Vitals

Health: 175
Speed: 93%
Type: Defensive
Standard Weapons: Grenade Launcher, Sticky Bomb Launcher, Whisky Bottle
Valve Unlockables: Scottish Resistance, Chargin’ Targe, Eyelander

Weapons:

Grenade Launcher

Ammo: 4/16
Damage: Direct = 81-111 (280-300), After Bounce = 22-64 (100-190)
Best range: Short to Medium

Information:

The grenade launcher fire standard grenades the either explode on impact with an enemy (on the full only), or else explode after a couple of seconds. Like the shotgun, they can be fired at any time so long as at least 1 grenade is loaded, and the grenades themselves are very conducive to being bounced off walls, particularly around corners or over obstacles. It’s usually worth aiming to hit on the full, which requires the demoman to predict where his target will be in about half a second’s time and aim there.

The best use of the grenade launcher tends to be as a spam weapon, firing rounds into a group of multiple enemies, and not worrying too much if they miss – as long as they pin the enemies back, the explosions will still get them. Critical grenades are extremely dangerous for anyone nearby, so they compliment this strategy very nicely. Reloading is slow, so do it often, whenever you get the chance.

Advantages: Respectable damage plus splash damage, line of sight not required, perfect for harassing targets in or around cover, can be spammed to weaken enemies and deter movement.

Disadvantages: Must hit enemy on the full to ensure damage (often difficult), small clip and painfully slow to reload when you really need it to, pretty ineffective against aware and dodging enemies beyond short range.

Sticky Bomb Launcher

Ammo: 8/24
Damage: 103-171 (353), splash @ 3ft = 60-124 (261), splash @ 6ft = 47-90 (180)
Best range: Medium

Information:

The sticky bomb launcher (aka pipe bomb or sticky grenade launcher) is more tactical than the grenade launcher, but operates in a similar fashion. Fire the sticky bombs with primary fire and detonate with secondary fire. Only 8 sticky bombs can be placed at a given time, so placing another one will cause the oldest one to detonate, causing standard explosion damage.

It can be used as an anti-personnel weapon in a direct fire fight by firing and immediately detonating the sticky bombs, or by placing the sticky bomb where your target will be in about 1 second. Chances are he won’t react quickly enough, and you can detonate the bombs right as they walk over them. Both methods are generally used while backpedalling and dodging fire.

However the sticky bomb launcher has 2 great tactical uses. Firstly, the sight of sticky bombs in a doorway or narrow path, especially if complimented by the demoman making his presence known, serves as an very effective deterrent to enemies who know that if they walk through the field of bombs, they will most likely explode. As such, visibly covering choke points with sticky bombs, or ‘plugging’ them, can cause enemies to reconsider their path, and if not prevent attacks altogether, at least slow them down. Of course when they do eventually walk through, it tends to be at least 1 free kill.

The other great use for sticky bombs is for destruction, or the killing of engineer buildings, especially sentry guns. Soldiers and demoman are usually tasked with destroying these dangerous pieces of equipment, and the sticky bomb launcher is the perfect weapon. The demoman can pop out from cover, fire a sticky bomb at the sentry gun’s base, and quickly return to cover. Rinse and repeat until about 3 sticky bombs are near the sentry gun, then detonate them. The beauty that, unlike the steady flow of rockets from a soldier, the engineer has no time to repair his buildings – they are killed instantly. Extra especially useful when the demoman is übercharged and can stroll through enemy territory placing sticky bombs on every building he sees.

Advantages: Nice clip size, can stick to most surfaces making it effective for ambushing, ability to charge shot for good range coverage, detonate ability can ensure damage, especially effective against stationary targets (engineer buildings), gives demoman the ability to sticky bomb jump, wall of stickies in a choke point serves as a major deterrent for enemy movement.

Disadvantages: Weak for short range face-offs where damage can take too long to be dealt, painfully slow reload, planted sticky bombs can be displaced by bullets and explosions.

Whiskey Bottle

Ammo: N/A
Damage: 59-72 (195)

Information:

Another amusing melee weapon, the whiskey-loving Demoman busts out an empty xXx whiskey bottle bar fight-style and smashes his enemies with it. Critical hits result in a shattered bottle, which has no effect on gameplay. See Valve’s TF2 Stats for current data on the rate of random critical hits with the Whiskey Bottle (among other data available).

Scottish Resistance

Ammo: 8/36
Damage: 103-171 (353), splash @ 3ft = 60-124 (261), splash @ 6ft = 47-90 (180)
Best Range: Medium

Information:

The Scottish Resistance is for the Demoman with a plan; and the patience to see it through. While it isn’t as effective in face-to-face combat as the regular Sticky Bomb Launcher, it has several bonuses and characteristics geared towards laying traps for your enemies. It can also be used to clear out enemy Sticky Bomb traps, giving it a utility purpose beyond blowing stuff up.

On the upside, this weapon comes with an additional twelve Sticky Bombs in your ammo supply, and you can have an additional six (fourteen total) stickies armed and waiting to be triggered. On the downside, after shooting a Sticky Bomb you must wait an additional 0.4 seconds before it becomes armed and explode-able. Somewhere between bonus and penalty, the Scottish Resistance’s main difference between its original counterpart is the fact that you must aim at your bombs to detonate them. This lets you choose which ones to detonate rather than having to trigger them all at once. However, you’ll have to remember where they all are and waste time aiming at them before they are any danger to your opponents.

When the enemy is bearing down on you, and you have no Sticky Bombs ready to go off, put away your Scottish Resistance in favor of your other weapons. This gun is not made for that type of scenario, and the extra time the bombs take to arm and to aim at them will likely get you killed. Instead, make sure that you always have stickies ready and waiting for passers-by, and make use of your extra bombs to increase the danger you pose over multiple areas. When guarding several chokepoints in this manner you must be vigilant, constantly checking each one or finding a good vantage point to watch from. This emphasis on settings traps makes this a rather defensive weapon, since guarding an area is what it does best. However, it also boasts the quickest elimination of enemy Sticky Bombs by destroying any in its blast radius; a nice feature when defending or attacking if enemy Demomen are posing a problem to your team.

Advantages: An extra 12 Sticky Bombs ammo capacity, 6 additional Sticky Bombs may be deployed and ready to trigger, quickly destroys enemy Sticky Bombs, able to selectively detonate your Sticky Bombs.

Disadvantages: Additional 0.4 seconds before your Sticky Bombs becomes active, you must aim at the Sticky Bombs in order to detonate them

Chargin’ Targe

Ammo: Unlimited (12 second cooldown)
Damage: 50 + 10 per head up to 100
Best Range: Medium
Damage Resistance: 50% Fire, 40% Explosion

Information:

The Chargin’ Targe is a round wooden shield, with a steel edge, a protruding spike in the center, and a bite taken out of one side. The ultimate in defensive weaponry, this is the first (and only, so far) item which directly reduces damage you take. When equipped with the Chargin’ Targe, regardless of what weapon you have out, you take half damage from fire and almost half from all explosives. This provides a fantastic bonus in battles versus Pyros, Soldiers and Demomen, causing them to switch to secondary weapons or cause reduced damage to you.

Don’t mistake this shield as being just for hiding behind, though. The alternate fire button will charge you forward at more than double your normal speed, which is where that large spike comes in handy. If you ram into an enemy while charging, you will do 50 points worth of damage, plus ten for every head severed by your Eyelander (if equipped). Charging with the Chargin’ Targe also charges up (that’s a lot of charging) your ability to cause a free critical or mini-critical hit. A half-full or more charge will score you a mini-crit if you attack right after, while a full charge grants you a full critical. Note that this applies to any weapon you have, not just your melee, so feel free to charge in and lob a critical grenade at a nearby cluster of unfortunate fellows.

So, what does this dramatically new item mean for the Demoman? For one, it means that Team Fortress 2 now officially has a melee-centric class (given the right weapons combination). Any class can have a fancy new melee weapon with special powers, but due to balancing purposes, it cannot intrinsically be ‘better’ than its original counterpart. So, to create such a melee monstrosity, Valve threw us a curveball by making a secondary weapon which benefits those who like to pummel their opponents. The Chargin’ Targe certainly does not exist for the sole purpose of melee combat, as its benefits come in handy quite often melee or not. However, the abilities to withstand certain damage often encountered at close range and close the gap between you and your opponents faster than anyone else cannot be ignored. It even receives a head-count bonus from the Eyelander, which leaves no doubt that this shield is intended to go with a sword or equivalent sword-like-object (as any warrior should already know).

Advantages: Direct damage reduction from Fire and Explosives makes you hard to kill for some classes, charge gets you where you’re going faster and in melee range if desired, the critical hit bonus can mean some hefty damage.

Disadvantages: The loss of your Sticky Bomb Launcher is a tough choice to make as it cripples some of the fundamental abilities of the Demoman

Eyelander

Damage: 59 to 72 (no random crits)

Information:

The Eyelander is a large Scottish Claymore; complete with dried blood spatter and small nicks in the blade that tell you it’s been well used. This melee weapon has a longer range than all the rest (about 35% longer), and rightly so as it’s a freaking TWO-HANDED-SWORD! It comes complete with a craving for decapitation, and will let you know of its need for human heads every now and then. So, be sure to feed it well in order to keep you both happy.

Equipping yourself with the Eyelander comes at a cost, in the form of minus 25 health from your base maximum. It also cannot score a random critical hit and requires other means by which to do critical damage (most notably, the Chargin’ Targe). However, each opponent whose head you sever will grant you a bonus of an extra 15 to your maximum health and +8% to your movement speed (to a maximum of 4 heads, lasting until you die). Each head you collect will make your eye begin to glow brighter, serving as a warning to enemies nearby to steer clear of the sword-swinging Demoman. With enough heads, you can overcome and surpass the original health penalty incurred, and grow into a more fearsome creature altogether. The Eyelander’s head-collecting ability provides a unique opportunity within TF2, which is the chance to permanently increase your core attributes (until you die, anyway).

Advantages: Larger melee range, potential for increased health and movement speed.

Disadvantages: Subtracts 25 from your maximum health, no random critical hits.