Versus Saxton Hale
| “ | What is VS Saxton Hale? It's in the name! You fight Saxton Hale! Or you play as Saxton Hale and fight the Mercenaries. Are you ready to face 23 enemies at once? ‘Cause they surely aren’t ready to face you!
— Publicity Blurb
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” |
Versus Saxton Hale, also styled as VS Saxton Hale, is a community-created game mode added in the Summer 2023 Update with the July 12, 2023 Patch. It features Saxton Hale (as the BLU team) pitted against the RED team's mercenaries in a large-scale arena.
Contents
Gameplay
When a round starts, one player is chosen at random to play as Saxton Hale on the BLU team, and the rest are assigned to the RED team with one goal: to kill Saxton Hale on behalf of their new boss, Gray Mann, who acts as the announcer. The gameplay is similar to the Arena game mode; players have one life and are unable to respawn once killed. Players who join a server in the middle of a round must wait until the next one in order to participate. There are no protected respawn areas or resupply lockers on the map, but health kits or ammo boxes can be found across various locations.
Both Hale and the mercenaries have an arsenal of abilities that can be used against each other. Saxton Hale (BLU team) wins when all the mercenaries are killed; Mercenaries (RED team) win when Saxton Hale is killed. Each game also has a 4-minute timer until the middle control point unlocks, when the control point unlocks, mercenaries or Hale can also capture the control point and win the game. Saxton Hale's health is visible at all times near the top of the screen.
Both Saxton Hale and Gray Mann are voiced by Matthew Simmons.
Saxton Hale
As Saxton Hale, players have several different abilities to help take on the mercenaries. These abilities display most of their information on the HUD. A regular melee hit from Saxton does 195 damage (157/117/77 damage to buildings depending on their level) and creates a small explosion (75 Hammer units/s) that damages anything nearby for 50% of his damage (97 damage to both players and buildings) and his health scales with the amount of players on RED he is fighting. Saxton Hale can use all-class taunts, several of which have unique animations on Saxton.
Saxton Hale has a set of attributes that persist throughout the round. By default, Hale has a 25% resistance against all damage sources and knockback forces, and has a 3x damage multiplier for his only primary weapon. Random critical hits are disabled on-wearer, and Hale has an increased melee range and a bound multiplier of 1.2x and 1.1x, respectively.[1]
Saxton Hale can stomp players, similarly to the Mantreads, dealing a flat 195 damage to the player landed on (as long as he falls at a speed of 500 hammer units).[2]
Saxton Hale cannot be impacted by fall damage, nor can he be healed by a Medi Gun or through health kits. Saxton has a 3x control point capture rate multiplier, but is additionally not able to pick up flags from any team.[1]
Initiating the Flippin' Awesome or Skullcracker taunt as Saxton acts as a taunt kill against the mercenary it was used on.[3][4] Additionally, the Rock, Paper, Scissors taunt can insta-kill Hale should he lose, regardless of the amount of health he has. [5]
Saxton Hale's movement starts at 107% speed (322 Hammer units/s) when moving forward. Saxton's speed ramps up to 520 Hammer units/s as he takes damage, reaching max speed at 25% of his health left.
Saxton's Health
Saxton Hale's health is dependent on the number of opponents he faces. If Saxton Hale has only one opponent, his health is set to 1000. Otherwise, the formula for Saxton Hale's health is 40n2 + offset, where:
- n is the number of opponents on RED team.
- offset is equal to 1300 for 5 opponents or less.
- offset is equal to 2000 for 6 opponents or more.
The formula result is rounded down to the nearest multiple of 100. Saxton Hale's health is determined at the end of setup time.
| RED players | Saxton Hale's Health |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1000 |
| 2 | 1400 |
| 3 | 1600 |
| 4 | 1900 |
| 5 | 2300 |
| 6 | 3400 |
| 7 | 3900 |
| 8 | 4500 |
| 9 | 5200 |
| 10 | 6000 |
| 11 | 6800 |
| 12 | 7700 |
| 13 | 8700 |
| 14 | 9800 |
| 15 | 11000 |
| 16 | 12200 |
| 17 | 13500 |
| 18 | 14900 |
| 19 | 16400 |
| 20 | 18000 |
| 21 | 19600 |
| 22 | 21300 |
| 23 | 23100 |
| 24 | 25000 |
| 25 | 27000 |
| 26 | 29000 |
| 27 | 31100 |
| 28 | 33300 |
| 29 | 35600 |
| 30 | 38000 |
| 31 | 40400 |
Sweeping Charge
Saxton charges up his fist as he yells out in preparation for a rushing punch that knocks opponents away and slams them into walls for extra damage (default key: R). The charge can be held for as long as desired, making Saxton's fist glow blue and freezing him in place, even while in the air. The charge attack can be used to send Saxton in any direction that he is facing, allowing him to reach high places if needed. The charge attack has a 10 second cooldown and does 55% of the target's total HP with damage falling off with distance. Additionally, the charge attack deals damage to Engineer buildings every tick that it is active; effectively destroying them almost instantly on contact. Saxton moves at about 467% speed (1400 HU/S) when using the Saxton Punch.
Saxton Punch!
Saxton starts a 30 second countdown from when he spawns, slowly charging up a devastating attack. When fully charged, this attack turns Saxton's left forearm bright red with critical hit sparks all over it. Saxton also gives an audio cue when the attack is ready, alerting the mercenaries. Upon striking an enemy with Saxton Punch, a shockwave is sent out, damaging every enemy around the target based on their proximity. Saxton Punch automatically applies to the next melee hit when available and does 326 damage before going on cooldown.
Mighty Slam
When Saxton becomes airborne, he has the ability to perform a ground pound, slamming himself back down to the ground with great force. This ability ignores knockback and is triggered by holding the crouch button while in the air (default key: Ctrl). Upon hitting the ground, a big shockwave is sent out in every direction from the point of impact, and every merc close to the landing site takes damage based on their distance from the point of impact. The big shockwave from the slam can easily destroy any buildings on its range as it does double damage to them. This ability is on a cooldown for 15 seconds, however, Saxton can hold the crouch key while on cooldown in midair to fall faster.
Brave Jump
Similar to Scout, Saxton has the ability to perform a double jump, although his second jump allows him to reach significantly greater heights. Useful as a general mobility tool, this ability launches Saxton forward and upward with no cooldown, only requiring the player to touch the ground to be performed again.
Mercenaries
As the mercenaries, players have a few abilities to aid in fending off Saxton. All classes have voice lines specific to Versus Saxton Hale, although all of the new lines are voiced by James McGuinn rather than their official voice actors. These trigger automatically under certain conditions.
Wall climbing
Every mercenary has the ability to scale surfaces with the use of a melee attack. Upon striking a wall or floor, the player is launched upwards to reach advantageous positions with ease.[6]
Last Mann Standing
When there are 3 mercenaries left, all surviving players deal mini-crit damage. When there is 1 mercenary left, the last surviving mercenary deals full critical hits.[7]
Gameplay changes
Some existing gameplay elements (such as classes, weapons, and buildings) have had changes of varying degrees:
The Force-A-Nature deals increased knockback, which applies within a range of up to 600 Hammer units.[8]
The Direct Hit and Reserve Shooter always deal mini-crits on Saxton Hale while he is in the air.[9]
The Market Gardener (while rocket jumping) and backstabs deal 2.5x increased damage.[10][11]
Telefrags deal 2x damage against Hale,[12] inflicting up to 2000 hit points.
Sentry Guns are awarded 1 assist for every 200 damage inflicted to Saxton Hale.[13]
Medics have a 30% damage resistance against Saxton Hale's attacks, but are knocked back with an extra 300 Hammer unit force.[14]
Medi Guns provide a 2x ÜberCharge rate bonus if an Ubersaw is equipped.[15]
The Ubersaw gives 50% ÜberCharge on hit.[15]
The Hitman's Heatmaker has an added 7x Focus multiplier for each hit.[16]
Spies take 50% less damage from Saxton Hale while cloaked.[17]
The Diamondback receives 2 critical hits every time Saxton Hale is backstabbed.[18]
Melee weapons for all classes (except the Spy) deploy 25% faster, have guaranteed crits (except for Market Gardener and Holiday Punch), and have a 60% increased melee range in a 350 Hammer unit proximity between Hale and the player (the Disciplinary Action and Demoman's sword weapons are unaffected by this range increase).[19]
On-kill effects are now triggered by attacking Saxton Hale. Demoman sword weapons,[20][21] the Killing Gloves of Boxing,[22] the Warrior's Spirit,[23] and the Candy Cane[24] are triggered every hit. Spy knives trigger on every backstab,[10] the Bazaar Bargain triggers on every headshot,[25] and the Air Strike triggers on every 250 damage done to Saxton Hale.[26]
Demoman's shields provide a one-hit immunity against Hale's primary attack; after absorbing an attack, the shield breaks and the player loses any effect from the shield, like the ability to charge.[27]
Weapons and cosmetics utilizing Pyrovision are forcibly disabled in order to prevent Saxton Hale from playing Heavy voice lines.[28]
The Rocket Jumper and the Sticky Jumper have their bonus reserve ammo removed.[29][30]
The Scottish Resistance's stickies feature a 20% damage penalty.[31]
Demoman's sword weapons deal reduced knockback.[32]
All Miniguns deal 40% less damage.[33]
The Natascha has an 85% reduced chance of triggering the slowdown-on-hit ability.[34]
Sentry Guns have a 50% damage penalty.[13]
The Wrangler's damage reduction does not apply to attacks from Saxton Hale.[18]
After backstabbing Saxton Hale, Spies cannot cloak or attack for 2 seconds.[10]
Strategy
Maps
Versus Saxton Hale maps carry the vsh_ prefix; community maps are identified with an italic font.
Update history
- Added maps: VSH Distillery, VSH Nucleus, VSH Skirmish, and VSH Tiny Rock.
- Updated
vsh_distillery,vsh_tinyrock,vsh_nucleus,vsh_skirmishTF_Botsnow function in Versus Saxton Hale.- Fixed first-person spectators not seeing Hale's arms glow when he uses his abilities.
- Fixed players dropping Player Destruction pickups.
- Fixed Hale sometimes holding Necro Smasher or Sandvich.
- Fixed Hale's "Dispenser Down..." line playing for any type of building destroyed.
- By community request, added Pyro VSH lines, performed by James McGuinn.
- Updated VSH voice lines for Spy.
- "Behind you" and "Above you" now play exclusively for the player the line is addressed to.
- Reduced the frequency of Hale's on-kill lines with more than 20 players currently alive.
- Mad Milk recharge rate returned to stock value.
- Demoman's Swords now deal less knockback than other melee weapons.
- Demoman's Shields will now break when absorbing a Hale punch.
- Fixed a bug relating to sending a class-restricted duel to Hale during Setup.
July 20, 2023 Patch #2
- Enabled Versus Saxton Hale (Community) support for Valve matchmaking servers.
- Fixed VSH and other player-destruction gamemodes leaking their HUDs into one another.
- Fixed Saxton Hale's weapons showing up as being carried by an incorrect/invalid player in VSH.
- Fixed Saxton Hale's weapons sometimes showing up as invalid in VSH.
- Fixed a crash that can occur when changing from VSH to another map.
- Fixed a crash that can occur related to MP3s on VSH maps.
- Updated
vsh_distillery,vsh_tinyrock,vsh_nucleus,vsh_skirmish- The script no longer forces
mp_winlimitandmp_maxroundsto 0. - Community servers now can expand the Script by creating a new file at
scripts/vscripts/vsh_addons/main.nut. - Community servers now can select the next Hale via
SetNextBossByEntity,SetNextBossByEntityIndexandSetNextBossByUserIdfunctions. - The Diamondback now gains 2 guaranteed crits upon backstab.
- Hale's attacks now pierce through damage absorption of the Wrangler shield.
- Hale will now receive an instructional notification if they haven't performed a Brave Jump during the first 30 seconds of a round.
- Fixed bugs related to Your Eternal Reward's on-backstab disguise.
- Fixed Festive Eyelander not gaining heads on-hit.
- (Hopefully) Fixed Hale sometimes appearing to hold the Necro Smasher or the Sandvich.
- (Hopefully) Fixed some players being unable to punch as Hale ("A-posing").
- Fixed Hale disappearing when the game tries (and fails) to gib him.
- Both sides dying simultaneously now counts as Stalemate.
- The script no longer forces
- Fixed VSH Casual servers using "
mp_winlimit 2" instead of "mp_maxrounds 25".
Unused content
- Saxton Hale's model includes two unused bodygroups, one that hides his hat (which in turn shows his hair), while the other hides the Australium Macropus buckle on his shorts.
Notes
- No voice lines are present for identifying Saxton Hale as a disguised Spy; attempting to identify Hale as one instead triggers a generic response.
Bugs
- Saxton's player model may sometimes become entirely invisible, leaving only particle effects floating in the air where his model should be.[35]
Gallery
Saxton Hale.
Saxton Hale's Fists.
Sweeping Charge ability.
Saxton Punch ability.
Sweeping Charge ability HUD icon.
Saxton Punch ability HUD icon.
Mighty Slam ability HUD icon.
Saxton Hale's model with his
hatandbeltbodygroups hidden.
.png)
- Saxton Hale Taunts
Default taunt
Rock, Paper, Scissors
See also
References
- ↑ a b scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\bosses\saxton_hale\saxton_hale.nut:L49-60
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\bosses\generic\passives\head_stomp.nut:L34-40
- ↑ Video demonstrating the Flippin' Awesome taunt
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\bosses\generic\misc\taunt_handler.nut:L107-124
- ↑ Video demonstrating a Rock, Paper, Scissors victory against Saxton
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\all_class\melee_wall_climb.nut
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\all_class\last_mann_standing.nut:L16-23
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\scout_stronger_fan.nut
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\all_class\airborne_minicrits.nut:L24-27
- ↑ a b c scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\spy_backstab.nut:L26-49
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\soldier_market_gardener.nut:L26-36
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\engineer_telefrag_scaling.nut:L18-21
- ↑ a b scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\engineer_sentry.nut:L30, L37-46; Awarding assists to the Sentry Gun based on damage is done to allow Engineers using the Frontier Justice to get revenge crits
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\medic_resistance.nut:L25-29
- ↑ a b scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\medic_uber_rate.nut:L16-22, L27, L34
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\sniper_focus.nut
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\spy_invis_res.nut:L24
- ↑ a b https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=206934
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\all_class\melee_buffs.nut:L25, L34-49
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\demo_head_collecting.nut:L25-42
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\demo_katana.nut:L22-30
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\heavy_kgb_crits.nut:L24
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\heavy_warriors_spirit.nut:L25
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\scout_candy_cane.nut:L24-29
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\sniper_head_collecting.nut:L21-26
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\soldier_airstrike.nut:L29-37
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\demo_shield.nut:L32-54
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\all_class\no_pyrovision.nut:L14-25; Hale is technically a Heavy with Voice Pitch shifted to 0. Pyrovision overrides that shift enabling Heavy's lines.
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\demo_jumper_ammo.nut:L24-28
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\soldier_jumper_ammo.nut:L24-28
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\demo_scottres_nerf.nut:L25
- ↑ https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=206724
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\heavy_minigun_nerf.nut:L25
- ↑ scripts\vscripts\vssaxtonhale\mercs\merc_traits\single_class\heavy_natasha_nerf.nut:L25
- ↑ Video of Saxton being invisible
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