Particle effects

Particle effects are used frequently in Team Fortress 2 to serve as decoration or visual cues for various in-game events.

A detailed explanation of particle effects in general can be found on Template:W. Documentation for the Source engine's implementation can be found here.

It is important to note that an item does not have to have a particular quality for a particle effect to be attached to it.

GRU Skull

See also: GRU

The GRU skull particle effect is emitted when the GRUs are wielded by the player.

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  In game screenshot

Overheal

When a player is overhealed by a Medic he will emit medical crosses.

• Overheal particle ingame.png

  In game screenshot

Holy Glow

Attached to the Cheater's Lament

Community Sparkle

Attached to Community or Self-Made items.

Treasure Hat

There is no known localized name for the Treasure Hat's effect, it is attached as a new particle system defined as "coin_spin". The particles from this effect are influenced by the movement of the wearer and will only emit when they are in motion.

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  The sprite sheet used in the effect's spinning animation.

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  In game screenshot

Map Stamps

See also: World Traveler's Hat

Attached to the World Traveler's Hat. These render similarly to the purple and green Unusual confetti effects but use stamp sprites instead. Like the Treasure Hat this effect is affected by player movement and only emits when in motion.

• Stamp sprites.png

  The sprite sheet used for the effect's spinning animation.

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  In game screenshot

Flying Bits

Intended to be used for rendering flames on gibs, this effect is also attached to certain Developer weapons.

Unusual effects

Unusual particle effects are particles attached to Unusual quality items.

There are 1288 possible combinations between hats and Unusual item particle effects (14 effects × 92 [current] possible unusual hats). The different particle effects are viewable in this animation, and here as they appear in-game; as well as in this video.

Currently, 25 out of 98 different hats cannot possess any of the 14 possible Unusual effects. These hats include:

Dealer's Visor	Cheater's Lament	Ghastly Gibus	Mildly Disturbing Halloween Mask	Foster's Facade
Bill's Hat	Max's Severed Head	Alien Swarm Parasite	Mann Co. Cap	Treasure Hat
Ellis' Cap	Wiki Cap	Ghastlier Gibus	Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head	World Traveler's Hat
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	Bounty Hat	Hat of Undeniable Wealth And Respect

Examples

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  Green Confetti Effect #6

• Unusual purple Confetti.png

  Purple Confetti Effect #7

• Unusual Ghost.png

  Haunted Ghosts Effect #8

• Unusual green energy glow.png

  Green Energy Effect #9

• Unusual purple energy.png

  Purple Energy Effect #10

• Unusual tf2logo effect.jpg

  Circling TF Logo Effect #11

• Unusual Flies.png

  Massed Flies Effect #12

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

  Burning Flames Effect #13

• Unusual Green Flame Effect.png

  Scorching Flames Effect #14

• Unusual plasma effect 2.png

  Searing Plasma Effect #15

• Vivid Plasma.png

  Vivid Plasma Effect #16

• Unusual sunbeam.png

  Sunbeams Effect #17

• Unusual Peace.png

  Circling Peace Sign Effect #18

• Medic Unusual Heart Effect.png

  Circling Heart Effect # 19