To fight a Demoman. . .

Hey guys, I've been having some trouble fighting Demomen when I play as a Scout and I'm looking for some tips and personal experience to build off of.

I have already done a search in the forums, but I'm sorry to say that I'm not too keen on looking through five pages of stuff.

Recently I've been tearing up the battlefield with my little Scout cleats and I would like to say that I'm doing pretty well for myself. I've managed to earn quite a few kill streaks, I consistently get behind enemy lines to attack Snipers and Medics before they can cause too much trouble, I can have up to three dominations at a time and I'm usually at the top of the scoreboard, though I still have yet to beat my record of seventeen points in a single life.

But despite how much better I'm doing recently I'm still having trouble when fighting off the Demoman, even more so than Soldiers or Heavys. What usually happens is when I go in for the kill, even if I come up behind him when he's distracted or leap down from one of his many blind spots usually they somehow manage to sling one grenade and hit me square with a one shot kill, and it rarely ever fails.

I doesn't even seem to matter the opposing players skill level or his distance from me, almost like I somehow pissed off the happy grenade kingdom and they've sent their best grenade mercenaries to hunt me down. I can run circles around Pyros, I can fake out Soldiers and I can shut out Medics and then pepper their Heavies to death, but the Demoman is the bane of my Scout-like existence.

What say you, the residents of TF2F, to my plight?

It's easier to hit a scout with a pipe when he's nearby. Usually, if you flank a demoman, you should be able to hit him with two scattershots. The first when he isn't looking and the second while he's looking and you are retreating. Then pistol him and come back to kill him.
Or if you're really wild, try jumping over his head.

Don't use double jump sporadically, once you have double jumped, you give away where you are going to land. You become easier to hit like that. Save the second jump for situations in which you have to use it to avoid a pipe.

Something I saw some good scouts doing is to feign a fall. They'll strafe into a fall and at the last second use their second jump to go back on the ledge. Most people do not expect that.

Any Demoman is going to have a hard time hitting you at a long to mid range.  Even more so as a scout.  But remember no class is going to kill all other classes.

Mindgame your opponent. Strafe, pause, juke, strafe while you're clicking away w/ the Scattergun - if he's trying to lob regular nades at you. It's relatively easy to dodge normal nades if you do that, but remember to keep in mind if there is a wall or not behind you so you won't get blasted by the AOE dmg. I don't suggest CQC with a demoman because lob nades will hit you too easily or he'll just remote his/your feet or just bonk you with his tonic. Mid-range, scattergun, and mindgaming pretty much owns. If he switches to remote, advance on him quickly so the remotes fly by past you instead of exploding in front of your face; when you advance on him, run right past him (don't stick around for cqc) and repeat mindgaming at mid-range. While you're doing all this keep in mind: spam your pew pewz.

Remember this isn't the only way to take down a demoman, nor is it the correct way. Just my way, which happens to work enough times for me to be happy

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Except Soldiers.

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Please... Do not start this again.

as a demoman regular, I find it extremely easy to kill scouts with my nades at close range.  That being said, your best bet is mid-range unless he take out the sticky-launcher where you want to rush in. 

Don't try to kill him ASAP, retreating always works and I find hiding around random obstacles in the battlefield is good to confuse him.  A good example of this is gravelpit B, where there are many thin wooden platforms for you to jump on and run behind.

As fanlean said, save your second jump.

And once they fire four, rush in and try to kill them while he reloads.

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What did I "start" in the first place?  Not that I want to be starting anything.

Thanks for your tips guys, I really appreciate it.

I think the idea of taking it more like a mind game and not worrying about getting him the first time will probably help me out the most.

Feel free to keep adding any other tactics you guys have as I'm sure this could help out a lot more people than just me.

Wow thanks guys this really helps me