Slowdown

“

Shoot, son, you all slow as molasses. Click to listen — The Engineer

”

Slowdown, or slow for short, is a gameplay mechanic that decreases the speed of a player for a set amount of time. This effect can be applied to a player when under attack by certain weapons or as a penalty for using a certain item. In addition, players can naturally slow down their own movement speed by crouching (33%) or by running backwards (10%). (See Classes for specifics on how much a particular class is slowed down.)

The slowdown effect has no falloff distance; players hit from any distance will always be slowed down by at least a small amount.

Weapon effect

List of slowdown-inflicting weapons
Scout	Melee		The Sandman's secondary fire launches a baseball that can slowdown the target for several seconds. The target is slowed down for the duration of the effect based on distance.
		Sandman
Heavy	Primary		On Hit: 100% chance to slow target. Every bullet that hits the target slows them to approximately 113 Hammer units per second. Differences in class or normal running speed does not change this figure. The slowdown effect is reduced based upon the target's distance, gradually becoming less effective from 512 to 1536 Hammer units away, where it no longer slows the target at all. Disguised Spies and enemies that are being healed by a continuous source of healing are not affected by slowdown from this weapon.
		Natascha
Note		Includes Festive, Botkiller, and Australium variants.

Weapon penalty

Weapon	Slowdown notes
Baby Face's Blaster	Movement speed is reduced to 86%, speed increases as up to 99 damage is done without jumping.
Cow Mangler 5000	Movement speed reduced to 27% while charging.
Scotsman's Skullcutter	Movement speed reduced to 79% while equipped in the loadout.
Minigun Natascha Iron Curtain Tomislav Huo-Long Heater	Movement speed is reduced to 37% while spun up.
Brass Beast	Movement speed is reduced to 14.66% while spun up.
Hauling	Movement speed is reduced to 75% while hauling a building.
Sniper Rifle Sydney Sleeper Bazaar Bargain Machina Hitman's Heatmaker AWPer Hand	Movement speed is reduced to 27% while zoomed in with a scope. Movement speed is reduced to 1.33% while zoomed in and crouching.
Cozy Camper	Movement speed is reduced to 20% while scoped/drawn.
Huntsman	Movement speed is reduced to 45% while an arrow is drawn.
Disguise Kit	Movement speed is reduced if disguised as a class slower than the Spy: Disguised as a Demoman (93%). Disguised as a Soldier (80%). Disguised as a Heavy (77%).

Removed slowdown

Weapon	Slowdown notes
Shortstop	Removed in the December 17, 2010 Patch. Each hit with this weapon would slow the victim by 40% for 0.5 seconds; the mechanic never worked and was subsequently removed.
Bonk! Atomic Punch	Removed in the April 28, 2010 Patch. After use, it would temporarily reduce the Scout's speed by 56%.
Razorback	Removed in the June 23, 2009 Patch. When equipped, the Sniper's movement speed was reduced to 85%.

Environmental slowdowns

Cause

Slowdown notes

Scared

On the maps Harvest Event, and Eyeaduct, occasionally, a ghost or ghosts will wander around certain areas of the map. If any players are near, or come into contact with the ghost, they will be frightened and have their movement speed reduced in addition to being unable to fire any weapons, much like when stunned. The Horseless Headless Horsemann in Mann Manor can scream and inflict a similar effect on all players nearby.