Headshot

“

Boom. Headshot. Click to listen — The Sniper

”

A Headshot is a successful shot to the head with a scoped Sniper Rifle, Huntsman arrow or Ambassador bullet. Snipers who land a Headshot with the Sniper rifle score a Critical hit, though twenty-three milliseconds must pass from the time you use +attack2 (Scoping in) to the time you fire for a headshot to be considered a Critical. Players earn 1.5 points for getting a Headshot kill: one point for the kill plus half a point for the Headshot itself. Scoring a headshot with the Huntsman yields another half point in addition to the aforementioned bonus, resulting in 2 points per kill. A fully charged Sniper Rifle headshot results in an instant kill (even on a overhealed Heavy). A headshot with the ambassador results in a Critical hit. Killing an enemy with an ambassador headshot yields an extra half point in addition to the kill.

The Sniper Rifle, Huntsman and Ambassador are the only weapons to hit the head for bonus damage, though Pyros with exceptional aim can score headshots by reflecting arrows with the compression blast.

• Associated kill icons.
• 

  Sniper rifle

• 

  Huntsman

• 

  Deflected Huntsman arrow

• 

  Ambassador

Related Achievements

General

64px	Grey Matter Get 25 Headshots as a Sniper.

Sniper

	Parting Shot Headshot an enemy player the moment his invulnerability wears off.		Self-destruct Sequence Headshot 10 enemy Snipers.
	Socket to Him Headshot an enemy Demoman.

Spy

Skullpluggery Headshot 20 Snipers with the Ambassador.

Trivia

• A headshot with a reflected Huntsman arrow will show the Sniper Rifle headshot icon, as there is no custom icon for this type of death as of yet.
• The 23ms delay for headshots was added to prevent from players from being able to predictably quickscope, a technique often used in other FPSes like Counter Strike.
• Killing a player with a headshot will sometimes cause a special death animation appropriate to that class. This animation has a 25% chance of occurring.

See also

• Sniper rifle
• Huntsman
• Ambassador