How to Make an Efficient Demoman (newbie guide)

***UPDATE COMING EVENTUALLY***
I've decided to kinda put it off...so it may come sometime after the demoman update when valve eventually releases and balances it...


Well,after quite a bit of testing on the beta, I feel pretty certain that I can write a guide using my own personal and other people's advice; so if your looking for help or just some new tricks,look no further!

Go here for any information you need concerning his health,weapons,and biography
And here for basic gameplay mechanics (shows all classes)
Meet everyone's angry,favorite drunken,black,Scottish cyclops here



Strengths / Weaknesses

- good against SCOUTS,HEAVYS,MEDICS,ENGINEERS
- VERY hard to kill with a medic healing him (harder than a heavy)
- can efficiently bunny hop and still be able to make good shots
- can force an enemy SNIPER to move, may not kill, but will take away his vantage point
- can completely stop an enemy rush by littering an area with sticky bombs
- only class that can completely stop a scout rush
- can lob shots around corners to stop out of range enemies from advancing
- can take out SENTRIES easily without being seen
- hard for SPYS to hit
- can lure enemies to their death by sticky bomb
- can help medic Übercharge faster by hurting one's self with sticky bombs
- can break an Übercharge by blowing the heavy away from the medic

- bad against SOLDIERS and PYROS
- shots aren't guaranteed hits
- few shots and long reload time
- hard to Übercharge due to the few shots and reload time
- horrible in close range unless he has a medic attached
- not very good on dustbowl
- very bad in water
- grenades won't blow up after they bounce
- delay before sticky bombs can be detonated



General Strategies

(Bunny Hopping simply means jumping around in a random pattern to avoid rockets,grenades,melee attacks,and accurate guns such as pistols and snipers,NOT a way to get more speed,as that is limited in TF2)

- don't forget that if you hold down the mouse key longer,your STICKY bombs will fly farther,useful for taking out ranged targets
- you CAN detonate sticky bombs in the air without them touching anything,but there seems to be a time limit from when they come out of your gun to when you can blow them up
- can 'sticky bomb' jump much better than the soldier can if placed correctly
- make bunny hopping a skill
- use grenades and sticky bombs to destroy sentries around corners and over buildings
- team up with a medic if at all possible
- lay traps for enemies
- get rid of camping enemies by littering their position with sticky bombs
- defend points by laying sticky bombs over it
- if your low on health (and this goes for any class) and there's no nearby medic,run back to the nearest dispenser or medkit. Same goes for ammo as Bonnici said below. I usually just stay near one at all times if possible.
- lay snip

Good tips! Just one question though, when you say bunny hopping do you mean just jumping around or is there some way to do it the proper way where you gain speed?

A few other tips:
- I've noticed scouts are getting really good at taking out demomen, they can do their double jumping to get around the grenades and when they're close they can just bat you to death. I like using sticky bombs 1 or 2 at a time against them just to time the explosions right so you don't need to hit them dead-on. If they get close I just start shooting grenades at the ground and hope that I have more health than them.
- Explosives can take out sticky bombs, so don't rely on yours staying around if you're not looking after them.
- It's a bit of an exploit but if you have a decent medic and a warmup timer you should sticky bomb yourself so they can heal you and get more of a charge.
- Keep an eye on your ammo, it's easy to run out if you spamalot

Yeah you kinda have to adapt strategies as time goes on,even over a period of a few days.

And to answer your question theres no 'bunny hopping' per say in tf2 last time I checked,so simply jumping around randomly so avoid accurate bullets and rockets. I mean to say that in my post actually..musta forgot...


Anyways a few things I left out:

- if your low on health (and this goes for any class) and there's no nearby medic,run back to the nearest dispenser or medkit. Same goes for ammo as Bonnici said. I usually just stay near one at all times if possible.


Taking Out Guys On Ledges
As you may be aware, grenades are rather hard to hit moving targets on small ledges with,especially from the side,so in order to take these guys out,scatter the wall (if there is one) full of stickies,then when they run by,BOOM,everyone on the wall is either dead or has most likely fallen off.

In my experience, a good scout that is jumping all over the place is almost impossible to hit (since he never lands in a predictable place)...

Granted, "good" players of any class are a lot harder to kill for various reasons.

I feel that Pyros are a lot easier to kill than scouts if you're not in flamethrower range (or just get out of it).  Demos are pretty fast, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

I personally feel that demo is probably one of the best defenders in dustbowl.

Add on:  You can use the explosion from your sticky bombs to move enemy sticky bombs.

For scouts I normally lay pipebombs inbetween him and I and wait for him to do his bunny hopping close enough to detonate to hit him, or if he's moving away from me shooting and detonating a pipe-bomb infront of the way he's heading.

Problem is when there's a scout that changes his direction in mid-air and keeps moving...

Hello boiz,

When you plant few sticky bombs in snipers nest ... against good sniper it wouldnt work.
If it heppens to me ( when im a sniper ) i just shoot them off like a tennis ball.

and against scouts in open area = death to Demoman !

in the room, i dominate because of wall rebounce and when i run back i do 180 turn plant 1 or 2 bombs .. turn around fire some normal grenades and when i run over the stickys and they are between me and scout i wait for him to try and jump over = so he would take damage from jumping over them ( or die ) but be preparted for those grenades to lunch him far off .. so prepare to turn quickly )

P.S. Demoman is fun, and all about timing and practise.

come on !

..

Reaper, you have seriously outdone yourself.
That's like writing an essay! Thanks for the tips.
Are you sure about the demoman being harder than the heavy? Even if he is, all the medics would still prefer a heavy anytime.