The Vita-Saw

The Vita-Saw is a truly unique weapon. The only item in the entirety of TF2 that can carry an effect over from respawn, it brings up so many questions on a fundamental canonical level that I could make my entire article on that. Instead, I’d like to talk about its practical usage. In-game, it’s far and away the best Medic melee, hands down. Competitive Medics who run the Vita-Saw force their opponent to run the saw as well or be at a constant disadvantage just because dropping the Medic doesn’t automatically equal Uber advantage. How quickly did he respawn? Has… [Continue Reading]

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On Melee

First-person shooters have always loved the melee weapon, even as they render it essentially obsolete. No amount of situationality can prevent the visceral joy of beating something to death (especially something wielding real guns) with the bludgeoning instrument of the dev’s choice. Melee hasn’t changed very much since the early years of Doom and Wolfenstein. It often has the following upsides: · First or second weapon found in the game, if not just equipped from the beginning · no ammunition required to use · sometimes makes less noise than other weapons, or other unique combat advantages (usability underwater for example) · sometimes… [Continue Reading]

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The Tide Turner: The awkward guy at the Demo weapon party

Hey there reader, welcome to the Demoman weapon party, come on in. Bottle and Scotsman’s Skullcutter are providing us the drinks, the life of the party Stickybomb Launcher over there is trying to get our beloved introvert Scottish Resistance drunk to celebrate his recent fix, the Grenade Launcher is muttering a few obscenities but its ok, Loch N Load and Loose Cannon are watching him. Eyelander and Chargin’ Targe are just on the balcony over there heckling everyone (especially the drunk clown Sticky Jumper), Claid is wooing over the Splendid Screen whilst Persian Persuader is busy trying to getting Wee… [Continue Reading]

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How to Fail Official Valve Spy Training

Have you tried out TF2’s training mode? It was added back in June 2010 as a way to familiarize new players with the Soldier, Demoman, Spy, and Engineer. Even if you vaguely remember doing them back in your TF2 career, you should check them out again, because at some point in history my progress was reset. And good thing too, because I quickly learned that I needed spy training. He’s by far my worst class, I can usually average .05 kills per life after hours of playing him. I tried to sap a stickybomb once. Even lone buildings are a threat. … [Continue Reading]

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Synergy In Every Medic Loadout Combination

Medic has very few unlocks, it’s true, but this really is because almost every niche he’d need filled is already in there somewhere. The lion’s share of discussion on this topic is dedicated to his secondary Medigun, but what about his options in primary and melee? Well, for a change of pace I thought I could cover every single available weapon combo in Medic’s Primary/Melee slots, how they synergize, and their viability and effectiveness as a combo. I’m leaving out the bonesaw because it should never be used ever. Crossbow/Amputator: If you’re going to use the Amputator, this is the… [Continue Reading]

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Eyelander Eyestravaganza results!

Eyelander Eyestravaganza has ended, and everyone had a blast! Ultimately, AdolfKirby took first, VenomousPastry took second, and Lord Yimzo took third! There were a LOT of heads rolling around in the end, and a number of people had moments of glory as a single beheading granted them 100+ heads in one go. The much-hypothesized event map turned out to be Turbine, which gave all of us a chance to try out Valve’s optimizing patches. Of special note is the little cart that allows anyone to reach that medium healthpack hiding on that ledge near the flag spawns, thousands of players… [Continue Reading]

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Analysis of the Persian Persuader’s Health Regen

If I’m not using the Ullapool Caber or Pain Train, I’m using the Persian Persuader. Health regen is a great thing to have on the Demoman, and the Sticky Jumper synergies surprisingly well with the Persian because it doubles the health return you get from ammo. (I’ve mentioned this before). But I never really understood why. Finally, I got around to doing some testing to figure it out, and I learned that the Persian derives its health return from the amount of primary and secondary ammo on the wearer. (For these purposes, the Booties are considered a stock grenade launcher… [Continue Reading]

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Backscratching

If I can recall, the Backscratcher was one of the first strange weapons to ever grace my backpack.  Given that I find strange weapons encourage me to use stuff I would normally not care about, I gave the ‘scratcher a chance.  From then on it has stayed in the slot, and has grown to be one of my favorites. For those whom are unaware, the Backscratcher grants extra healing from collecting health packs.  However, other healing sources, such a medics dispensers, and bomb carts, heal you at a snail’s pace.  The rake also has a slight increase in damage. The… [Continue Reading]

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Sniper melees and you!

Sniping’s a good job indeed, but there are people who really want to avoid all that polite and efficient bussiness and bludgeon you to death with a golf trophy. Wankers. Then you have to sigh, take your favourite oversized knife and stick it to their bodies until they are no more. Here we are again, 3rd attempt to jam all the useful melee information in your brains. This time we’ll cover Sniper’s melees. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there aren’t many Sniper melees… Let’s check them anyways. Your stock kukri is geniously named Kukri. As always, its reskins are Frying Pan, Conscientious Objector, Freedom Staff,… [Continue Reading]

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The best choices for Melee Only rounds

You can’t find good Melee-only servers anymore. Medieval Mode took out most of those, and the removal of Sudden Death from default removed the times it happens on normal servers. But every so often, a server goes melee only, and I remember how fun it can be. Everything is very simple; just you and your bludgeoning weapon of choice. Here are some tips for fighting melee only. (Note: If it’s one of those servers that allows the booties and shields but literally no other non-melee weapons, my tip is to leave the server. So-called “melee-only” servers that do that can… [Continue Reading]

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