Unusual

Unusual Napper's Respite
Level 73 Hat
Effect: Circling Heart
After a long day of burning scouts.

“

There is nothing unusual about this man's head! Click to listen — The Soldier

”

Unusual quality is an item quality used on cosmetic items and taunts with a special attached particle effect. There are currently 740 cosmetic items that can have one of 66 total effects, and 18 taunts that can have one of 11 total effects. The only methods of obtaining an Unusual item are by potentially unlocking a Mann Co. Supply Crate with a Mann Co. Supply Crate Key or via trading. The chances of uncrating an Unusual item are about one in one hundred, or 1.00%. Unlike regular items which can only be obtained from specific crates, any item obtainable in Unusual quality can be uncrated from any given crate, however the particle effects obtained depends on the series of crate the unusual item was obtained from.

Due to their unique particle effect decorations and their extremely low probability of being obtained from crates, Unusual items are considered to be some of the rarest items in TF2.

The hexadecimal color code for Unusual items is #8650AC.

Other Unusual items

Two special items of Unusual quality were introduced with the Scream Fortress Update: the Haunted Metal Scrap, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker. However, unlike regular Unusual items, the Unusual Metal Scrap is dropped for any player who has taken part in defeating the Horseless Headless Horsemann with a melee weapon, while the Headtaker can be obtained by crafting it from a blueprint that includes the Unusual Metal Scrap. Besides bearing the Unusual quality, the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker is statistically identical to the Eyelander. In addition, neither of these items has an attached particle effect. Due to these characteristics, these two Unusual items are not considered as valuable as regular Unusual items.

Unusual effects

See also: Particle effects

The first 14 effects were added to the game with the Mann-Conomy Update, 8 more unusual effects were added with the August 18, 2011 Patch, and 7 additional effects were added with the June 19, 2013 Patch. The unusual effect pool used by any given series of crate is listed in its potential uncrate results list.

The first 14 effects can be obtained from any crate of Series #1 to Series #25.

• Unusual Chieftain's Challenge normal burning fire effect.png

  Burning Flames

• Unusual Heart Effect.png

  Circling Heart

• Unusual Peace.png

  Circling Peace Sign

• Unusual tf2logo.png

  Circling TF Logo

• 

  Green Confetti

• Unusual green energy glow.png

  Green Energy

• Unusual Ghost.png

  Haunted Ghosts

• Unusual Flies.png

  Massed Flies

• Unusual purple Confetti.png

  Purple Confetti

• Unusual purple energy.png

  Purple Energy

• Unusual Green Flame Effect.png

  Scorching Flames

• Unusual plasma effect 2.png

  Searing Plasma

• Unusual sunbeam.png

  Sunbeams

• Vivid Plasma.png

  Vivid Plasma

The next 8 effects can be obtained from any crate of Series #26 to Series #57.

• 

  Blizzardy Storm

• 

  Bubbling

• 

  Nuts n' Bolts

• 

  Orbiting Fire

• 

  Orbiting Planets

• 

  Smoking

• 

  Steaming

• 

  Stormy Storm

The final 7 effects can be obtained from any Series #59 crate onwards.

• 

  Aces High (RED)

• Unusal Aces High BLU.jpeg

  Aces High (BLU)

• 

  Cloud 9

• 

  Dead Presidents

• 

  Disco Beat Down

• 

  Kill-a-Watt

• 

  Miami Nights

• 

  Terror-Watt

Halloween Special

There were 4 more Halloween-only effects added with the Very Scary Halloween Special, 5 with the Spectral Halloween Special, 8 with Scream Fortress 2013, and 6 with Scream Fortress 2014. Additionally, 2 Halloween-only taunt effects were added in with Scream Fortress 2014. Unlike other effects, these can only be obtained during Halloween season, from any openable crate.

The first 4 Halloween-only effects, introduced in the Very Scary Halloween Special.

• Unusual Green Bubbles.png

  Cauldron Bubbles

• Unusual Cloudy Full Moon.png

  Cloudy Moon

• Unusual Orbiting Dark Fire.png

  Eerie Orbiting Fire

• Unusual Orbiting Jack O' Lantern.png

  Flaming Lantern

The next 5 Halloween-only effects, introduced in the Spectral Halloween Special.

• Cloudy green.PNG

  Harvest Moon

• Cloud skull.PNG

  It's A Secret To Everybody

• Cloudy knives.PNG

  Knifestorm

• Misty skull.PNG

  Misty Skull

• Purple cloud skull.PNG

  Stormy 13th Hour

The next 8 Halloween-only effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2013.

• Unusual arcana.png

  Arcana

• Unusual chiropteraveneta.png

  Chiroptera Venenata

• Unusual darkblaze.png

  Darkblaze

• Unusual demonflame.png

  Demonflame

• Unusual hellfire.png

  Hellfire

• Unusual poisonedshadows.png

  Poisoned Shadows

• Unusual somethingburningthiswaycomes.png

  Something Burning This Way Comes

• Unusual spellbound.png

  Spellbound

The final 6 Halloween-only effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2014.

• Unusual Amaranthine.jpg

  Amaranthine

• Unusual Bonzo The All-Gnawing.jpg

  Bonzo The All-Gnawing

• Unusual Ghastly Ghosts Jr.jpg

  Haunted Phantasm Jr.

• Unusual Haunted Phantasm Jr.jpg

  Ghastly Ghosts Jr.

• Unusual Stare From Beyond.jpg

  Stare From Beyond

• Unusual Ooze.jpg

  The Ooze

The 2 Halloween-only taunt effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2014.

• Unusual Ghastly Ghosts.jpg

  Ghastly Ghosts

• Unusual Haunted Phantasm.jpg

  Haunted Phantasm

Robotic Boogaloo

The Robotic Boogaloo Update added 10 Community-created unusual effects. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the RoboCrate.

• 

  Anti-Freeze

• 

  Electrostatic

• 

  Green Black Hole

• 

  Memory Leak

• 

  Overclocked

• 

  Phosphorous

• 

  Power Surge

• 

  Roboactive

• 

  Sulphurous

• 

  Time Warp

Love & War

The Love & War Update added 8 unusual taunt effects.

• Unusual Taunt '72.png

  '72

• Unusual Taunt Fountain of Delight.png

  Fountain of Delight

• Unusual Taunt Holy Grail.png

  Holy Grail

• Unusual Taunt Mega Strike.png

  Mega Strike

• Unusual Taunt Midnight Whirlwind.png

  Midnight Whirlwind

• Unusual Taunt Screaming Tiger.png

  Screaming Tiger

• Unusual Taunt Showstopper RED.png

  Showstopper (RED)

• Unusual Taunt Showstopper BLU.png

  Showstopper (BLU)

• Unusual Taunt Skill Gotten Gains.png

  Skill Gotten Gains

End of the Line

The End of the Line Update added 4 unusual effects.

• Unusual Death at Dusk.jpg

  Death at Dusk

• Unusual Frostbite.jpg

  Frostbite

• Unusual Molten Mallard.jpg

  Molten Mallard

• Unusual Morning Glory.jpg

  Morning Glory

Update history

September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)

• [Undocumented] Added Unusual quality.

August 18, 2011 Patch (Manno-Technology Bundle)

• [Undocumented] Added Stormy Storm, Blizzardy Storm, Nuts n' Bolts, Orbiting Planets, Orbiting Fire, Bubbling, Smoking, and Steaming unusual effects.

August 23, 2011 Patch

• Fixed sunbeams effect.

October 27, 2011 Patch (Very Scary Halloween Special)

• [Undocumented] Added Cloudy Moon, Eerie Orbiting Fire, Flaming Lantern, and Cauldron Bubbles unusual effects.

October 26, 2012 Patch (Spectral Halloween Special)

• [Undocumented] Added Knifestorm, Misty Skull, Harvest Moon, It's A Secret To Everybody and Stormy 13th Hour unusual effects.

May 17, 2013 Patch (Robotic Boogaloo)

• [Undocumented] Added Anti-Freeze, Electrostatic, Green Black Hole, Memory Leak, Overclocked, Phosphorous, Power Surge, Roboactive, Sulphurous, and Time Warp unusual effects.

June 5, 2013 Patch

• Attachment point and offset for particle effects on unusual hats can now be adjusted from the character loadout screen.
• Fixed a bug that would cause unusual effects to float in the air over dead players.
• Fixed a bug that would cause unusual effects to show incorrectly sometimes when spectating other players.

June 19, 2013 Patch

• [Undocumented] Added Aces High, Cloud 9, Dead Presidents, Disco Beat Down, Kill-a-Watt, Miami Nights, and Terror-Watt unusual effects.

October 29, 2013 Patch (Scream Fortress 2013)

• [Undocumented] Added Arcana, Chiroptera Venenata, Darkblaze, Demonflame, Hellfire, Poisoned Shadows, Something Burning This Way Comes, and Spellbound unusual effects.

December 20, 2013 Patch

• Unusual effect positioning can now be adjusted for all Cosmetic-slot items.
• Unusual Circling Effects have been given a new origin.
• Unusual effects for all Cosmetic-slot items are now visible in the loadout panel and character HUD.

June 18, 2014 Patch (Love & War)

• Added the Mann Co. Audition Reel. Contains taunts and a rare chance at an unusual taunt.
• Updated Mann Co. Crates to display which Unusual Series they can potentially output.

October 29, 2014 Patch (Scream Fortress 2014)

• [Undocumented] Added Amaranthine, Bonzo The All-Gnawing, Ghastly Ghosts, Ghastly Ghosts Jr., Haunted Phantasm, Haunted Phantasm Jr., Stare From Beyond, and The Ooze unusual effects.
• [Undocumented] Added Ghastly Ghosts, and Haunted Phantasm unusual taunt effects.

November 4, 2014 Patch

• Renamed two Unusual effects
  • Haunted Phantasm Jr to Ghastly Ghosts Jr
  • Attrib_Particle86 to Haunted Phantasm Jr

December 8, 2014 Patch (End of the Line Update)

• [Undocumented] Added Death at Dusk, Frostbite, Molten Mallard and Morning Glory unusual effects.

January 9, 2015 Patch

• Fixed the Mega Strike unusual taunt effect showing through walls

Unused content

These effects were added to the game, but are currently unused.

• 

  'Beany green'

• 

  'Beany hearts'

• 

  'Beany target'

• 

  'Beany tf'

• Fetti spray.png

  'Spray confetti'

• Unusual orbit.png

  Asteroids

• Unusual baloon.png

  Balloon

• 

  Blood Rain

• Unusual spark green.png

  Green Sparks

• Unusual spark orange.png

  Orange Sparks

• 

  Orbiting Cloudy Full Moon

• Unusual orbit lantern nofire.png

  Orbiting Lantern

• 

  Orbiting Shells

• Unusual orbitskull.png

  Orbiting Skull

• Unusual sparkles.png

  Sparkles

• Unusual zap.png

  Zap

Trivia

• The effect named "It's A Secret To Everybody" is a reference to a popular phrase in the video game series The Legend of Zelda, though the effect itself appears to be irrelevant to said phrase's origin.
• The effect named "Something Burning This Way Comes" references the fantasy horror novel by the name Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury; the title is itself a reference to the Shakespeare piece Macbeth, towards a specific line in Act 4, Scene 1.
• The effect named "Dead Presidents" refers to a slang term used to describe U.S. currency. This is due to the fact that the dollar bills depict deceased U.S. Presidents.
• The effects named "Sulphurous" and "Phosphorous" are references to the chemistry elements Sulfur/Sulphur and Phosphorus.
• The effect named "Chiroptera Venenata" is rough Latin for "Poisonous Bat".

See also

• Hats
• Particle effects