What if I don't like stickies?

Hello!

As you all know I tend to favor Heavy, the overall hours for me for Heavy being almost eight times my demoman time ATM, but yes I do play demoman sometimes...and I'm noticing that I tend to favor the Pipe Bomb over sticky bombs.

No, I do not think Pipe Bombs are superior to Stickies, or vice versa.  I just like to lay my stickies down to cover one route and then cover the other with pipes.

Question though...

Is that a stupid strategy?  Should I rely heavily on stickies?  What are pipe bombs considered the most appropriate for attacking/dealing with?  etc etc. Pickles.
Yar.

I think Chro put it this way in the demoman thread for the [] tryouts when someone questioned as to why it was pipes and bottle only:

"I've never seen a demo that's good with pipes and bad with stickies."

About sums it up.

I'm no demoman, but I do know that stickies in EVERY situation is a crutch that a bit too many demomen get addicted into using 24/7 with pipes coming out occasionally as a last resort.

Just don't be "those guys."

I'm a sick rabid scotsman when I switch to my little timed explosive launcher friend, stickies are really more of a mid-long range weapon.  Whereas the pipebombs are great at close range.  Stickies are also better for when your building up defenses; whereas pipebombs are a here and now sort of thing.

You definitely need to pick the right tool for the right task.
Best way to know is through practice and experience.

I used to use pipes as my main weapon when I was starting out. IMO the stages of Demoman proficiency are:

0. Running around getting killed a lot.
1. Indirect fire with pipes. (bouncing them off walls or shooting behind cover and into buildings.)
2. Using stickies as booby traps, like on a control point.
3. Using stickies offensively. (Stacking them up on sentries, etc)
4. Pipe bomb jumping.
5. Using stickies on the fly. (That means launching them and detonating them in mid-air near the target's head.
6. Using pipes on the fly. (Accuracy hitting moving characters bang on with pipes.)
7. Putting it all together...

It's not a rigid 7 step programme. Once you get up to step 3 you are really practising the rest all the time, if you have any Demo ambition.

Pipes are good to spam around because they one-shot 5/9 classes.

@Kilkrazy.....Pipe Bomb Jumping was TFC (IIRC), here in TF2 we use stickys.
@Pheonix:  Wtf.......Pipes don't do 125+ damage......I want what's in your launcher. 

Pipes can do up to 130 damage on a direct hit.

pipes are for 1-2 lone enemies that are close range
stickies are for everything else

IMO

Stickies are the crutch of the noob Demoman.
They lay a sticky trap and just wait for you to come along, but if you meet them face to face they run away leaving a trail of stickies behind them.

The grenade launcher is your primary weapon for a reason.