Whether you’re a hardcore Team Fortress 2 fan or you’re just now getting into it, you know that it’s one of the most exciting and popular multiplayer FPS games out there.
It was released 14 years ago, and it’s still alive and kicking, despite the lack of major updates and developer communication in the past several years.
That’s all thanks to its passionate community that keeps growing daily. The game’s fun atmosphere and unique spirit aside, what TF2 players find irresistible is a wealth of cosmetic items for adorning their playable characters.
While you can craft a variety of cosmetic items, some of them are only available in random drops as free gifts from the developers. If you’re lucky enough to get them, you can sell Team Fortress 2 items for real money, as they’re quite rare and expensive.
Here are some of the most valuable items in Team Fortress 2 that you can use to make a fortune.
Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect
The Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect, aka the HOUWAR, is a promotional all-class cosmetic item that was designed as a gift for the players who completed all of the 28 objectives in The Great Steam Treasure Hunt in 2010.
The hat is a Tippler’s Tricorne with an octopus on top that’s holding a treasure chest. It may look ridiculous, but it can get a kill assist to the players who own it if they kill an enemy on their own.
Unusual Burning Team Captain
The Unusual Burning Team Captain, aka the Burning Flames Team Captain, is the most expensive item in Team Fortress 2.
It’s an unusual Team Captain item (a military peaked cap designed for the Medic, Heavy, and Soldier classes) with the Burning Flames effect that makes the hat look like it’s on fire.
It requires thousands of keys to unlock, and there are currently only ten known instances of it, which is why it’s so valuable.
Golden Frying Pan
The Golden Frying Pan is an Australium-plated all-class melee weapon that players can win in the Mann Up mode, which they can access only with an Advanced or Expert Tour of Duty Ticket.
The item has a pre-applied Killstreak Kit and turns killed enemies into Australium statues. TF2 players have a chance to win it only in the Operation Two Cities mode of the Mann Up mission.
Cow Mangler 5000
The Cow Mangler 5000 is a primary weapon for the Soldier class. It’s a self-recharging ray gun that vaporizes enemies.
Due to a glitch in 2014 that lasted only several minutes, this item was paintable, which is why there’s a small handful of painted Cow Manglers out there. The team-specific colors were dubbed Team Spirit, Cream Spirit, Value of Teamwork, Balaclavas Are Forever, Operator’s Overalls, and Waterlogged Labcoat.
Killstreak Kit
Killstreak Kits are tool items that you can use to upgrade various weapons. There are Standard and Specialized Killstreak Kits that you can apply to weapons of any quality.
But if you win a Professional Killstreak Kit Fabricator in the Operation Two Cities, you can obtain a rare Professional Killstreak Kit that you can apply to any item. Of course, you certainly wouldn’t want to apply it to a hat or other cosmetic items, but it’s a possibility.
Top Notch
The Top Notch is a unique all-class cosmetic item designed as a shoutout to Markus “Notch” Persson, a Swedish video game developer best known for creating Minecraft.
It’s a hat item that represents a Minecraft-style avatar of Markus Persson in the form of a painted cardboard box with a fedora on top. When Demoman wears it, there’s a patch over his left eye.
This item has an interesting origin story. In 2011, Persson wrote on Twitter: “Nobody ever believes me I’m the real Notch on TF2.” One of his followers suggested he tell Valve to design a special hat for him to prove it. Soon after, Valve added the Top Notch to his character’s backpack.
There’s only one Top Notch in existence, which is why it’s so valuable.
Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou
The Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou is a promotional item designed specifically for the Sniper class. It’s a hat in the form of a caribou (reindeer) head that sits atop the Sniper character’s head.
It was available only during the Steam Holiday Sale 2013 promotional event. Players needed to collect ten specific cards and craft the Steam Holiday Sale 2013 badge to obtain it.
There are only two Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou items out there.
Genuine Nabler
The Genuine Nabler is a community-created item designed for the Pyro class. It replaces a Pyro character’s head with the head of the Nabler, a one-eyed robot from the Popbot Universe.
When a player kills an enemy on their own while equipped with this item, they get a kill assist.
TF2 players could get this item by purchasing the Robot Pyro RED + BLU Double Pack from ThreeA Toys. Valve later added it to the Steam Workshop.
There are only 22 Genuine Nablers out there.
Genuine Little Bear
The Genuine Little Bear is an item designed for the Heavy class. It’s a mini version of the Giant Heavy Robot, an enemy that appears in the Mann vs. Machine missions.
The Heavy character equipped with it carries it on its belt and awards a kill assist to the player when they kill an enemy on their own.
This promotional item was also available through a ThreeA Toys purchase. However, you only had to buy either a RED or BLU Robot Heavy action figure to get it.
Conclusion
Team Fortress 2 continues to thrive, and we’re bound to keep playing it for many years to come. Even if we don’t get any of the available valuable items, we’ll definitely have a lot of fun doing it.
If you do get your hands on any of them, we highly recommend you sell them, as you could make a lot of money.
