Anti-Scout strategy

“

Never send a boy to fight a man's war. Click to listen — The Soldier

”

The Scout is a very fast, maneuverable class that packs a high amount of firepower at close range, making him extremely effective in one-on-one combat. He excels in open environments, where his speed and double jump allow him to easily maneuver around a map, close long distances, and ambush the most vulnerable enemies. He can use his mobility to completely avoid damage, more than making up for his lack of health. Depending on his loadout, a Scout can bring along weapons with additional utility that help him pick off individual targets with even more ease. If you can restrict a Scout's manueverability, you can easily dispose of him. A Scout is generally a lower threat the further away he is; long-range, fast projectiles can excel against a Scout.

Remember: Scouts are the fastest class in the game; you cannot out-run them without the use of mobility weapons such as the variety of rocket launchers and sticky/grenade launchers.

General

Attributes	Anti-Scout strategy
Role	The Scout excels at taking alternate paths to avoid direct combat, ambushing vulnerable enemies, and accomplishing mission objectives. Keep an eye on routes he might take and constantly report his location to teammates.
Health	The Scout is very frail and can be killed in just a few good shots.
Speed	The Scout is extremely fast and can double jump, so carefully predict his movements to ensure your attacks hit, particularly when using projectile weapons. If he is airborne, wait until he exhausts his double jump before trying to land airshots. His maneuverability allows him to easily chase any other class but is less powerful in confined areas, where he has less room to dodge.
Power	The Scout’s weapons are devastating at close range but very weak at long range. Thus, he must put himself in danger and actively enter combat to have any chance at killing enemies.

Weapon-specific

Main article: Scout weapons

Primary weapons

Weapon	Anti-Scout strategy
Scattergun + reskins	The Scattergun deals immense damage at point-blank range and will allow a Scout to stay in combat for a modest amount of time. Although he is faster than you, do your best to stay at medium range to minimize the damage you take while trading blows. It takes a considerably long time for a Scout to reload his Scattergun; if he uses most of his six shots, keep pressuring him into firing so that he cannot fully reload.
Force-A-Nature	The Force-A-Nature deals even more damage than the Scattergun up close, but must be reloaded every two shots. If the Scout insists on staying nearby, pick him off during his frequent reloading periods. The Force-A-Nature's knock back effects let a Scout easily reposition or disorient you for a follow-up shot, so avoid lingering near walls where you can quickly be cornered or hazards that you can be blasted into.
Shortstop	The Shortstop has a tight bullet spread suited for medium range. By closing the distance, the Scout may find it more difficult to hit you. Steal health packs, kill Medics, and destroy Dispensers to prevent the Scout from making use of the Shortstop's healing bonus. When the Scout has his Shortstop as his active weapon, he suffers extra vulnerability to knockback. Options to deal with him now include juggling him into the air or pushing him into an environmental hazard.
Soda Popper	Like the Force-A-Nature, the Soda Popper must frequently be reloaded, which will often leave the Scout vulnerable. However, the Soda Popper reloads much faster. You’ll need to quickly eliminate the Scout between full Hype charges, which give the Scout the ability to jump up to five times in mid-air (for a total of six jumps) making him nearly impossible to hit mid-air.
Baby Face's Blaster	The Baby Face's Blaster only holds 4 rounds per clip, giving it less raw offensive power. The Blaster's Boost allows a Scout to retreat and reload with ease. Predict the Scout's movements to force him to double jump, reducing his Boost and effectiveness.

Secondary weapons

Weapon	Anti-Scout strategy
Pistol + reskins	While the Scout might use the Pistol to harass you from a distance, its damage is minor and its ammunition pool is meager. Keep your distance from him to take advantage of his weak long range capabilities.
Bonk! Atomic Punch	Bonk! Atomic Punch helps a Scout get past dangerous areas, such as chokepoints or Sentry Gun nests. He can’t fight while under its effects, so impede his movement by body blocking him or using knock back.
Crit-a-Cola	While Crit-a-Cola will allow a Scout to deal Mini-Crits to you, you deal 10% more damage to him. He’ll often consume it when preparing for an ambush, so be alert and pick him off first.
Mad Milk	The healing provided by Mad Milk will let an accurate Scout stay in a fight for a prolonged period of time. If you’re covered by it, you’ll either need to retreat or take him out very quickly.
Winger	The Winger functions similarly to the Pistol and should be treated the same way; keep a distance so it can only deal minor damage. It also gives the Scout a +25% bonus jump height when active, so be prepared to cover additional routes he can take, especially when he's retreating.
Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol	The Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol is a weaker Pistol but grants extra health to the Scout. Look out for attacks from above, as this weapon makes a Scout immune to fall damage.
Flying Guillotine	The Flying Gullotine is ideal for picking off weakened targets but reloads very slowly; move erratically so that the Scout misses.

Melee weapons

Weapon	Anti-Scout strategy
Bat + reskins	A Scout that insists on using the Bat could easily deal more damage at close range with any of his primary weapons, actually giving you a slight advantage in melee combat so long as you keep your aim steady.
Sandman	If you are stunned by the Sandman's baseball, retreat towards your teammates so that they can protect you. Keep your aim on the Scout so that you can immediately retaliate once the effect wears off. Utilize cover and keep moving to avoid getting hit by the Sandman's stun ball from long distances; if struck by one from a far enough range, you will be stunned in place for 7 seconds.
Holy Mackerel + reskins	The Holy Mackerel functions similarly to the Bat but announces each hit in the kill feed. Hit announcements can be used to determine the whereabouts of a Scout. Spies should be wary of the Holy Mackerel, as the hit announcements can give away their cover.
Candy Cane	A Scout who has the Candy Cane in his loadout is 25% more vulnerable to explosions; use rockets, grenades, and bombs to dispatch him quickly. Try to steal the small health kits dropped by teammates that the Scout aided in killing while having the Candy Cane equipped.
Boston Basher + reskins	Continuously evade a Scout that is attacking you with the Boston Basher so that he damages himself instead. A creative Scout might use the weapon's negative attribute to propel himself to unusual locations; however, this will often cost the Scout half his health, making retaliation against easier.
Sun-on-a-Stick	The Sun-on-a-Stick does less base damage than the standard Bat. If you are set on fire, you should always be trying to extinguish yourself, retreating from and repelling any Scout that may try to pick you off with this weapon.
Fan O'War	If you are marked for death by the Fan O’War, the Scout will likely try to chase you down with his primary weapon. Adjust your one-on-one tactics to his chosen weapon accordingly and try to move to where your teammates are for help. In a large firefight, a Scout may use the Fan O'War to identify which enemy his team should focus fire on; take cover or retreat until the mark wears off.
Atomizer	While a Scout might never use the Atomizer in actual combat, the triple jump greatly increases his mobility. Performing the third jump costs 10 HP which can expedite killing him. Beware of ambushes from Scouts who use the Atomizer and the Force-A-Nature together; the combination allows them to reach even greater heights.
Wrap Assassin	While a Scout might not use the Wrap Assassin in direct combat, the projectile it launches can inflict the bleed effect on you. Bleeding can be negated by any source of healing.

Anti-Scout classes

Although it mostly depends on skill, some classes are designed to have an advantage over others, many classes have an advantage over a Scout, as well as others having a disadvantage against him. Lets look at the ones who have an advantage over a Scout:

The Soldier In terms of 6v6 a Soldier is a Scout's worst enemy. A Soldier's ability to deal splash damage making it un-avoidable renders a Scout's double jump ability useless unless engaged at dangerously close ranges, it is likely that a Soldier is going to take out his shotgun if you get extremely close to him and finish the scouts flimsy health off. Soldiers are most dangerous in narrow corridors to a Scout due to multiple reasons:

• The Scout cannot manuever in narrow areas.
• The Soldier shoots straight, high-damage projectiles meaning direct hits on a scout become much more easier and is likely to kill the scout in 2 shots or less.
• The Scout has no option but to simply head-on charge at the soldier meaning the scout is unlikely to do any serious damage before being killed.

A Scout's best hope is if the soldier is in an open area where the Scout can get an height advantage and pick away at the Soldier.

Engineer An Engineer without a sentry isn't much of a threat to a Scout, simply put an Engineer is a downgraded version of a Scout, however this doesn't mean the Engineer isn't a dangerous class by himself, especially if he has the Gunslinger equipped. What makes the Engineer a brilliant anti-Scout class is his sentry gun; a high-damage, high health and extremely accurate auto-turret capable of acting as a wall to a Scout, due to the nature of a sentry a Scout cannot dodge the sentry's bullets meaning the Scout's speed and double jump will not help him at all, his flimsy health means the sentry can finish him off in seconds and his short-range and low fire power makes him completely reliant on his team to destroy it.

However, if the Scout has the Bonk! item equipped he becomes "invincible" and can absorb the sentry's damage, allowing other team mates to destroy it easily.

Heavy Weapons Guy The Heavy has the largest health pool in the game, and the largest buff bonus as the buff is all based on percentage. The Heavy is extremely dangerous at close-range, fighting him head on is suicide no-matter what class is being played, due to his extremely dangerous close ranges and high health and damage this makes it very hard for a Scout to get close to the Heavy in open areas with little options for flanking him, in competitive situations the Heavy is also likely to have 450 health as well as a few team mates surrounding him, making it seemingly impossible for a Scout to even get decent damage on the Heavy.

If the Scout is using the "stock scattergun" the Scout will have to do three 100 damage shots (also known as "meat-shots") to kill a Heavy, this means to kill a Heavy the Scout will have to get to close ranges to kill a Heavy the quickest way possible, but the Heavy's rapid-fire, high-damage machine gun will easily kill a Scout. Higher skilled Scouts will usually avoid Heavies at all costs, but if they have to engage they would try to confuse the Heavy's aim by jumping above the Heavy to get as many "meat-shots" as possible.

See also

• Double jumping
• Team strategy