Stun

“

Nice catch, knucklehead! Click to listen — The Scout

”

Being stunned is the state of being incapacitated. While stunned, players are forced into the third-person humiliation stance and renders them unable to attack, with the exception of taunt kills. Stunned players also suffer from a 50% movement speed penalty, and cannot jump or crouch. Players can also be "fully" stunned, which renders the player completely immobile.

Sources

The Sandman

Main article: Sandman

With the Sandman equipped, the Scout gains the ability to stun opponents with his trusty baseball. By pressing alternate fire with a baseball in hand, the Scout will bat it forward in an arc. If it connects with an opponent who is more than 256 Hammer units away (approximately 16 feet), they will become stunned. From extremely long range (approximately 112 feet or 1792 Hammer units), they will be knocked back a short distance and the letters 'BONK' will float above their head, accompanied by this sound. This is coupled with a 'seeing stars' effect as they remain completely immobile for 7 seconds. Heavies spinning their miniguns will continue to spin when stunned (whether primary or alternate fire is pressed). The ability to stun opponents has lead to the controversial nature of using the Sandman, especially in competitive scenes.

Getting hit by a ball will damage the player for approximately 15 points or 45 on a Critical hit.

The Scout can perform the stun ability once every fifteen seconds unless he manually retrieves the baseball just used, picks up the baseball of another Scout or visits a resupply cabinet. New baseballs cannot be retrieved from ammo packs or dropped weapons.

The baseballs of enemy Scouts can be struck back at them and upon a successful return will stun them. Doing this results in the Beanball achievement. Pyros can compression blast a baseball and stun opponents it it hits.

Other

The initial stab of the Sniper's Skewer, the Medic's Spinal Tap and the Engineer's Organ Grinder will stun a player if it connects. These attacks can stun an ÜberCharged opponent. ÜberCharged enemies are often distracted or keeping their aim at a Sentry Gun, long enough to stab them with the taunt. Even without damage, it will waste precious seconds of ÜberCharge.

The Ghost of Harvest can scare players, which counts towards achievements as a stun, as well as the Horseless Headless Horsemann's taunt on Mann Manor.

Measurements

Distance

Distance (Hammer units / feet)	Stun Time (seconds)
256 / 16	1
512 / 32	2
768 / 48	3
1024 / 64	4
1280 / 80	5
1536 / 96	6
1792 / 112	7

Notes

1. These tests were done with bots. Stun times may be subject to random variance.
2. The closest the Sandman can stun is 256 Hammer units / 16 feet.
3. The range the Sandman fully stuns an opponent is at 1792 Hammer units / 112 feet. A hit at this distance or further is required for the Moon Shot achievement.
4. Critical hits add 2 seconds to the normal stun duration.
5. Mini-Crits do not affect stun duration.
6. Stun time is calculated at time of impact. Firing the ball and moving closer could result in decreased times.

Speed

When a player is stunned by the Sandman their speed is decreased by 50%. The below table lists the exact values.

Class	Stunned Speed	Original Speed
Scout	200v	400v
Soldier	120v	240v
Pyro	150v	300v
Demoman	140v	280v
Heavy	115v	230v
Engineer	150v	300v
Medic	160v	320v
Sniper	150v	300v
Spy	150v	300v
Civilian	150v	300v

Related achievements

 Scout

Beanball Stun a Scout with their own ball. Brushback Stun 50 enemies while they are capturing a point or pushing the cart. Foul Territory Cause an environmental death by stunning or slowing an enemy.

Moon Shot Stun an enemy for the maximum possible duration by hitting them with a long-range ball. Strike Zone Kill or assist kill 50 enemies while they are stunned or slowed. The Big Hurt Stun 2 Medics that are ready to deploy an ÜberCharge.

 Soldier

The Longest Daze Kill 5 stunned or slowed players.

Bugs

• Being stunned while taunting allows a player to move at the reduced stun speed before the taunt's completion.
• It is possible to perform melee attacks while stunned with any of the Heavy's melee weapons via alt-fire.

Trivia

• Originally any stun effects inflicted would result in the current maximum stun pose but their duration would be subject to the range (as it is now, though the minimum ranges have been tweaked also). This was changed through many permutations of the Sandman in the name of balance.
• While stunned it is possible to taunt, which can be used as a last ditch attack if you have a taunt-killing weapon equipped and your enemy is close enough.
• Should a Sniper with an arrow drawn, or a Soldier charging a Cow Mangler 5000 or reloading a Beggar's Bazooka be stunned, their shot will be released as if normally fired and may injure or kill opponents.
• It is possible to still keep reloading if the player reloads before getting stunned.
• A Heavy can rev up his primary weapons while stunned.

Class Gallery

• 

  Scout

• 

  Soldier

• 

  Pyro

• 

  Demoman

• 

  Heavy

• 

  Engineer

• 

  Medic

• 

  Sniper

• 

  Spy

See also

• Projectiles
• Slowdown