Item quality
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| “ | Hmmm, have a gander at this little beauty.
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— The Sniper
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” |
| Color | Rarity Name | Example |
|---|---|---|
| B2B2B2 | Normal | Rocket Launcher |
| 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 Equalizer |
Item rarity is the "quality" of an item in Team Fortress 2. It can be checked by inspecting an item in-game and can be denoted by the color of the name of the weapon. A full list of item rarities and their associated color can be viewed on the right.
Some rarities (Normal, Vintage) have no effects on the items what-so-ever, while some (Unusual, Community) provide special cosmetic effects attached to the item. Rarity does not affect the attributes of any items, except for some Developer weapons, only possessed by the developers of the game, which may have extremely powerful attributes attached.
Contents
Normal Items
 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 Huntsman |
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, all unique items gained before the update were changed to Vintage status.
Vintage Items
 Vintage Backburner |
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 "Vintage" prefix. Some items were excluded and not changed to Vintage items, such as Badges, Promotional items, and Holiday items such as the Mildly Disturbing Halloween Mask (with the exception of some Bill's Hats and one pair of Earbuds). As the number of Vintage items decreases over time by crafting, their individual value will increase. Renamed Vintage items keep their original name color.
Unusual Items
 Unusual Napper's Respite |
Unusual items are those with special attributes or qualities attached to them.
Scream Fortress Update
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
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 896 possible combinations between hats and unusual item particle effects (14 effects * 64 current 'Unusual-able' Hats). The different particle effects are viewable in this animation, and here as they appear in-game. Two unusual hats cannot be crafted into another unusual hat. The result of two combined unusual hats will produce a normal hat.
Originally, the majority of the particle effects were bound to the feet.
Community Items
 Community Knife |
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, and those derived from the stock weapons receive an additional boost to their Phong shading exponent, resulting in the weapon having a more glossy appearance.
An incomplete list of Community Weapon recipients is available here.
- Communitystickybomb.png
In-game example
Comparison of Phong exponents
Self-Made Items
 Self-Made Dalokohs Bar |
Self-made items are special versions of community-made items that are given to the contributors who created them. Like Community weapons, 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.
A complete list of Self-made items and their owners is available here.
- Selfmadedalokohs.png
In-game example (same effect as Community weapons)
Valve Weapons
 Valve Equalizer |
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, although, since the Mann-Conomy Update they appear to have become broken. All Valve weapons are Level 100. These weapons also have a unique particle effect attached called "Flying Bits".
Valve weapons also appear to be for testing purposes, with some possessing incredibly powerful attributes. Robin Walker has a Rocket Launcher that demonstrates this (as seen here).
