Crafting

The crafting screen

“

Now this is a nice weapon. Click to listen — The Sniper on self-crafted weapons

”

Crafting is an in-game system that allows players to create specific items, such as a weapon, a hat, or materials for further crafting, using unwanted or duplicate items gained normally via the Item drop system. To create these items, the player must follow blueprints, some of which are initially available and others which must be discovered by the player through experimentation. After following a valid and undiscovered blueprint recipe, the player will gain both the item specified by the blueprint, and the recipe. 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 crafted.

Blueprints

Metal

Scrap Metal
^{Level 1 Crafting Item}

Reclaimed Metal
^{Level 2 Crafting Item}

Refined Metal
^{Level 3 Crafting Item}

Unusual Haunted Metal Scrap
^{Level 4 Crafting Item}

Blueprint	Requires	Produces
Smelt Primary Weapons †	2 x Identical primary weapons E.g. +	1 x
Smelt Secondary Weapons †	2 x Identical secondary weapons E.g. +	1 x
Smelt Melee Weapons †	2 x Identical melee weapons E.g. +	1 x
Smelt Class Weapons	Any 2 weapons wielded by the same class E.g. + (Spy weapons)	1 x
Smelt Tokens	3 x Tokens E.g. + +	1 x
Combine Scrap Metal	3 x	1 x
Combine Reclaimed Metal	3 x	1 x
Smelt Refined Metal	1 x	3 x
Smelt Reclaimed Metal	1 x	3 x

^† The Smelt Class Weapons blueprint was originally one Primary, Secondary, and Melee weapon of each class, but was then altered to allow any 3 (now 2) weapons from the same class, to accommodate the Demoman, Spy, and at the time this change was made, the Sniper. This has made the blueprints marked with a "†" superfluous.

Tokens

Blueprint	Requires	Produces
Fabricate Class Token	3 weapons from one class E.g. + + (Heavy weapons)	1 x Class Token E.g. 1 x
Fabricate Slot Token	3 weapons from one slot E.g. + +	1 x Slot Token E.g. 1 x
Rebuild Class Token	Any 1 Class Token and another class weapon E.g. +	1 x Class Token E.g. 1 x
Rebuild Slot Token	Any 1 Slot Token and another slot weapon E.g. +	1 x Slot Token E.g. 1 x

Note: When 3 identical weapons are used, the player is given the option of creating a Class Token or a Slot Token.
Additionally, if the player uses a Pain Train or Frying Pan with a Class Token, or 3 Pain Trains/Frying Pans and chooses to create a Class Token, it will always result in a Soldier Token.

Headgear

Blueprint	Requires	Produces
Fabricate Headgear	3 x	1 x Random Headgear
Fabricate Class Headgear	4 x + 1 x	1 x Class Headgear
Rebuild Headgear	2 x Headgear (NOTE: Not all the headgears are craftable!)	1 x Random Headgear
Fabricate Bonk Helm†	1 x + 2 x	1 x
Fabricate Milkman	4 x + 1 x or or	1 x
Fabricate Grenadier's Softcap	4 x + 1 x or	1 x
Fabricate Attendant	4 x + 1 x or	1
Fabricate Ol' Snaggletooth	4 x + 1 x or or	1 x
Fabricate Familiar Fez	4 x + 1 x or	1 x
Fabricate Halloween Headgear	4 x + 1 x	1 x or 1 x
Fabricate Saxton Hale Mask	1x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x + 1 x	1 x

Note: As of March 19th, 2010, both Hats and Miscellaneous items are considered headgear.

^† The Batter's Helmet's properties will not be retained when crafted into a Bonk Helm. This includes level, vintage status, unusual status, applied paint, customized name and customized description. The level will be randomized.

Weapons

Class	Blueprint	Requires	Produces
All	Fabricate Class Weapons	1 x + 1 x + 1 x E.g. + + E.g. + +	1 x Class Weapon E.g. E.g. or
Scout	Fabricate Shortstop	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Crit-a-Cola	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Mad Milk	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Holy Mackerel	1 x + 1 x	1 x
Soldier	Fabricate Black Box	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Battalion's Backup	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Gunboats	1 x + 1 x	1
	Fabricate Pain Train	1 x + 1 x	1 x
Pyro	Fabricate Degreaser	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Powerjack	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Homewrecker	1 x + 1	1 x
Demoman	Fabricate Scotsman's Skullcutter	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Pain Train	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Unusual Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker	2 x + 1 x + 1 x	1 x
Heavy	Fabricate Dalokohs Bar	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Gloves of Running Urgently	1 x + 1 x	1 x
Engineer	Fabricate Southern Hospitality	1 x + 1 x	1 x
Medic	Fabricate Vita-Saw	1 x + 1 x	1 x
Sniper	Fabricate Sydney Sleeper	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Darwin's Danger Shield	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Tribalman's Shiv	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Bushwacka	1 x + 1 x	1 x
Spy	Fabricate L'Etranger	1 x + 1 x	1 x
	Fabricate Your Eternal Reward	1 x + 1 x	1 x

Cost summary table

Item	Total crafting cost	Smelt value
Scrap Metal	2 weapons	2 weapons
Class or Slot Token	3 weapons	3 weapons
Reclaimed Metal	6 weapons = 3 Scrap Metal or 3 Tokens = 9 Weapons	6 weapons
Class-specific Weapon	8 weapons = 1 Scrap Metal + 1 Class Token + 1 Slot Token	8 weapons
Refined Metal	18 weapons = 9 Scrap Metal = 3 Reclaimed Metal	18 weapons
Random Headgear	2 headgear or 54 weapons = 27 Scrap Metal = 9 Reclaimed Metal = 3 Refined Metal	54 weapons
Set Headgear	73 weapons = (36 Scrap metal = 12 Reclaimed Metal = 4 Refined Metal) + 1 weapon from the desired polycount set	73 weapons
Class-specific Headgear	75 weapons = (36 Scrap metal = 12 Reclaimed Metal = 4 Refined Metal) + 3 weapons (1 Class Token of desired class)	75 weapons

Crafting weapon classifications

Contrasting the weapon slots in-game, the crafting system classifies some weapons in different slots. An example of this is the Spy's Revolver, which is not a primary weapon contrary to it being in the first slot in-game. Below is a list of all the usable weapons and what slots the crafting system uses. Note that the table does not include the stock weapons for the classes, such as the Scattergun, as these are not usable in crafting.

Class	Primary weapons	Secondary weapons	Melee weapons	PDAs	Tokens
Scout	•	• •	•
Soldier	• •	• •	•
Pyro	•		• •
Demoman	• •		• • •
Heavy		•	•
Engineer			• •
Medic			•
Sniper	•	• •	•
Spy		•		•

Golden Wrench

Main article: Golden Wrench

• From July 5 to July 9, 2010, players crafting any items in-game had the chance of finding 1 of 100 of an extremely rare item, the Golden Wrench. A series of times when a Wrench was designed to drop was utilized by Valve, and when a player crafted an item after one of these times, a random drop could occur giving the player their crafted item and a Golden Wrench. When a Wrench was found, it would be announced to all online Team Fortress 2 servers at once in the form of a dialogue box in the center of the screen and an accompanying soundbite. This was only available before and leading up to the Engineer update, until all 100 wrenches were found. An announcement was also shown when one of these wrenches was destroyed. These wrenches have the ability to turn ragdolls into gold statues, but are otherwise identical to the default Wrench.
• Due to this event, the Smelt Reclaimed and Refined Metal blueprints were temporarily disabled until all of the 100 Golden Wrenches had been acquired, to stop people from endlessly smelting and re-crafting their Metal until they got one. These blueprints were disabled up until the Mann-Conomy Update, even though the Engineer Update was completed and no Golden Wrenches could be found.

Related Achievements

Sackston Hale Craft the Saxton Hale Mask.

Notes

• The event hats and other hats/items of limited availability do not count toward the Rebuild Headgear recipe. These include Bill's Hat, the Ghastly Gibus/Ghastlier Gibus, the Mildly Disturbing Halloween Mask, the Cheater's Lament, Max's Severed Head, the Alien Swarm Parasite, the Earbuds, Ellis' Cap, the four service medals (Mercenary, Soldier of Fortune, Grizzled Veteran, and Primeval Warrior), the Gentle Manne's Service Medal, the four dueling badges (Bronze Dueling Badge, Silver Dueling Badge, Gold Dueling Badge, Platinum Dueling Badge), the Mann Co. Cap, the Lumbricus Lid, the Wiki Cap, the Bounty Hat, the Treasure Hat, the Hat of Undeniable Wealth And Respect, Mr Foster's Gasmask and Tie, and the promotional items from Poker Night at the Inventory (License to Maim, the Dealer's Visor, and the Dangeresque, Too?).
• Grenade, Building, and Head Slot Tokens are listed in the items_game.txt file, but none of these currently have blueprints, which means that players cannot craft them. It was previously possible to craft a Head Slot Token by placing 4 hats in the crafting window, but the blueprint and all instances of the item were removed when the Mann-Conomy update was launched (For example, this backpack before and after the update).
• Three Camera Beards cannot be crafted into a Misc Token, despite the fact that the Fabricate Slot Token can be discovered when attempting to do so. Therefore, the Camera Beards are not consumed and the blueprints will be added to the recipe list.
• Before an old update, the Camera Beard had a drop rate similar to other weapons, so it was not unusual for players to find many in the course of a week. Despite the Camera Beard being considered as a 'hat' (more specifically in the Miscellaneous category), you were unable to craft two together to get another hat but you were able to craft them together to create another Miscellaneous piece of headgear. After the Camera Beard drop-rate was patched in a subsequent update, it became possible to craft two of them together to make a hat.
• Some cases have been reported of players "finding" scrap metal. This is most likely the cause of the player losing connection to Steam after clicking the craft button. This means the items are used in the craft recipe, yet the result of the craft remains uncollected until the player dies in a server: giving the "PLAYERNAME has found: METALTYPE" alert.
• When crafting, if metals or items disappear unexpectedly, a fast method of making them re-appear is to access the main menu and enter the Mann Co. Store.
• Tools cannot be crafted under any circumstances, including Paint Cans, Name Tags, Description Tags, Crate Keys, and Dueling Mini-Games.
• Stock items that appear in the standard backpack as a result of using a Name Tag or Description Tag on them cannot be crafted (e.g. Two named Scatterguns cannot be crafted into scrap metal).
• Robin Walker confirmed that all items seen in the store (with the exception of Crate Keys, Secret Saxton and Pile o' Gifts) can randomly drop in-game. (This is no longer true as of the Scream Fortress event; the Spine-Chilling Skull and Voodoo Juju are both listed in the store as being unobtainable via random drop. They can, however, be crafted with items available via random drop.)
• All weapons or hats purchased in the Mann Co. Store are uncraftable and untradable; though as of the October 6, 2010 Patch all items marked as "Store Promotion" were made craftable but not tradable. Anything crafted with a Store Promotion item will be itself untradable.
• Items gained via achievements before the Mann-Conomy update were temporarily uncraftable and untradable, but this was changed shortly after so that they could be crafted although they are still untradable.
• If an untradable item is used in the crafting of a hat, weapon or item, then the resulting item will also be untradable.
• Untradable metal, and items made with untradable metal, have reverted to tradable, when the next patch was released due to a glitch. This behavior was observed during the Scream Fortress event with Voodoo Jujus and Spine-Chilling Skulls crafted using untradable Haunted Metal Scrap. Halloween Hats crafted prior to the November 10, 2010 Patch became tradable after the update, but hats crafted after that have reportedly remained untradable, suggesting Valve has fixed the glitch.
• Contrary to popular belief, crafting two unusual hats will result in a typical hat being crafted, not another unusual.

External links

• Crafting in the WAR! Update
• Expanded list of blueprints at TF2items.com
• First mention of crafting