The Scotsman’s Skullcutter

I’m really not fussy when it comes to Demoman melee weapons. I don’t mean Demoknight melee weapons, because that I do care about. I used to be a fan of the Persian Persuader before it was murdered and a pretender put in his place. I then messed around with my HHHH for a bit. But truth be told, I like it better when things go ka-BOOM. So I only ever ran Demoknight when I ever touched Medieval Mode.

In normal gameplay, I prefer to be chucking bombs from a comfortable distance. And don’t you dare suggest that I’m spamming explosives blindly, I always make sure to aim at the general direction of where the bulk of the enemy team is. If I do my job properly and the stars align, my melee weapon will remain unused. But for those special occasions where someone gets too close for me to blow him up, I’ll bring out the Skullcutter.

Being the only proper pole-arm in the game, the Skullcutter is rather unique in that sense. However, it is classified as a sword in the game, which is also the same way the Demoman holds and uses it as well. Since the axe-head is metal and the pole is wooden, I’m surprised that Demo doesn’t just herniate his spine every time he swings something so top-heavy the same way I swing a twig. But then, this impossibly durable man does regularly detonate explosives under his feet to fling himself across the map, so I suppose that will at most give his back a good stretch.

And now for the weapon stats:

This really doesn’t look too bad. In fact, most will say this is a pretty fair and decent sidegrade, and they’re right. However, when I first started to swing the Skullcutter, it had slightly different stats.

The Scotsman’s Skullcutter used to have the speed penalty as a passive effect. Which means I’ll walk at a slower speed than my fellow Scottish brethren. This also means I can’t effectively chase down weaken foes when I’m out of explosives. Which also means what you see in the picture below can never happen, because I was an idiot who didn’t realize this when I first made the picture.

However, that is never the point of me equipping the Skullcutter in the first place. If I ever wanted to chase down someone with a melee weapon, I’ll bring along the Claidheamh Mòr and a shield. Besides, if I ever really need to get anywhere quickly, I can always explosive jump away. If I need to escape and explosive jumping isn’t an option, I’ll be dead with or without that speed penalty to be honest.

Aside from that, 15% slower movespeed doesn’t ever seem to make a significant difference to me. I suppose that’s a reason why ±stats weapons are always uninteresting. Unless the stat change is 50% or larger, or it’s something rather noticeable like a larger clip size, you can barely feel a difference despite knowing it’s there.

And the most important point is, when I draw my Scotsman’s Skullcutter, I’m not going after the enemy. I am waiting for them to come to me. Someone will need to get past my bombs and right into my face for it to be necessary to draw my melee, and the classes that can do that, like a Scout, Pyro or Spy, will need to come in close. So I don’t need to go after them with the Skullcutter; they will come to me and die.

Or, maybe hitreg will mess up and I get shot in the face.

Now with the speed penalty becoming an active effect instead of a passive one, the weapon has now become more viable while not affecting my playstyle in the slightest. Most people will actually equip it as a backup weapon for explosives-based playstyle. To me, it never was a bad weapon to begin with, but now I feel that it finally got the limelight it deserves.