Talk:Horseless Headless Horsemann

The truth behind the Walk animations?

I was messing around with the Horsemann alone the other night, and I noticed he seems to go from the Eyelander to the Bottle animations when he loses a certain percentage of health, instead of being what it says here. I presume its when he loses 50% HP but I havent tested much... Hammerfan 13:48, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

MMO?

Bosses? In my TF2? It's more likely than you think! – Smashman _(talk) 01:28, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Having just killed him for somewhere around the 50th or so time, I'm almost certain that critical hits don't effect him. Or if they do, they're minor. He can't be headshot by a Sniper, and presumably he can't be backstabbed by a Spy. I've been using the Minigun primarily, and he seems to last, at point blank, from 70 to 120 of my ammo units, regardless of crits, with just me in the server. I'm assuming I'm missing A LOT with the 120, damn my horrible Heavy skills. --Lijitsu 06:02, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Also note, if the round ends with him alive, or at least if RED wins, then he can't be killed until the next round. I'll test it out with BLU in a few moments.--Lijitsu 06:39, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Yep, it's if the round ends with him alive. Just tested it with BLU, and put about 130 or more ammo units into him with the Heavy's minigun, no death. Also note he CAN be injured, or presumably even killed, while 'spawning.' The swirling mist stuff that launches people back does NOT stop damage from coming through, just makes it incredibly difficult to melee him.--Lijitsu 06:52, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

I found out a fast way to take him down. Have him distracted and have a Spy backstab him, and it deals 1000 of his health. KABLAM! There's a quarter of your health gone. And yes, with a couple of friends, I've confirmed he also isn't affected by Jarate, and he can be backstabbed, but won't be killed instantly. Milk works on him, though. Thunder 09:45, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Droppable axe?

After grinding for several hours with other people and killing the horsemann untold times we still haven't seen the Unusual Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker drop. Is this just a rumor or fact? If true, it must have an incredibly low drop rate as I don't know anyone who's found one. Moussekateer 06:48, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

I think it's a rumour based on the unusual scrap drop GeneShark 06:50, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

I haven't found it yet either, and as I stated above I've killed him like 50 times now. Either it's a rumor as Geneshark stated, it doesn't drop unless there's a certain amount of players, or the drop rate is insanely low.--Lijitsu 06:52, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

After browsing the forums I too have come to the conclusion it's either a fake rumor or a 0.000000000000000001% chance of a drop. I'm removing this line from the article. Moussekateer 06:53, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Note on credit and being alive

I've not tested this extensively, but the article claims anyone who's damaged him and is alive at it's time of death will receive credit, whereas if you die after damaging him but before he dies it seems you won't recieve credit unless you hit him again. Again, I didn't really test this, it's just a bit of an observation I made after playing after a couple hours. --FEGuy 07:08, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

I haven't tested it much either, but I'm pretty sure it's not everyone. I think it works like a normal kill, so two people are awarded the achievement - the killer and one person with an assist (ie: the last person to have hit him before the killing blow). I say this because I don't think I've ever seen more than 2 people get the achievement at once. -- -- 10:01, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Actually, according to the massive chat spam I was getting, anyone who meets the requirements - hit him once before he dies, without dieing yourself - gets credit for it. Most of us already had the achievement, so very few people actually had a notice posted, but multiple people do gain credit.--Lijitsu 15:55, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Gored! Achievement and Metal

I am finding the achievement isn't as clear cut as 'Hit him with melee and do not die' as well as 'Deal a killing melee blow' from testing it alot. Running a 10man server and repeatedly trying to get the metal, me and several others have *ONLY* received the metal from dealing a direct melee blow to his HEAD. This has been confirmed from me hitting him in the face, while he was doing his spawn animation (terribly difficult, because he has a forced push back during his animation) and another person wrenching his face while he was attacking an ubered heavy. I personally believe this to be the case - a melee headshot will count as 'GORED' and the people gaining the achievement during his 'death' animation have merely slapped his face.

M0d3rn 10:04, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

I can confirm that a melee headshot is NOT required for the Gored achievement. However, the melee blow does need to occur close to the time of death. Hitting the HHH with a melee weapon just after he spawns and waiting until he dies without further interaction will not trigger the Gored achievement. I tried this tactic twice without success. On my third attempt I struck a melee blow to his lower body within a few seconds of his demise and received the achievement. --Elias 17:13, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

The achievement (and getting credit for killing him, for that matter) seems to be a tad fickle. Through trial and error (and lots of deaths), I think that those who did the most damage will get credit for it, while those who did minor damage will not get registered. XANA520 03:08, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Getting the metal like a dirty cheater

I found out you can force him to spawn and get the metal on your own offline server. The console commands are: sv_cheats 1; noclip; hurtme -9999999; bot; tf_halloween_force_boss_spawn; sv_cheats 0; retry Also, the best way to kill him by yourself is to go Demoman, stickyjump on a place he can't reach, and spam stickies at your heart's content.

I had an easier way of it. Bind "sv_cheats 1;hurtme -99999;sv_cheats 0" to a key, spam that like 5 times as a DemoKnight, and bullrush him. You still have to spawn him with "sv_cheats 1;tf_halloween_force_boss_spawn;sv_cheats 0", but he shouldn't be able to kill you unless you just stand there and let him beat on you. This nets you both the metal and the kill. You don't have to use retry, when flicking on sv_cheats like that it doesn't register against your achievements. --Lijitsu 15:59, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Easiest way: When in the main menu, open console: input "map cp_manor_event". When you've loaded into the map, input "sv_cheats 1", followed by "tf_halloween_bot_health_base 1" and "tf_halloween_bot_health_per_player 1". When the setup has ended and the control points are active, "tf_halloween_force_boss_spawn". Turn cheats off ("sv_cheats 0"), and rejoin the server using the "retry" command." He should be sitting at the disputed control point with 2 health, throw your magical Frying Pan at his head and you should get both his Hat and the Unusual Metal. BUBBLES TICKLEPANTS 21:03, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Horsemann Behavior

Through thorough testing by myself on a listen server, I've found that he has a search radius of sorts around the active control point (or the control point he originally spawned at, I haven't figured that out yet). If there I am not within that radius when he spawns, he will retreat there until I break the boundary. I've also noticed that he will tend to constantly chase me when I am in the radius no matter how much time passes, but if I leave, he will soon stop and again retreat to the control point. I'm guessing that both would apply with more people, but so far I haven't found a cooperative server. DarthVella 12:23, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

It's the active control point, I've capped with him beating on me and he ran off to the other point. As far as I know, the radius doesn't increase with more people.--Lijitsu 16:01, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

I have the feeling it has something to do with the nav mesh. I'll add this to the Strategy section for now. DarthVella 00:46, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

There is a console command controlling the radius in which he will target players. --Mechlord 00:47, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Holy Crap!

This is so AWESOME! The video is hilarious with the guy just walking around laughing mainiacally and slaughtering those people. Crazy stuff.--Piippo 14:08, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Yup. That's what he does. Pretty fearsome when you're the one he's after. – Smashman _(talk) 14:09, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

The music when he dies is nothing short of epic. --EvilDeadFan 14:19, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Silas Mann

I think we could probably do with more reference to the whole Silas Mann thing. Also, this picture [1] should probably be shown somewhere. Discdeath 19:58, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Spawn Requirements

Just got done running a Round Robin Gift Grab. We ran 10 people: 6 playing, 4 spec'ing (they were idling and AFK). Gifts were spawning fine but The Horseless Headless Horsemann would not spawn. For amusement and other's achievements I bound a key to spawn him (and as a prerequisite enable then disable cheats). I speculate that gifts require 10 people on the server but The Horseless Headless Horsemann needs 10 actual players. Ajburges 09:58, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Yea we came to the same conclusion on our server. No gifts spawn if there are less than 10 people connected to the server. The moderators came to the same conlusion too. Moussekateer 10:03, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

To expand on the 10 actual players thing, bots don't appear to count for the 10 required, as well as not having any effect on the Horsemann's health increase. XANA520 03:06, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Attack height

Needs further verification, but he hit me when I double jumped over his head from the hole in the building near point 1 when he was on the ground. Does his attack have a higher than proportionate vertical range? Ajburges 10:01, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

He does seem to have a rather ridiculous hitting range in terms of height. More testing seems to be required to figure out his exact or approximate reach, though getting the bugger to react the way you want him to might be a bit of a hassle. XANA520 03:04, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Dead Ringing Spies? Current info is self-contradicting.

Dead Ringing Spies will survive the attack.

The Spy's Backstab takes away 1000 of his health, however, he will immediately be the next target of the Horsemann. However, the Horsemann can be defeated with five to ten backstabs. However, try to be careful, as Spies are ill-equipped for fighting him unless he's distracted; even with a Dead Ringer, the Horsemann's hit will kill you.

This area around Spies in this topic seems to argue with itself. Not only does that one point say "however" three times, but it's also contradictory to other parts of the article. I can't edit it myself, for I don't actually know the right answer, but this certainly is confusing and misleading. If anyone does know how it works and how to say it, please rephrase this part. Thank you. Acoccimi 08:56, 30 October 2010 (UTC)