Equalizer

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Revision as of 09:41, 4 July 2010 by Sky (talk | contribs) (Trivia)
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Template:Weapon

Get close enough to death, and you will become Death himself.
— Equalizer publicity blurb

The Equalizer (visually known as the Pickaxe) is the unlockable melee weapon for the Soldier. Uniquely, this melee weapon has a damage potential that is inversely proportional to the player's current health, dealing low damage at high health and high damage at low health. Additionaly, the speed of the wielding Soldier is also inversely proportional to the his health, his movement speed increasing the more he is hurt. Medics cannot heal a Soldier who is holding out his Equalizer. For its Critical hit animation, the Soldier swings the Equalizer in a backhand fashion.

Taunting with the Equalizer will undertake the Soldier's Grenade taunt, resulting in the Soldier blowing both himself and nearby opponents into a mess of gibs.

Damage

Scales inversely with health. Approximately 113.7 − 0.405x (113.7 minus 0.405x), where x is the amount of health the player currently has, with a minimum of 33 when the player is at or above 200 health, and a maximum of 113 (before random damage and Critical hits).

Health Damage Notes
200 33
121 65 Base damage of Shovel
100 73
50 93
1 113

Speed

Main article: Speed

Speed values are based on player's current health. For reference, the standard movement speed is 100% which is 300 velocity units per second, the speed of the Spy, Sniper, Engineer and Pyro, whilst the Scout moves at 400v (33% above the standard movement speed).

Health range Speed (units per second) Relative speed increase Notes
161-300 240 0%
121-160 264 10%
81-120 288 20% Faster than Demoman
41-80 336 40% Faster than Medic
1-40 384 60%

Function times

  • Attack Interval: 0.8

All times are in seconds. Times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Related Achievements

Tf soldier aint got time to bleed.png Ain't Got Time to Bleed

Kill 3 players with the Equalizer in a single life without being healed.

Tf soldier duty bound.png Duty Bound

While rocket jumping kill an enemy with the Equalizer before you land.

Tf soldier near death expedience.png Near Death Experience

Kill 20 enemies with your Equalizer while you have less than 25 health.

Tf soldier spray of defeat.png Spray of Defeat

Use a grenade to gib a player.

Trivia

  • Dubbed the "High Risk, High Returns" weapon as the Equalizer can be the strongest melee weapon in the game - even with non Critical damage, with the exception of the Knife's backstab. However, when the Soldier's Health is at maximum or higher (200+ HP) it's damage output is infact one of the weakest melee weapons of all, dealing less damage than a regular (non-backstab) strike of the Knife and ties with a regular (non-burning) strike of the Axtinguisher.
  • The Equalizer has Developer weapon variants.
  • Before becoming an official weapon, the Equalizer was first thought of by community members Tom Francis and jibberish. These users were to receive unique version of the weapon called "The Great Equalizer"[1], however, they are currently labeled as "Community Equalizers."
  • Based on the hidden Poopy Joe page on the WAR! Update, the Equalizer was originally a pickaxe issued to American Monkeynaut Poopy Joe for him to "pierce the Vault of Heaven itself" before it was acquired by Mann Co. in entirely innocent circumstances.
  • The Equalizer's speed increase still affects you in Humiliation, even if you are on the losing team.
  • Before the April 15, 2010 Patch, the Equalizer was able deal up to 162 damage (damage equation: 162.5 − 0.65x), making it one of the few weapons that could single-action kill a fully overhealed Heavy.
  • A Spy who is disguised as a Soldier with the Equalizer will not move faster than default Solider speed, regardless of the Spy's fake health display.
    • Medics will also be able to heal the disguised spy.
  • At 14 or less health, you can two shot any building.

Gallery

See also

External links