Sticky Jumper vs Machine
Happy Jump Day! Every 16th of September, The Daily SPUF celebrates Jump Day to remember the poor Sticky Jumper who lost its 3rd-8th bombs on this fateful date in 2013. As I’ve mentioned in numerous articles before, the Sticky Jumper is one of my favorite weapons. I will forever defend it as a perfectly valid playstyle in TF2.
But even I didn’t think that versatility was good enough to qualify for anything beyond meme status in Mann Vs Machine! But after seeing it listed as “Usable” in this thread and this comment I decided to give it a try. I didn’t have high hopes, but it only seemed fair to give it a chance. So after playing some rounds with the Sticky Jumper in MvM, I can rate it an enthusiastic… maybe?
The Pros
It’s certainly a refreshing change of pace from the typical Scottish Resistance Demoman. You get to funnel all your credits into beefing out your Grenade Launcher, which lets you play more like a Soldier. And since your Sticky Jumper doesn’t need upgrading, you have more credits to spend elsewhere. Not to mention your mobility is unparalleled! You can reposition at will, zip back to the Upgrade Cabinet, fly over to grab some money left in a bad spot, etc. Since robots don’t drop ammo, I found myself running out semi-frequently and the Sticky Jumper was great for grabbing more. In regards to the best primary, I found the Loose Cannon my preferred grenade launcher but they’re all pretty similar.
The Cons
You really are missing the extreme value of carpeting the map with blow-up-able mines. Also you better switch back to a real sticky launcher to start the wave, or your Kritz-ready Medics will be very disappointed in you. Finally it’s a bit harder to get those Eyelander kills without a shield, aka the usual secondary for Grenade Launcher demos.
So I think this article makes it clear that the Scout/Soldier hybrid playstyle has survived the transition to PvE. The only question is whether that’s still worth a player slot. You don’t have the teamwide buffs of Soldier, nor the self-buffs of a Scout, which makes you feel kinda superfluous. Not once in my practice games did I really feel like I was pulling my weight on the team. It’s really the absence of the Scottish Resistance in my opinion. While Grenade Launchers are fun, and being master of the skies is fun, it’s giving up the main reason your team wants a Demo on their team in MvM. That being said, if you have open-minded friends and want to try a weird playstyle, it’s certainly worth a try.
And really, Valve should fix the Jumper not dealing damage once you purchase damage boosts. If the Jumper could hurt robots while not hurting you, that would severely change things. I’d love to see if that buff could possibly turn it into a full-fledged alternate playstyle.