One Eyed – The Demoman Mini-Guide
Good news, everyone!
We’ve been having a flow of alternating video posts for a while, and while most of them are good, it’s not really doing any work if we just throw it in there with some text. So, what better way to break that cycle than with a(nother) how-to-play strategery article!
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Emptying Your Payload
I’ll start with one of the more basic ones, in order to be comprehensive; the Demoman is the only class in the game that has practically TWO primary weapons (we can exclude the medic, methinks). Let it sink in.
Got it? Well, use them! If you’ve emptied a weapon, flick to the other. In fact, mix it up a little. The “q” button is your friend here; learning which weapon is appropriate at what times can help a fair bit, but the key idea here? Don’t bother reloading if you’re in immediate danger. You’ve got a total of twelve explosive rounds before you run (completely) dry.
And, of course, the whiskey bottle is always available for your lacerating pleasure.
Tracing Shots
This, of course, has been covered before, but aiming where your opponent is going to be is key to playing the Demoman, as it is with the Soldier (and Medic, in a pinch). And it’s true for both stickies and pipe bombs. People often run in a straight line when they don’t see any current threats. Predict which way they will run, OR look at which way they’re running, and send a bomb that way. It can be tempting to shoot directly at them, but this would only work if they started running back (some might, because their initial intention was to fool you).
As a Demoman, this is made even harder by the fact that you have to know the arc and travel speed of both your grenades and sticky bombs. Well, nobody said that the Demoman was an easy class to play. There’s really no quick way around it; little else but experience will bring you skill with this ability. If you’re a little more advanced than others, I recommends rocket_shooting and tr_airshot (although you might have them already), as well as training in some bball servers.
Boring details: stickies have more arc than grenades, and don’t travel as far either. They also fire slower.
Indirect Fire
Hey, you! Are you tired of having to be visible to your opponent to kill him all the time? Not just visible as in seen, but visible as in he can turn your way and send a boolet straight at your oversized head because he has a hundred more hours as X class than you?
Well, here’s your lucky day! Although it’s only up then down, the Demoman has (virtually) the only real indirect fire capability in TF2! What does this mean for you? Well, for starters, you can be shooting OVER things that are also covering you! Barrels, drums, raised control points, payload, buildings, ROCKS, even that silly overgrown meat-shield that usually hogs the middle of the battlefield with a Medic oozing more meat into his shield.
Of course, one needs not talk about sticky traps, because if you’ve never laughed your head off at someone who ran straight into a doorway full of the little buggers, then you’re not playing the Demoman right. Call now, and I’ll throw in a second pipe bomb, absolutely free!
Recuperating
Yes, emptying all your explosives as suggested above is hard work. At the end of the day, long as there’s two people left on the planet, someone is gonna want- sorry, wrong class.
What I meant to say was that one of the Demoman’s main weaknesses is his excessively long reload times. It takes over one second to even start reloading (not even including ping), and over ten seconds to fully regenerate your arsenal. To make full use of them, you need cover, and hiding WILL save you. You can do a thing or two:
1) Get to a dispenser – This will heal any damage done to you WHILE you’re reloading. A perfect complement to the Demoman is often a sentry nest, where you can take refuge while preparing to generate more Steam forum complaints.
2) Find a health/ammo pickup area – What better way to spend reload time than to be waiting for a health pack, eh? Ammo is important to, because if you’re doing well, chances are you are expending a LOT of ammo. Fill up, brah.
In addition, if you’re alone (or even if you’re not), reload a little, then lay a couple stickies at any potential attack points to give you cover. This will buy you time, and if not, will warn you of that incoming Pyro/Heavy.
The Power of Flight
Yes, there’s a trick to it.
To maximize absolute distance/height, you need to plant a sticky, be directly on top of it (while running forward), detonate, jump, and hold crouch all at the same time. It will take probably the most health for a single bomb jump, but will bring you great distances; for example, it should be enough for the 2fort battlement jump (although this is tough to pull off due to timing).
For a moderate displacement, do the same, but don’t crouch while jumping, and for a minimum distance (if for some reason you want it), don’t jump at all.
Grenade jumping is an alternative if you’ve already set up your stickies, but won’t get you too far. For the record, a pill explodes after about 2.25 seconds, so count two seconds if necessary.
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And now, for a couple of slightly more specific tricks.
Long, Narrow Corridors and Walkways Be Your Friend
Maybe you’re no Dr. Justice, but that’s fine, because you don’t always have to be perfect with those nades. Long, narrow areas where your opponent has nowhere to strafe to are some of my favorite areas, because hitting someone with pills there is easy, whether they be running towards or away from you.
Since they can only move in a straight line towards or away, all you have to do is line up the shot: no prediction needed. There are plenty of examples and usable areas, whether they be very narrow or just narrow enough for your opponent to escape. Try to keep a look out for these yourself the next time you’re playing the Demoman.
Sentry Removal
Easy enough, assuming you’re not under fire. Just stand out of it’s way and send explosives, preferably over an object, into a sentry.
Fun fact: Four direct grenades is enough to take out a level three sentry even if the Engineer is repairing it at the moment, and usually takes down the Engineer as well, assuming you have a good shot. If it’s backed into a corner, even better; they can’t run from your explosives.
Fun idea: If you’re taking on a sentry nest with an uber, and you’re almost out of charge, and there’s one sentry left with no Engineer, circlestrafe it with your bottle. This is a surprisingly effective tactic, as you can run around a sentry faster than it can spin (if close enough, i.e. melee range).
The Scout-Buster
Or at least, I like to call it that for it’s ability to take down any tunnel vision Scout, and even a few tougher ones – this trick involves laying stickies at your feet while a Scout is bouncing around you chipping off health, then running away from them when he gets close to you again, shortly before detonating. The idea is to circle around for a couple of seconds so that the opponent feels it’s safe. After all, who would blow themselves up?
It is mostly only effective on Scouts, since other classes don’t do this as much, but it also works alright on Engineers, Medics, Snipers, Spies, and any other person that’s dodging excessively while attacking you.
Covering Entrances
So that anyone who dares question your authority gets blown to smitheroons (or takes some damage, at the very least).
When in an area, particularly holding ground or capping a point, it’s normal to cover any entrances/exits that enemies can come through with stickies, preferably somewhere they can’t see them. Take the spires of Badlands, for example. The enemy can come up the ramp, from the two elevated positions, or through the doors below. Stickies will deter them, if they’re smart enough to not walk straight into them.
The trick is to fire at one entrance, then fire at another. Repeat until all entrances have one, then shoot again at the first entrance, since you’re now covered (to say the least). Prioritizing is key; see below.
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Anyway, we’ve got a few tl;dr’ers around, so I’ll stop before I remember anything else. Yes, it was long, but I regret nothing! Feel free to comment, however, note that eediots veel be deported qwickly and painfully! Until next time, remember the Alamo.
Props if you get the reference.
Secret Agent Clank! on June 26th 2009 in demoman, how to, tactics, team fortress 2
Stumble it!
n00bie51 responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 1:19 am #
“TL:DR” should only be reserved for the fan fics that are occasionally posted on the front page.
Sheepshifter responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 1:33 am #
I need to try this trick against Scouts. I might finally have a way to kill the buggers.
Wilhelm Screamer responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 1:36 am #
This was a good read and fairly helpful. Feels nice to have a little more knowledge for when I actually get off my lazy ass and play a class that is not heavy weapons guy.
Jazmeister responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 1:46 am #
I’ve always hated the demoman.
I don’t know why, but recently I fucking LOVE the demoman. No idea what changed – maybe he feels less OP now that the general TF2 populace is getting wise to the noob demo tactics. I think that’s important – you can’t feel like you’re being cheap.
Great post!
Zanpa responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 1:48 am #
A good thing to know : you don’t need 8 stickes to destroy a lvl3 sentry. 3 are enough.
For those demomen wasting my uber time emptying their weapons…
And th other way around : don’t detonate stickes before you have at least 3 near the sentry. For those demomen who don’t do anything because the engineer repairs all damage done by one sticky between shots.
Schmoopy The Spy responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 2:16 am #
“A perfect complement to the Demoman is often a sentry nest, where you can take refuge while preparing to generate more Steam forum complaints”.
So true…
Also, I just tried the map, rocketshooting last night. It’s pretty nice for soldiers too.
Nice work there, Clank!
Murdoc responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 2:34 am #
I just grabbed the two practice maps mentioned above and neither spawn any bots.
Anyone got any ideas?
AlphaTM responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 2:42 am #
Alright, I’m just gonna come right out and say it; Stickies are unbalanced. They’re damage is fine, the ammo you get is fine, but Demomen should not be able to substitute the sticky bombs for grenades. Most Demomen don’t even TOUCH the grenade launcher. Why? Here are my thoughts on this.
Stickies deal more damage.
Stickies are easier to aim.
Stickies can’t be reflected to change team.
You have more stickies.
All of these reasons convince Demomen to only use sticky bombs. And that isn’t good. Here’s an example:
I was in a one on one shoot out with a Demoman once. He fired two grenades, both of which missed. Rather than using this suckage of aiming to want to get better, he then took out sticky bombs, fired one at the area near my feet, and detonated it, killing me instantly. See what I’m getting at?
So, you may be thinking where I’m going with this. Well, there is one simple way to fix this; introduce a timer to stickies. Something like 3-5 seconds preventing you from detonating stickies until this much time will have passed. This will:
A. Still allow trap setting
B. Allow even the slowest classes to escape the imminent demise that is the crit sticky
C. Make the “Shoot stickies to remove them” more useful to Engineers. You know, the guys who badly need a buff?
But my frantic ranting aside, informative and helpful article, Clank.
Wazzle responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 3:34 am #
@AlphaTM… If stickies were nerfed to the point that they couldn’t kill anyone directly like that, then they would be next to useless. While I think it is true (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who you play) that the stickies are basically in god-tier as far as one-on-one weapons go, if one is playing the game as it should be then demos are still easy enough to take out. For example, stay at a distance and keep moving around, and while the demo is distracted trying to blow you to pieces, a scout sneaks up from behind and kills him. Trust me, scouts OWN unsuspecting demos (and often suspecting demos) 90% of the time or more. It’s all about TEAMWORK, my friend. And you are bound to die anyway, it’s just going to happen. Sorry.
And Clank, while a lot of this is sort of logic and common knowledge, it’s an excellent “How to Start as Demoman” guide. Thanks a million!
Cowjuicer responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 3:40 am #
@ AlphaTM: Since when do engineers need a buff? As far as I can tell they’re doing just fine with their mini-bases. No noobery intended; please explain!
Headwoünd responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 3:47 am #
I just hate dodging any stupid nade or sticky, only to die because finally the Demo got a crit sticky he also didn’t aim well but rips me in pieces while I’m 10 feet away from it.
Same with crockets. Bluh. :C
AlphaTM responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 4:12 am #
Wazzle, do you realize what you’re saying? Firstly, you said that a weapon that was intended by the developers themselves for traps would be useless if it could ONLY be a trap weapon, and not a more damaging grenade launcher that didn’t require as much aim. Then you said the only way to win a one v. one fight with a Demoman is to have a Scout kill him. A scout who isn’t you. In a one v. one fight. Plus Scouts are more of a nuiscance to me, even if they’re on my team. Buncha stupid, quick little Pyro attracting morons…
Cowjuicer; a lone Engineer won’t do anything unless his team is helping him. And most people seem to disregard the TEAM part of Team Fortress 2 when it comes to Engineers. Plus, anyone can take down a Sentry, nowadays. Demomen, Pyros, Heavies, Spies, Soldiers, SCOUTS… Sentry farms are the only surefire way to actually keep your Sentry alive for three minutes.
Extenz responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 4:17 am #
@Wazzle
God tier….kind of like…a small spherical blue person with a mask….hmmm….
Zanpa responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 5:46 am #
Oh, I didn’t even realize that you started by “Good news, everyone !”
This awesomeness deserves a cake.
http://i41.tinypic.com/70fl9i_th.jpg
n00bie51 responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 7:53 am #
AlphaTM, you fool, you didn’t have to turn this thread into an argument over sticky spam.
Murdoc, the maps may not be spawning bots because you set the max player limit low; that’s what happened to me.
Alexander responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 8:24 am #
@Murdoc make sure there are player spots available. Setting the limit to 1 player stops it from spawning them.
Corporal Kiwi responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 8:25 am #
For some reason I never have trouble killing a demoman XD They seem like any other class. Anyways, as long as both teams can be demomen, I think it’s fair.
Secret Agent Clank! responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 12:56 pm #
Thanks for the aids!
Anyway.
@Murdoc: The other guys sound about right. If you can get it working, you can also kick bots if they’re too clustered.
@AlphaTM: It already takes just under a second to detonate them, and if it took that long, then stickies wouldn’t do much apart from killing people dumb/unattentive enough to run into a trap (and camping gets boring + useless real fast).
If we had to rely on it solely for direct combat, do you have any idea what the learning curve for the grenade launcher is?
And then, it still takes two shots to down any squishy class.
I should write an article about how to fight the Demoman next, actually =P. But I don’t want to! So instead, I’ll leave you with this pic>
http://www.ubercharged.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/doinitrong.jpg
@Headwound: Come to UC2 and vote nocrits on. =D
AlphaTM responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 1:36 pm #
When I say timer, I mean 5 seconds after it has firmly attached to a surface. And why should those people be dumb? There are actually tips in the loading screens, believe it or not, that tell you to HIDE the stickies. You know, for ambushes. And if camping gets boring, you have an arcing Rocket Launcher to use, so… Yeah…
And yeah, the Grenade Launcher has a learning curve. It should. Tossing explosive death around, however, does not. Also, dodging? How can I dodge when, as you said, it takes as long as it takes to get to me to detonate it. Really the only class that CAN dodge stickies are Scouts, but even THEY can be killed by splash damage. Are you saying it’s okay for the Demoman to be able to effectively DOMINATE every single class? I don’t think it is. Just sayin’.
kNIFE responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 2:29 pm #
Alpha,
I entirely agree with you. too many noob demomen around stickyspamming. gives us real demos a bad name. stickys are long range and trap setting. they are very useful as it is. i think they should have a second and a half time to detonate, it takes about that long for them to reach something long range, and eliminates them as a CQC weapon. Nades have a learning curve. that’s kinda the point. people should realize that just because you cant pick up and own a class immediately doesn’t mean its lacking something. taking the time to learn the nades rewards you in the long run.
randombaddie responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 3:19 pm #
Stickies blow ass at very-close range (as do pipes, lol self damage), so really all you need to do to beat a demoman is get close to him. Practice some flick rocket jumps (the low, fast kind that hurt you for 27 damage), or play scout/pyro/spy and sneak up on the bastard. Hell, if you get right behind a demo with his sticky gun out, you can easily murder him with the revolver.
Kibbles responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 4:28 pm #
I think you forgot to mention that stickies get twice as much damage over time after they have been laid, but another great post.
Secret Agent Clank! responded on 26 Jun 2009 at 5:56 pm #
Except that you can’t rely on splash damage, i.e. you need to make direct hits. Because the stats don’t seem to indicate domination (http://www.steampowered.com/status/tf2/tf2_stats.php#Avg).
Sounds like more of a personal probrem to me; I refer you to this article –> http://www.ubercharged.net/2009/03/12/soldier-sucks-lol/
Kollega responded on 27 Jun 2009 at 3:58 pm #
Hey,Clank,where’s the comic you wanted to do? Have you abandoned this idea,or what? Tell us!
By the way,article is rather good.
Secret Agent Clank! responded on 27 Jun 2009 at 5:13 pm #
Heh, thanks. And sorry man. I kind of gave up on it; would be too much work to begin with, and I don’t even know where to begin with (and I don’t want to bog you guys down with half baked crapcakes). So no, comic is a no go.
2tone was planning on it; in fact, that’s what he applied with. Sadly, none of the editors took note. =\
But it’s alright, because we’re getting one anyway! The community forum is planning one. These are about all the details I know:
Writers:
Mudkipz
Ninjagamer
Phoenix
Graven(PENDING)
Artist:
Novolé
Loafaries(PENDING)
Also, it will be drawn and colored, not GModded.
noodleboy347 responded on 27 Jun 2009 at 6:24 pm #
While I do agree that nerfing stickies to a point where they’re useless to killing anything, I think they should be nerfed to a point where players with common sense should be encouraged to use the grenade launcher to kill enemies in direct combat, and use stickies to destroy buildings and set traps. Currently, stickies are used for feet spam which does 2 things: kills or badly wounds the enemy, and launches the demoman away from danger.
Notger responded on 29 Jun 2009 at 9:26 pm #
Sorry, but the trick against the scout does not work, if that scout is a good one. He will kill you in 2-3 shots before you have laid down even your second sticky.
Have a sticky ready where the scout will approach you, whip out your pipe launcher and pray. When the sticky damaged him, all you need is one pipe.
When the sticky failed, you will probably too, because getting two consecutive hits on a scout while he is jumping over and around you is not easily done.
The scout is the natural counter to the Demo, so don’t expect to beat them buggers anytime soon.
We need a Demo-boost!
Secret Agent Clank! responded on 14 Jul 2009 at 4:19 am #
Yeah, should have added that.
Generally it’s 2 stickies max, but even then, the Scout buster does NOT work against good Scouts; they’re not going to fall for it. If you’re going up against Scouts of that caliber, you’d need to be able to perform contact shots and airshots. =P
The Scout is the Demoman’s natural predator, anyway.