Critical hits

“

Dere ain't enough Crits in the world ta kill me! Click to listen — The Scout

”

Critical hits or "Crits" are attacks that do extra damage and have distinctive sounds both when fired and when hitting a target. When you hit a player with one, the words "Critical hit!!!" appear over the target's head in green letters (see image), accompanied by a loud "ding." If a player dies by a Critical hit that doesn't have any special effects on that player (e.g. gibbing, knockback, stuck to walls by arrow), that player, depending on the class, may do a special death animation (e.g. the Engineer spins around then falls, the Sniper holds his hat while falling forwards). Critical hits with melee weapons usually have a unique swinging animation (for example the Bottle has an overhead swing). Explosives projectiles (such as rockets or sticky bombs) have a team colored glow and sparkle effects and bullets have team-colored trails. Critical explosives will not deal critical self-damage but will still play the Critical hit sound effect.

Critical hits typically deal 300% of the base damage of the weapon, and ignore both the distance modification and the random damage modification normal shots are susceptible to, though explosive weapon Crits still suffer from splash damage fall-off.

When a player is killed by a Critical hit, the class will let out a loud scream that differs from ordinary deaths (unless the class was killed by a critical explosive) and the kill icon becomes surrounded by a red glow.

Critical hit chance

See also: Damage

Critical hit chance based on damage.

Standard weapons have a 2% base chance to Crit, while melee weapons have a 15% chance. An additional bonus percentage is added based on the total damage done by the player in the last 20 seconds, which scales from 0% at 0 damage to 10% at 800 damage. For example: dealing 200 damage in the past 20 seconds, the additional bonus percentage is 2.5%.

Among those weapons that trigger randomly, Critical hit chance is rolled differently based on the type of weapon. Single-shot weapons, which, for example, include Shotguns, the Revolver, and the Rocket Launcher, roll the chance to Crit with every shot. Thus, every shot of the Shotgun will have a 2% chance to launch a flurry of Critical pellets, assuming no previous damage done. Rapid-fire weapons, however, which include the Minigun, Syringe Gun, and Flamethrower, check for Critical hits once a second. With weapons like these, a successful Crit roll results in all shots for the next two seconds being Critical.

Special cases

• The default Knife and Your Eternal Reward only Critical hit on a Backstab and during Crit boost (humiliation, captured intelligence, Kritzkrieg)
• Backstabs instantly kill the enemy by dealing damage equal to 6x their current health. When forced to Crit, the Knife does the backstab animation, while dealing only 120 damage.
• The Sniper Rifle, Ambassador and Huntsman do not roll for Crits, but rather automatically score Critical hits on successful headshots. The Sniper Rifle can only perform headshot Crits while scoped and the Ambassador only when at full accuracy; both will Crit under the effect of Kritzkrieg.
• The Axtinguisher scores a Critical only if the victim is on fire, and does half damage otherwise. It may still randomly perform a Crit animation, but will not inflict Crit damage unless the enemy is burning. When forced to Crit, it plays the Crit animation and does deal extra damage.
• The Backburner is guaranteed to Crit from behind.
• The K.G.B. will roll for Critical hits like a standard melee weapon. However, upon killing a target, they grant 5 seconds of Crit boost to all of the Heavy's weapons.
• The Eyelander does not roll for random Critical hits, but will score Critical hits when under the effects of the Kritzkrieg, humiliation, or when using a full charge of the Chargin Targe. The Chargin Targe can also be used to get a Critical hit for the Bottle, the Pain Train, the Scotsman's Skullcutter, Frying Pan or the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker.
• Jarate and Mad Milk may appear to Crit, though this has only a cosmetic effect.
• Some items do not work as conventional weapons and so do not Crit under any circumstance. These include Bonk! Atomic Punch, Crit-a-Cola, the Sandvich, PDAs, the Disguise Kit, Razorback, Invisibility Watch, Cloak and Dagger, Dead Ringer, Electro Sapper and the Wrangler.
• At medium range or further, the Flare Gun will score a Critical if it hits a player who is already on fire.

An Engineer wielding the Frontier Justice with revenge crits.

• The Frontier Justice does not roll for random Crits. Instead, it scores Revenge Crits (2 for every kill and 1 for every assist) that the Engineer's Sentry Gun makes until it is destroyed.
• The Gunslinger Crits upon the third consecutive hit on an enemy or ally but does not randomly Crit otherwise.
• Taunt attacks do not Crit, but using one while boosted by a Buff Banner or Crit-a-Cola, or when the opponent is under the effects of Jarate or Crit-a-Cola will result in a Mini-Crit Taunt Kill. [1]
• The Powerjack and the Southern Hospitality do not roll for random Crits.
• The Bushwacka will Crit at any time it would normally Mini-Crit, such as: against an enemy Scout under the effects of Crit-a-Cola, an enemy soaked by Jarate or if the Sniper is under the effects of an allied Soldier's Buff Banner. It also rolls for Crits normally.
• The Bleeding mechanic does not randomly Crit, but will Mini-Crit players covered in Jarate.
• Sentry Guns will never inflict random Critical hits. However, it will Mini-Crit on enemies covered in Jarate, and will Mini-Crit all enemies the Engineer who built the Sentry is being buffed by a friendly Soldier's Buff Banner.

Crit boost

Crit boost is a state in which a player's weapons are guarenteed to cause Critical hits. Crit boost is displayed as weapons taking on a team-coloured glow with accompanying sparks of electricity.

• During Humiliation every shot fired by the winning side is forced to Critical hit, including body shots with the Sniper Rifle and Huntsman.

• All shots are Critical while ÜberCharged with the Kritzkrieg. This affects the Huntsman and the Sniper Rifle.

• A 5 second Crit boost is received upon getting First blood in an Arena map. If you happen to switch weapons during this period, the electricity around your weapon will disappear, but you will still be able to fire Criticals until the end of the Crit boost.

• Capturing the flag in a Capture the Flag game mode gives the entire capturing team 10 seconds of Crit boost (this value can be tweaked or disabled in the host's console via a command).

• A Crit boost is the only way the Knife can Critically hit without a Backstab. When it does so, it deals 120 damage (three times base damage, but less than a normal Crit). The Axtinguisher plays Crit animations when Crit boosted, but does not deal extra damage unless the target is on fire. The Southern Hospitality, Powerjack, and Eyelander weapons Crit normally, but do not Crit without a Crit boost.

• In the event version of Harvest and Mann Manor during Halloween, killed players randomly drop candy-filled Halloween pumpkins. When picked up, the player is awarded around 3–4 seconds of Crit boost.

First Blood

• The First Blood Crit buff is gained when you are the first to kill an opponent in an Arena match. With the first blood buff active, all your shots will be Critical hits for a total of 5 seconds. Your weapon will crackle with an electrical effect just like the Crit buffs from the K.G.B. and the Kritzkrieg.

• Damaging a Spy with his Dead Ringer activated still gives the attacker the First Blood buff. The First Blood buff also counts as an ÜberCharge towards the Heavy achievement "Supreme Soviet".

• Before the October 18, 2010 Patch, hitting an opponent with the Holy Mackerel would give the Scout the First Blood buff, even if he did not kill his target.

Mini-Crits

Mini-Crits add an extra 35% damage to a weapon's base-damage (more accurately, they ensure that a weapon does at least 135% its base damage). Like normal Critical hits, they ignore damage variance and fall off, but unlike Critical hits, they are still given ramp-up. Full Crits override Mini-Crits. Like Full Crits, Mini-Crits will have a glowing red outline in their kill icons.

Currently there are eight ways to achieve a Mini-Crit:

• Jarate coated enemies take Mini-Crits.
• Melee hits midway through a Chargin' Targe charge.
• Hitting a burning enemy with a flare at mid-range or closer.
• Attacking an enemy while under the effects of a friendly Soldier's Buff Banner.
• Hitting an airborne enemy who was propelled by an explosion with the Direct Hit.
• Attacking an enemy as a Scout while you're under the effects of Crit-a-Cola.
• Attacking an enemy Scout who is under the effects of Crit-a-Cola.
• Additionally, non-Sticky Bomb projectiles reflected by a Pyro's compression blast always does Mini-Crit damage.

Former ways to achieve a Mini-Crit:

• Formerly you could deal Mini-Crits by headshotting enemies with the Ambassador. It currently deals full Crits.
• The Pyro's compression blast was formerly able to turn enemy sticky bombs into Mini-Crits by reflecting them. It now gives no Mini-Crit boost.
• The Direct Hit formerly dealt Mini-Crits to any airborne target. The weapon now inflicts Mini-Crit damage to airborne targets who have been launched into the air by an explosion.

Mini-Crit boost

A Mini-Crit boost is the state of having all damage being dealt modified in to Mini-Crit damage. Currently this is achievable while under the effects of Crit-a-Cola or an active Buff Banner. While being Mini-Crit boosted, the player's active weapon glows a faint yellow (if they are on RED team) or a faint blue-green (if they are on BLU team) and has the same color effect of particles swirling around their feet.

All damage sources (including Afterburn and Sentry Guns) only deal Mini-Crit damage when the player dealing the damage is being boosted. i.e. If the player leaves the boost (for whatever reason) after firing a projectile and while the projectile is in mid-flight, it will lose its status as Mini-Critical. Conversely, after a Pyro sets fire to several players, returning to a Mini-Crit boost will immediately transform any Afterburn damage to Mini-Crit status. Sentry Guns will only Mini-Crit while the Engineer is being Mini-Crit boosted.

Related Achievements

Scout

First Blood Get the first kill in an Arena or Competitive match.

First Blood, Part 2 Kill 5 enemies with the First Blood crit buff in an Arena match.

Soldier

Crockets Are Such B.S. Shoot two non-boosted crit rockets in a row.

Tri-Splatteral Damage Kill 3 enemies with a single critical rocket.

Pyro

Hotshot Kill a Soldier with a reflected critical rocket.

Demoman

Beat Me Up, Scotty Use a critical swing with the Eyelander to kill 5 enemy players.

Heavy

Communist Mani-Fisto Kill an enemy with a critical punch.

Crock Block Survive a direct hit from a critical rocket.

Engineer

Revengineering Use a revenge crit to kill the enemy player that destroyed your sentry gun.

Unforgiven Kill 3 enemies with revenge crits without dying.

Medic

Triage Deploy an ÜberCharge on a teammate less than a second before they're hit by a critical explosive.

Trivia

• Mini-Crits do not stack to make a Crit. For example, a Scout under the effects of Crit-a-Cola while covered in Jarate will only receive an additional 35% damage.
• Multiple Crit Effects do not stack, as well. For example, if a Heavy ÜberCharged by a Kritzkrieg Medic kills an opponent during Sudden Death, he will still only deal normal critical damage.