TF2 war paint is a category of items that became available after the release of the Jungle Inferno Update. This happened in 2017. War Paint was introduced instead of skins and can be used to create new weapons with the paint’s pattern.
TF2 War Paint Quality
Team Fortress 2 War Paint can be of many varieties. Some cost just a few cents, while others can cost hundreds of dollars. The price is determined by the community, but it’s also based on the War Paint’s float point and rarity. War Paint of Elite Grade rarity is a lot more expensive than War Paint of Mercenary Grade rarity.
War Paint and all the weapons created with it are considered to be Decorated items. Sometimes, they can also belong to the Strange or Unusual classes.
War Paint Collections
In total, there are around a dozen different War Paint collections. In each collection, you can find War Paint of different qualities.
For example, the Jungle Jackpot Collection features an Elite Grade War Paint called Park Pigmented and other War Paints of various rarities. Obviously, the Mercenary Grade ones are the most frequent, while the Commando Grade, Assassin Grade, and Elite Grade ones are increasingly less frequent in this particular order.
Unboxing high-quality War Paint items is identical to unboxing high-quality TF2 skins. You have a small chance of getting the rare varieties and a high chance of getting the common varieties.
TF2 War Paint Items
A lot of collections feature War Paint items from the 4 rarity classes mentioned above. But others feature more mundane ones as well.
As a collector, you should treat War Paint the same way you treat skins. Because they’re almost identical. In terms of rarity, float value, price, and everything else that matters, War Paint is another word for skins. War Painted weapons are simply Team Fortress 2 skins. However, not all weapons are paintable weapons.
Before you apply the War Paint to a weapon, you can preview the result.
These are the TF2 War Paint collections that you can own at the moment:
- Jungle Jackpot Collection
- Infernal Reward Collection
- Decorated War Hero Collection
- Contract Campaigner Collection
- Saxton Select Collection
- Mann Co. Events Collection
- Winter 2017 Collection
- Scream Fortress X Collection
- Winter 2019 Collection
- Scream Fortress XII Collection
- Winter 2020 Collection
- Scream Fortress XIII Collection
Also view: Trade TF2 Items on Best-rated Skin Trading Site
In almost every case, there is one Elite Grade item in the collection, a few Assassin Grade items, several Commando Grade items, and around half a dozen Mercenary Grade items. The odds of obtaining an Elite Grade item are probably below 1%. But the value of such War Paint tends to be high, especially if you random the Factory New version.
Other wear levels, such as Minimal Wear, Field Tested, Well Worn, and Battle-Scarred, are generally less valuable. The value decreases gradually though, not abruptly. As with skins in general, people will be searching for War Paint that’s rare, looks great, is hard to obtain, is popular within the TF2 community, and so on.
You can read the game’s wiki if you want to learn about all TF2 War Paints.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can’t apply War Paint to existing weapons in TF2. Using a War Paint creates a new weapon with the chosen War Paint design.
TF2 War Paints are skins for your weapons. They come in different designs and permanently change the look of a compatible weapon when applied.
In Team Fortress 2, War Paint isn’t applied directly to weapons. Here’s how it works:
1. Inspect your War Paint.
2. Choose a weapon to apply the War Paint to (create a new weapon).
3. The War Paint creates a unique weapon with the chosen pattern.
