Thread: Robin Walker agrees in new interview the natascha and sandman are dumb

Originally Posted by sickwookie

First of all you contradict your initial statement with the final statement. Second the final statement is purely false because it supposes a high level of skill and therefore can not be any indication of the weapons inherent power.

Allow me to clarify then.

The nature of minigun damage is high enough that Natascha is still a devastating weapon, and kills most everything in under a second anyway despite having less dps than Sasha. Certainly, in a Sasha vs. Natascha match, Sasha will come out on top...but you can let your team handle that, or get clever with some flanking and whatnot.

A high level of skill is mandatory to bring out the full power and potential of anything in any game. Street Fighter, TF2, whatever you can think of. Sasha and Natascha are not exempt from this rule. Even if we were to suppose a low level of skill, however, Natascha still comes out on top because it makes it easier to hit things. Although I'll wager that between two low-skill heavies, one Sasha, the other Natascha, the Sasha heavy would always win.

In general, my stance is that Natascha's slowdown makes it the better minigun, despite the lower damage than Sasha. About the only thing a Heavy with Nat can't overcome is a Sasha heavy, and that's still manageable with flanking, or letting your team work with it while you slow him or his medic down. For everything else, the damage of Natascha is still high enough to make the heavy extremely threatening, and the slowdown puts the victim in a deathgrip that almost assures a kill. I also personally find it makes playing heavy much less frustrating. Scouts can't float around your head like wasps, people can't escape around corners into their teams, etc.

To add to Piko's statement, why bother using the Minigun when you can slow people down? This means that every class in the game is at your mercy, the only thing that can counter you is another Heavy. And only if he has the Minigun and enough health to outlast you in a fight.

You can argue all you like, but the Natascha is a straight upgrade.

Originally Posted by Piko Knight

The nature of minigun damage is high enough that Natascha is still a devastating weapon, and kills most everything in under a second anyway despite having less dps than Sasha. Certainly, in a Sasha vs. Natascha match, Sasha will come out on top...but you can let your team handle that, or get clever with some flanking and whatnot.

I disagree. At close range Natascha is still devastating, but at medium range damage drops to 3-20. At that point Demos and Soldiers (especially with DH) fair pretty well against Natascha. The deciding factor will be aim, and use of cover. In my opinion that match up is quite even.

Originally Posted by Piko Knight

A high level of skill is mandatory to bring out the full power and potential of anything in any game. Street Fighter, TF2, whatever you can think of. Sasha and Natascha are not exempt from this rule. Even if we were to suppose a low level of skill, however, Natascha still comes out on top because it makes it easier to hit things. Although I'll wager that between two low-skill heavies, one Sasha, the other Natascha, the Sasha heavy would always win.

FIrst of all Natascha bullets are not magic, you still have to track your target. It is much easier once you get the slow to stack, but at close range your target will die before that happens. At long range your cone of fire is so large you rarely get a full stack. At medium is where the slow is a beast, but remember you are only doing 3-20 damage at medium range. Scouts get pwned at medium thanks to the slow everyone else should stand and fight.(I don't mention pyro because he gets pwned by everything anyway.)

Originally Posted by Piko Knight

In general, my stance is that Natascha's slowdown makes it the better minigun, despite the lower damage than Sasha. About the only thing a Heavy with Nat can't overcome is a Sasha heavy, and that's still manageable with flanking, or letting your team work with it while you slow him or his medic down. For everything else, the damage of Natascha is still high enough to make the heavy extremely threatening, and the slowdown puts the victim in a deathgrip that almost assures a kill. I also personally find it makes playing heavy much less frustrating. Scouts can't float around your head like wasps, people can't escape around corners into their teams, etc.

I completely agree with that Natascha makes Scouts less frustrating, but I disagree with the rest. The damage is formidable, but not anything that can not be managed. Also, the deathgrip rarely ensures a kill that would not have been made with Sasha anyway because it kills so much faster. They are dead before they make the corner. Finally, if they do make the corner into the arms of their waiting team I want to be holding Sasha in order to lay the hurt on them all rather than dying to the focus fire. Sasha allows you to kill a single target very quickly so when you encounter a group you can very effectively establish a threat list then work your way down that list before you are overcome by focus fire. With Natascha you rarely make it down that list because it takes so much longer to drop each target.

This is why I believe that Natascha dominates bad teams while Sasha is better against good teams. Good teams will stick together, communicate, and focus fire a heavy. A bad team will be spread out, probably won't tell their teammates where the heavy is, and in general wind up in one on one situations with the heavy which favor the Natascha.