melee – Page 4 – The Daily SPUF

The Wrap Assassin: Christmas at 70 MPH

October 21, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, melee, pass time, scout

Yeah, I know it’s not meta but I happen to really like the Wrap Assassin. Most of the people who complain about this weapon either find it annoying or point out that it doesn’t really fill any niches. The Sandman shoots a much more powerful projectile, the Boston Basher deals more consistent bleed damage while serving as a mobility tool, and if you want to go full utility nothing’s going to beat the Atomizer. There’s just not really a reason to use the paper tube. But there’s also no reason not to use it. It’s downside-free. You gain a projectile bleed attack… [Continue Reading]

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Why smart Medics hate the Vita-Saw

September 24, 2015 Medic 0 Comments balance, medic, melee, weapon

Top Medics hate this weapon. This is the one item they DO NOT WANT you to use. Click here to find out more! You won’t regret your decision, which is saving the Ubers of hundreds of Medics as we speak! Do it! Click it! Go on! Yeah, that link doesn’t actually go anywhere, but the hatred is actually somewhat real. Alright, a true Medic main won’t murder you in your sleep if you abuse the Vita-Saw’s unnatural power… Maybe… So why do smart Medics hate this weapon? Normally, when a Medic dies, they lose all their Uber. That’s understandable, the… [Continue Reading]

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Giving the Third Degree the Third Degree

September 14, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, balance, medieval, melee, MvM, pyro, weapon

Move over ladies and gunboats, it’s the only straight upgrade in Team Fortress 2! Man, considering it’s the one unlock in the entire game with absolutely no reason not to equip it you would bet it must be the high-rolling undisputed king of its weapon class, right? Right? No. Turns out the Third Degree sucks. Its only upside is pointless on a class that spews penetrating particles that engulf every enemy in melee range. You wanna kill somebody that has a Medic? Airblast them apart and go to town on the poor German sod. Pulling out your melee is only setting yourself up for… [Continue Reading]

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Cops & Zombies 7: Melee

April 29, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, Cops & Zombies, guide, melee

And we’ve reached the last article in my Cops & Zombies series! Can I just say this was a wonderful night, and I enjoyed breaking my previous record for Most Articles Written in a Single Sitting. For the record, thanks to this video playing in the background the whole time, it appears I averaged two articles an hour. This is actually the eighth article in my seven-part series, because I’m awesome at counting like that. But I’d be remiss to end the series before talking about melee combat, one of the most exhilarating if also understated attacks in both games.… [Continue Reading]

Featured This Week in TF2 History

April 9th – 15th

April 14, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments cosmetics, melee, scout, trading, update

With post-Easter candy on sale and taxes looming on the horizon, perhaps Valve can be forgiven for not doing a heck of a lot this week. Lord knows none of the game teams for whom I’m developing ever do anything of merit around this time; save creativity for a time where it won’t get you audited. Back in 2009 on March 13th Valve did push a minor Sandman nerf; stunned players now took 50% less damage. This gave you a slightly better chance of not insta-dying just because some Bostonian twerp nailed you with a baseball while you were trying… [Continue Reading]

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Saxton Hale – The Tenth Class

March 19, 2015 Answers 0 Comments analysis, class, comparison, demoknight, fun, love, melee, Saxton Hale, SPUF, theory

Preface You know, after all this time, I would have thought someone would have been able to come up with a legitimate class description for the one and only Saxton Hale. I’ve searched the SPUF archives, and while there are some interesting ideas for non–core TF2, as far as I know, there is no actual proposal for Saxton Hale to join the Nine on the battlefield! This cannot continue. Every day I ask myself: “What Would Saxton Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-(breath)-Aaaaaaaaaale Do? (WWSHaaaaaD?)” and while the answer is usually “Grow a Moustache, you hippy!” today the answer to that question is “Try to Make Saxton Hale a Balanced Class in Team Fortress… [Continue Reading]

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Grappling Hooks would be balanced in Medieval Mode

January 21, 2015 Medic 0 Comments balance, class, game mode, medieval, melee, strategy, theory

Grappling hooks would be balanced in Medieval Mode. Seriously. Alright, why are we discussing this? Why bother considering balance in a stupid game mode? Why bother discussing Medieval Mode at all? Because 1. it’s fun and 2. it’s currently a very one-sided game mode because the only classes with mobility are Scout and Demoman, and the only classes with range are Medic and Sniper. Of course, Medieval Mode’s one single official map doesn’t help. It has giant walls. Really high walls. The RED team are locked up safe inside until they venture outside, and once they do, there’s no way… [Continue Reading]

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What if TF2 melee behaved mechanically like Left 4 Dead 2 melee?

January 1, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments balance, melee, request, scout

I had a blast recently playing ctf_turbine with Medieval mode enabled, but my internet connection quickly decided that it wasn’t pleased with the current TF2 melee mechanics. So it got me thinking about a different Source game where the melee weapons are among my favorite in the entire game. TF2 melee basically behaves like a hitscan “bullet” that flies a few inches in front of the player and stops (the swords fire this “bullet” a bit further, mimicking a range bonus.) Only if this “bullet” hits an enemy is your melee swing successful. This is where all the notorious hitreg… [Continue Reading]

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There Once Was a Caber from Ullapool

October 28, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, demoknight, demoman, melee

Whose explosion was quite unbelievable With a loud angry bang It’d throw off Sniper’s aim By removing his head from his clavicles Now that Valve has, in their infinite wisdom, removed the ability of the stock bottle to shatter on a critical hit, the Ullapool Caber remains the only TF2 melee that is actually a bottomless supply of identical melee weapons as opposed to a unique item. It’s also a point of contention among the sub genre of TF2 players who enjoy going on SPUf and criticizing the game’s balance. For some reason they aren’t too hot on a melee weapon that deals… [Continue Reading]

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Straight Upgrades? In my TF2?

October 16, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, balance, medic, melee, pyro

Weapons with literally no downside. I’m not talking weapons like the Wrangler, where the downsides exist but are negligible in comparison to the upsides (indeed, sometimes the only downside is “you don’t have the stock weapon it replaces.”) I’m talking weapons that literally just don’t have downsides and are just better then their stock equivalent. Not counting ones caused by bugs or bad coding, there have only ever been three straight upgrades added to TF2, and one has since been rebalanced. The Amputator on release granted the healing taunt for free before being changed (for the better in my opinion)… [Continue Reading]