You know exactly what I'm talking about here, don't you?

You all have that ONE hat, right? That ONE hat that you fell in love with the first time you ever saw it? Yeah, you know what I mean. It's your TF2 guilty pleasure. Your loyal companion. Your fall-back. Your Plan-A and Plan-B... and Plan-C. For me specifically, that hat is the Surgeon's Shako, but that isn't important for the progression of this guide.

Go ahead and picture this hat in your mind. This hat you are thinking of has many possibilities on its own for you to make a collection for yourself, whether it be the Gentleman's Ushanka, or that one headpiece for Scout that barely anyone uses.

Keep in mind for this list of examples that not every hat can be applicable to these things.



In any case, there are quite a few ways for you to formulate a collection out of this single hat.
These examples are in no specific order, so just search for one of these that could fit your budget.

1. The Leveller
A very good example of a collection you can formulate from your favorite hat is the collection of that hat in the Unique quality, with each one being a different level: 1-100

My good friend, McBro, has one of these types of collections completed in his backpack: Level 1 to Level 100 Noble Amassments of Hats.

You don't have to have all 100 is you so choose. Some nice even numbers to have can be 1-50, 1-20, or any combination of 10 of your favorite numbers. I say 10 and 20 because it makes symettrical patterns in your backpack if you care about arranging them.

2. The Painter


A slightly less common sight to be seen in a collectors backpack is a collection of the same hat painted with every color in the Mann Co. Paint Shop. From Cancerous Pink as Hell to Fleshy Dark Salmon Injustice, they have made it a mission to get every paint onto their favorite hat. These collections are sometimes seen as wasteful because of all the extra metal and keys spent on the paint needed.

DI: One quick example is my rather small collection of Virtual Viewfinders. So far I have 8 of my favorite paints plus a self-crafted, non-painted version.

3. The Effect Enthusiast
If you DO happen to have Barrels full of Keys lying around in your backpack, you can collect the same hat with 4+ different unusual effects. I'd suggest 4, because you would have one for every loadout slot available to you, and you wouldn't have to spend too much extraneous money.

Unconq: My first unusual came from off the Community Market, so it was overpriced. However, after having it scammed, I was furious with how gullible I was. This brought me into the trading scene, and directly lead me into collecting the Softcap. I soon learned the value of keys, and how the market worked. I also watched tons of videos on trading and making profit; then after some time, I traded up to my Green Energy Softcap, and my 1 of 2 Neutron Star Softcap. My collection was only possible through sheer dedication, and lots of birthday money; however, for someone with 5 versions of the same hat, I can't say im dissatisfied.


4. The Quality Qollector
Some hats in the game have quite a few item qualities attached to them, like the Texas Ten Gallon or the Stainless Pot, which have 5 and 6 different item qualities respectively. Because of this, you can collect all of the available item qualities of them to really make yourself stand out. This would be a little harder, considering how much and how rare collector's versions of some hats are, but some hats have easier qualities to acquire than others.

There aren't any notable examples of this kind of collection, since there are so few items with a LOT of item qualities, but there are many people who will formulate collections of one item quality, but that is for the next section of this guide.


5. The Low Craft Numbers
A very difficult collection to come up with, but still possible for basically any hat you want, is to collect any amount of a hat with low-craft numbers. Low-craft hats have numbers put onto them as they are crafted very early in the lifetime of that hat in the game. It's practically impossible to do this with the tiered cosmetics nowadays, since they can't be crafted yet.

Because of their rarity, normally low-craft hats will be VERY hard to come across, but some low-craft hats are easily found on backpack.tf listings. Craft Numbers 1-5, 42, 69, and 100 will normally be the hardest of a hat to come across, due to the meaning of the number (serious or memeified)

Low-crafts will never sell for the normal backpack.tf price, so plan accordingly if you want to buy low-crafts. Some less meaningful numbers will sell for much less than more sought-after ones.

6: Some Exact Numbers for these Collection Ideas
Here are some statistics for you to consider when deciding what collection you should create.

• Total Team Colored Paints: 7
  
• Total Single Paint Colors: 22
  
• Total Hat Unusual Effects: 98
  
• Total Visible Low-Craft Numbers: 100
  
• Total Hat Levels: 100

What would happen if you were to flip the script just a bit? What if instead of focusing on a hat you like, you were to focus on a certain Paint Color, or a certain Unusual Effect? There are some effects and paints that hold a lot of potential in a collection.

In some ways, collecting in this way is easier, since you focus on a broader range of things than a single hat. The examples listed here are once again listed in no particular order.

1. The Class Completionist

Classes have a wide variety of cosmetics to choose from, so why be stuck with a couple to make loadouts out of? In the words of Pokemon, You gotta catch 'em all!

Players with this kind of collection are dedicated to collecting every cosmetic for one Class in the game, typically their main. The number of individual cosmetics for one class varies between classes, but there tend to be 100+ for each class individually.

Exact amounts of cosmetics for each class plus all-class hats are featured below.

2. The Effect Purist

There are 98 unusual effects to choose from that come with hats. Chances are that you'll take a liking to at least one. There are many people out there who collect a bunch of hats with the same effect on them. Some have one for each class, some only have 1 or 2, and some have more than 30 hats with the same effect.

One notable person in the trading scene who collects a lot of the same effect is known as Ryuke [TBM α][backpack.tf]. He has 32 different hats with only 2 effects on them: Sulphurous and Phosphorous. There are others, and like Ryuke, most of the others who have collections of this stature will be VERY protective of their hats, but that's a topic for the next section of this guide.

Ryuke also happens to have a large number of Collector's Weapons, which segues right into the next section.


3. The Quality Control Freak

No matter what hats you like, or what class you main, you probably think that Unique Quality Items suck. Or maybe you don't, in which case, this shouldn't be a problem for you. This is by far the broadest collection type here, because its the easiest one to just stop at anytime, but it's also the hardest one to specify. This type of collection is basically when you acquire a set of things in ONE item quality throughout.

A Rather Notable example of this kind of collection is the collection of none other than Ravenholmzombies[backpack.tf] himself. As a self proclaimed "Red Text Fetishist", he has made it a mission to have the most Collector's Cosmetics in the game, so much so that he has multiple collector's versions of some hats, like the Grimm Hatte, and the Caribbean Conqueror.

CeeJaey has made plenty of videos trying to prove whether or not you can make loadouts like this, so i'll just let this video stand as an example of how this collection type is possible, but only sometimes:
4. The Hue Hoarder
The Curse of the Lime Scout is a horrible disease, or at least that's what most people say. Some say it's not a disease, but an expression of artistic freedom, and I fall into that camp.

Whether it be Lime or Aged Mustache Gray, having a bunch of cosmetics in one color is one of the prettiest collections you can get, and one of the most aesthetically pleasing collections to go for. It can be a little bit more expensive, but a lot more controllable, to buy the paint in bulk, and paint whatever you happen to have, or you can buy ones that are already painted the color you want, granted that they would have to be for sale in the first place.


CeeJaey's Backpack serves as a good example of this kind of colleciton, with a multitude of hats using the same paints: Lime Green.

5. Some Exact Figures for these Examples

Each class has a set number of cosmetics. For Example One, here is how many different hats you would need to amass to complete the collection:

• Scout: 134
  
• Soldier: 123
  
• Pyro: 169
  
• Demo: 125
  
• Heavy: 124
  
• Engi: 120
  
• Medic: 114
  
• Sniper: 101
  
• Spy: 87

To complete a collection of All-Class Hats, you would need ~300 cosmetics, but that's a ROUGH estimate, considering the amount of medals and unattainable promotional items there are on the wiki page.

Some items in the game are unpaintable, thereby not to be used in Example Four. The amount of unpaintable items for the classes are:

• Scout: 35
  
• Soldier: 44
  
• Pyro: 44
  
• Demo: 34
  
• Heavy: 39
  
• Engi: 35
  
• Medic: 40
  
• Sniper: 33
  
• Spy: 20

You can find a list of all the cosmetics for one class by going to the TF2 wiki, and clicking on any one of the classes you want, and clicking on the navigational link that says "Cosmetic items".
(see right)

When thinking about expanding your collection, it's super important to know who possesses the hat you like, and where they are. More often than not, there is someone out there in the TF2 world that shares the same love as you do for a hat. Prime examples of this are hats like the War Pig, Bruiser's Bandanna, The Blighted Beak, The Charmer's Chapeau, The Pyromancer's Mask, The Killer's Kabuto and many, many more. Sometimes, your hat favorite hats may be hard to find or rare in number, making a collection feel impossible. However, hope should not be lost, as there are many alternate routes to find what you are looking for.

Connections
When searching for your favorite hat in a world filled with millions of players, you might feel a bit intimidated during your first couple searches. Worry not, as these feelings are normal and will subside as you get more comfortable with time.

Making connections is a basic step, but can provide many advantages when you want to find a specific item. Usually, hopping on trading servers, (most notably Firepowered[firepoweredgaming.com] and The Vatican City[www.the-vaticancity.com] ) is a vital step towards building good trading relationships, which will only bring you closer to what you want.

In the event you find your favorite unusual on a casual server, don't be afraid to ask to add the person. If they say no, try leaving a comment on their profile about the situation, and politely ask for their assistance. Being polite and friendly are essential qualities. Your demeanor is a big part of successfully trading, as it could be the difference in making or breaking your wallet.

DI: One of my unusuals, the Sulphurous Halogen Head Lamp, was almost completely randomly discovered on a trade server I was on one day. The previous owner was just walking past me, and I happened to notice it, because I was attempting to buy Sulphurous unusuals at the time. All it took to buy it off him was a polite, yet brief, request to buy it off him. He was very kind in selling it for a price which we quickly negotiated for.

All these aspects are important to purchasing unusuals, or really anything, that you want for a collection: Speed, composure, and an even tempered personality.

Finding and Approaching the Seller(s)

As previously mentioned, demeanor and trading etiquette is a large portion of a successful trading carreer. A good example on do's and dont's is included in a video made by youtuber and avid trader, PyroJoe. This video gives a condensed, yet informative overview on the basics of trading etiquette. Retaining the information given in the video will hopefully help you towards your goal.

Now that you've learned the basics of how to act when trading, finding the item is not much harder from there. Given you have the cooperation of the other user/ the friends you've made on trading servers, your items should be in arms reach of you.

A great way to get started is the community market, where you can search for unusual versions of your desired hat from anyone might be selling there.

Another great option is using other sites like Backpack.tf, Scrap.tf and Outpost.tf, where unusuals can be bought and sold at the leisure of both the buyer and seller.

Tracking down an unusual is actually not hard, but it is highly dependent on whether the unusual you are looking for has a price or not. If it does, look at the most recent price suggestion for the hat you want, and check for 3 things. Check for the item history link, a backpack.tf compare link, or a backpack profile link. Clicking on anyone of these things will lead you to the history of the item, but the second and third link types require that you find the unusual in whatever window appears. Clicking on the latest profile in the items history will take you straight to the backpack of the current owner of the unusual that you want.

Finally, if you want to bypass most of the work, grab yourself a subscription for backpack.tf premium, where you can search for almost any item in the game.

Unconq: When I was looking to buy my third softie (Terror-Watt), my friend Arhael didn't hesitate to help me get the hat for its regular price, and was patient with me thorughout the entire transaction. As a result of this, I added him and have used his knowledge [and backpack.tf premium] to help me find other hats that would have been impossible to find otherwise. I am glad to have met him and aquired his help; because without it, I may have made many incorrect steps towards getting my hats.

The Writing of this guide was split pretty evenly between its two creators, DIplaya & Unconquerable.



Most of the SFM artwork in this Guide was made by DIplaya.
Screenshots were provided by Unconquerable.



Videos by CeeJaey and PyroJoe were used

Backpacks used as examples included Ryuke, McBro, DIplaya, Unconquerable, CeeJaey and Ravenholmzombies.

I hope this Guide will help you figure out what you'd like to do with your future trading careers.