Overwatch’s Widowmaker

I’ve already mentioned that Overwatch did not escape the “if one team has a healer, they win” syndrome, and they are likewise still suffering from ” chronic Sniper-itis”. Even the subreddit has noticed the amount of bloody snipers limping around in the back not being particularly useful or fun to fight against. Which is a shame, because played well Widowmaker can be so much more than a sniper. When not scoped in, her rifle becomes a bullet hose that Soldier 76 would be jealous of. Her E-attack is a poison mine (the only non-Ultimate DoT attack in the game) which serves… [Continue Reading]

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Dem Choppas continued

It’s been a long time since I wrote about my favorite custom model in TF2, the choppa. I’ve changed a lot as a person and my tastes have grown more refined, but nowadays if I again had to pick a favorite custom model, I’d still have to go with the choppa. It’s just the best. Hell, it’s even better than it was before! In late 2013 creator Bl8demast3r made some tweaks that included working killstreak sheens and a new golden model for owners of the Australium SMG: And while he didn’t add anything for weapon skins (how the hell would he?), that turned… [Continue Reading]

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Regenerating Health – The Concheror, Cozy Camper, and Amputator

Today I want to go over a trio of related weapons that were all affected by a change made to the Medic’s base regen during the Tough Break Update. As you can see, the description to the Concheror claims “+4 hp regenerated per second” but what actually happens is that you start regenerating at 1 hp and that number gradually increases to 4 the longer you go without taking damage. The Cozy Camper and the Amputator are identical, except that the Amputator stops at 3. I thought I’d talk about what this means for each weapon, because it’s interesting to… [Continue Reading]

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I Hate Sniper

“Hang on there, Mr. Wolf!” You spurt, your glorious moustache twizzling in anticipation of a preconceived ramble “You said you LOVE the Sniper!” Thanks to your eagle-eyed vigilance, I can not deny this, however, our friend doesn’t have his downsides! You see, playing Sniper relies on more than simple aim and reflex. (Blasphemy! I know!) A Sniper should always have a heightened sense of situational awareness. Knowledge of the battlefield (sight lines, elevation) and the progression of said battle, where people are moving, and, more importantly, where they will be. Unfortunately, a certain Mr. Hale was unaware of these facts… [Continue Reading]

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I Love Sniper

The challenge, the discipline, remaining calm enough to land that crucial shot when there’s an uncountable number of projectiles flying at you. Flickshots, quickscopes and, of course, headshots on airborne targets. Simply put, Sniper is a class only restricted by your own dedication and patience. It’s a nice change of pace from, quite frankly, the spammy nature of most TF2 classes. When you single-handedly drop a team, save the point or take out the enemy’s MVP and his pockets with efficient shooting, you know it was down to you, and you alone. Things don’t fall into place as Sniper. There’s… [Continue Reading]

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The Huntsman Sniper is a worse Combat Medic

This is one of those articles where the title kinda says it all. But of course, with such a big claim like “Huntsman Sniper is worse than Combat Medic”, I need to back up my claim with some sort of argument and, preferably, some evidence. Because evidence is cool and I am a man of science. But yes, the Huntsman Sniper is worse than a Combat Medic. Let’s look at the Huntsman first. Thirteen shots that need charging up for 1 second minimum to be able to do standard damage headshots, or 50 to 120 damage depending on how long… [Continue Reading]

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Dawnguard Snipin’ – Part 7

Well, my fellow mercs, I didn’t think we’d get this far. Last time round, I fought a vampire to get a shiny bow. Serana complained it wasn’t very shiny, but she’s a whinging brat. Anyway, my legs are knackered. I had to stop by in Medic’s place and dump all the loot I had stol- um, liberated from that snow elf church, and Serana and I are back at Fort Dawnguard to rally the troops and all that crap. It’s a pretty big place. Like Demo’s place but way nicer. Sorry Tavish. Isran, the guy who hired me, is standing… [Continue Reading]

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Sniper and The Stealth Buff Nobody Spoke Of

Recently-ish on SPUF, having no more need to complain about the now bus-sized mini sentry, and arguing random crits to the death, we’ve come back to one of the classes that has been complained about throughout the ages, from the earliest days of first person shooting, all the way through the rail pad on q3dm17 (also known as the longest yard) to these modern days, where one will instant kill you with a quickscope, often through 8 walls: The marmite-like sniper. You either play sniper, or you hate them, and even if you’re in the first category, they’re still annoying.… [Continue Reading]

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Dawnguard Snipin’ – Part 6

You know what mate? I’m getting kinda tired of walking. When Medic got back from Skyrim, he told me that there was tons of walking, but it was actually eventful. This is all just tedious! I spent all of last time walking, hope this time perks up. So after killing those two winged bastards, things start to get a bit tight and valley-y. I ain’t got a clue who you get onto those bridges up there (or even how they were built, these ugly Falmer aren’t exactly smart), but eventually we get to a place called Glacial Crevice. We head… [Continue Reading]

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The Gun that Made a Jarate Master Out of Sniper

It was a bizarre trail that led me to picking up the Sydney Sleeper again for the first time in years. First this reddit thread reminded me of my single favorite experience as a TF2 viewer; following STAR_’s team through the 2013 Charity Mixup tournament. Every teammate except STAR_ had never played TF2 before, and through skirmishes and close calls they honed their teamwork and somehow reached the finals to take on Team Mixup with TF2 creator Robin Walker. STAR_’s star performance as a sniper was so inspiring that (exactly like when I first saw it) I immediately switched to maining Sniper and jumped… [Continue Reading]

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