analysis – Page 17 – The Daily SPUF

On The Direct Hit

December 8, 2013 IceFuse 3 Comments advice, analysis, class, comparison, fun, guide, loadout, soldier, strategy, weapon

The Direct Hit can either be the most devastating single-shot rocket launcher unlock or the worst rocket launcher to ever disgrace the battlefield if you can’t place your shots right and want to rely on splash damage. As a Soldier-main who’s retired his first strange Direct Hit for the easier stock rocket launcher after reaching a few hundred kills past Epic Rank, I too can agree that it’s a troublesome weapon to many who don’t know the nature behind using the Direct Hit. But mastering this pesky launcher can pull off some both quantitative and hilarious outcomes.

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Scout melees and you!

November 30, 2013 Chevap666 0 Comments analysis, guide, loadout, melee, scout, weapon

If you had a baseball bat, and you were insane enough to hit random people with it, you wouldn’t really care about its looks. If it’s hard enough to crack some skulls – it’s good. However, you wouldn’t really hit people with wrapping paper, now would you? That’s just your preference. If you would like to hit people with wrapping paper, but some federal laws and such nonsense forbid you to do so, you have TF2 for that. Play Scout and you get to hit people with baseball bats if that’s your thing. Unfortunately, you deal less damage (35 base damage per hit).… [Continue Reading]

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Why all Melee Unlocks should be Balanced like the Demoman’s

November 28, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, balance, demoman, loadout, melee, theory, weapon

SPUF enjoys arguing about TF2’s balance. A lot. One of the most common issues to sprout up involves TF2 melee weapons. It’s no secret the vast majority of stock melees are underpowered, except those with utility like knife and wrench. If their only job is to deal damage, then they’re gonna suck because every class has a plethora of primary or secondary weapons that deal more damage at longer ranges more effectively. So when most competetive TF2 players agree that the bottle is the best Demoman melee weapon, this may seem unusual. How can it really be the best choice… [Continue Reading]

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The Wrench in Balancing Plans

November 26, 2013 A Pointed Stick 0 Comments analysis, balance, engineer, theory, weapon

Whoo doggie, the Engineer. If people are not playing rock paper scissors over who between him and the Heavy has the lowest skill floor, they’re having arguments over his weapons so bad that they make [insert appropriate argumentative body here] look like a teen romance! How can one guy cause such a fuss that has SPUF so evenly divided that it could be the motivation for a community made WAR update? Well, if I was to answer it in a reasonably sized sentence (which as an academic, should be impossible) I’d say it’s because the Engineer is, in many ways,… [Continue Reading]

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The Rescue Ranger: Solver of practical problems

November 22, 2013 kierany9 2 Comments analysis, engineer, loadout, weapon

As an Engineer main, the Ranger is by far one of my favorite weapons. While it takes some skill to use well, the payoff is ridiculous and is overall a fun weapon to use. Also, 120 damage crits at any range is a godsend for a shotgun. I’ve jarateed off many friends with a lolcrit smashing them in the face. The Rescue Ranger is a weak weapon in combat, shooting repair claws that do 60 damage at close range and 20 at long range, with a base damage of 40. But then again, the Engineer was never meant for shooting… [Continue Reading]

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No one told me about Sniping!

November 4, 2013 Medic 1 Comment analysis, balance, criticism, request, sniper, theory

Back when I first started playing Team Fortress 2, like a lot of people, Sniper always sounded like a good place to start. It all sounds so simple. Stand far away from everyone else, zoom in with your pretty scope and shoot people from a safe distance. Wonderful, right? Wrong. Oh so very, very wrong.

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The Crusader’s Crossbow is now the least viable Medic primary

November 3, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, criticism, medic, mourning, request, weapon

After a mere 48 hours of giving us the perfect Crusader’s Crossbow, Valve followed up by nerfing it’s damage by 33%. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours perfecting my skill with this weapon, and considers it my favorite weapon in TF2, let me say that the weapon is now useless. Let me rehash the same reasons I enjoyed the previous crossbow and show how none of them apply any more.

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The Great Heavy Skill Floor and The Not-So Great Heavy Skill Ceiling

November 1, 2013 A Pointed Stick 2 Comments analysis, heavy, theory, weapon

At the risk of being hanged, shot, crit-stickied and more hilarious ways Team Fortress 2 players can hurt each other (Hey Valve, a noose/lasso weapon, make it happen!) I will admit that I am not really a fan of the Fat Scout mentality that seems to have been touted as “the only way to skill-index the Heavy”. It seems rather defeatist to me, like the Heavy needs a super shotgun primary to have some kind of validity in higher skill levels, which is really limiting and rather traitorous to the initial weapons and designs that Valve introduced in Team Fortress… [Continue Reading]

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Sniper Taunts vs. Spy Taunts?

October 27, 2013 Nethero 0 Comments analysis, sniper, spy, taunts, theory

Here’s an observation I’ve made just recently. Based on what I’ve heard from other people and what I’ve noticed myself, taunting as sniper is such a common occurrence that it’s become cliche. On the other hand, taunting as spy puts the player at such an inconvenience that it’s rarely considered. A number of factors make it appear that this is actually completely intentional in gameplay. For whatever reason, sniper very much encourages taunting while spy highly discourages it.

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Why the CnD deserves some love

October 26, 2013 InstaCakes 1 Comment analysis, comparison, defense, event, game mode, guide, loadout, maps, spy, strategy, weapon

Howdy! First post on the SPUF blog here, and since I noticed a certain lack of Spy posts, here’s one about possibly the most unloved (and probably least mentioned!) weapon in TF2: The Cloak ‘n’ Dagger. At first, it seems like a straight upgrade, but when moving it actually drains cloak faster than you’d think, certainly faster than the Invis Watch, and it refuses to collect ammo. Most people just craft it off or let it be as a keepsake or a Spy weapon to collect, but it’s actually damn useful at times. Here’s why.