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Why play a Demoman? The Demoman is a core combat class like the Soldier and Heavy. The "Defense" label in character selection is inaccurate — a Demoman benefits greatly by playing offensively. A good Demoman can change the course of a game.
Strengths
- Sticky Launcher does as much damage as the Rocket Launcher, but has twice the clip size.
- Farther jump than the Soldier.
- Best sentry killer — can kill both a Sentry and a camping Engineer from long range.
- Large area of effect damage.
- Faster movement speed than Soldier and Heavy.
- Twitch aiming is not necessary.
- Important class for competitive play.
- Potentially devastating crits.
Weaknesses
- Difficult to play for beginners.
- Vulnerable at close range.
- Vulnerable to Scouts.
- Relatively low HP.
- Weaker in large, open areas.
- Sticky jumping does more damage than rocket jumping.
- Grenades and stickies can blow you up.
Gameplay The Sticky Launcher is your primary weapon. The Sticky Launcher is much more versatile than the Grenade Launcher because it has double the clip size and sticky bombs are easier to aim. The Grenade Launcher should only be used situationally. A beginner may ask how sticky grenades can be used to kill people if they don't blow up on their own — you can kill people with stickies because you're going to blow them up immediately after firing them, and doing so makes the Sticky Launcher similar to the Rocket Launcher in combat. Shooting the Sticky Launcher requires a special technique. You must left click to fire and repeatedly right click to blow the sticky up. Being able to shoot multiple stickies and continuously blow them up is important, as with higher damage output you will get more kills. Unless you are killing a sentry, it's best to blow them up as quickly as possible. Practice aiming the sticky launcher and you will learn to predict enemy movement. Know when to switch weapons. If your sticky clip runs out in combat, switch to the Grenade Launcher immediately. You will get more kills with smart use of the Grenade Launcher. Grenades are best used when they will directly hit something. If a Pyro is running at you head on, a couple grenades will kill him or bounce him back. If he survives, you can easily finish him with a sticky bomb. You can also shoot grenades at a group of people then shoot stickies to pick them off as they run. Grenades have a longer range than stickies. If getting close is too risky, use grenades. At any range, four direct grenade hits will kill a sentry gun and the Engineer even if the Engineer is gun-humping it. If you can get a direct hit, use grenades to take out a gun — stickies are better for killing players. However, don't hesitate to use stickies if they will be more effective. Spam and reload appropriately. Spam your grenades! Shoot stickies before turning a corner or over a wall as you move forward — where you shoot them is your call, but spamming grenades makes you harder to kill. Ammo is effectively unlimited for a Demoman, and shooting pre-emptively may kill or soften an incoming.
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I gotta say, Demoman is hella fun to play.
It's my fallback class if I get tired of Medicing around.
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Great work, rads.
I play the demoman like Teh Jzzb, when I don't want to backstab any more XD. Personally, I use the bottle very often, even if the enemy is not that close. I know, it sounds like suicide, but it's quite effective - perhaps enemies don't expect a demoman to use the bottle...
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The last few days, I spent 4 hours or so trying to understand the demo. It requires a completely different way of playing compared to the other classes, especially when it comes to close combat (and avoiding it). I think the recent ammo reduction has a major impact on the way the demo is played. I noticed it both in my own game (I actually ran out of stickies) and in the playing style of opposing demo's (less grenade spam). I think this makes the demo less of an all-round class. In my experience you'd have to play him either extremely defensive (stay near resupply and spam) or extremely aggressive (move forward, kill opponent, get their guns for ammo, repeat). Playing 'middle man' will quickly get you out of ammo and options. But then again, I only played demo for 7 hours total. They kill me a lot, does that count? Anyway, please enlighten me 
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Quote: Originally Posted by Lycosa
Great work, rads.
I play the demoman like Teh Jzzb, when I don't want to backstab any more XD. Personally, I use the bottle very often, even if the enemy is not that close. I know, it sounds like suicide, but it's quite effective - perhaps enemies don't expect a demoman to use the bottle...
I'll add a section about close combat, but I almost never use the bottle. Shooting stickies at your feet or shooting grenades is more effective.
Quote: Originally Posted by _foolThe last few days, I spent 4 hours or so trying to understand the demo. It requires a completely different way of playing compared to the other classes, especially when it comes to close combat (and avoiding it). I think the recent ammo reduction has a major impact on the way the demo is played. I noticed it both in my own game (I actually ran out of stickies) and in the playing style of opposing demo's (less grenade spam). I think this makes the demo less of an all-round class. In my experience you'd have to play him either extremely defensive (stay near resupply and spam) or extremely aggressive (move forward, kill opponent, get their guns for ammo, repeat). Playing 'middle man' will quickly get you out of ammo and options. But then again, I only played demo for 7 hours total. They kill me a lot, does that count? Anyway, please enlighten me The Soldier and the Demoman are similar because the Sticky Launcher, when used properly, is a Rocket Launcher with an arc. Watch a DEM file of a good Demoman to better understand the playstyle.
The ammo nerf is usually not an issue if you play aggressively and you know the map. I'm almost always dead before I run out of stickies, though it can be a problem on custom maps lacking ammo boxes. With an aggressive playstyle you need to run around grabbing health packs anyways.
If you want to get better, just play more. I've played about 90 hours as a Demoman and I'm still learning.
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I dunno, the stickies never set fast enought to get a person charging me. When I have time to set a trap, then I use the stickies. The grenades are an effective main weapon like if someone tries to uber past your stickies, just knock the medic back and kill the heavy. I find myself running around with the grenades because i have learned how to hit people with it even if they are dodging.
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yeah - it's definitely worth noting that the Demo is the only class that can break up an uber once it's been activated. one time on map 3 of Dustbowl i was able to stop 4-5 ubers just by laying a line of stickies. admittedly, any organized team will be able to counter this (blowing away the stickies, running in a second uber pair right after the first, sending a spy to take out said demo).
the best way to counter these counters is to put your stickies in different places that are still effective - such as around the side by the stairs (although this lets them get within range of your sentries before you take them out) or getting up into the pill box and laying stickies down on the entrances.
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Demo being my main class and most played by almost double, I very much agree with this guide.
Good job.
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this isn't a bad guide, but i half disagree with the ""Defense" label in character selection is inaccurate — a Demoman benefits greatly by playing offensively" statement.
it's true that a demo's offensive capabilities are underestimated but the fact is, he is specifically designed as a defensive class. so even if you get extremely good at being an offensive demoman, an extremely good solider would sill more than likely take the demo out in any offensive situation. the thing is, with out a proper close-medium to close range weapon the demo man falls victim to any faster moving offensive classes, such as scouts pyros, and spies. if a scout is rapidly shooting you, even at a med distance, there is little a demo can do agienst a skilled scout. if you try to stiky bomb the area he's walking in, or going to walk in, he'll just quickly move out of the way, the grenades are too slow to do any thing, and a (skilled) scout will win in any melee combat. this applies to the pyro and spy as well.
i know i know, im sure all your uber 1337 demos are saying "damn man, your just a n00b, i'v killed plenty of scouts, pyros and spies". yes, so have i, but, if you really think about it, im sure you'll see that these 3 classes would probably pose the most difficult for you to kill when it comes to 1 on 1, or any offensive situations. (they are easily killed in defensive situations, but think offense... that is what im arguing)
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Quote: Originally Posted by aldershot
this isn't a bad guide, but i half disagree with the ""Defense" label in character selection is inaccurate — a Demoman benefits greatly by playing offensively" statement.
it's true that a demo's offensive capabilities are underestimated but the fact is, he is specifically designed as a defensive class. so even if you get extremely good at being an offensive demoman, an extremely good solider would sill more than likely take the demo out in any offensive situation. the thing is, with out a proper close-medium to close range weapon the demo man falls victim to any faster moving offensive classes, such as scouts pyros, and spies. if a scout is rapidly shooting you, even at a med distance, there is little a demo can do agienst a skilled scout. if you try to stiky bomb the area he's walking in, or going to walk in, he'll just quickly move out of the way, the grenades are too slow to do any thing, and a (skilled) scout will win in any melee combat. this applies to the pyro and spy as well.
i know i know, im sure all your uber 1337 demos are saying "damn man, your just a n00b, i'v killed plenty of scouts, pyros and spies". yes, so have i, but, if you really think about it, im sure you'll see that these 3 classes would probably pose the most difficult for you to kill when it comes to 1 on 1, or any offensive situations. (they are easily killed in defensive situations, but think offense... that is what im arguing)
I can't say I agree. =\ A soldier vs. a demoman of equal skill is one of the fairer fights in TF2. I believe that, more often than not, the deciding factor would be where and how they met. The soldier definitely won't win in every offensive situation, and the demoman has the potential to do just as well - if not better, when played offensively. While it is hard to deal with good scouts as a demoman (scissors, meet rock) pyros and spies aren't a very big issue. A skilled demoman will have as much trouble killing a spy as a soldier does. Pyros are also easy to kill, since you can force them to either retreat or run over your stickies and die (if you don't just blow them up outright). In both cases, the pyro suffers a loss. And, even if they happen to get the jump on you, you can still blow them up a fair amount of the time assuming you aren't out of ammo or low on health. Granted, you may go down in the process, but that's beside the point. Then again, maybe I'm just one of those "uber 1337 demos". =\ Unrealted edit: I also nominate this thread as a replacement sticky for Reap3r's.. somewhat inaccurate and outdated guide. =\
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