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The ConTracker is a Main Menu contract-tracking application that may be started by clicking the ConTracker icon on the Main Menu or by using the premium Jungle Inferno ConTracker Backpack Item to "View Contracts". The HUD may also indicate to the player which key to press to open the ConTracker to activate or turn in Contracts.

When opened, the ConTracker appears as a PDA that lets the player navigate, select, and track available Contracts, including, presently, the premium Mercenary Park Contracts of the Jungle Inferno Campaign (if the player has purchased and used the Jungle Inferno Campaign Pass or the Jungle Inferno Contracts Pass) and the free Pyroland Contracts. During Scream Fortress 2017, the application introduced the management of Halloween Contracts. Using this tool, players may browse through available Contracts, view completion rewards, select personalized Contract paths, consider both Primary and Bonus Objectives, activate Contracts, and turn in completed Contracts.

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The Administrator

The Administrator manages the affairs of both the RED and BLU, as well as TF Industries and their mercenary troops. She's the enigmatic, disembodied female voice that gives orders and announces important events during rounds. The Administrator is a mature and thoroughly evil mastermind with a piercing gaze and the kind of voice that commands total and unwavering obedience... or else.

The Administrator possesses great authority and influence. She prefers to keep her operations hidden, managing events from the shadows, and any growth that may attract unwanted attention is quickly halted. Her general demeanor tends towards either slight anger or varying degrees of bitter disappointment.

Eyelander

The Eyelander is the unlockable melee weapon for the Demoman. First hinted at on a hidden page during the WAR! Update. It is an exceptional claymore, being "harmonically-balanced, made from pattern-welded Damascus steel, and slow-forged in the bowels of captured English kings." It is, unfortunately, also haunted by a bloodthirsty, malevolent spirit.

Wielding the Eyelander results in an initial penalty of 25 to the wielder's health, resulting in a total of 150; however, for every victim the wielder claims with it, they will gain a boost to speed and 15 maximum health (four times per life). On the downside, you cannot gain random Critical Hits but it is possible to guarantee one with the Chargin' Targe special ability. Kills using the Eyelander results in the decapitation of the victim's head. As the Demoman’s head count increases, his eye will glow with an increasing intensity.

The Engineer

A soft-spoken, amiable Texan with a knack for all things mechanical, the Engineer chooses to build and maintain buildings that benefit the team rather than engage in much direct combat. The Engineer's various gadgets include the Sentry Gun, an automated turret that fires at any enemy in range, the Dispenser, a device that replenishes the health and ammo of nearby teammates and Teleporters that quickly transport his teammates to the fray.

However, the Engineer's ingenious devices are under constant threat from explosives and devious enemy Spies; a good Engineer must keep his gear under a watchful eye and in good repair at all times. When the Engineer needs to get his hands dirty, his trio of generic, yet capable weapons combined with the assistance of his helpful hardware make him more than capable of holding his own in a fight.

Crafting

Crafting is an in-game system that allows players to create specific items, such as weapons, cosmetics, as well as materials that can be used in further crafting by repurposing unwanted or duplicate items obtained through the Item drop system.

To create these items, the player must follow explicit blueprints, all of which are initially available to players with a Premium Team Fortress 2 account. Following a valid blueprint recipe, the player will obtain the item indicated by the blueprint. Non-Premium users cannot craft Rare or Special items, and tools cannot be crafted under any circumstances. If the player attempts to craft an item without a corresponding blueprint, they will be notified that no such recipe exists, and no items will be lost.

Dalokohs Bar

The Dalokohs Bar (pronounced Dah-lock-uss) is an unlockable secondary 'Lunchbox' item for the Heavy, and was released in the March 18, 2010 Patch as part of the first series of community-created content. When consumed, the vitamin-enriched candy-bar heals the Heavy for 60 HP - 20% of his maximum health. In addition, his maximum health is increased temporarily for the next 30 seconds, like a semi-permanent overheal. Note that the additional health does not count towards base health for the purpose of further overheal as maximum health after overheal remains at 450. Like his Sandvich variant the Heavy will be immobile when eating, does not extinguish fire, nor can be eaten underwater. The Dalokohs bar, however, cannot be dropped to heal his team mates. An eaten Dalokohs bar has a cooldown of 30 seconds unless the Heavy dies or gets another one at a Resupply cabinet.

The Spy

Hailing from an indeterminate region of France, the Spy is an aficionado of sharp suits and even sharper knives who relies on stealth and trickery to aid the team. Using his unique array of Cloaking watches, he can render himself invisible and even fake his own death, leaving unaware opponents off-guard. His disguise kit lets him take on the form of any class, allowing him to blend in and sneak behind enemy lines before stabbing his unsuspecting 'teammates', quite literally, in the back. In fact, a swift backstab from behind with the Spy's trusty Knife will take out any foe in a single hit.

In addition to being able to assassinate key enemies quickly and efficiently, the Spy is great against the Engineer. Using his Electro Sappers, he can disable his buildings, slowly draining their health until they are destroyed.

Dispenser

A Dispenser is a building that can be constructed by an Engineer, providing health, ammo and metal to nearby teammates. Engineers rely heavily on metal from their Dispensers to construct and maintain their Sentry Guns and other buildings. Any player may replenish their supplies by simply standing next to the Dispenser.

Dispensers can prove to be invaluable in supporting a team when used effectively. As well as providing a steady health increase for teammates, Dispensers act as a portable ammo source, and can provide additional Metal for other Engineers to use. Dispensers will also attract many teammates to one area which can help to better forward an attack, particularly if the team is scattered and ungrouped.

Buff Banner

The Buff Banner is an unlockable secondary weapon for the Soldier. It is a tattered, battle-standard flag mounted on a small backpack and accompanied by a dented brass bugle. The war flag itself remains hidden in the backpack until it is activated, at which point it will appear on a pole mounted to the pack.

Equipping the Buff Banner adds a "Rage meter" to the Soldier's HUD, which is filled by dealing damage to enemies. The Rage meter becomes full after the Soldier has dealt 600 damage in a single life, at which point he can sound his bugle to rally his teammates. Telefragging an enemy results in a fully charged rage meter, regardless of the previous charge or the type of class killed. During the 10 seconds following this rallying call, all hits made by allies positioned within 450 units of the Soldier, including his own, become mini-crits. Buffed players within the radius emit team-colored rings of light from their feet, and their weapons brighten similarly to a crit boost.

Backstab

A Backstab is a context-sensitive attack that a Spy can perform with any of his melee weapons. A Spy may backstab an enemy as long as the enemy is close enough to be hit with a melee attack, and the Spy is within a 180° range of the enemy's back.

Backstabs deal damage equal to 200% of the target's current health and are also always critical hits, resulting in a total damage of six times the victim's current health; while the critical damage can be negated, this does not stop the stab from being lethal unless the target has significant additional protection. Due to the mechanics of the Spy's melees, unlike most melee weapons, backstabs connect instantly upon activation. To indicate that a Spy is within the required range to perform a backstab, he will turn his Knife downward, primed for a kill. The Knife will remain in this position until the target is no longer in reach, or the Spy attempts a backstab by attacking.

Team Fortress Classic

Team Fortress Classic, also known as Team Fortress 1.5, usually abbreviated as TFC, is the predecessor of Team Fortress 2 and a porting of the original Team Fortress, originally a mod for the popular game Quake, to the Half-Life engine.

A remake of the Team Fortress modification for Quake, Team Fortress Classic was originally released for Windows on May 30, 1999 as a free addition to Half-Life. A standalone version was later released with Valve's Steam system in 2003. The development of Team Fortress Classic was led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers of the original Team Fortress modification.

List of game modes

Team Fortress 2 has eight official game modes. Initially, the game shipped with three game modes: Capture the Flag, Control Point, and Territorial Control. Numerous updates have added five new game modes (Payload, Arena, King of the Hill, Payload Race and Medieval Mode) and two training maps. These game modes are spread across 41 official maps and offer a great variety of play styles and games in Team Fortress 2.

Hydro

Hydro is a Territorial Control map and was one of the six initial maps included with the game's release. So far, Hydro is the only official territorial control map of its kind, most possibly due to the complexity and difficulty of designing such a map type.

The goal of Hydro is to take over the entire map by capturing "territories." Each game is randomly selected from the six available layouts in a "point against point" game where both teams must capture the opposite point while preventing their own. After a team successfully captures the enemy control point, the next round will start, taking place in a different area of the map (which is also randomly generated). After a team captures all four territories, the attacking team must capture the enemy team's base while the other defends for their life. If the Base point is captured, the attacking team wins the round. When the next round begins, territories are reset and a new random game is selected.

The Medic

What he lacks in compassion for the sick, respect for human dignity, and any sort of verifiable formal training in medicine, the Medic more than makes up for with a bottomless supply of giant needles and a trembling enthusiasm for plunging them into exposed flesh. Raised in Stuttgart, Germany during an era when the Hippocratic oath had been downgraded to an optional Hippocratic suggestion, the Medic considers healing a generally unintended side effect of satisfying his own morbid curiosity.

Critical hits

Critical hits, also known as "Crits", are attacks that do extra damage and have distinctive sounds both when fired and when hitting a target. Players on the receiving end of the attack will have the words "Critical hit!!!" appear over their head in green letters, accompanied by a loud ding.

Critical hits can be easily distinguished from normal hits. Melee weapons have a unique swinging animation. Explosives projectiles, such as rockets or Stickybombs, have a team-colored glow and sparkle effects. Bullets have team-colored trails.

Taunts

Taunts can be performed with most weapons, each possessing their own unique animation and dialog line(s). Several lines of dialog are chosen at semi-random during a taunt, with one line being chosen at random and every line after it following a specific order.

Taunts are generally used for gloating purposes after killing an opponent, to celebrate a victory, provoke living opponents or simply for comedic effect. Generally, taunts have no direct effect on gameplay. However, certain taunts (known as "taunt attacks" or "taunt kills") have effects such as healing the player and stunning, damaging or even killing opponents.

2Fort

2Fort is a Capture the Flag map and is the subsequent remake of the Team Fortress Classic map of the same name; these maps are both based on the Team Fortress map "2Fort5." 2Fort was the first official CTF map for Team Fortress 2. It was one of the six initial maps included with the game's release.

Two similar forts oppose each other, which are separated by a water-filled moat. A covered bridge spans the moat and battlements on each fort provide excellent positions to assault oncoming players.

Wrangler

The Wrangler is an unlockable secondary weapon for the Engineer. When in use, the Wrangler allows the Engineer to manually take control of his Sentry Gun.

When firing either the guns or rockets, the Sentry Gun has no maximum range; however, the rockets and bullets suffer from damage falloff based on the Engineer's distance to the target and the bullets alone experience some spread.

Sandvich

The Sandvich, known in full as the Sandvich Edible Device, is an unlockable secondary weapon for the Heavy. It is half of a sandwich, consisting of two triangular slices of bread containing lettuce, tomatoes, Swiss cheese and an indeterminate meat referred to as both ham and bologna by the Heavy. Topping it is a green stuffed olive pinned to the Sandvich by a toothpick.

The Sandvich can be consumed by pressing the correct bound keys for either primary fire or taunting. When eaten, it will replenish 100% health, 300 HP, over a four second duration. During this time, the player will be forced into the third-person view as the Heavy stops and makes a loud munching noise whilst eating.

Movies

Several short animated movies have been created by Valve to promote Team Fortress 2. The most prominent of the shorts are contained in the Meet the Team series, which feature each of the classes in their own narrative. Other movies have centered around major game updates or depicted various game development processes, such as the creation of maps. Typically, each video lasts from three to four minutes.

Comics

Comics are short stories that offer insight to the world of Team Fortress 2, as seen through the eyes of the mercenaries, their boss, and the colorful characters that make up their adventures.

The story of Team Fortress 2 boasts a very loose continuity. Though comics serve to explain concepts such as the origins of a weapon, some events may conflict.

Bonk! Atomic Punch

Bonk! Atomic Punch is an unlockable secondary weapon for the Scout class. It is a small energy drink can with a team-appropriate label; RED's flavor of Bonk! is "Cherry Fission", while BLU's is "Blutonium Berry".

Upon consumption, Bonk! Atomic Punch provides invincibility from most incoming damage to the player for 6 seconds. This item does not, however, protect from environmental damage or telefragging. The player's view is forced into third-person mode upon drinking. There, they are able to maneuver and jump as they see fit, but will be unable to use weapons. When any type of bullet or projectile hits a Scout under Bonk's effects, a "Miss!" signal will appear above their head followed by one of many responses. The player has unlimited Bonk! cans at their disposal, but cannot take out another can until the item's cooldown period, shown in the HUD, is over.

Medieval Mode

Medieval Mode is a game mode added to Team Fortress 2 during the Australian Christmas event with the December 17, 2010 update.

Currently, there is only one official map that uses Medieval mode, DeGroot Keep. The game mode is unique in that it does not allow players to use any weapons of their choice - it restricts them to a set list of allowed weapons, mainly focusing on melee weapons. The goal of the game mode is similar to a control point game, in that there are a number of control points which the attacking team must capture and the defending team must defend. However, in the only currently official map, the attackers must capture the first two control points in order to gain access to the last control point, which, if not captured in a set amount of time, will subsequently close and all control points will revert to being uncaptured.

Item quality

All items have an assigned quality. Quality determines the color of the item's displayed name and a corresponding prefix is often added to denote this quality.

An item may only have one or two assigned qualities, which cannot be altered except through certain circumstances by Valve.

The names of the various qualities are defined in the game files.

Normal
Unique
Vintage
Genuine
Strange
Unusual
Haunted
Community
Self-Made
Valve

Patches

Patches are updates to Team Fortress 2 that fix known bugs, glitches, or exploits within the game, and often add new features or balance changes to weapons, maps, or other game elements.

Major updates are patches that add new weapons, game modes, or maps. Previously, major updates had centered around one or two particular classes and included new content released predominantly for that class. More recent updates, however, have focused on a particular theme or holiday celebration such as Halloween.

Patches to the game are deployed to Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms via Steam, and must be downloaded and applied before the game can be launched. While all three of these platforms retain the same codebase and have updates released simultaneously, the versions of the game on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were separate and did not receive frequent updates and as such is no longer supported by Valve, due to restrictions imposed on game developers. To date, there have been only four patches to Team Fortress 2 on Xbox 360 and one patch on PlayStation 3, compared to the 806 patches that have been released to Windows, macOS, and Linux since 2007.

ÜberCharge

ÜberCharge (German for "supercharge" or "overcharge", translated as "Überladung" in the German version) is an ability of the Medic. ÜberCharge is built up as the Medic heals players with his secondary weapon. Each healing tool has its own unique ÜberCharge effect, which the Medic can unleash once his charge meter reaches 100%, excluding the Vaccinator, which can unleash an ÜberCharge at increments of 25%.

Non-player characters

Non-player characters, commonly abbreviated as NPCs, are characters in the Team Fortress 2 setting which are not one of the nine playable classes. While most are uninvolved in gameplay, they still add extra background to the Team Fortress 2 setting.

Über Update

The Über Update is a major content update for Team Fortress 2 and was released on June 23, 2011 Patch. It was heralded as "The biggest, most ambitious update in the history of Team Fortress 2." Similar to other major updates, such as the Sniper vs. Spy Update and the Engineer Update, the Über Update followed a four-day-long system of daily content previews, the last of which featured the release of Meet the Medic.

First Annual Saxxy Awards

The First Annual Saxxy Awards was a contest held amongst the community to create a replay in order to earn "the most prestigious virtual award in combat filmmaking: a foot-high bust of an almost entirely naked Australian man." The competition was announced alongside the Replay Update.

Haunted Hallowe'en Special

The Haunted Hallowe'en Special, officially known as the Terrifying Team Fortress Haunted Hallowe'en Special, was the first update in what would later become an annual event. The update was first revealed in a blog post on October 29, 2009, and the update was released on the same day. Aside from fixing a few issues, the update introduced two new maps: Harvest and Harvest Event. The release of these maps was unique as it was the first time that the same map had been released in both a standard and an event variety.

The patch also introduced two new hazards: the ghost of Zepheniah Mann, which was exclusive to Harvest Event, and the Pumpkin Bomb, which only appears on Halloween-themed maps. Two new hats were also introduced, the Mildly Disturbing Halloween Mask and the Ghastly Gibus, as was a pack of five Halloween-themed achievements known as Scarechievements. Finally, the patch introduced the Halloween pumpkin; a special pickup item that only appears on Halloween-themed maps and randomly drops when a player is killed.

Mechanics

The mechanics of Team Fortress 2 define the rules and capabilities for players, servers, and content editors. Understanding these mechanics allows for more streamlined and comprehensive gameplay.

Engineer Update

The Engineer Update was a major content update focusing on the Engineer. The update was announced on July 5, 2010, followed by daily reveals until its release on July 8, 2010.

It was unique in that rather than announcing new content for the update regularly, new content was announced every time 25 Golden Wrenches were found through crafting. With 100 Wrenches to be found in total, there were 4 announcements prior to the final release of the update which added a new core mechanic for the Engineer, Hauling, along with several new Engineer weapons and maps.

Mann vs. Machine Update

The Mann vs. Machine Update was a major content update that introduced a new co-op game mode and map. The update was announced on August 13, 2012, followed by daily reveals until its release on August 15, 2012.

In the newly added Mann vs. Machine game mode, a team of up to six players attempt to prevent a horde of AI-controlled robot versions of the mercs from carrying a bomb to their base.

Duck Journal

The Duck Journal is a cosmetic item that commemorated the release of the End of the Line Update.

For the duration of the event, which ran from December 8, 2014 to January 7, 2015, the duck collection mini-game allowed players to accumulate Duck XP and rank up their Duck Journals through collecting ducks dropped during matches. Duck Journals ranked up once for every 5000 Duck XP, and could be upgraded through purchasing Duck Tokens via the Mann Co. Store.

Decorated (quality)

Decorated quality is an item quality assigned to weapons with a special grade factor, exterior wear, and possible Strange counter and/or Unusual effect. They were introduced in the Gun Mettle Update.

Decorated weapons are cosmetic "skins" with 6 levels of rarity referred to as Grades and a separate ranking of exterior wear referred to as "Wear." The only methods to obtain a Decorated item is through contract completion and unboxing specific weapon cases. Strange variants add a Stat Clock to the side of the weapon that tracks kills, and Civilian Grade weapons can also have a Stat Clock applied to them using a Civilian Grade Stat Clock.

Gunslinger

The Gunslinger is an unlockable melee weapon for the Engineer. It is a robotic prosthetic hand which replaces the Engineer's right hand. It grants the Engineer an additional 25 max health (raising his total health to 150) at the cost of disabling random critical hits with the weapon.

Using the Gunslinger allows the Engineer to build the Combat Mini-Sentry Gun instead of the standard Sentry Gun. The Mini-Sentry builds, rotates, and fires much faster than the standard Sentry Gun. However, it cannot be upgraded, each shot deals lower damage compared to that of a normal Level 1 Sentry Gun, and the gibs from a destroyed Combat Mini-Sentry Gun do not grant the Engineer any Metal.

Teleporters

Teleporters are a type of building that can be constructed by an Engineer using the Build Tool. Two components make up a complete and functional Teleporter set: the Teleporter Entrance and the Teleporter Exit. Both ends appear as team-colored devices that rotate quickly to form glowing, circular pads.

Players who stand on a fully charged Teleporter Entrance are instantly transported to the corresponding Teleporter Exit in a flash of light and team-colored particles. After a brief period of recharging, another teammate can pass through. A team can easily have their offensive push or defensive setup crumble if they lack prompt reinforcements, while one with a judiciously-placed Exit can apply constant pressure and even sneak into an unaware enemy's territory.

ConTracker

The ConTracker is a Main Menu contract-tracking application that may be started by clicking the ConTracker icon on the Main Menu or by using the premium Jungle Inferno ConTracker Backpack Item to "View Contracts". The HUD may also indicate to the player which key to press to open the ConTracker to activate or turn in Contracts.

When opened, the ConTracker appears as a PDA that lets the player navigate, select, and track available Contracts, including, presently, the premium Mercenary Park Contracts of the Jungle Inferno Campaign (if the player has purchased and used the Jungle Inferno Campaign Pass or the Jungle Inferno Contracts Pass) and the free Pyroland Contracts. During Scream Fortress 2017, the application introduced the management of Halloween Contracts. Using this tool, players may browse through available Contracts, view completion rewards, select personalized Contract paths, consider both Primary and Bonus Objectives, activate Contracts, and turn in completed Contracts.

Soldier

The Soldier is a crazed, jingoistic patriot from Midwest, USA. Tough and well-armed, he is versatile, capable of both offense and defense, and a great starter class to get familiar with the game.

Well-balanced and possessing both survivability and mobility, the Soldier is considered one of the most flexible classes in Team Fortress 2. Despite his low ground movement speed, he is capable of using rocket jumps to reach his destination quickly. His large health pool is second only to that of the Heavy, and his wide array of armaments and weaponry allows him to bring whatever weapon or equipment is best suited to the situation at hand.

Pyro

The Pyro is a mumbling pyromaniac of indeterminate origin who has a burning passion for all things fire related. As shown in Meet the Pyro, the Pyro appears to be insane and delusional, living in a utopian fantasy world known as Pyroland.

Specialized in close range combat, enemies set on fire by Pyro's homemade Flame Thrower suffer from afterburn and take additional damage over time, allowing the Pyro to excel at hit-and-run tactics. Due to the Flamethrower's short range, the Pyro is weak at longer range and relies heavily on ambushing and taking alternate routes to catch opponents by surprise.