Juggling

“

You cannot run from me, my gun is faster! Click to listen — The Soldier

”

Juggling refers to the strategy of using weapons to keep an enemy momentarily suspended in the air, leaving them vulnerable and disorientated. More agile or powerful enemies may require several of these mid-air suspensions in order to be defeated, hence the term juggling.

Juggling can be performed as a Soldier by using the Rocket Launcher's splash damage to lift an opponent into the air (also called the 'bounce effect'). In effect, this removes the opponent's ability to dodge and allows the Soldier to subsequently predict where they will land. The Soldier has the opportunity to fire at this spot, or even to shoot the opponent out of the air. A well-placed rocket can send a foe straight up into the air and prevent any class from rushing the Soldier. Although arguably requiring better aim due to a more concentrated splash area, as well as faster rockets, a well placed Direct Hit shot will send an opponent farther/higher than regular rockets; however, it requires a more precise hit below the enemy. It also Mini-Crits an enemy sent airborne via an explosion. Juggling with the Liberty Launcher is recommended for people who consider the Direct Hit harder to use because of the splash area, as rockets fire 40% faster than the Rocket Launcher (only 22% slower than the Direct Hit) without the splash radius problem. Juggling with the Black Box is essentially the same as juggling with the Rocket Launcher, except for the fact that consecutive juggling will result in much more health gained but you have to be more accurate, or else you'll run out of rockets, and have to resort to your secondary or melee.

The Demoman can juggle using the Grenade Launcher through a direct hit to the legs of an enemy. It is also possible to juggle using stickybombs though it is more difficult due to the delayed detonation and enemy awareness. However, juggling with the Demoman is made much easier with the Scottish Resistance by selectively detonating carefully placed bombs.

The Pyro can juggle opponents by knocking them into the air with a compression blast, or by reflecting the explosives of another class into that opponent. A follow up attack with a melee or secondary weapon can effectively deal with juggled enemies. The Axtinguisher excels at this, as a burning opponent can be juggled, allowing you to close the distance and land a mini crit (or a crit from behind). The Reserve Shooter also excels at this, as an opponent can be juggled, then finished off by the mini crits.

Although harder to do, the Scout is also able to juggle enemies through use of the Force-A-Nature. Shots must be fired into the feet of the target whilst they are airborne, thus it is only employable in certain circumstances.

Juggling can be used to separate an ÜberCharged Medic from his target by knocking them out of range, so as to cut off the ÜberCharge prematurely. With an aimed shot, enemies can be lifted into the air in such a way that they take additional fall damage upon landing or even send them flying into an environmental hazard. It is not usually effective to use this tactic against Scouts, since they use their double jump to quickly change direction midair or significantly reduce fall damage.

Aerials

Main article: Aerial

Successfully juggled enemies can be hit directly in the air by any weapon. This is called an aerial, airshot or middie. Depending on where the juggled player was hit, a different effect may occur on their momentum. A square hit will result in a sudden loss of any momentum, which is less than ideal when trying to juggle an enemy multiple times. Hitting the player in the head with an explosive will result in a sudden downward increase in velocity which is usually sufficient to kill the player upon impact with the ground; an effect called cratering. If a player is hit lower than the waist, it usually results in a midair juggle, suspending the player in the air for a quick follow-up shot.

The Direct Hit will mini-crit any enemies launched by an explosive, and the Reserve Shooter scores mini-crits on any airborne enemies as well, making these weapons a brilliant follow-up to a successful juggle.