Community Demoman strategy

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Click to listen

— The Demoman just before detonating his stickybombs

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This article is about the Community Demoman strategy.

One of the most powerful and versatile classes in the game, the Demoman can provide outstanding offensive and defensive support. Utilizing his Grenade or Sticky Launchers, the Demoman is able to attack without a line of sight to his target. While intended to be a defensive class with his ability to lay Stickybomb traps, the Demoman is also arguably the most effective melee class due to the long range of his melee attacks and the ability to perform charged dashes. Like the Soldier, the Demoman is also capable of performing explosive jumps, and can reach objectives well in advance of other classes once the jumps have been mastered. The Demoman is a rewarding class to learn but challenging and difficult to master, and is an ideal class for objective oriented players.

Quick tips

Strive to place Stickybombs on places that are not obvious to enemy players; if the Stickybombs are in plain sight of the enemy they will have an opportunity to destroy the bombs before you can detonate them.

When fleeing, leave Stickybombs in your wake; you may be able to kill pursuers with properly timed detonations. Another advantage to this strategy is that pursuers may also pause to destroy the Stickybombs or choose an alternate route giving one more time to escape to safety.

One distinct advantage the Demoman has over alternate classes is the ability to deliver damage where others cannot easily reach; try bouncing Grenades around corners, through windows and onto battlements.

When defending a key target, try placing Stickybombs onto obscure areas of the objective and retreating to cover. One can then wait for an alert that the area is being captured then detonate the Stickybombs in order to neutralize the enemy threat.

As a Demoman (especially when playing defensively), one should search for areas of the map that would make ideal Stickybomb traps for unsuspecting enemy players. Maintaining a safe distance from the trap, while keeping a clear view of it would be an ideal scenario.

When aiming at a distant target it may be more advantageous to skip Grenades across the ground rather than lobbing them through the sky.

The Demoman is one of the most effective Melee classes, with advantages including longer ranged melee weapons and charged dashing capabilities. However, in order to utilize these advantages effectively, one must try to employ ambush tactics in order to launch surprise attacks on enemy players.

Use Grenades and Stickybombs to disrupt enemy tactics such as Heavy/Medic pairs by using explosions to push the Medic away from the Heavy so each can be killed more easily. One can also use a large number of Stickybombs and detonate all at once to kill one or both targets.

Mastering Demoman Jumps, also called sticky jumps, can allow players to easily propel themselves behind enemy lines and take out unsuspecting players from either the rear or above.

Roles

The Demoman has two major roles:

Defense

Defense is the traditional role a Demoman will play, and is well suited to the class.

One of the more basic defensive strategies a Demoman will employ is placing well hidden Stickybombs on or near key strategic points on a map. When enemy players approach the target, a properly timed detonation can severely injure or kill passing enemies, and even if the stickies are spotted, they can delay and slow enemy pushes toward an objective.

Setting up Stickybomb traps in unexpected places are critical to their success. Hiding them behind escape routes and spamming grenades can make the enemy retreat and trap them during their retreat.

A Demoman is able to defend a lot of ground and multiple entry points through skilled use of Stickies and Grenades by setting up sticky traps and utilizing grenade spam in confined or narrow spaces. This strategy can be further extended with the use of the Scottish Resistance, allowing for multiple areas to be guarded simultaneously.

Maintaining pressure on choke points is another core Demoman defensive strategy. Once the enemy team begins to push through a chokepoint, a Demoman can singlehandedly obstruct any enemy progress by covering the area with Stickybombs and spamming Grenades at incoming opponents.

A Demoman can use Stickybombs to split apart or disrupt pushes and isolate enemies to allow for easy pickings.

The Demoman is effective at assisting Engineers fight off enemy Spies. Your attacks won't harm friendly buildings, so place one or two Stickybombs near a building, then wait nearby. When an Engineer says "Spy sapping my [building]," or if an Engineer just destroyed a Sapper, detonate the bombs to kill the Spy in case he is still there, then return to place more.

Because the Stickybombs on the Scottish Resistance take a longer time to arm, it is better suited for defensive play.

Offense

When your team's progress is denied by a strong Engineer nest, switch to an offensive role to punch through their defenses. Along with the Spy and the Pyro, the Demoman is a team's best hope in clearing enemy Sentry Guns and Heavies.

The Demoman has one of the highest damage outputs, and when using both the Stickybomb and Grenade Launchers, a Demoman can clear out an entire Engineer nest, as well as enemies and other obstructions. This proves particularly effective when used with Medic ÜberCharges, allowing for an entire team to move forward.

As a Demoman can only place eight stickies down at once with the Stickybomb Launcher. Stickybombs are a very useful weapon, as their short detonation time, combined with their damage and splash range, can destroy enemy pushes and break stalemates. Multiple stickies can be used to take down slower and larger targets such as the Heavy.

Being a support Demoman is slightly harder than concentrating on offense or defense alone. A Demoman can lay down spam to hold enemies back, and also utilizing Stickybombs. This allows Demomen to hold ground for other teammates to advance forward.

Using a "Demoknight" set (generally seen as one of the shield weapons paired with a sword-based melee weapon) typically sets a Demoman to being more of a 1-v-1 oriented class, as single targets will be surprised and confused by charges. During large firefights and battles, Demoknights do not fair well as their longer range damage output is reduced, making Demomen more vulnerable to long-range damage.

Aerials

Aerial kills (commonly known as "Airshots"), are one of the Demoman's specialties. When an enemy is launched into the air, a Demoman with good prediction skills can score a direct hit with his Grenade Launcher and kill the helpless enemy. While aerials are possible with the Stickybomb Launcher, it is not recommended due to damage falloff and the arming time.

Aerials work on pretty much any class, but the more common targets include Scouts, Demomen, and Soldiers. This is because these classes' own special abilities (Double jumping, Sticky Jumping, and Rocket Jumping respectively), make them more likely to be spotted airborne than the other classes.

Demoman Jumps

The Demoman can use multiple weapons to perform jumps, including: Grenade Launcher, Stickybomb Launcher, and Scottish Resistance. These various weapons require different methods to execute; as explained below.

Grenade Jumping

For smaller jumps or when having a group of stickies already deployed elsewhere, it can be beneficial to use Grenade Jumping. This inflicts slightly less damage, and placed stickies are left undetonated. YouTube video on various grenade jumps.

Note that grenade jumps are less practical than Stickybomb jumps in situations where enemies may be nearby due to the fact that one must wait for the grenade to explode. However, Grenade Jumping is a very viable tactic with the Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen equipped, and it can easily catch people off guard when they find a Targe-equipped Demoman in an unexpected place.

Stickybomb Jumping

Sticky jumping is similar to rocket jump. It allows a player to jump much higher at the cost of more health (45-114 excluding fall damage). To do this, lay a Stickybomb on the ground, run over it, crouch-jump, and then detonate the bomb. As when rocket jumping, crouching in mid-air before setting off the sticky will propel the player with even more force. Multiple stickies can be used for an even greater effect, at the cost of a higher amount of self damage.

Your angle to the Stickybomb when it is detonated determines your flight path. You can adjust when to detonate your Stickybombs to adjust your trajectory to be either more vertical or horizontal.

The Stickybomb Launcher can be replaced by the Sticky Jumper which will remove all self damage when sticky jumping, allowing much farther and higher jumps. However, fall damage must still be taken into account.

Scottish Resistance

When sticky jumping with the Scottish Resistance, any stickies directly under the Demoman will be detonated when the alternate fire is activated, so long as there are no other stickies in the reticule. However, jumps with a lot of forward momentum are difficult to achieve with the Scottish Resistance unless the Stickybomb being used for the jump is being directly looked at -- essentially the player will be facing away from the direction they wish to go when the bomb is detonated. This can take some practice to get used to.

Weapon-specific

Main article: Demoman weapons

Primary

Grenade Launcher

Weapon	Kill Icon	Ammo		Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Loaded	Carried	Base Damage	Splash Damage	Self Damage	Critical
Stock Grenade Launcher		4	16	84-123	22-64	42-74	270-330

An easy weapon for the inexperienced and a deadly tool of destruction in the hands of an experienced player.

Grenades explode on contact with an enemy, provided they have not touched anything first.

Grenades are used as an area denial tool when the Stickybomb Launcher or Scottish Resistance have no stickies loaded, or either the Sticky Jumper, the Chargin' Targe or the Splendid Screen is equipped. The 2.28 second timer on grenades can deter enemies from advancing forward, and therefore, grenades contribute greatly to spam.
- If BLU is trapped at their spawn point by RED and a resupply cabinet exists in BLU's spawn in a direct line of sight to the exit of the spawn point (e.g. Badwater Basin, Dust Bowl stage one) a BLU Demoman may stand next to that resupply cabinet and fire an endless stream of grenades out of spawn to try to break RED's defense.

Grenades spin when fired which causes them to bounce unpredictably. This allows grenades to bounce around corners and randomly move after they have made surface contact.

Grenades launch slightly to the right of the cross-hair, so lead to the left to compensate. This is especially important for dealing with faster classes such as Pyros and Scouts, especially at closer ranges.

Keep in mind that it is very easy to avoid grenades at long and even medium range. Because of the grenade's low speed, enemies have a lot of time to react.

High angle fire at long distances can help to hit enemies behind cover and flush Engineer nests out.

If an enemy is about to run away, try to block his predicted escape route with some grenades. If the enemy's health is low enough to have them hesitate at running into the grenades, attempt to go for the kill.

The Grenade Launcher's large splash damage radius is useful against large groups of enemies in small, confined spaces.

Loch-n-Load

Weapon	Kill Icon	Ammo		Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Loaded	Carried	Base Damage	Self Damage	Critical
Craft Loch-n-Load		2	16	103-147	53-93	342-388

The Loch-n-Load is a Grenade Launcher that does extra damage and has faster projectiles, but has less ammo, a higher self-damage penalty, and its bombs shatter on contact with the world.

One of the more notable strengths of the Loch-n-Load is its ability to consistently deal over 100 damage at any range. Its damage output consistently reaches over 210 if both grenades hit a the target.

Loch-n-Load Grenades shatter on impact with the world, making them near useless for spam and area denial, but are stronger in direct combat, with their higher velocity and damage output.

The Loch-n-Load is weaker in area control and building demolition than the standard Grenade Launcher, as standard grenades will stick around for a few seconds and then explode on a missed shot. The Loch-n-Load's grenades shatter on impact, exploding only if they hit an enemy or enemy's building.

The Loch-n-Load's higher damage per-hit and higher splash damage, paired with the increased shot velocity, means that the Loch-n-Load is a great weapon for tunnel fighting. It proves its worth in areas like the tunnels of Turbine and Hoodoo. The Loch-n-Load is especially useful for bigger and slower targets like the Heavy, who have a natural advantage in long, narrow tunnels.

The Loch-n-Load's grenades are somewhat better for dealing with tightly-packed crowds than the Grenade Launcher, making it extremely good at holding choke-points. If you can get enemies to cluster up (such as any of the control points on Egypt), the damage and disruption the Loch-n-Load can cause makes it extremely effective.

The Loch-n-Load does have a small clip size (increasing the number of times you need to reload in the face of enemy aggression) and does more self-damage than the Grenade Launcher. It's a good idea to switch to your Sticky Launcher of choice for extended battles, and switch to a suitable melee weapon rather than engage them at point blank.

The Loch-n-Load removes your ability to grenade jump, since the grenades only explode on impact with an enemy or enemy building. This means you will need to use sticky jumps to get to hard-to-reach areas.

The Loch-n-Load is particularly devastating against the low-HP classes: the Sniper, Engineer, Scout, and Spy. A direct hit will leave these classes with critical health - and often kill them through falling damage alone if the initial hit fails to kill.

The Loch-n-Load is also useful against the Heavy, as with his Minigun spun up he is an easy target and the high damage will shred through his health.
Reload often: with only two shots, you don't want to get caught with empty chambers in the middle of a firefight.

The downside of destructible grenades can be used to your advantage if an enemy Pyro is good with the airblast. Should the Pyro airblast the grenade but miss you and/or your teammates, the reflected grenade will shatter without any explosion whatsoever.

Deflecting these grenades is difficult in the first place, due to their fast movement speed and failure to rest on the ground, making this an excellent weapon against airblasting Pyros.

The Loch-n-Load is part of the Expert's Ordnance set, which grants you resistance to fire damage when you equip it with the Ullapool Caber.

In summary, this weapon is one that takes skill, timing, and good accuracy to make the most of. Practice making direct hits from various ranges and angles if you intend to use it; your time will be well-spent.

Ali Baba's Wee Booties / Bootlegger

Weapon	Effect
Weapon	Passive Effect
Craft Ali Baba's Wee Booties	+25 maximum health. Allows you to turn while charging.
Craft Bootlegger	+25 maximum health. Allows you to turn while charging.

Used in conjunction with either the Chargin' Targe or the Splendid Screen and a Melee weapon, you can become a melee-based offensive powerhouse.
- However, in doing so, you will completely lose all ranged damage, which can be particularly hazardous. Plan your engagements and avoid conflict when appropriate.
- This is particularly helpful in Medieval Mode, where you're forced to only use melee only anyway.

If the Grenade Launcher isn't your cup of tea, you can use the Booties to give you an added edge with the extra health.

Secondary

Stickybomb Launcher/Festive Stickybomb Launcher

Weapon	Kill Icon	Ammo		Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Loaded	Carried	Base Damage	Splash Damage	Self Damage	Critical
Stock Stickybomb Launcher		8	32	120	60-124	45-114	261
Uncrate Festive Stickybomb Launcher		8	32	120	60-124	45-114	261

The Stickybomb is one of the defining features of Demoman play. Stickybombs are detonated by using your alternative fire (default key Mouse2), no matter which weapon is currently out.

Some basic pointers for planting Stickybombs are:

When guarding capture points or the Intelligence, you can create a larger blast radius by spreading out your Stickybomb carpet.

After planting Stickybombs around the intelligence or a control point, the Demoman is free to leave the area. Look at the Capture the Flag or Capture Point HUD elements, or listen for the announcements of "The enemy has taken our Intelligence" or "Our Control point is being captured" and detonate the Stickybombs. Make sure to keep an eye on the total number of fired stickies, as the enemy could be destroying them before stepping onto the point.

When guarding other strategic locations, place Stickybombs that are either out of sight until it's too late, or in well hidden/odd places (such as on ceilings, under stairs, above automatic doors etc.). You can also place stickies directly on the Objectives, where they will be hidden by them.

Never forget that Stickybombs can be launched across the visible distance of most open maps. Aim for windows, Sniper ledges and other populated areas. When the trajectory is right, lob in a few bombs and detonate them to clear the room.

If Stickybombs are clustered too closely, enemy Pyros or Demomen can clear them away with a single shot. Demomen using the Scottish Resistance can destroy Stickybombs outright. To counter this, spread your stickies out across the area.

Don't stand still when placing a lot of stickies near objectives like the Payload cart or a control point. Doing so will make you susceptible to headshots, backstabs, and any other form of damage.

Place Stickybombs around Health packs if you feel like killing your enemies ironically. This does not work well with small Health packs, due to being almost as small as the stickies themselves.

If it is too dangerous to pop out of cover to set Stickybombs onto a Sentry Gun, try shooting them as close to Sentry Gun as you can without revealing yourself. The splash damage will take out the Sentry Gun just fine, but it may require a few more stickies as an alert Engineer will be able to destroy them. The Scottish Resistance can counter-act this problem with its increased rate-of-fire.

If an enemy is on the control point, wait a moment before detonating, as they may have seen the Stickybombs and might try to trick you into detonating too early.

Do not underestimate the power of air-detonated stickies. The ability to detonate stickies in midair allows one to attack with great precision for high damage.

To use stickies in an offensive battle, constantly launch stickies and detonate them as soon as possible. The constant flow of damage can add up very quickly, along with the fact that the Demoman may have an easier time laying them out in the heat of a battle in which they are not the only target. This method can be very effective, easily killing bigger classes such as Heavy/Medic combos.

While holding down the detonate button will detonate stickies as soon as they are primed, it also prevents the sticky launcher from beginning to auto-reload. It may be advisable simply to tap the detonate button repeatedly.

Holding down the fire key will charge your shots, enabling you to shoot stickies much farther then normal. This can be used to great effect when engaged by far away enemies such as Snipers.

Scottish Resistance

Weapon	Kill Icon	Ammo		Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Loaded	Carried	Base Damage	Splash Damage	Self Damage	Critical
Unlock Scottish Resistance		8	36	120	60-124	45-114	261

The Scottish Resistance is an unlockable Stickybomb Launcher that is intended primarily for defensive play. It allows the user to detonate Stickybombs in groups, at a cost of reduced offensive potential.

The Scottish Resistance is far more effective for creating and managing Stickybomb traps than the normal sticky launcher because of the large number of bombs it can place and the ability to detonate individual groups of bombs.

Although primarily used for defense, the Scottish Resistance can still be an effective offensive weapon. Its fast rate of fire can be used in direct combat, but not in the same way as the normal Stickybomb Launcher. One tactic is to launch Stickybombs behind enemies and then attack using the Grenade Launcher. This can cause enemies to retreat, thereby causing them to move backwards through the newly-created sticky trap. This technique helps to offset the longer priming time of the Scottish Resistance. When under the effects of an ÜberCharge, the technique can be used just as effectively without using the Grenade Launcher, as enemies will often retreat when confronted by an ubered player. It's important to consider the speed of enemy players when using this technique, as the Stickybombs should be placed close behind slower classes such as the Soldier and the Heavy, but further behind faster classes such as the Scout. This will ensure that the Stickybombs have time to prime before the enemy reaches them.
- Another offensive strategy made possible with the quick firing rate is to shoot a few Stickybombs right in front of an incoming Heavy or a Sentry Gun, as you can place 3 or 4 without taking too much damage. When using this strategy, watch your health so that you have enough to retreat and detonate the bombs.

When defending anywhere, especially places like tunnels, having 2-3 distinct groups of main bombs (2-4 per group) on the corner/doorway and 1-2 secondary groups (1-2 bombs) hidden along a retreat route can help you single-handily hold a position. Detonate individual main groups to take out incoming enemies, and if an enemy gets past, lure them into the secondary traps.

The longer arming time prevents the Scottish Resistance from being used to deal damage as quickly as the normal Sticky Launcher. It also is much harder to perform airblasts using the Scottish Resistance. While the bombs arm slower, the faster firing can be used to create "offensive" carpets. Instead of creating a trap and waiting for enemies to walk near it, it is possible to place bombs around enemy players quickly and then detonate once several stickies are out. This has the effect of rapidly denying enemies room to maneuver, and enemies in the area being carpeted will usually take at least some damage once the carpet is detonated. This technique works best in chokepoints.
- Some enemies may panic as the area around them rapidly becomes covered in stickies, and cause them to either rush forward blindly (into a trap) or run away; if they charge, be prepared to hit them with your Grenade Launcher. This method of attack also works wonders against unaware opponents, since many players are oblivious to stickies being placed around them until it's too late.

While the Scottish Resistance does require the user to be looking in the general direction of the bombs they set, they do not have to have line of sight to the bombs in question. This allows you to be detonate them no matter what their location is on the map, provided the crosshair is fixated on the general area of your trap(s). This can prove invaluable if someone begins capturing a Control Point or takes the Intelligence while the rest of the team is preoccupied elsewhere.

Remember that the Scottish Resistance can destroy enemy Stickybombs.
- You can use this to destroy enemy Stickybombs that are placed outside of your spawn, without risk of being harmed.
- Another application is to place Stickybombs with the Scottish Resistance around friendly Engineer buildings, and detonate your stickies if an enemy Demoman attempts to destroy the buildings through Stickybombs.

Sticky Jumper

Weapon	Ammo		Damage
Weapon	Loaded	Carried	Base Damage	Splash Damage	Self Damage	Critical
Craft Sticky Jumper	8	72	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The Sticky Jumper is a craftable sticky launcher that allows you to create Stickbombs that deal no damage, allowing you to jump without losing health. Though it is very useful for practicing Sticky jumping, there are also some situational uses in real matches.

The Sticky Jumper is incapable of dealing damage to enemies, so it cannot be used to launch enemies. Keep this in mind when using it.

Using the Sticky Jumper with the Pain Train can make be an effective method for point capturing. However, the Pain Train will make you vulnerable to bullets. It's best to use this combo against unguarded points or right after the previous point was captured.

Due to the 100% reduction on self-damage, Demomen can perform multibomb Sticky Jumps without the need of a Medic. This can be used as a hasty retreat method or as a means to get behind enemy lines.

In open Arena maps, the Sticky Jumper allows you to propel yourself and land behind the enemy team at the beginning of a round, when all players are packed together. This allows you to surprise them and perhaps even get the First Blood buff to deal even greater damage.

While the Sticky Jumper allows you to sticky jump without taking self-damage, don't forget that you still receive damage from falling.

Since the Sticky Jumper replaces your Stickybomb Launchers and Shields, you should bring with you a Grenade Launcher and a Melee weapon that doesn't rely too much on using a shield to be effective.

However, the Sticky Jumper replaces the function of a shield to get within melee range, so the Eyelander and Scotsman's Skullcutter can be surprisingly effective.

Don't use the Sticky Jumper just for getting to your destination; if you're being overrun by an powerful threat, quickly sticky jump away back to safety.

The Sticky Jumper can also be used to cut off the enemy's transportation and supply. Simply sticky jump to their spawn and destroy their Teleporters and Dispensers with your Grenade Launcher or Melee weapon.

You cannot carry the Intelligence in CTF games when using this weapon. Keep this in mind.

Chargin' Targe/Splendid Screen

Weapon	Kill Icon	Damage			Effect
Weapon	Kill Icon	Charge Damage	Charge Speed	Recharge Time	Resistances
Unlock Chargin' Targe		50+10 per head (up to 5)	750 Hammer units/sec (638 Hammer units/sec with Scotsman's Skullcutter)	12 seconds (6 with Persian Persuader)	50% fire resistance and 40% explosive resistance.
Craft Splendid Screen		85+17 per head (up to 5)		12 seconds (6 with Persian Persuader)	20% fire resistance and 15% explosive resistance.

The Chargin' Targe and Splendid Screen are unlockable secondaries for the Demoman that allow him to charge forward. They also grant him partial fire and explosive resistance at the cost of his Stickybomb Launcher.

The Splendid Screen, at the cost of less fire and explosive resistance than the Chargin' Targe, is capable of doing more bash damage and will inflict such damage at any range.

The Chargin' Targe is a shield: just equipping it gives the Demoman resistance to both explosions and fire. A Demoman at full health (even with items that reduce health, such as the Eyelander or the Claidheamh Mòr can survive a critical rocket if he has the Targe equipped.

Keep an eye on your Charge meter, as its color will tell you the effects of the Targe - white is recharging or charged, green is a recently-activated charge (less than 50% used), yellow means your next attack will be a Mini-crit, and red means that your next melee attack will be a full strength Critical hit. The red zone also means that colliding with an enemy will cause the Targe itself to inflict damage. (50 Damage + 10 damage for each head you have, up to 5 heads.)
- You must be quick to react and time your attacks well, as the "red zone" will only be active during the last 25% of the charge.
- Be aware that grenades will not Crit near the end of your charge.
- Also note that the Splendid Screen will always be able to deal impact damage and allow you to inflict a Critical hit regardless of charge distance.

Try to attack enemies that are unaware of your presence.

Charging down long hallways can force enemies back and give you an improved chance at getting a kill.

The shield bash at the end of a full charge of the Targe deals a good amount of damage; it is useful for finishing off targets you have already damaged.
- The shield bash of the Splendid Screen will do damage at any range.

The Force-A-Nature's knockback, the Flamethrower's compression blast, Sentry Guns, arrows, Natascha's speed reduction, and the explosive force of grenades, rockets, and Stickybombs will all interrupt your charge.

During a Charge, you move at 750 Hammer Units per second; two and a half times faster than the Engineer, Pyro, Spy or Sniper, and 87.5% faster than the Scout. If you are in danger, use the charge to quickly escape from the battle and save your life.

In maps with areas of deep water, charging out by aiming in a vertical direction can surprise your enemy.

When you hit an enemy with a charge, a loud sound will play; right after that, you can hit the enemy with your melee weapon to get a Critical hit. This kills most classes before they can react.

Keep in mind that because the Screen offers less fire and explosive resistance than the Targe, it will still be fairly easy for Pyros, Soldiers, and other Demomen to do away with you if you're not careful.

Melee

Bottle / Frying Pan / Saxxy / Conscientious Objector / Scottish Handshake

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical
Stock Bottle		0.8 seconds	65	195
Promotional Frying Pan
Promotional Saxxy
Craft Conscientious Objector
Craft Scottish Handshake

The Demoman's Melee weapon, a Bottle of Whiskey, is valuable as an emergency fall-back, and is the only type of weapon you can use in close-combat without injuring yourself.

The Bottle should be used in the same way as most other melee weapons: when enemies are too close or too fast to hit with a Grenade (or if you don't have time to reload the Grenade Launcher).

Eyelander / Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker / Nessie's Nine Iron

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage	Healing
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical	From Kill
Unlock Eyelander		0.8 seconds	65	195	15
Craft Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker
Craft Nessie's Nine Iron

The Eyelander is an unlockable melee weapon that gives you extended melee range, and also allowing you to become stronger with each melee kill you earn. It has the downside of -25 base health.

It is a good idea to use the Eyelander with one of the shields. However, a Demoman with 4 decapitations and a Sticky Launcher is a massive threat. Head count is not reset until death, so a Demoman can use the Chargin' Targe until he accumulates 4 heads, then return to a resupply cabinet and switch to the Stickybomb Launcher of his choice. With over 200 HP and the second fastest run speed in the game, an Eyelander Demoman using the Sticky Launcher can be a very powerful enemy and one to avoid at all costs, especially if he has a Medic.
- Another option would be to switch to the Splendid Screen. With 5 heads, your charge bash will do 170 damage, enough to kill 5 out of the 9 classes, and your follow-up Crit melee swing will do a total of 365 damage, enough to kill anything besides an overhealed Heavy.
- The Sticky Jumper can also pair well with the Eyelander. Although getting the first two heads are difficult due to your slow speed and lack of a charge, once you have several your high speed allows you to fly over obstacles and take enemies by surprise. Your initial heads can be taken from either slow classes you weakened with your Grenade Launcher, or unaware Snipers or Spies.

The Eyelander has a very long range for a melee weapon. Get comfortable with its area of effect and take this into account when going for a critical charge.

If possible, weaken the enemy with the Grenade Launcher first before killing him with the Eyelander.

Be aware that the Eyelander 'hits' near the beginning of the swing animation, rather than at the middle. Keep this in mind so you don't accidentally 'under-shoot' an attack, especially when using the sword in conjunction with the Chargin' Targe.

Decapitating an enemy Demoman who also has the Eyelander equipped allows you to steal any heads he has accumulated.

The Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker and Nessie's Nine Iron both look different than the Eyelander, however they share the same stats.

Without any heads, sticky jumping becomes a much more risky endeavor. If you intend to utilize sticky jumping, it may be wise to equip a different melee weapon or use the Sticky Jumper.

Inattentive Snipers are an excellent target for Eyelander-wielding Demomen seeking to collect heads as it will take only two successful hits to decapitate a Sniper, three if they are wielding the Darwin's Danger Shield.

The -25 health penalty can be countered by Ali Baba's Wee Booties, balancing your base Health to normal.

Decapitation

	Kill Icon	Weapons	Damage	Duration	Details
Barbarian Swing		Eyelander, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, Claidheamh Mòr, Half-Zatoichi, Persian Persuader, Nessie's Nine Iron	500	5 seconds	With a twirl behind his back, leading to a horizontal slash to the neck, the Demoman beheads anyone unfortunate to be in his path. The Demoman concludes his short swipe by bringing his blade back and wiping down its length with his fingers. Adds one head to the counter if using the Eyelander, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, or Nessie's Nine Iron.

This taunt kill can be used to kill enemies with one hit. It can be used for very distracted enemies such as Snipers looking down scopes or Engineers working on their buildings, but like most taunt kills leaves you vulnerable during the animation.

If you catch up to a Heavy about to eat a Sandvich, it's a better idea to use the Decapitation taunt rather than start wailing on them with the Eyelander as they will out-heal the damage and proceed to kill you.

While this is a long taunt, it is completely quiet until it finishes, and you can attempt it several times on the same target provided they don't catch you when you do it.

Pain Train

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical
Craft Pain Train		0.8 seconds	65	195

The Pain Train is a craftable melee weapon that enables you to cap points twice as fast, at the cost of 10% bullet vulnerability.

The Pain Train is situational. It's best used on Capture Point and Payload, especially when the enemy defenses are about to fall or when your team needs to close the distance on a Payload Race. It can also prove extremely handy on King of the Hill maps, but it is useless in Capture the Flag or when defending on an Attack/Defend Control Point map. Equip another melee weapon instead.

You should not equip the Pain Train if you are having trouble with Heavies and Scouts, as the increased bullet damage makes these already annoying enemies nearly impossible to beat in some situations. If you're using the Chargin' Targe as well, Pyros and Soldiers might forgo their primary weapons for the Shotgun to kill you faster.

The Pain Train is also effective for back-capping, as it gives the Demoman a Scout's capturing capabilities. This works well with the Chargin' Targe for getting to an enemy point fast, and Stickybomb jumping for wide open/raised points (like Badlands 2nd and 4th capture points, or Gravel Pit C). The weakness to bullets it grants makes Scouts, Heavies and Snipers all the more dangerous for you, so it's best to keep alert when attempting to do this and use stickies and grenades to lock down the point's entrances.

The Pain Train is useful in Medieval Mode when attacking, due to the fact that bullet-based weapons are not allowed. Note, however, that shield bashes count as bullet damage.

Scotsman's Skullcutter

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage	Effect
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical	Move Speed
Craft Scotsman's Skullcutter		0.8 seconds	78	234	280 Hammer units/sec

The Scotsman's Skullcutter is a craftable melee weapon that increases the Demoman's melee damage and range at the cost of movement speed.

The Skullcutter finds good applications when a Demoman is also using a shield or when holding down an area, such as the Intelligence room of a CTF map.

When combined with the guaranteed critical hit of the Chargin' Targe or the Splendid Screen, the Skullcutter is capable of killing almost any class in a single blow.

Due to the charge speed being reduced with this weapon, try to attack unsuspecting enemies so that they cannot dodge your charge.

Sticky jumps can help a Demoman with the Skullcutter into combat range, though this is very risky unless you are using the Sticky Jumper.

Ullapool Caber

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Explosion	Total	Self-Damage	Critical
Craft Ullapool Caber		0.8 seconds	35	149	185	100	405
Craft Ullapool Caber		0.8 seconds	35	N/A	35	0	105

The Ullapool Caber is a melee weapon that explodes on contact with an enemy or the world. The downside of this effect is a large amount of self damage and the inability to explode again, unless you visit a Resupply locker.

The Caber is generally a last-resort weapon, one best used to take an enemy down with you. One direct hit will kill any class other than a Soldier or Heavy, excluding Overheal.

The explosion will launch you particularly high in the air. It's quite possible to use this, either on its own or in conjunction with a Stickybomb jump, to reach otherwise inaccessible locations.
- This functions especially well on DeGroot Keep, allowing you to jump up to the battlements atop the castle. This is useful for killing especially annoying Snipers, as most of them will find attacks at melee range a surprise.

If you find yourself falling off a cliff or getting pushed into a death pit, this weapon can be used to blast yourself back into the playing field—with a little luck.

After the Caber explodes, the weapon will still function as a melee weapon, but does far less damage than other melee weapons, such as the Bottle.

This is a powerful Spy checking weapon, as it is an instant kill if you make contact with a Spy. However, its explosion also affects you greatly, so make sure to use it in a place where you can be healed. Try to do this in the safety of your base or where a Dispenser is nearby. However, bear in mind the Dead Ringer invalidates its benefits and severely weakens you, making it easier for the Spy to kill you and leaves you with a drastically less powerful weapon.

This weapon can be very useful for enemies that run away in a melee battle and don't let you hit them with the grenade: because the grenade explodes if you hit any hard surface with it, you can strike the floor or a wall and the resulting explosion will hit them in a very large range. For weaker classes (such as Engineers) the explosion alone is quite capable of killing them outright if they're in range.

This weapon is very useful for suicidal picking, as you could sticky jump or charge into an important target (like an enemy Medic) and kill him with it. Be wary of your health if you survive, as the combined sticky jump, explosion and fall damage will leave you with very little health, if any.

The Ullapool Caber is even more effective with the Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen. With a Critical boost, the Caber can inflict more damage in one hit than any other melee weapon and kill any class in one shot, unless you're facing an overhealed Heavy.

The Caber is also good when used with the Sticky Jumper. You can sticky jump behind enemy lines without any damage taken other than fall damage, then sneak up behind the enemy to inflict a large amount of damage.

Claidheamh Mòr

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical
Craft Claidheamh Mòr		0.8 seconds	65	195

The Claidheamh Mòr is a melee weapon that gives the Demoman longer melee range and increased charge distance at the cost of 15 health.

You should always equip the Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen when using this weapon, as its largest bonus only works with a shield equipped.

The biggest advantage to the Claidheamh Mòr is its mobility enhancement capabilities. It's possible to use the Claidheamh Mòr's improved dash distance to cover enormous distances in one go: you can easily cross the bridge on 2Fort, for example, with one use, and can likewise go from one end of a sewer tunnel to the other with one dash. This makes the Claidheamh Mòr a great weapon for both quickly engaging enemies and getting away.

The longer dashes mean that the Claidheamh Mòr is a phenomenal weapon for getting the Demoman to where he needs to go as quickly as possible. The weapon is very useful on Capture the Flag maps, on which you can grab the enemy intelligence and escape quickly, even outpacing Scouts.

The Claidheamh Mòr is the offensive counterpart to the Scotsman's Skullcutter; whereas the Skullcutter does a lot of damage and is well-suited to defensive missions, the Claidheamh Mòr is far more useful on offensive missions.

The extra charge time that the Claidheamh Mòr grants also lengthens the time that you can attack for a Mini-crit or a Critical Hit.

Half-Zatoichi

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage	Healing
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical	From Kill
Promotional/Craft Half-Zatoichi		0.8 seconds	65	195/Instant	175 (200 with Ali Baba's Wee Booties)

The Half-Zatoichi is a melee weapon that restores the Demoman's health on a kill, but forces him to score a kill once the weapon is drawn.

Ambush and kill weakened enemies with the Half-Zatoichi for an easy boost back to full health.

Be prepared to score a kill with the Zatoichi when you pull it out, you can't switch weapons until you do.

The Half-Zatoichi has good synergy with the Chargin' Targe and the Splendid Screen. The Targe/Screen can be used even with the Half-Zatoichi drawn, enabling you to easily approach or flee, and the Half-Zatoichi's ability to score random critical hits makes it an impressive weapon for Demomen seeking close quarters combat.

Be aware of enemies who are also using the Half-Zatoichi. If they hit you once, you die. However, you can do the same to them!
- Due to the instant kill mechanic, you can also use Half-Zatoichi as a counter to charging Demomen using a Half-Zatoichi even if you don't have a Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen of your own.
- Prioritize other Half-Zatoichi wielders in battle, either for a quick kill and health boost or simply to protect yourself from their one-hit kills.

This weapon is very useful in Medieval Mode. As you are only allowed to use melee weapons anyway, the Zatoichi's drawback has no effect.

Persian Persuader

Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Damage	Healing
Weapon	Kill Icon	Attack Interval	Point Blank	Critical	From Weapons	From Engineer Wrenches	From Small Ammo Boxes	From Medium Ammo Boxes	From Large Ammo Boxes
Craft Persian Persuader		0.8 seconds	65	195	120	25-Max	10	20	40

The Persian Persuader is a melee weapon for the Demoman that allows him to use ammo packs and dropped weapons as a healing source. However, he is incapable of regaining ammo through any means other than a Resupply Locker.

A highly offensive melee weapon, the Persian Persuader doubles the charge rate when using a Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen. Keep in mind, however, you cannot benefit from random critical hits and the bonus is invalid without a shield equipped.

Note that you do not need to be using the Persian Persuader while you pick up ammo to regain health. Consequently, you will never regain ammo unless you visit a Resupply Locker.
- With this weapon, be aware that you can fight for a longer period of time without dying, but you will eventually need to return to your base in order to get more ammo.

Always be aware of how much ammo you have, especially on defense. You don't want to run out of explosives as you begin a fight or the enemy team begins a push.

Item set effects

For a full list of the Demoman's Item sets, visit the item sets page

The Expert's Ordnance

Main article: Item sets

The Expert's Ordnance
	Loch-n-Load Ullapool Caber Scotch Bonnet
Effect	No effect

With the 10% fire damage resistance provided by the set, you can take on Pyros more easily.

Also, the grenades are much harder to reflect, making you very powerful against Pyros.

If combined with the Chargin' Targe, a 55% Resistance to Fire damage is applied (28% with Splendid Screen), further increasing your resistance to flames.

Remember that you have a small clip size and that your grenades shatter on surfaces, so you have to be careful at aiming both grenades or else you will be caught with an empty clip.

This set lets you pick your secondary weapon:
- The Stickybomb Launcher can be used to prevent the enemy from retreating, forcing them to stay within close to medium range, where this set excels. Additionally, the Stickybombs can be detonated in the air, allowing you to deal damage at ranges where the Loch-n-Load may struggle to land direct hits.
- The Scottish Resistance has more ammo than the Stickybomb Launcher. Its improved firing speed and the ability to lay more Stickybombs can make it even more effective at trapping an enemy than the standard Stickybomb Launcher. However, the increased arming time may allow quick-footed enemies to escape before the stickies can be detonated, and your ability to airburst will be dramatically decreased.
- The Sticky Jumper cannot deal damage, making it unable to provide either the area denial or airbursting abilities of the Stickybomb Launcher or the Scottish Resistance. However, the Sticky Jumper can be used to Sticky Jump with no self-damage (but possibly fall damage). This allows you to quickly enter battle, and use the Loch-n-Load or Ullapool Caber, depending on your positioning, or escape battle if you are low on health..
- The Chargin' Targe improves your Fire and Explosive resistance, allowing you to close in on Soldiers, Pyros, and enemy Demomen with greater ease, suffering less damage. The charging ability can be used to close the distance between you and your foe, making successful hits with the Loch-n'-Load more likely while providing an opportunity to land a devastating critical hit with the Ullapool Caber near the end of the charge.
- The Splendid Screen has smaller defensive bonuses than the Chargin' Targe. However, the increased charge damage and the ability to deal damage with the shield bash at any range, on top of the ability to score Critical hits at any point in your charge, can make Caber picks even more lethal.

Wielding this set will put you in a troublesome position in close quarters combat. While both the Loch-n-Load and the Caber are extremely lethal at close range, both the increased self-damage from the Loch-n-Load and the Caber's explosion will cause you to suffer high amounts of damage as well.

Weapon combinations

Example Combinations
Combo			Usage
or Grenade Launcher or Loch-n-Load	or Stickybomb Launcher or Festive Stickybomb Launcher	Pain Train	A good setup for offensive Demomen. The Stickybomb Launcher's decreased bomb arm time, compared to that of the Scottish Resistance, allows the Demoman to quickly bombard choke points or turtling enemies with stickies. The Stickybomb Launcher can also be used to surround ground-level threats with a sticky carpet. Fast bomb arm times also allow the Demoman to quickly sticky-jump to the objective and quickly capture it with the Pain Train's increased capture rate. If your team already has players focused on the points/cart, or if you are playing CTF, feel free to switch to the Bottle to rid yourself of increased bullet vulnerability. Choosing Loch-n-Load you may be able to quickly dispatch the sentry nest without having your Stickybombs destroyed or airblasted in a long range.
Grenade Launcher	Chargin' Targe	Pain Train	A second loadout for an offensive Demoman: by using the Chargin' Targe, you will be able to rush to positions faster and allow for easier getaways, and boosted melee effectiveness, at the cost of your Sticky Launcher. That may be affordable if you don't use the Sticky Launcher offensively. You get the added benefit of being more resistant to explosions and fire as well, so it may be worthwhile if the enemy team has Soldiers, other Demomen and Pyros. Keep in mind that while the Targe charge will make your Pain Train do more damage, it cannot collect heads and doesn't have the same melee range that the Eyelander or Scotsman's Skullcutter do. The Pain Train does the same base damage as Eyelander, so a critical hit will still have the killing power that the Eyelander does.
Loch-n-Load	Scottish Resistance	or Scotsman's Skullcutter or Ullapool Caber	For Demomen that desire to do a high amount of damage and defend well. The Scottish Resistance's higher Stickybomb amount and the ability to detonate groups of Stickybombs will come in handy when defending multiple chokepoints or destroying a bunch of Sentry Guns. The lessened speed from the Scotsman's Skullcutter will only reduce the Demoman to a Soldier's speed, but the extra damage and range can be useful when dealing with further threats. The Loch-n-Load provides a good support for your team in long distance while defending. It might shatter on surfaces, but it's lethal against a group of enemies. The Caber provides a backup source of high damage while useful on defense, as you can pick it back up from a resupply locker, and the fire resistance set bonus helps against Pyros.
or Loch-n-Load or Ali Baba's Wee Booties	Splendid Screen	Ullapool Caber	The Expert's Ordnance - w/ Splendid Screen As its name indicated, this setup is optimal for Demomen with good positioning and good aim, as it's not good for direct confrontation due to Loch-n-Load high self damage. Instead, use careful aim to destroy your opponent, and use the set bonus to run away from close range combat that Pyros are skilled at. By replacing the Loch-n-Load with the Booties, you lose all ranged damage and become a speeding bomb. In Medieval Mode, this Demoknight variant is the only class that can deliver splash damage, making it useful when clearing a point filled with enemies. Use the Screen to deal impact damage to the enemy with the shield bash before creating a critical explosion that may kill several enemies, making this combination excellent for a Kamikaze play-style. Outside of Medieval Mode, you are more accurate with turning and can one-hit kill most classes, making it very useful for last a last resort defence when your last point is being captured.
or Ali Baba's Wee Booties or Bootlegger	or Stickybomb Launcher or Festive Stickybomb Launcher	Ullapool Caber	This combination can be a quite deadly for a Stickybomb expert. The Stickybomb Launcher not only allow the Demoman to block off choke points, but in medium and long range, the launcher can easily destroy sentry farms or large quantity of Heavies; combined with ability to airshot, the demo can virtually destroy any foes, provided he is not fighting close range combats. The extra health generated by the booties allow the demo to survive longer, also allowing the Demoman to survive the explosion of Ullapool Caber. Do note that this combination, due to lack of Grenade Launcher, is extremely poorly suited to close range combat.
or Ali Baba's Wee Booties or Bootlegger	Chargin' Targe	or or or Eyelander or Nessie's Nine Iron or Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker Claidheamh Mòr	One of the most balanced setups in Medieval Mode. Charging towards enemies and decapitating them with the Eyelander is especially effective when dealing with slower enemies that are alone, and the longer melee range and high mobility gives it a legs up to most class except Snipers and Medics. The Chargin' Targe provides a much better defense against fire attacks (from Sharpened Volcano Fragments and fire arrows) and explosive damage (from the Ullapool Caber). Replacing the Eyelander with the Scotsman's Skullcutter allows higher damage at the cost of speed, which could be crucial when playing defense. Similarly, the Claidheamh Mòr allows the Demoman to charge longer, which aside from granting longer critical hits duration also allows the Demoman to reach a destination faster.
Ali Baba's Wee Booties	Splendid Screen	Persian Persuader	A Thousand and One Demoknights This is the A Thousand and One Demoknights set if combined with the Sultan's Ceremonial Hat. Ali Baba's Wee Booties will help you survive longer, and be able to unexpectedly turn to catch your enemies off guard. The Splendid Screen works well with the boots: while there is less damage resistance than with the Chargin' Targe, Ali Baba's Wee Booties' health benefit will allow you to slaughter your enemies without being killed quickly. The increased charging damage also works well with the ability to turn while charging. The Persian Persuader is good for destroying enemies in close combat. Since you don't use ammo with this set, all weapons dropped normally would be useless, but the Persuader allows you to gain health easier. The reduced charging time helps you to escape quickly or to run into the fray.
Grenade Launcher	Splendid Screen	Persian Persuader	The Persuader and Grenade Launcher can make an interesting combination, giving you better mid-to-long range capability while still allowing you to operate well in melee range. On top of that, the Persuader's decreased charge regen time allows the user to utilize the charge as a mobility tactic, letting them control range, escape, or charge in for a quick burst of damage on impact. The downside, however, is your inability to get more ammo for the Launcher: this can be remedied by using a supply cabinet.
Grenade Launcher	Sticky Jumper	or or or or or Pain Train or Eyelander or Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker or Nessie's Nine Iron or Ullapool Caber or Scotsman's Skullcutter	This is the 'Sticky Jumper' weapon set. The Grenade Launcher is preferred over the Loch-n-Load as the rolling grenades allow you to 'bomb' foes more easily during a sticky jump. The extreme mobility granted by the Sticky Jumper allows you to land near unsuspecting or busy enemies (such as Snipers) and kill them freely with the Eyelander, easily earning one or two heads in the process. You can also use the Pain Train with the Jumper to quickly reach and capture control points (this is particularly effective on open and/or vertical maps). When combined with the Ullapool Caber's raw power, the Sticky Jumper allows you to reach a tactical target (such as a Medic) and attack it with the Caber before jumping back to heal and resupply the Caber. The Scotsman's Skullcutter is useful if you plan to engage in melee often, as it's speed decrease is negligible when you are sticky jumping, and it's heavy damage easily dispatches enemies.