Beginner's Guide to Crafting

I will go over the basics of crafting in Team Fortress 2. I will give you step-by-step instructions on how to craft weapons, metal and more.

Introduction

This guide will go over the basics of crafting in Team Fortress 2. In this guide you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to craft metal, weapons and more. It will also explain how Halloween craftables work and what Craft Numbered items are and how you can obtain one.

If you're using a Free-to-Play account you will not have access to every crafting blueprint until you have purchased something from the Mann Co Store. Premium upgrades are also available as gifts.

• Free to Play FAQ
  
  
• Official TF2 Crafting Wiki

Crafting Basics

Crafting can only be done from within Team Fortress 2. Unlike trading it cannot be performed outside of the game.

To begin crafting start TF2 and click on the button which says Items.



This will pull up your Loadout screen where you can customize the look of each class. Underneath the characters there is a list of options with icons. Click on the Anvil labelled Crafting.



You're now on the crafting menu. On this page you will see a list of options that you can choose from. All of these options are things you can craft if you have the correct materials. In this example I will be crafting an item for the soldier called the Gunboats.

To do this click on the circular button at the top of the crafting menu, it's labelled Common Items when you hover over it.



From the Common Items menu you can choose from a wide variety of craftable weapons. Locate the blueprint for the weapon you want to create. In my example I'm looking for the button which says Fabricate Gunboats.



The right side of the page will now display the blueprints. At the bottom you'll see a field which says Will Create. This is what will be created when the crafting process has been completed.

The blue text and the buttons underneath where it says Will Consume will display what is required to make the item. From the screenshot below you can see that a Chargin' Targe and a Razorback is required to create the Gunboats.



To begin crafting click on one of the buttons which have the required item name in the box. This will pull up an inventory page labelled Select Item To Use In Craft.

This will display any eligible items which can be used to craft the item from the blueprint you selected. In my example, I clicked on Chargin' Targe first, so it's showing me all of my Chargin' Targes I have in my inventory.



If you have multiples of the required material it's a good idea to hover over each one to make sure you're using one which is tradable. If you craft an item using a material which is not tradable, the outcome will not be tradable either. If you select a non-tradable material the game will give you a warning before the you're able to complete the crafting process, giving you a chance to change your mind.

Click on the item you want to use. In my example I selected the yellow, Unique quality Chargin' Targe. Using a Vintage, Strange or Genuine item in a craft will not affect the quality of the item you are creating.

Your crafting window should now look something like this.



Repeat the process until you have all of the required material boxes filled in. When you're ready click on the button located at the bottom of the crafting window labelled Craft!.



Once the craft has been completed you'll get a popup which lets you know the Crafting Succeeded.



Once you click on Ok you'll get a New Item Acquired screen which lets you know the item has been placed in your inventory.



If you have been following along with the guide, congratulations, you've just crafted an item!

The large majority of items you can craft will require metal material. In the next section of the guide I'll explain what metal is, and how you can acquire it.

Crafting Metal

Now that you're familiar with the crafting process, it's time to start learning about Metal. Any craftable weapon in Team Fortress 2 can be broken down in to Metal and then repurposed in many crafting blueprints. In this section of the guide I will explain what each type of Metal is and how to create it.

Metal can be created by going to the Crafting Menu and selecting the icon at the top which looks like a mallet and a spanner. If you hover over the icon it will display Crafting Items.



Select the blueprint from the list which says Smelt Class Weapons. You'll see that the required materials are both labelled Weapon. To create a Scrap Metal you need to use two weapons belonging to the same class.



Click on one of the buttons labelled Weapon and select the item you want to use. Repeat this process until both of the fields have an item in them.

Once you're done populating both Weapon slots, click on the button which is labelled Craft! If the weapons you placed in the window do not belong to the same class the Craft button will not light up.



You now have a Scrap Metal which can be used in numerous weapon blueprints.

If the item you want to craft requires Reclaimed Metal instead of a Scrap Metal, you'll need to craft three Scrap Metal (six weapons) which will form one Reclaimed Metal.

Once you have three Scrap Metal, select the Combine Scrap Metal blueprint from the Crafting Menu under the Crafting Items category. Populate each material field with a Scrap Metal and then select Craft!



You can repeat this process one final time by combining three Reclaimed Metal to create something called a Refined Metal. One Refined metal is equal to eighteen individual weapons.

From the Crafting Menu under the Crafting Items category select Combine Reclaimed Metal. Fill in the required materials section with three Reclaimed Metal and then select Craft!



If you've previously crafted a Refined Metal, but later find out you needed a Reclaimed or a Scrap instead, you can choose to Smelt it, which will deconstruct your metal.

Clicking on Smelt Refined Metal from the Crafting Menu under the Crafting Items category will allow you place a Refined Metal into the materials window, when you click Craft! you will recieve three Reclaimed Metal back. This process can also be used to turn Reclaimed Metal back into Scrap Metal.



Now that you're familiar with how to craft and create metal, explore the crafting menu by clicking on all of the different categories to see what you can create.

Keep in mind that some craftable items have a low community value. Because every craftable item can also randomly drop you might get better value for money by trading the metal you just created instead of crafting it.

Metal is also used as a form of currency in the game. For more information about trading currencies and how to trade you can read my 'Beginner's Guide to Trading' by clicking the button below.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=140281143

Class and Slot Tokens

Some blueprints such as Fabricate Class Headgear require an item called a Class Token. The outcome of the craft will depend on which class specific token you use.

To create a token go to the Crafting Items category and select Fabricate Class Token.



Class tokens require any three weapons belonging to the same class. In the example below the materials I provided will create a Demoman Class Token.



If the blueprint I use requires a Class Token and I populate the Class Token box with my Demoman token, it will create a demoman specific item.

Additionally some blueprints such as Fabricate Class Weapons will require a Class Token and something called a Slot Token. Creating a Slot token is almost exactly the same as creating a class token. Locate Fabricate Slot Token on the Crating Items category.



Slot Tokens require three weapons from the same loadout slot, they do not have to be class specific. Slot tokens are broken down in to three categories, Primary, Secondary and Melee.

In the example below the outcome would be a Melee Slot Token



Class and Slot tokens can be repurposed to create a token for another class or slot. From the list of blueprints under the Crafting Items category select Rebuild Class Token. In the token box place your unwanted Class Token and in the weapon box put in a weapon belonging to the class that you want to turn the token into. In the example below I will be turning my Heavy Token into a Scout Token.



This process can also be performed with a Slot Token. From the list of blueprints under the Crafting Items category select Rebuild Slot Token. Place in your existing slot token, in my case it's a Melee Slot Token, and a weapon belonging to the slot that you want to turn it into. In the example below I will be turning my Melee slot token into a Primary Slot token.



If you want to get rid of your class or slot tokens entirely, you can select Smelt Tokens under the Crafting Items Category. This blueprint will allow you to use a combination of three slot or class tokens to create a Reclaimed Metal.



Tokens can be useful for mass crafting in hopes to get an craft numbered item. I will explain more about this in the next section.

Craft Numbers

When a new item becomes craftable, the first one hundred that are crafted will display a craft number in-game. Below is an example of a craft numbered Ornament Armament, note that after the name there is #65. This means that it was the 65th Ornament Armament to be crafted in the game.

Keep in mind craft numbers provide no additional gameplay benefits except bragging rights and trading value.



Getting a craft numbered Hat or Misc requires a lot of preparation and luck. If you're trying to get a craft numbered Hat or Misc for a specific class, it's advisable to use a Class Token and the Fabricate Class Headgear blueprint from the Rare category to reduce the pool of possible outcomes.

Often new weapons will have a blueprint attached to them under the Common Items category, there is no way of knowing what the required materials for the weapon blueprint will be prior to the patch being released.

It's a race against time and there is no real way of knowing when the first one hundred have been crafted. Often new craftable items will be listed in the TF2 patch notes which can be viewed here.

Limited Time Craftables

Some blueprints require the use of materials that can only be obtained by playing in-game events which are only active during certain times of the year. These are often referred to as Holiday or Limited Time craftables.

To access the list of Holiday or Limited Time craftables choose the Special category, represented by a star on the crafting menu.



One example of this is the Unusual Haunted Metal Scrap which is earned by killing the Horseless Headless Horsemann and earning the achievement Gored! Officially the Horseless Headless Horsemann event is only playable during Halloween, but some servers have custom mods installed to make it playable all year around.



Another example is the Fabricate Saxton Hale Halloween Mask blueprint which requires materials that can only be obtained by playing the Mann Manor event during Halloween. The required masks for the craft are collected by picking up randomly spawned presents throughout the map.



If you're unsure what an item is and you can't find the blueprint on the crafting menu, I suggest referring to the Official Team Fortress 2 Wiki, which is a great resource for explaining the uses of each item.

Custom Blueprints

Under the Special category there is a blueprint called Custom Blueprint. This is for advanced users only. You're able to place any item into the crafting window and the game will attempt to match the materials you placed in the window into a known blueprint.

This is similar to the old way of crafting in Team Fortress 2. There is no benefit to using this blueprint over the other ones besides efficiency.



Because I know that the blueprint to create a Reclaimed Metal requires three Scrap Metal, I can use the Custom Blueprint page instead of looking for Combine Reclaimed Metal in the Crafting Menu. This can save a significant amount of time if you're crafting a lot of items and you already know the required materials.

Closing Notes

If you have any questions or comments regarding this guide please feel free to leave a comment below.



You can also check out all of my other Steam Guides here.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=140281143
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=137629753

[8 years in casual]

this is just old hud

[IhasBeanz]

What's your HUD?

[Dolph]

What kind of weapons can craftable

[Corzaire]

You said that some people have mods for the horseless headmann, could I just farm his parts and make Halloween stuffs?

[Amon Gus [Lucpicious]]

I want to get refined metals to start my trading journey, but it says if I make stuff out of items that are untradeable, then the result will be untradeable. Does that mean any refined metal I make out of weapons I bought from the M Co. store will be untradeable?

[Midnight Dreams]

Very helpfull

[Domestic Mole-Rat]

thanks!

[Menoly]

if I put a non tradable item into the crafting thing, will the item have the timer until its tradable after?

[Volvo 262C Bertone]

i cant make headgear for some reason
it says no matching blueprint
i have all 3 refined metals so i dont know whats wrong

[gilbotz]

thanks it helps a lot