Item quality

“

Hmmm, have a gander at this little beauty. Click to listen — The Sniper on the quality of his gear.

”

All items have an associated quality or rarity. The quality of an item determines the color of its displayed name and influences its perceived trade value.

The names of item qualities, and the term "quality" itself, are derived from the game files.

Normal items

Scattergun
Level 1 Scattergun

The Normal quality is assigned to Stock weapons. These are the standard weapons that all players start with and are not stored in the backpack. Therefore they are the only available weapons if the game cannot connect to Steam. Unique variants of these items are created when using a Name Tag or Description Tag with a Stock 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 is the quality assigned to items which can be found through random drops during gameplay, obtained through achievements, crafted, or purchased from the Mann Co. Store. As such, Unique is regarded as the "default" quality for items.

Vintage items

See also: Vintage quality distribution

Vintage Natascha
Level 5 Minigun
On Hit: 100% chance to slow target
-25% damage done
30% slower spin up time

Vintage quality was introduced alongside the Mann-Conomy Update, in which certain items were assigned this quality to increase their appeal in trading; however, they bear no functional difference to their Unique counterparts. In some cases, items that have been re-granted to users by Steam support were assigned Vintage quality.

Genuine items

See also: Genuine quality distribution

Genuine Sun-on-a-Stick
Level 10 RIFT Mace
100% critical hit vs burning players
-25% damage done
Spiky end goes into other man.

The Genuine quality was originally introduced alongside the RIFT promotion. Genuine quality is used to distinguish items obtained as part of a cross-game promotion, opposed to items gained via other methods such as random drops or crafting. There is no functional difference between Genuine items and their Unique counterparts.

Strange items

See also: List of Strange weapon ranks, Strange quality distribution

 Minigun
Strange Minigun - Kills: 0

Introduced in the Über Update, Strange quality weapons can be found by unboxing a series 19, 20, or 21 Supply Crate. Kills made with a Strange quality weapon are recorded as an item attribute. New prefixes are assigned by the game based on the weapon's rank.

Unusual items

See also: Unusual quality distribution

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

Unusual hats

See also: Hats, Unusual effects

Unusual hats are hats with an attached particle effect.

The only methods of obtaining an Unusual hat are by unlocking a Mann Co. Supply Crate with a Mann Co. Supply Crate Key, or via trading. Unusual versions of the hats contained in a Festive Winter Crate could also be obtained by unlocking the crate with a Festive Winter Crate Key during the Australian Christmas event.

Crafting together two Unusual hats will not produce an Unusual hat in return; it will simply produce a Unique hat.

Scream Fortress Update

Main article: Scream Fortress

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

Community items

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

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

( Not Tradable or Usable in Crafting )

Items bearing the Community quality are specially granted by Valve to individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the Team Fortress 2 community. Community items have the Community Sparkle particle effect attached and an additional description string set to "Given to valuable Community Contributors". Community items derived from certain Stock weapons receive an additional boost to their Phong shading exponent, resulting in the weapon having a more glossy appearance.

Community Stock weapons that existed prior to the introduction of name and description tags are derived from the original Normal variants. This makes them unable to be described or named, however newer variants are derived from the Unique variants; and behave as expected.

• 

  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 )

The Self-Made quality is assigned to items specially granted by Valve to their creators. Like Community items, they have the "Community Sparkle" particle effect attached and an additional description string set to "I made this!". See the Contribution page for when the items were added in-game.

• Selfmadedalokohs.png

  In-game example

Valve items

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 items are given to Valve employees. In some cases they have the Flying Bits particle effect attached. Because of their nature as developer weapons, some Valve items possess stacked attributes as seen in the backpack example; however, these additional attributes are not part of the Valve quality itself. The Valve weapon shown in the backpack example is Robin Walker's Rocket Launcher.

• 

  Flying Bits attached to an Equalizer

Item name colors

Color	Quality Name	Example
#B2B2B2	Normal	Scattergun
#FFD700	Unique	The Degreaser
#476291	Vintage	Vintage Natascha
#4D7455	Genuine	Genuine Sun-On-A-Stick
#CD9B1D	Strange	Strange Minigun
#8650AC	Unusual	Unusual Napper's Respite
#70B04A	Community	Community Medi Gun
	Self-made	Self-Made Dalokohs Bar
#A50F79	Developer	Valve Rocket Launcher

Unused colors

Color	Quality Name	Example
#8D834B	Rarity2	Rarity2
#CF6A32	Rarity3	Rarity3
#476291	Customized	Customized

See also

• Item levels
• Item drop system