Thread: What makes the Demoman so awesome?

His secondary weapon is a primary weapon.

When I run around as a demo (which is almost always), I always have my stickies at the ready. Once I get to the action I try to kill my opponent with stickies until I have to reload. This means I get 8 explosive stickies that I may use to not only kill you but to also control you.

Once I have to reload, instead I hit Q and switch back to my "primary" weapon, the grenade launcher, to finish you off.

~Just a little Demoman tip. :4

Nah, I run around with the pipe launcher. You can react faster with it.
Some Demos use their stickies like pipes. They shoot one, detonate, shoot one, detonate. You're really doing 2 things at once this way, and it's bloody hard to master. I've never seriously worked at getting good at it. Personally I set down 2 or 3 stickies between detonations.

What makes the Demo not so awesome? The insane variance on how much damage his weapons do. Both the pipe and sticky launcher could do 50% less than their max potential damage. For pipes it's between 65 and 130 damage for a direct hit*. For stickies it's between 75 and 150 for a sticky right under an enemy. Usually, tho, you're doing weakened splash damage. Should you cut that it half again? Or even third it? Did my 4 stickies just did over 400 damage to that buffed Heavy? Or maybe I only did 150.
Ah, but the potential for crazy-good damage makes up for it. At any rate just keep shooting until they're dead.

*so yes, it is possible for a non-crit pipe to 1-hit kill a 125 hp class but not usually.

"What makes the Demoman so awesome?"
WELL IF HE WERE A BAD DEMO MAN HE WOULDN'T BLOODY BE HERE NOW WOULD HE!!

Originally Posted by Oozish

LOL

Kapn: I run around with my grenade too; if you round a corner and find someone standing there in front of you and have the stickies out it isn't going to go well but a grenade should shuv them back good.

Another tip: spam a few grenades from med/far distance to get them concentrating on those then launch the strategic death stickies while they're attention is divided. Always set a close sticky as well as the fars for protection. Stickies are like my force field.

Also, lately I've been using grenades to take out sentries. If there are 2 sentries and I'm ubered, 4 grenades will take out 1 and the stickies can easily take out the second.

Helpful note: Level 1 sentries are difficult to hit with grenades, save grenades for level 2 or above. The hit box is totally different apparently.

You are right about turning corners, Ooze. I will switch my stickies for nades when I feel it is the better option... its situational. Another good idea when rounding corners or entering through a doorway is to place a few stickies on the corner/door frame. That way when you go in and meet an aggressive scout you can back up and have him follow you into a couple of hidden stickies.

I've also started taking out sentries with my nades lately. When I get ubered and sentries are my main target, I take out my nade launcher and try to destroy a sentry quickly with them. It is never a sure way like the stickies are, but it can work. They unload so fast that you will have time to clean up with stickies and remain ubered up till you need to reload.

I have also found out how well accurate nades can kill heavies. When I land all 4 nades on the heavy they will die if they are not buffed. And it is fairly easy bc he is so slow when firing.

As an uber demo I play it a bit differently. I use stickies for the first 2 sentries then if there is a third one I use normal grenades. The stickies take time to deploy and explode so if uber is gone and im launching stickies odds are I will die before I can get enough out there. With the normal grenades I can get around 3 in the air in the same time it takes to launch a sticky have it land and then blow it up. I can die but my grenades will get revenge quite quickly.

I think that while the demoman is good the biggest game changing thing is (A) Uber bouncing-- Put the uber in the air and let the sentry push it FAR away. The loss of time is lethal to a charge. (B) The ability to leave stickies and slow opponents down. and (C) The huge damage a critical does. It is the perfect tool for taking down a medic 1 shot. Its almost a garenteed kill and if the medic survives hes no longer thinking of healing.

I pretty much agree with Langrad here, although I'd add that the ability to kill anyone in three hits really adds power to a team. Demos are direct counters to heavies and soldiers if they aim properly, even if the former have medics with them.

Another thing is that demos make astonishingly good medic buddies - in fact, I think they're my favorite class to stick to as a medic. They move faster, so they're more able to run away with you if things get bad, they can't jump around as easily as soldiers, so they're less likely to fly away and leave you lonely, and, most importantly, they tend to fight from exactly the distance from the enemy that suits medics best: just far enough to be pretty safe. When stuck to a heavy or soldier (or, god forbid, a pyro), you have to be much closer to nasty criticals than when with a demo.