Shine
Ritzy Rick's Hair Fixative	Texas Slim's Dome Shine

Unusual weapons

It is now possible to obtain weapons with unusual effects, for example a Direct Hit with the 'Burning Flames' effect.

Community items

See also: List of Community weapon owners, List of Wiki Cap owners

Community Medi Gun
Level 50 Medi Gun
Given to valuable Community Contributors
Effect: Community Sparkle

( Not Tradable or Usable in Crafting )

Community items are special items given by Valve to individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the Team Fortress 2 community. Community items have green names and a sparkle particle effect attached. Additionally, those derived from the stock weapons receive an additional boost to their Phong shading exponent, resulting in the weapon having a more glossy appearance.

• 

  Phong boost comparison

Self-Made items

See also: List of Self-made item owners

Self-Made Dalokohs Bar
Level 50 Lunch Box
Adds +50 max health for 30 seconds.
Effect: Community Sparkle
I made this!

( Not Tradable or Usable in Crafting )

Self-Made items are special versions of community-made items that are given to the contributors who created them. Like Community items, they emit a sparkle particle effect and have dark green names, with the added line "I made this!" in their item description. See Contribution page for when the items were added in-game.

• Selfmadedalokohs.png

  In-game example

Valve weapons

Valve Rocket Launcher
Level 100 Rocket Launcher
+1009900% damage done
+109900% clip size
+75% faster firing speed
On Hit: +250 health
On Kill: 10 seconds of 100% critical chance
+50% projectile speed
+100% faster move speed on wearer
Effect: Flying Bits

( Not Tradable or Usable in Crafting )

Valve weapons are alternate versions of regular weapons given to Valve employees. Valve weapons can be identified by their magenta names and attached flaming effects. All Valve weapons are Level 100. These weapons also have a unique particle effect attached called "Flying Bits".

• 

  Flying Bits attached to a Stickybomb Launcher

Valve weapons also appear to be for testing purposes, with some possessing incredibly powerful attributes. Valve employee and Team Fortress designer Robin Walker has an infamous Rocket Launcher (displayed on the right) and sometimes plays in public servers while wielding it for fun as seen in the videos below.

Item name colors

Color	Quality Name	Example
B2B2B2	Normal	Scattergun
FFD700	Unique	The Backburner
476291	Vintage	Vintage Axtinguisher
8650AC	Unusual	Unusual Safe'n'Sound
70B031	Community	Community Wrench
	Self-made	Self-Made Dalokohs Bar
A50F79	Developer	Valve Rocket Launcher

Notes

• A Spy disguised as a person with items that have attached particle effects currently does not reproduce the particle attachment.
• Particle effects that are tied to an item will not be visible to the player wielding it except when in third-person view.

See also

• Item levels
• Item drop system