TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

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Below is a discussion of recent changes to both the base classes and specific TF2 weapons. Included are changes that were made in previous patches, in case it has been awhile since you haven’t played, or if you may have missed a significant change and haven’t adjusted your play.

Also, see the bottom of the blogpost for the July 8th and 9th patch notes.

This won’t cover ALL of the changes, just the more important ones. For the complete patch notes, click or scroll down to the previous blogpost. Now, let’s discuss the Scout first:

 

Scout

July 7 patch notes for Scout:

• Crit-A-Cola
  • Added Marked-for-Death debuff for 2 seconds after the buff effect expires
• The Soda Popper
  • Added “On hit: build Hype”
  • Removed “build hype by running around”
  • Fixed: You can’t damage yourself to increase your Hype meter
• Shortstop
  • Added an Alt-fire attack — reach out and shove someone!
  • Removed +healing bonus
  • Reduced pushback vuln to +20% (from +40%)
• Sun on a Stick
  • Take 25% less damage from fire while deployed

When using the secondary Crit-A-Cola, all damage you deal (and receive) become mini-crits for the duration of the buff. It’s great for sneaking up or flanking a target or two, but you better finish them off and then hide: the moment the buff wears off, you’ll continue to take mini-crits for the next 2 seconds as you’re Marked-for-Death. Go hide or grab a powerup in the meantime.

The Soda Popper’s in-game text was wrong: You gain Hype by dealing damage, not as you run. You have to deal a total of 350 damage to fill your Hype gauge. When full, you can press Alt-Fire to engage the buff, allowing you to jump up to five times without touching the ground, which is often necessary to getaway and survive until you can get to a powerup.

The primary Shortstop has become more popular since random damage spread was defaulted to OFF on Valve servers, causing the weapon to deal more consistent damage. Now, you gain the ability to shove: press Alt-Fire for a melee attack that pushes a nearby enemy back a short distance, similar to a flamethrower’s airblast but maybe not as far (and it definitely won’t reflect a projectile). However, the Shortstop loses the extra healing it used to grant, and forced movement (like from airblasts) now pushes you slightly more than standard (previous the pushback was nearly doubled). Now you can pushback an enemy, throw a Mad Milk or cleaver at the enemy, and then engage once more!

(Note: The Gun Mettle patch allowed the Shortstop to use its own primary ammo, so that it wouldn’t share with a pistol secondary.)

The Sun on a Stick melee weapon wasn’t very popular: all it used to granted critical hits against burning players (which required you to work together with a pyro teammate, as well as to engage in melee), but otherwise dealt 25% less damage than the standard Bat. Now it has a unique bonus: you take a little less fire damage while it is deployed. So if you’re running past a Pyro–or running away and suffering from afterburn–switch to the Sun on a Stick to help you survive long enough to find a powerup or a bath of water. Equip it whenever your server seems overrun with Pyros, but you still want to play Scout.

 

Soldier

July 7 patch notes for the Solly:

• The Righteous Bison
  • Fixed a bug causing players to be hit by the same projectile multiple times, causing the damage dealt to vary wildly
  • Per-shot damage has been increased to compensate, resulting in slightly more damage on average ^[1]
    • Point-blank deals 54 damage (previously 20-80)
    • Maximum range deals 24 damage (previously 14-56)
  • Slowed projectile by 30%
  • Projectile damage reduced by 25% for each enemy penetrated
  • Updated projectile impact sound
• The Disciplinary Action
  • Reduced duration of speed bonus on teammates to 2 seconds (from 3)
• The Rocket Jumper
  • Updated model/materials and sound

So the secondary Righteous Bison wasn’t actually supposed to hit a target multiple times! The laser projectile pierces its target, but now it only hits once–and its damage has also been slightly increased. However, the projectile is much easier to dodge, and deals less damage for each target it hits.

That said, it is still an effective weapon for long range harassment (then again, your primary weapons are also), and can deal safe, consistent damage at close range without needing ammo. It also can’t be deflected by airblasts.

Observations: The Concheror secondary has become more popular in pubs, as it now grants increased health regeneration (+4 health per second, which is temporarily slowed after taking damage) since the Tough Break update. In the same patch, the primary Liberty Launcher received a 5-rocket clip, and it has seen more play as well.

Don’t Forget: Soldiers with the Equalizer or Escape Plan can now be healed/ubercharged by Medics, however the healing rate is slowed to 10% normal as of the Tough Break update, so feel free to uber them.

 

Sniper

July 7 patch notes for the schnoiper:

• Cozy Camper
  • Now requires a full charge to gain flinch resistance
• The Sydney Sleeper
  • When fully charged, or when making a headshot, now applies Jarate in a radius
  • Scoped shots now extinguish teammates
• The Cleaner’s Carbine
  • Removed hidden +10% damage taken multiplier while under the effects

Let’s go for a deep analysis on the “Piss Rifle”, the retooled Sydney Sleeper:

1. It’s main drawback is that it does not inflict a critical hit with a headshot. Losing this threat makes you rely on teamwork more, but then again you role is support, not attack or defense.
2. The Sydney’s main advantage is that it inflicts the Jarate debuff, causing mini-crits to the affected target. The effect lasts from 2-8 seconds, so you can give a short debuff if you bodyshot them as soon as you scope in.
3. Now that random damage spread defaults to OFF on Valve servers, the Piss Rifle deals 50-150 dmg, and from 68-203 dmg mini crit (Jarate) dmg. Most enemies from medium range will die if you can bodyshot them twice in close succession.
4. But now, the Sydney Sleeper applies Jarate in an area around your target when you successfully hit with a fully charged shot! If you Jarate multiple enemies, you have 8 seconds to choose your next target(s). This has already shown to be very effective when defending a cart or dropped flag. Landing a fully-scoped shot in a tight pack of enemies can help one of your allies take out the entire group with ease.
5. Moreover, you can extinguish targets from range with a scoped Sydney shot of any duration, lending more ability to your Support role to help your teammates.

Don’t forget that Snipers can still perfectly aim for a headshot when equipped with the backpack-looking Cozy Camper secondary. Now they only gain flinch resistance when their Charge gauge is full, so a Charging sniper will only wait a moment anyway to gain the steadiness needed. Harassing a Sniper with flames or bleeding is much less effective when they’re equipped with the steadying, health regenerating Cozy Camper.

The Cleaner’s Carbine removed a slight damage buff that wasn’t mentioned in the gun’s description. It should now work as described.

 

Heavy

Here’s the recent changes for the Heavy:

• Natascha and Brass Beast
  • 20% damage resistance now only applies when spun up and below 50% max health
• Huo-Long Heater
  • Added -10% damage
  • Added +25% increased damage vs. burning players
  • Reduced ammo drain to -4/sec (from -6)
  • Reduced pulse damage from Ring of Fire to 12 (from 15) due to increased damage vs. burning
• Buffalo Steak Sandvich
  • Fixed “damage taken” multiplier accidentally being +10%, instead of the listed +25%

Pubbing players have dusted off their Nataschas and brought them to battle, enjoying both a slowing effect on enemies they hit, and some damage resistance while firing. That damage resistance now only applies after they’ve lost half their health, but it is often still enough to just barely outlast a single attacking enemy.

The Huo-Long Heater now does a slightly less damage per hit (4-12 dmg per bullet as opposed to 4.5-13.5), and a little less damage with its Ring of Fire. That said, the Chinese Fire Dragon Gun was more buffed than nerfed with these changes, because not only does the gun burn up ammo less quickly, but it will deal more damage to burning players (5-15 dmg per bullet, or 50-600 dmg per second)!

A point-blank enemy will ignite on fire when you’re spun up, allowing you to mow them down even faster and using less ammo. Pyro allies can assist you in taking down tough enemies like buffed medic targets by burning them from range. Now, the Huo-Long is even more viable in Mann vs. Machine mode, since those robots can burn, so Pyro-Heavy and multiple Heavy teams can further increase damage dealt to take out the bigger robots with ease.

The Buffalo Steak Sandvich, like a few other weapons, had a misprint in the item description, and it was fixed. You only take an extra 10% damage, not an extra 25%, which explains why you seemed harder to kill during a food frenzy than you should have been.

 

Spy

July 7th patch changes for the schpee:

• Base
  • Max speed increased to 320 (from 300)
• Enforcer
  • Attacks pierce resist and absorb effects from all sources

Spy is now 107% the “base” speed, up from 100%. Here’s how he measures up now in speed:

• Base speed of all classes, before equipment or other modifiers:
  • Scout: 133% speed
  • Spy, Medic: 107% speed
  • Pyro, Engineer, Sniper: 100% speed
  • (old Spy: 100% speed)
  • Demoman: 93% speed
  • Soldier: 80% speed
  • Heavy: 77% speed

So now, the Spy is as fast as a Medic, and only the Scout is faster than you in base speed. Right away, you’ll have an easier time catching up to Pyros, Engineers, and Snipers to backstab them. And you’ll have a slightly better chance of getting away after you’ve been discovered. Since the Big Earner gives a speed boost on kill, you’ll move even faster after a backstab now.

But also, you’ll be more effective disguising as a Medic, since you’ll move as fast as they do, when it was previously obvious that a slower-moving Medic was a disguised Spy.

The Enforcer now gains the ability to “pierce resist and absorb effects”… Here’s what that means:

1. Ignores bullet resistance granted by the Vaccinator, whether by its uber or by its bullet-specific shield.
   • This means the Vaccinator doesn’t protect against your critical hits also! Normally it nullifies all mini-crit and critical hit bonus damage.
   • However, the Enforcer deals no random critical hits.
2. Ignores bullet resistance granted by Heavies firing the Brass Beast or Natascha.
3. Ignores bullet resistance granted by Snipers using the Darwin’s Danger Shield.
4. Ignores resistance granted by Spies’ cloaks such as the Invis Watch, Cloak and Dagger, and Dead Ringer.
   1. Cloaked spies get 20% resistance to all damage. The Enforcer ignores this damage resistance.
   2. A hit will trigger the Dead Ringer’s cloak, but you will deal standard Enforcer damage.
      • Normally, a triggered Feign Death will provide 65% to 20% damage resistance from all sources, scaled gradually over the first 3 seconds, and has no bump shimmer during that time. The Enforcer ignores this as well.
5. Does not pierece invincibility, such as that granted by a Medi Gun ubercharge, or a Scout’s Bonk! Atomic Punch.

So use the Enforcer against specific enemy combinations, like if you’re going against enemy Spies or trying to take out a Vaccinator Medic.

 

Pyro

July 7th patch notes for the Pyro:

• All Flamethrowers
  • Added: Direct damage reduces Medi Gun healing and resist shield effects by 25%
    • Medics hear a “healing interrupted” sound when this is happening to their heal target
• The Manmelter
  • Removed (hidden) 20% fire rate penalty

All of the Pyro’s primary weapons have gained a new ability: Directly burning the healing target of a Medic reduces healing by 25%! Also, damage reduction granted by the Vaccinator or Demoman Shields is reduced by 25% as well, resulting a slight increase in damage. This doesn’t affect afterburn (if any), nor does it affect damage you deal with secondaries or melees. It also doesn’t pierce the fire immunity granted by the Spy’s Spycicle.

This change will make it slightly easier for a Pyro to kill a Medic’s healing target, although that will still be rather difficult at times. This ability will also help Pyros in MvM destroy the larger Robots with pocket Medics.

The Manmelter change speeds it up to fire at the same rate as the Flare Gun. This text was mistakenly omitted in previous patches, like some other changes, so now the Manmelter fires as it says it does.

 

Medic

July 7th patch notes for Herr Doktor:

• Base
  • All Mediguns allow the Medic to match the speed of their heal target
    • Previously only available on The Quick Fix
• Quick Fix
  • ÜberCharge rate reduced to +15% (from +25%)^[3]
• Overdose
  • Increased movement speed bonus to +20% (from +10%)
  • Increased damage penalty to -15% (from -10%)
• Dropped Mediguns
  • Stored ÜberCharge begins to decay over time after coming to rest

If you’re using your secondary medigun to heal a target, your move speed now matches your heal target’s current speed. You will gain and lose speed buffs and debuffs as they do, such as given by the Concheror. However, you do not gain the ability to leap ahead with a stickyjumping Demoman or a rocketjumping Soldier; that ability is still confined to the Quick Fix. As a Medic, only the Scout’s base speed is faster than yours; all this change serves to do is to grant you any movement speed bonus that your heal target gets, so that you can keep up with your patient so as to not break your healing beam.

The Overdose now does very slightly less damage (5-11 dmg per hit), and grants double the move speed bonus as before. It grants +2% move speed for each 10% of Uber gauge filled, up to a maximum of 20% (which will make you slightly faster than a Scout). However, the Overdose must be deployed (the active weapon) for you to gain this speed bonus. Switch to it to run away or to catch up with a heal target.

In case you didn’t know, dropped mediguns still contain the ubercharge that they had when they were dropped! If you know that a Medic had a full Ubercharge saved when they die, regardless of which side, let your team know the location of the dropped weapon, so that one of your Medics can come and pick up the weapon and its filled gauge! However, the Ubercharge gauge will now drain over time, so be quick about retrieving it.  If you drop a fully charged medigun, you might be able to salvage some of its charge if you get can quickly retrieve the weapon.

 

Demoman

July 7th patch notes for the Black One Eyed Scotsman:

• Base
  • All boots now require a shield to activate any move speed bonus listed on the item
• The Iron Bomber
  • Decreased the fuse time to 1.4 seconds (from 2.0)
• The Quickiebomb Launcher
  • Increased charge time reduction to -70% (from -50%)
  • Increased damage bonus for (max) charged shots to +35% (from +25%)
  • Increased clip size penalty to -50% (from -25%)
  • Removed “Stickybombs fizzle 4 seconds after landing”
• The Sticky Jumper
  • Updated model/materials and sound

The change to the Demo’s Bootlegger/Ali Baba’s Wee Booties regards the 10% move speed bonus they grant. This bonus is disabled unless the Demoman’s loadout also includes a shield, such as the Chargin’ Targe. This is to prevent a Demo wielding stickybomb launcher (or its variants) from being granted additional move speed, as well as further increasing their stickyjumping range.

See, a loadout of Bootlegger + Eyelander would make for an incredibly fast non-charging Demoknight. Before this change, the Demoman could achieve a 136% base move speed after 4+ heads are collected, which is faster than a Scout’s base speed. Coupled with either a Sticky Jumper (for more maneuverability) or a stickybomb launcher… well, it’d be like a one-jump Scout with more health and a stickybomb launcher of their choice! So now you have to grab a shield and lose the launcher if you want speed free of Charging (pun intentional). This is a necessary nerf.

The Quickiebomb Launcher now does more damage, faster, but you have to reload more often. Its stickies now arm in 0.5 seconds, making them more useful than ever for detonating in midair: if you’re at even elevation that your opponent and you’re aiming at their head height, trying detonating them about even with their knees. (0.5 seconds is the tick-time of afterburn, by the way, so imagine that for timing.)

You can also long-range “snipe” more effectively: It only takes one second (instead of 4 seconds for the stock Stickybomb Launcher) to fill the charge gauge by holding the primary fire button down. Release the button as soon as the weapon reaches its target for an effective harassment tool against snipers or tight groups of enemies from range.

Better yet, the Quickiebomb Launcher’s projectiles no longer fizzle away, so you can use them for effective area denial traps just like the other secondaries! Just watch your clip: you can only load 4 stickies at a time, at it takes three full seconds to reload it. They’re still -15% less damaging that stock stickies, but at 51-122 base damage (as opposed to 60-144), they’re still very effective at killing.

 

Engineer

July 7th patch notes for the man with 8 hard science Ph.Ds.:

• Base
  • Level 1 teleporters now cost 50 metal (previously 125)
• Widowmaker
  • Damage increased +10% when attacking the same target as your sentry
• Eureka Effect
  • Reduced “50% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups” to 20%
  • Added “Teleporters cost 50% less metal”
• The Short Circuit
  • Base projectile attack is -10 metal (hit or miss) and then add -5 metal for each projectile destroyed (sometimes a buff, sometimes a nerf)
• The Pomson^(sic)
  • Fixed an exploit with shooting through your own buildings
  • Increased close-range damage to 72 (from 62)
  • Reduced long-range damage to 32 (from 42)
  • Updated projectile impact sound

That’s right: a teleport now costs only 50 metal to build (or only 25 metal with an Eureka Effect)!. A sentry can also be built (at 130 metal) before having to go fetch more metal, allowing an Engineer to get a nest up and running faster. It also means a level 1 Dispenser’s first dispensation of metal is all you need to build an teleporter exit. Building teleporters quickly helps allies get back to the battlefield sooner, giving you a numbers advantage in combat.

Note: The metal gibs of destroyed teleporters are now worth less metal, to compensate for their reduced cost. Going back to the Gun Mettle update, mini-sentry gibs no longer provide metal.

The Pomson got a slight rework. First of all, it turns out that the laser projectile was not intended to hit multiple times, and has been changed to compensate. Also, you can no longer hide behind your dispenser or sentry to shoot enemies.

Now it deals 32-72 damage, and that 32 damage is excellent for long range harassment (much better than the 22 damage of your Pistol). It still erases up to 10% of a Medic’s ubercharge gauge when hit, or up to 20% of a Spy’s cloak gauge when hit, with less meter erasure over distance. And the Pomson projectile can’t be deflected. Did you know you can use it to light allied Sniper arrows on fire?

 

Full Patch Notes: July 9, 2016

• Fixed the Strange Filter: Competitive tool not describing itself properly after being applied to an item
• Fixed the Jackpot! PASS Time achievement not tracking wins
• Updated Mannpower Mode to use 7 captures per round on matchmaking servers (was 3)
• Updated ConVar zoom_sensitivity_ratio so its value is saved across sessions and it can be adjusted in Competitive Mode

Full Patch Notes: July 8, 2016

• Removed the abandonment penalty for Competitive Mode
• Players are only required to have a single mode selected before queuing
• Fixed a dedicated server crash caused by projectiles from the Pomson 6000 and the Righteous Bison
• Fixed being able to damage yourself to gain Hype while using The Soda Popper
• Changed how much metal destroyed objects drop and fixed destroyed teleporters dropping more metal than intended
• Fixed the Bonesaw not working properly while using viewmodel minmode
• Fixed the Spy and Engineer not being able to equip the Prinny Machete

 

 

Expect another major update to be in the middle of December, if not before! Valve has been consistently providing game rebalances in early July and mid December.

Also, TF2 Birthday Mode is every August 23rd, so see you then!

[N] Obey

Merry Smissmass! Team Fortress 2 is on a roll with new content! This update is HUGE in terms of affecting your gameplay. Demoman’s grenade launchers, stickybomb launchers, and charging-attack items have all been reworked/tweaked, stemming from last summer’s temporary changes. As usual, the summary is above, and the full patch notes are below.

TF2 Newbs ICYMI’s (In Case You Missed It news items):

1. TF2 Newbs’ Server Rules have been modified/clarified in regards to dodging autobalance on December 15th.
2. The “End of the Line” related duck drops and duck-related statistics will continue until January 5, 2015.
3. If you haven’t read them lately, here are some links you’ll want to bookmark:
   • “TF2 Newbs Guide to Halloween Events and Maps”
   • What the heck do “commodities” and “Buy Orders” have to do with TF2?
   • “TF2 Newbs Guide to Getting More and Better Items”
   • “TF2 Newbs Guide to MvM Item Hunting”
4. Server Keys Contest
5. Steam Holiday Sale–vote on Flash Sales and earn Holiday Cards!

Smissmas 2014 Update Summary:

1. Just log in to TF2 and get a Stuffed Stocking. Identical to last year’s Gift-Stuffed Stocking, you can Use it to get items:
   • A Giftapult
   • A Backpack Expander
   • A Name Tag
   • A Description Tag
   • A Tour of Duty Ticket
   • Two or three random drops (weapon or rarely a cosmetic).
   • You can’t market or trade these Stockings.
2. If you’re Premium, you also get one Secret Saxton. You can Use it to give one random person on your current server a single random item drop.
3. Demoman got 3 new weapons, and many existing Demoman weapons were modified.  See below at 1. for more info.
4. Nice 2014 Crate Keys and Naughty 2014 Crate Keys have been added.
   • Just like previous years, Nice Crates have 29 new, Limited community-designed cosmetics, and Naughty Crates have new, Limited Festive and Festive Strange weapons.
   • See below at 2. for more info.
   • Longer expiration window: They can be opened until February 16, 2015 (or just after Valentine’s Day).
5. A new game mode and mode-variant maps: Mannpower!
   • This is a variant capture-the-flag game with specific changes (no random crits, instant respawn with 6-second invulnerability) and new Mannpower-specific powerups. See 3. below for specifics.
   • Employs a new default, stock Action Slot item: the Grappling Hook.  Only used on Mannpower-enabled servers.
   • Currently supports ctf_gorge and ctf_foundry.
6. Now all Advanced and Expert MvM Tours of Duty have a (~2%) chance to drop an existing Australium weapon.
   • Previously, only the “Two Cities” Advanced Tour granted Australium weapons.
   • Now, the following Tours also grant a chance at an Aussie:
     • “Operation Steel Trap”: Advanced — two Decoy missions, two Coal Town missions, two Mannworks missions
     • “Operation Mecha Engine”: Advanced — one Decoy mission, two Big Rock missions
     • “Operation Gear Grinder”: Expert — one Decoy mission, one Coal Town mission, one Mannworks mission
   • No new Australium weapons are available.  The same pool of ten items are currently possible; there are now four different Tours that can be undertaken to try to earn them.
   • Killstreak Kits and Fabricators of the three new weapons are available to drop after completing a Two Cities Tour.
7. Bugfix: Crafting while consuming an item that is “temporarily untradable” will yield a “temporarily untradable” output, instead of a permanently Not Tradable output.

 

1. Major Demoman Changes

If you can recall the Love and War patch (and subsequent repatch), Demoman changes have been in the works for some time.  Welp, here they come!  A few seemingly minor nerfs will affect the one-eyed wonder’s ability to do quite as much damage, despite the apparent buffs given to his many weapons. Lemme explain….

First, the changes to the existing Demoman items:

Charging and Movement

• Bootlegger, Ali Baba’s Wee Booties, and Claidheamh Mor now grant +25% Charge meter on a charging kill. (The Claidheamh Mor stacks with either of the boots, refilling half of your Charge meter.) These items lengthen your current Charge, not reducing the delay of your next Charge!
• Scotsman’s Skullcutter now only reduces your movement speed when the weapon is active, instead of constantly when equipped.
• The Tide Turner has two tweaks:
  • Charging kills now give only 75% of your Charge meter, instead of 100%, forcing you to pause briefly between charges.
  • Taking damage during your Charge reduces your remaining Charge meter, relative to the damage dealt.

So Tide Turner Demoknights will have shorter charges than before, even when they are successful at going from kill to kill. Damaging them between Charges should not prevent them from Charging again very soon, but now they won’t be one continual blur as frequently.

However, the two boots items and the *Claymore can lengthen the current charge, so that Splendid Shield/Chargin’ Targe Demoknights can replicate some of the Tide Turner’s cleaving-from-kill-to-kill fun.  But use the Claidheamh Mor with the Tide Turner, and your current Charge can really stretch long, helping you reach your next victim before the Charge ends.

Projectile Damage

• ALL grenades and stickybombs now have their damage variance reduced to +/- 2% base damage, from +/- 10% damage.

If anything, the damage dealt by both projectiles have become more reliable on a direct hit, not less. Grenade base damage went from 100 (variance 90-110) on a direct hit to 100 (variance 98-102). Stickybomb base damage on a direct hit or close-range blast went from 120 (variance 103-138) to 120 (variance 118-122). Enemies with about 110 health, such as barely wounded Spies/Snipers/Engies/Scouts and most Soldier loadouts struck by your first direct projectile, will survive less often. But that’s not all of the changes….

• Direct-hit grenades (not stickies) now deal full damage to the target regardless of where it struck the enemy.  Previously, full damage would only occur when exploded closest to the target’s feet or legs.

So you no longer have to play like a Soldier and “aim for the feet” or guesstimate where a jumper will land; direct hits should be easier to land, eh? But wait, there’s more:

• ALL grenades and stickybombs now have their blast radius reduced by about 10% (from 159 Hammer Units to 146 HU), which is identical to rockets’ blast radius.

Demomen are now a bit more reliant on using direct hits to inflict full damage.  A ten-percent reduction sounds small, but in live play, that will relegate many more hits as partial bursts. Your sticky placement and detting will need to be more exact, and a stray grenade is less likely to deal a chance direct hit.

All stickybombs have further changes:

• Stickybombs now have a more visible trail when traveling through the air.
• Armed stickybomb particles are easier to see.
• Stickybombs detonated midair now have a blast radius rampup, starting from 85% base radius at the moment they arm (0.8 sec after firing), increasing to 100% base radius after 1.2 seconds in midair (2 sec after firing). Stickybombs that touch the world instantly revert to full blast radius.

Valve has been trying to nerf an arguably-OP stickybomb launcher that can be used both as a zone-denial, reactionary defense weapon (hence the Demoman’s assignment as a Defense unit), as well as a reliable offensive weapon. With greater blast radius and damage than a Soldier, higher damage-per-second than a medium-range Heavy, and less reliance on actually hitting the target with the projectile directly to deal full damage, some (including myself) felt that there was little reason for a Demoman to forgo the stickybomb launcher in favor of… well, just about anything else. Grenades and stickies also do not suffer from damage falloff due to range, unlike a Soldier’s rockets. A skilled sticky-wielding Demoman has been absolutely essential in competitive play, MvM Tour, and pubs with Engineers that place sentries guarding 90-degree angle chokepoints.

Previously, Valve tried to apply a damage rampup during the Love and War Update, and Demoman mains’ opinions were largely negative. Valve decided to revert those changes and continue testing. That rampup seriously nerfed the damage of a sticky, doing something like 35% of its base damage the moment it was armed, making midair detonation largely unaffective, and granting enemies too much opportunity to remove or evade them before they could become lethal.  It was too severe of a change.

Valve seems to have settled on not nerfing the base damage it deals, but rather making it harder to land a direct hit, by slightly reducing its blast radius. Fewer direct hits may lead to many more partial hits, nerfing the Demoman’s damage less substantially than before. This simply increases the skill required to play an effective Demoman, without substantially reducing the effectiveness of detting defensive sticky traps. In the same manner, it is possible to play an aggressive, offensive Sniper–you just have to be a crack shot with your primary to do so.

Launching a single sticky and detting it is still effective, and its direct damage output has less variance than before; you just have to detonate them closer to your target’s body. Note that stickybombs still only have a rocket-sized full blast radius, so midair stickybombs have up to 15% small radius than that (125 HU upon arming in midair, from previous 159). That’s a significantly smaller blast radius to aim and det a midair explosive. You may find yourself waiting to det the projectile the instant it touches the world, effectively increasing its blast radius a bit by the delay.

• Loose Cannon: A successful double donk now automatically deals full blast radius damage to the target with the secondary explosion. Previously the damage was reduced by radius distance from the explosion.
• Removed a hidden penalty where cannonballs that touched the world received a 50% damage penalty before applying regular grenade damage reduction.

The Loose Cannon will no longer be penalized if you double donk a target away from the center/legs of the hitbox; simply timing the projectile to achieve a partial blast will deal full explosion damage.

• Loch-n-Load:
  • Old damage output: base 120 (direct hit variance 103-147)
  • New damage output: base 120 (direct hit variance 116-124)
  • Clip size increased to 3 (from 2).
  • Removed the +25% self-damage penalty. Added a -25% blast radius penalty.

The Loch-n-Load is now less effective on tightly clustered enemies. It still fires +25% faster projectiles, and still deals +20% more damage. And now it gets a third grenade per clip (which is a little silly on a double-barrel)! However, it can’t do more than 124 damage on a non-critical hit, so the 125 health squishies (stock Scout, Spy, Engineer and Sniper) cannot die in a single hit if they have full health. That makes it very difficult to kill more than one enemy unit before reloading, despite having a third grenade per clip. Loch-n-Load is now more effective at taking out a single target with repeated direct hits before reloading.

• Scottish Resistance: Increased range check for stickybomb jumping (146 HU, previously 100 HU).

 

Weren’t there new weapons? Here they are:

The Iron Bomber is for Demomen who want their grenades to land hard and not roll and bounce around before exploding. It launches a sphere-like grenade that barely moves when it touches the world. Projectiles do not stick; they just seem heavy and drop and stop quickly. They deal slightly less damage (direct hit variance 89-111) if they explode 2.3 seconds after fire. They also have a -20% explosion radius, slightly larger than the Loch-n-Load’s new radius adjustment, so the Iron Bomber is also intended for single-target killing.

Why have a grenade launcher that can’t execute angular bounces, but doesn’t defuse its grenades when coming in contact with the world?  Players who keep having their grenades bounce back at them or rolling where they don’t want them now have a third choice. This launcher drops the grenade at its impact point with little risk of it bouncing or rolling away from its intended impact spot. The radius is smaller and the damage is marginally less, but can be used for a few seconds of zone control. Also, demoman trying to pepper an area (such as a sentry) can keep their projectiles close when they land near their target even if they don’t hit directly, and can continually have pills detonating in an area without fear of them bouncing away and without having to switch to a stickybomb launcher for tight zone control. Players who hate the way grenades take silly bounces may learn to love this weapon.

Crafting: Iron Bomber = two recalimed metal + Air Strike

 

The Quickiebomb Launcher is for the Demoman that wants to use stickybombs chiefly for midair or short-duration detonations, much like a grenade launcher. They still don’t explode on a direct hit like a grenade, but you can detonate them in midair like normal stickies. They arm 0.2 seconds sooner (at 0.5 seconds after launch), so they’re more effective for medium-range combat. They deal -15% less damage: base 102 damage (variance 100-104). The Quickie stickies do not suffer the blast radius rampup penalty!  Players wanting to avoid this penalty can switch to the Quickiebomb Launcher and still enjoy most of the original AoE radius (Quickie stickies still have a rocket-sized blast radius).

These stickiebombs can also remove enemy stickies on detonation, rather than merely knocking them around. They are faster to charge for long-range shots, but they fizzle without detonating only 2 seconds after launch if you haven’t detonated them yet. So you give up the ability to leave stickies in defensive locations in order to keep the offensive properties of the original weapon. And you gain the ability to have useless stickies fizzle so they don’t harm you, and the ability to defuse enemy stickies.  They have slightly less blast range and slightly less damage than the original weapon, and have a clip of 6 instead of the original 8, but you’ll be able to det stickies at 0.5 seconds unlike before.  It’s hard to say if the weapon is weaker or stronger than before, for pure offensive might.

Crafting: Quickiebomb Launcher = two reclaimed metal + Tide Turner

 

The Panic Attack is a shotgun (primary: Engineer; secondary: Soldier, Heavy, Pyro) that behaves in combat like the Beggar’s Bazooka: the player holds down the primary fire button to load up to 4 shells (34% faster than stock Shotgun; 0.66 sec for first shell and .33 sec for each additional shell, 2 seconds for a full clip). Release the primary fire to shoot each shell in turn automatically. As your health decreases, the Panic Attack fires faster but fires a more erratic bullet spread.

If you overload the Panic Attack, it will not harm you like the Beggar’s; it will simply fire off its four shells. The stock shotgun is deceptively powerful at close range, so this weapon could deal some incredible burst damage if you can ensure the bullets will hit; if you can sneak up on an opponent while loading, you should be able to kill them quickly, like a Scout’s scattergun.

Crafting: Panic Attack =  two reclaimed metal + Back Scatter

 

2. Nice and Naughty 2014 Crates

Nice 2014 Crates drop list

These cosmetic items will drop in Limited quality, with the usual 1% chance of getting an Unusual accessory instead (probably from this item list and with unknown effects). These crates can’t be opened after Feb 16, 2015.

• Scout: Co-Pilot, Courtier’s Collar, Harlequin’s Hooves, Mountebank’s Masque
• Soldier: Skullcap
• Pyro: Black Knight’s Bascinet, Charred Chainmail, Pyromancer’s Hood, Pyromancer’s Raiments, Torcher’s Tabard
• Demoman: Scot Bonnet, Valhalla Helm,
• Heavy: Old Man Frost, Siberian Facehugger
• Engineer: Clubsy The Seal, Conagher’s Combover, Cop Caller, Holstered Heaters, Thermal Insulation Layer
• Medic: Surgeon’s Shako, Unknown Mann,
• Sniper: Bushman’s Bristles, Marksman’s Mohair, Professional’s Ushanka, Wally Pocket,
• Spy:  Pocket Momma, Puffy Provocateur, Stealthy Scarf

 

Naughty 2014 Crates drop list

Items have a roughly 50% chance of being Strange Festive, and 50% chance of being Festive. All of these are limited, as the crate can’t be opened after Feb 16, 2015.

• Festive Bonk! Atomic Punch
• Festive Backburner
• Festive Chargin’ Targe
• Festive Bonesaw
• Festive SMG
• Festive Revolver
• Festive Shotgun

 

3. Mannpower CTF Mode

You know what? I’m tired… I will add this in later.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 

Full Patch Notes — 12/22/14

• All Players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Gift: a Stuffed Stocking! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
• Added 29 Limited community-contributed winter items to the Nice crate.
• Added new Limited Festive weapons to the Naughty crate.
• Limited time items can only be found during a limited window of time. The Naughty and Nice crate items will no longer be available after February 16, 2015.
• Added Naughty and Nice winter keys to the Mann Co. Store.
• Naughty and Nice winter crates cannot be opened after February 16, 2015.
• Premium Players will receive a Secret Saxton to give to another player.
• Item grants from previous events (including the Spirit of Giving and the Winter Holiday noise maker) have been re-enabled for all players, including those who deleted their earlier grants.

Weapons

Added The Iron Bomber

• Demoman Grenade Launcher
• Grenades do not bounce or roll
• Damage radius reduced by 20%
• Grenades that self-detonate deal 10% less damage
• Added The Iron Bomber to the Mann Co. Store, craft list, and item drop list

Added The Quickiebomb Launcher

• Demoman Stickybomb Launcher
• Stickybomb arm time reduced by 0.2 seconds
• Stickybombs can destroy enemy stickybombs
• Charge time decreased by 50%
• Stickybombs fizzle after 2 seconds
• -15% damage penalty
• -25% clip size
• Added The Quickiebomb Launcher to the Mann Co. Store, craft list, and item drop list

Added The Panic Attack

• Multiclass Shotgun
• 34% Faster reload time
• Hold fire to load up to 4 shells
• Fire rate increases as health decreases
• Weapon spread increases as health decreases
• Added The Panic Attack to the Mann Co. Store, craft list, and item drop list

Demoman Changes

• Damage variance on grenades and stickybombs reduced from +/- 10% damage to +/-2%.
• Grenades and Stickybombs now have the same base blast radius as rockets. Changed to 146 from 159.

Grenade Launcher

• Direct hit grenades now deal full damage to target regardless of where it struck the enemy. Previously full damage would only occur when grenades exploded closer to the targets feet.

Stickybomb Launcher

• Stickybombs that detonate in the air now have a radius ramp up, starting at 85% at base arm time (0.8s) going back to 100% over 2 seconds. Stickybombs that touch the world will have full radius.
• Stickybombs now have a more visible trail while traveling through the air
• Stickybombs arm particle is slightly more visible

Loose Cannon

• Double donk explosive damage now deal full radius damage to victims. Previously double donk explosive damage was reduced by radius distance from the explosion.
• Removed a hidden penalty where Cannonballs that touched the world would deal 50% less damage in addition to regular grenade damage reduction on world touch.

Loch-n-Load

• Changes to base grenade damage variance now ensure the Loch-n-Load does not exceed 124 damage on a single hit.
• Removed +25% self-damage penalty
• Added -25% radius penalty
• Changed clipsize penalty to -25% (3 grenades per clip) from -50% (2 grenades per clip)
• Loch-n-load grenades no longer visually tumble when fired

Bootlegger / Ali Baba’s Wee Booties

• Added +25% Demo Charge meter on charge kill

Tide Turner

• Added Penalty: Taking damage while shield charging reduces remaining charging time
• Kills while charging now only add 75% meter on charge kills instead of 100%

Scottish Resistance

• It is now slightly easier to do sticky jumps with the Scottish Resistance. Increased range check for stickybomb jumping to sticky damage radius of 146 from 100.

Scotsman’s Skullcutter

• Movement speed penalty now only applies when weapon is active

Claidheamh Mor

• Added +25% Demo Charge meter on charge kill

Added new game mode Mannpower to the TF2 Beta

Mannpower Mode

• To Play. Click on Play Multiplayer, enable Play Beta Maps checkbox, and then choose Mannpower Mode.
• The Following is a list of features in the initial launch of Mannpower and is subject to changes in future updates. Feedback is highly encouraged
• Contains 8 permanent power ups players can find in the map.
• Players can only hold 1 permanent power up at a time.
• Killing a player with a permanent power up forces the power up to drop.
• Contains 1 temporary power that can be found in the map.
• Use the ‘dropitem’ command to drop the currently held permanent power up
• Added new Default Stock Action Item Grappling Hook. Grappling hooks are usable in Mannpower mode and servers that enable it. Once equipped, press and hold the action key to use it. Use to move the player toward the hooked object.
• Mannpower Beta plays a modified version of Capture the Flag that requires your team’s flag to be at base in order to capture the enemy flag.
• Touching your flag will instantly return it to base.
• Currently supported on maps ctf_foundry and a modified ctf_gorge.
• Instant respawns enabled
• Random critical attacks disabled
• Players spawn with 6 seconds of invulnerability

General

• MvM : Added chance to find Australiaum Weapon rewards to all Advanced and Expert Mann vs. Machine tours. Previously only available on Two Cities tour
• MvM : Added Killstreak kits for Quickiebomb Launcher, Iron Bomber and Panic Attack in to Two Cities MannUp loot tables
• Crafting items that are marked as temporarily untradable will now yield temporarily untradable items instead of permanent
• Fixed a client crash related to the material system
• Removed the Giftapult from the store and added a crafting recipe for it
• Updated the equip_region for The Beastly Bonnet
• Updated the localization files
• Removed the map restriction on players in karts respawning ghost teammates when they touch them

[N] Obey