What the !@#$ was Valve thinking putting that demo sword into TF2?

[GodlessAstronomer]

As if that stupid Scout insta-kill, push-me-around-the-map double barrel shotgun wasn't enough, now they've given the demo a no-effort "kill button" and completely unbalanced the game. The only real defense against this ridiculous weapon is a backwards running pyro. Sigh.

 

[mav451]

As if that stupid Scout insta-kill, push-me-around-the-map double barrel shotgun wasn't enough, now they've given the demo a no-effort "kill button" and completely unbalanced the game. The only real defense against this ridiculous weapon is a backwards running pyro. Sigh.

You mean backwards, "zig-zagging" pyro

I agree though, it is a bit weird. I finally "randomly" found one yesterday.

 

[Zenoth]

I hate them, too, but another good weapon against them is Natascha, I have frustrated a lot of Demoman-Swordsman players that way, even "yelling" at me in capital letters about how I cheated in effectively stopping them in their futile charge at me, and how it shouldn't be like that because that sword "pwns". It's always a real pleasure to kill them, I cannot deny it, and the Heavy's comments that sometimes follow make it all so priceless.

 

[Tattare]

I was playing No-Heroes Orange map tonight as a Engineer but I was only using a pistol and shotgun and not building sentrys. It was pretty easy to take out those demomen once you get use to that sword.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Pyros can airblast them out of the charge. I'm fairly certain other demos and sollies can bounce a charger just like anyone else. Charging a sentry does not work, sniper round to the head still kills them. Natascha slows them, and then eats them alive. Scouts can double jump out of the initial charge, then tear the demo apart.

It can be aggravating, sure. But also oh so satisfying, at least for a pyro who knows where the environmental kills are.

 

[dguy6789]

Any class equipped with a shotgun destroys the Chargin' Targe and Eyelander Demo.

 

[aclim]

I love it. Plus its not that hard to dodge

 

[KeithTalent]

Agreed OP, hate that god damned thing. Seems way overpowered.

KT

 

[Chriscross3234]

It is powerful, but not OP'd. Just like any TF2 class update, other classes must tweak the way they play.

 

[vexingv]

while i have all the unlocks, i havent really played much since the update and i still use the standard sticky grenades and pipe bombs. i find that a targe/sword demo is not really playing the class in a helpful way for the rest of the team. ie. they're just dicking around, which is fun too, but not really helping the team on the map when they should be taking out sentries and grenade spamming.

 

[Ika]

On defense, a buffed sword demo can rape. One was camping tunnels on, I think it was dustbowl, and raping our entire team. He apparently had so many skulls that he could 1hko a non-overhealed Heavy, it was nuts. When I finally killed him with a random demo grenade, I yelled at him and he said I was one of his four deaths the entire game. He had 57 points.

EDIT: seems I got my information wrong, demos don't get damage boost from heads. Strange, I must've gotten hit at the end of the targe charge or something.

 

[ivan2]

loved the sword, i don't use anything else.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I quit playing TF2 when that update was released, from the looks of this thread I won't be picking the game back up again anytime soon.

 

[zerocool84]

Just like every other new release of weapons, they'll tweak it with updates.

 

[JTsyo]

It's really the targe damage reduction that makes him hard to kill, not the sword. It looked doubly bad since 60% of the players were demos and soldiers during the update. Had the update been demo and heavy I doubt people would have cared much about the trage/sword combo. I think we should be able to better judge the update once people go back to normal class ratios.

targe counters:
heavy: anything works
pyro: puff flame and then axetinguisher
soldier/engie: shotgun
medic: anything
demo: bottle or sword (I'm about 3:1 as a demo with bottle against sword demos)
Sniper: HS during charge or piss+melee
spy: backstab
scout: if a demo is killing you with the sword, you're doing something horribly wrong

 

[Lamont Burns]

weak rant, targe was teh boon, not teh sword. tf2 fail

 

[2dt Drifter]

I love lighting them on fire with the flare gun then it's an axe vs sword fight.. only he's on fire

A good demo is a real pain the ass though and I won't lie.. I've rage quit a few times because of it.

 

[RallyMaster]

Eh. Easy to bring them down as a heavy, honestly. As long as you have a medic and you keep that medic alive, it's all good in the hood.

 

[spittledip]

It's really the targe damage reduction that makes him hard to kill, not the sword.

This

 

[40Hands]

This is a non-issue. As others have said, it's pretty easy to deal with them if you know what you're doing.

 

[KeithTalent]

It's really the targe damage reduction that makes him hard to kill, not the sword.

Ahh, that may explain my frustration. A few times I have shot the crap out of a Demo and actually exclaimed "WTF die!" because the freaking guys would not die. I assumed there was some sort of reduction in place, but I never bothered to confirm it.

KT

 

[Ika]

Ahh, that may explain my frustration. A few times I have shot the crap out of a Demo and actually exclaimed "WTF die!" because the freaking guys would not die. I assumed there was some sort of reduction in place, but I never bothered to confirm it.

KT

Yeah, 50% explosive and fire reduction means that pyros/demos/soldiers will have a very hard time killing one - which is generally bad news, because those three classes are three of the best killers.

 

[ivan2]

dodging the charge is key, a shield demo should retrieve once they kill a guy with charge crit because they will immediately become primary target. i love charge critting scout and medics =), but im a hit and runner.

 

[mb]

The weapons in TF2 are awesome.

Jar of piss
Bow and arrow
Flamethrower
Sword & shield
A SANDWICH! (ok, it can't hurt enemies but still)

 

[Rezident]

Yes it's the combo of shield and sword that seems OP in melee. Also feels OP when you directly hit them with a few rockets and they're fine. Say as soldier, you basically have to use the shotgun, nothing else works reliably against it, it's so powerful at close range, so you cannot use buff banner gunboats etc.

Also the larger melee hit range is silly as melee range in the game was already hilariously overdone. You can already melee people what feels like 6 to 8 feet away, sometimes more.