A Hale's Own Guide to Stranges

Recently obtained a Strange Weapon and don't know anything about it? This is a simple guide determined to show you what Stranges are and all the basics about them, as well as a little further information.
(The prefix of the guide will change due to the amount of unique visitors it gets to match the rank with a specific number of kills of a regular Strange. For example, a Hale's Own Strange has 8,500 kills, if this guide gets 8,500 unique visitors I will rename it A Hale's Own Particularly Strange Guide.)

Introduction/The Basics

What are Strange Weapons?
Strange is an item quality for items in Team Fortress 2. Only weapons can have this quality, with the exception of the Spirit of Giving. (Deep down insde, though, we all know that isn't a real Strange.) The hexadecimal color code for Strange items is #CF6A32, which is dark orange.

What are so good about Strange Weapons/what makes it different from regular weapons?
If a weapon is Strange, it counts how many kills you have with that weapon! But, some weapons track different things. For example, the Strange Medi Gun, Quick-Fix, and Kritzkrieg counts how many ÜberCharges and Kill Assists it gets. Most Strange Wrenches count how many kills your Sentry Gun gets. Other than tracking different things, there are no other differences—Strange weapons do not do more damage than regular weapons.

How do I obtain Strange Weapons?
Strange Weapons can be obtained through unboxing crates, Mann vs. Machine tour completion rewards, and trading. When you unbox a crate, there is a chance to get a Strange weapon. Any crate series that is below series #19 is not able to give you a Strange. You can also get a Strange weapon if you complete an entire Tour of Duty, giving you a Botkiller weapon.

Strange Ranks

Each Strange weapon has a rank before its actual name. Your Strange levels up to a new rank after it reaches a certain amount of kills. More kills/higher ranks on a Strange does not make it more powerful than the same weapon with less kills/lower rank.

Here is a list of the ranks of almost every Strange weapon and how much kills it requires to achieve that rank:

Rank	Kills
Strange	0
Unremarkable	10
Scarcely Lethal	25
Somewhat Threatening 70	Uncharitable 100	Notably Dangerous 135	Sufficiently Lethal	175	Truly Feared 225	Spectacularly Lethal 275	Gore-Spattered 350	Wicked Nasty	500	Positively Inhumane 750	Totally Ordinary 999	Face-Melting 1000	Rage-Inducing 1500	Server-Clearing	2500	Epic 5000	Legendary 7500	Australian 7616	Hale's Own	8500

Strange Parts

Strange Parts are special modifiers for Stranges. Like Stranges themselves, they are only obtainable through unboxing, with the exception of Full Moon Kills, Halloween Kills, and Robots Destroyed During Halloween parts which can be found randomly in the item drop system. If you put a Strange Part on a weapon, it tracks an additional statistic on that weapon, such as the Strange Part Headshot Kills which counts how many kills you got with a headshot.

Strange Parts can only be put on Strange weapons. Up to three Strange parts can be put on a Strange. Don't worry, however, you can remove Strange parts by pressing the "Restore" feature on the backpack. But, you don't get the part back—you lose it forever.

Certain Strange parts cannot be applied on to certain Stranges. For example, you can't put Allies Extinguished or Long Range Kills on a Strange Bat. Also, when a Strange part is attached on a Strange, it does not count any previous stats you had with that Strange weapon.

Strange Part: Heavies Killed

Strange Filters

Strange Filter: Kong King

Strange Filters are special modifiers for Strange weapons, and can only be used on Stranges. Adding a Strange Filter on to a Strange restricts the tracking of all the kills/statistics for the Strange and the parts on it to a certain map. Each Strange filter has a different map, for example there is a Strange Filter: Coldfront and a Strange Filter: Watchtower.

Unlike Strange weapons and Strange Parts, Strange Filters are not obtainable through unboxing crates. Instead, they are each $0.99 from the Mann Co. Store, or you can get them for even lower prices through our economy.

All the maps for Strange Filters are community maps. They were created to support the people who made the maps. Valve gives some of the money from Strange Filters to the people who made the map. For example, if you buy Strange Filter: Offblast from the store, the developer of the map gets the money.

Adding a Strange Filter on a weapon also adds an extra prefix on the weapon based on the map. Here is a list of all the Strange Filter maps and their prefixes on a Strange weapon:

Map	Prefix
Coldfront	Strange Frosty Weapon
Egypt	Strange Egyptian Weapon
Junction	Strange Technical Weapon
Steel Strange Rigid Weapon	Gullywash Strange Sophisticated Weapon	Turbine Strange Hydraulic Weapon	Fastlane	Strange Outlaw Weapon	Freight Strange Locomotive Weapon	Yukon Strange Canadian Weapon	Harvest Strange Fresh Weapon	Lakeside Strange Sun-Kissed Weapon Kong King Strange MennKo Weapon Frontier Strange Wild Weapon Hoodoo Strange Psychadelic Weapon Nightfall Strange Dazzling Weapon Watchtower Strange Vigilant Weapon Offblast Strange Covert Weapon Mann Manor Strange Spooky Weapon [/table]

Strange Farming

Ah, Strange Farming. Some people love it. Others hate it.
Strange Farming is basically going on a server in which people are idling and you keep killing the idlers. The servers are built like that so people can come on and quickly/easily level up their Stranges on idling people. The idlers don't fight back and respawn instantly, which makes it incredibly easy to level up a Strange. Just letting you know....just letting you know.

Salvaged Crate/Salvaged Stranges

Ever heard of the Salvaged Mann Co. Supply Crate? Salvaged Crates are sort of like regular crates, but the thing is that they are super rare. The chances of getting one in a drop is much less than finding a regular crate in the drop. Finding one is like unboxing an Unusual, getting a Blood/Gold/Diamond Botkiller in a Mann Up Tour completion reward, or unboxing a Strange Festive. If you are ever to find one, consider yourself lucky—this is not your average crate. Unlike special event crates, these crates aren't released for holidays and they don't have a special key (just use a regular Mann Co. Supply Crate Key to open them) and they don't have an expiration date. So far the current Salvaged Crates are Series #30, #40, and #50. Crate #50 is currently in the item drop system and Crates #30 and #40 are retired (no longer in the drop, but still obtainable through trading, have not expired, and can still be opened).

Because the Salvaged Crate is so low in supply and super-rare, their price in the economy is actually pretty high. Use http://backpack.tf/pricelist for a general idea on how much they cost.

Salvaged Crate prices always start out to be very, very high. That's because since they just came out very, very little people own them and traders are so excited and they want to get the Stranges in there. Eventually, the supply rises and the demand lowers because more and more people are getting them, thus causing the hype to decrease. Then the price begins to plummet. The same also goes for the Stranges inside them, too.

In a Salvaged Crate, there's always that one or two Strange weapon that is super cheap compared to the others, and there's always one that's super expensive compared to the others.

Because the crate itself is so rare and expensive, the Stranges in them usually are, too. Here is a list of all the Salvaged Stranges and the Salvaged crate they are in.

Salvaged Mann Co. Supply Crate Series #30

Strange Ullapool Caber <--If you unbox this you might as well stop trading
Strange Kritzkreig <--That Ultra Expensive One
Strange Holy Mackerel <--If you unbox this you might as well kill yourself
Strange Gunslinger <--That Super Expensive One
Strange Machina <--Meh

Salvaged Mann Co. Supply Crate Series #40

Strange Holiday Punch <--If you unbox this you might as well stop trading
Strange Huntsman <--That Ultra/Super Expensive One
Strange Widowmaker <--Meh
Strange Mantreads <--If you unbox this you might as well stop trading
Strange Sapper <--That Ultra/Super Expensive One

Salvaged Mann Co. Supply Crate Series #50

Strange Bacon Grease (NOTE: This is not a weapon and not an actual Strange itself. It is a modifier to the Frying Pan weapon. Once applied, it makes the Frying Pan Strange.) <--That Ultra Expensive One
Strange Construction PDA <--That Super Expensive One
Strange Original <--That Super Expensive One
Strange Invis Watch <--Meh
Strange Splendid Screen <--If you unbox this you might as well stop trading

Strange Festives

Remember last section I told you finding a Salvaged crate is like unboxing a Strange Festive?

Salvaged Crate/Salvaged Stranges a écrit :

Finding one is like unboxing an Unusual, getting a Blood/Gold/Diamond Botkiller in a Mann Up Tour completion reward, or unboxing a Strange Festive.

Well, you may be wondering, what is a Strange Festive and what's so special about 'em?

Around Smissmas time, there's always a major update bringing in new content for the game. The Smissmas Update for 2012 is called the Mecha Update. The Smissmas Update for 2011 is called the Australian Christmas 2011. New hats and weapons were introduced in both updates for us to enjoy. But, re-skins for currently existing weapons were also introduced. These were called Festives. Basically, Valve took some weapons, and put Christmas lights on them.

Festive weapons are actually quite common. But, Festives are in the Unique (regular) quality...with an exception. Unboxing a Naughty Winter Crate gives you a Festive, but there is a very small chance of that specific weapon being a Strange Festive. As a result, Strange Festive weapons are very rare and are high in demand, thus making them incredibly expensive.

The 2011 Festive Weapons were obtainable by opening a Crate #35 (Naughty Winter Crate 2011). The 2012 Festive Weapons were obtainable by opening a Crate #52 (Naughty Winter Crate 2012).

List of 2011 Festive Weapons

Festive Scattergun
Festive Bat (NOTE: There is a 5.21% chance to unbox this, as opposed to a 10.42% chance to unbox any other Festive in this crate. Also, the Festive Bat is always in Strange quality. There are no Unique Festive Bats with the exception of Valve employees that got Unique ones. Very few are in trading.)
Festive Rocket Launcher
Festive Flame Thrower
Festive Stickybomb Launcher
Festive Minigun
Festive Wrench
Festive Medi Gun
Festive Sniper Rifle
Festive Knife

List of 2012 Festive Weapons

Festive Holy Mackerel
Festive Buff Banner
Festive Axtinguisher
Festive Grenade Launcher
Festive Sandvich
Festive Frontier Justice
Festive Ubersaw
Festive Huntsman
Festive Ambassador

Strange Botkillers

Introduction/The Basics a écrit :

You can also get a Strange weapon if you complete an entire Tour of Duty, giving you a Botkiller weapon.

Salvaged Crate/Salvaged Stranges a écrit :

Finding one is like unboxing an Unusual, getting a Blood/Gold/Diamond Botkiller in a Mann Up Tour completion reward, or unboxing a Strange Festive.

Noob Reader a écrit :

WHAT THE HECK IS A BOTKILLER??

I'll tell you what it is!

A Botkiller weapon is a Strange stock weapon with a robotic head under it. It's the same as a Strange stock, just with the head.

Botkiler weapons are awarded once a player completes a full Tour of Duty. A Tour of Duty is a collection of various maps on official servers of the game mode Mann vs. Machine. Once an entire Tour is completed a random Botkiller is rewarded at the end.

Tour of Duty Tickets are special items that allow entry into a mission. A mission is one game that is part of the Tour. Therefore, it takes multiple tickets to complete a full tour.

The completion of an Operation (specific tour) will assign you a random Botkiller with a random type. The regular types are Rust (from Operation Oil Spill), Silver (from Operation Steel Trap and Operation Mecha Engine), and Carbonado (from Operation Gear Grinder) robot heads.

But, completion can also give you a special type of Botkiller. The special types are Blood (from Operation Oil Spill), Gold (from Operation Steel Trap and Operation Mecha Engine), and Diamond (from Operation Gear Grinder) robot heads. These special types are very rare and more expensive. If you receive a this type of Botkiller instead of the common one, you're lucky!

From left to right: Rust and Blood, Silver and Gold, Carbonado and Diamond with their operation badges.

Completing any of the following Operations (Oil Spill, Steel Trap, and Gear Grinder) will give you a Mark 1 (Mk.I) Botkiller, or the standard edition Botkiller. Mk.I Botkillers have robotic heavy heads attached underneath it. Completing Operation Operation Mecha Engine will give you a Mk.II Botkiller. Mk.II Botkillers have robotic Engineer heads attached underneath it, not Heavy heads.

Mark II Botkiller Heads, both Silver and Gold with their Operation Badge.

A Botkiller's weapon will match the badge level for the Operation it was used in. Levels can exceed 100 and can go up to 200. If you have a Level 42, 69, 99, 100, or 100+ Botkiller this is an excuse to overprice it! ;)

Stranges in the Economy

Stranges have a special significance in trading, although they are not currency. Stranges are worth more than regular weapons because they are lower in supply and higher in demand. Some Stranges are worth more than others. There are special types of Stranges that are priced differently, such as Strange Festives and Salvaged Crate Stranges. Let me tell you the pricing tiers of Stranges and explain them.
(Protip: When a Strange is traded/gifted away, all its kills automatically reset, but Strange parts and filters still stay on.)

Cancer Tier

These are the Stranges nobody wants. They're hard to sell and only quickbuyers go for them. There are tons of these floating around, because cancer Stranges are usually Stranges that came out from recent crates. These Stranges are 0.33 (1 reclaimed) or less. Some cancers include the Wrap Assassin, the Back Scratcher, especially the Scotsman's Skullcutter, and the most cancerous Strange weapon of all time—the Strange Equalizer. Basically any Soldier/Demoman/Pyro/Scout Strange that came out in a recent crate.

Low Tier

Low Tier Stranges are Stranges that are 0.44 to somewhere around a key or two. These include the three ♥♥♥♥ Stranges in Crate #40 (if you read about that in one of my previous sections you'll know what they are), pretty much all of the regular Botkillers, etc. Some people want these, some people couldn't care less about 'em.

Mid Tier

These are Stranges that are worth over 2 keys to 5-6 keys. These include a lot of the special Botkillers, some of the 2012 Strange Festives nobody likes, Holy Mackerel, Grenade Launcher, Sapper, and Huntsman. These will be easy to sell if you target the correct audience—collectors and somewhat rich traders.

High Tier

These Stranges are the big bucks and have the longest limited pricing range (7-20 keys)! Some include the Strange Festive Grenade Launcher, the Strange Festive Huntsman, the Strange Festive Flame Thrower, the Ullapool Caber and the Machina. These are hard to sell and quickbuyers would give you the cheapest of their ♥♥♥♥ to get them.

God Tier

These Stranges are 1 bud or more. It includes pretty much all of the 2011 Strange Festives (with the exception of the Flame Thrower that was listed above, of course), the Kritzkrieg, and the Gunslinger. You got the goods, baby.

Conclusion

So now you know everything you need to know about Strange weapons along with useless and unhelpful links and pictures. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. If you liked it, why not go ahead and upvote it and share it :D If you really liked it, favorite it! If you really really like all my content, follow me! Also, be sure to check out my other guides! See you soon!

[Scout?]

Is it possible to transfer the strange status of one item (say a normal medigun) to another (say a Smissmas Sweater one)?

[the other bird]

how do i scroll through the strange filter prefixes?

[chinese bean]

king benny look like penis

[chinese bean]

this...aged poorlythis...aged poorlythis...aged poorlyhis...aged poorlyhis...aged poorlyhis...aged poorlyhis...aged poorlythis...aged poorlythis...aged poorly

[King Benny]

this...aged poorly

[Northern Puffer]

@below, try binding something to "+attack; -attack; +attack2;" and keeping that held down with a few coins when idling

[Atomik]

on a strange farm when i type +attack and +attack2 for me to be able to idle, my sticky charges fully. Any ideas on how to fix it?

[Urist Mcsmith]

Super outdated, who even uses buds as a currency anymore

[Okami Tomato]

>Tells person how to do something
>addesses them
>As soon as I post it they change their name

[Okami Tomato]

8,500 like most other strange weapons nightslayer