Stun

“

Oh dat's a skull fracture for sure! Click to listen — The Scout

”

Being stunned is the state of being incapacitated. While stunned, players are forced into the third-person humiliation stance and renders them unable to attack (with the exception of taunt kills). Stunned players also suffer from a 50% movement speed penalty, and cannot jump or crouch. Players can also be "fully" stunned, which renders the player completely immobile.

Sources

The Sandman

Main article: Sandman

With the Sandman equipped, the Scout gains the ability to stun opponents with his trusty baseball. By right-clicking with a baseball in hand, the Scout will bat it forward in an arc. If it connects with an opponent who is more than 256 Hammer units away (approximately 16 feet), they will become stunned. From extremely long range (approximately 112 feet or 1792 Hammer units), they will be knocked back a short distance and the letters 'BONK' will float above their head, accompanied by this sound. This is coupled with a 'seeing stars' effect as they remain completely immobile for 7 seconds. Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed). This ability has lead to the controversial nature of using the Sandman, especially in competitive scenes.

Getting hit by a ball will always damage you for approximately 15 points or 45 on a Critical hit.

The Scout can perform the stun ability once every fifteen seconds unless he manually retrieves the baseball just used, picks up the baseball of another Scout or visits a resupply cabinet. New baseballs cannot be retrieved from ammo packs or dropped weapons.

The baseballs of enemy Scouts can be struck back at them and upon a successful return will stun them. Doing this results in the Beanball achievement.

Other

The initial stab of the Sniper's Skewer, the Medic's Spinal Tap and the Engineer's Organ Grinder will stun a player if it connects. These attacks can stun an ÜberCharged opponent. ÜberCharged enemies are often distracted or keeping their aim at a Sentry Gun, long enough to stab them with the taunt. Even without damage, it will waste precious seconds of ÜberCharge.

The Ghost hazard of Harvest can scare players, which counts towards achievements as a stun.

Measurements

Distance

Distance (Hammer units / feet)	Stun Time (seconds)
256 / 16	1
512 / 32	2
768 / 48	3
1024 / 64	4
1280 / 80	5
1536 / 96	6
1792 / 112	7

Notes

1. These tests were done with bots. Stun times may be subject to random variance.
2. The closest the Sandman can stun is 256 Hammer units / 16 feet.
3. The range the Sandman fully stuns an opponent is at 1792 Hammer units / 112 feet. A hit at this distance or further is required for the Moon Shot achievement.
4. Critical hits add 2 seconds to the normal stun duration.
5. Mini-Crits do not affect stun duration.
6. Stun time is calculated at time of impact. Firing the ball and moving closer could result in decreased times.

Speed

When a player is stunned by the Sandman their speed is decreased by 50%. The below table lists the exact values. These speeds are also the same speeds that players on the losing team will have during post-match Humiliation.

Class	Stunned Speed	Original Speed
Scout	200	400
Soldier	120	240
Pyro	150	300
20px Demo	140	280
Heavy	115	230
Engineer	150	300
Medic	160	320
Sniper	150	300
Spy	150	300
Civilian	150	300

Related Achievements

Scout

Beanball Stun a Scout with their own ball. Brushback Stun 50 enemies while they are capturing a point or pushing the cart. Foul Territory Cause an environmental death by stunning or slowing an enemy.

Moon Shot Stun an enemy for the maximum possible duration by hitting them with a long-range ball. Strike Zone Kill or assist kill 50 enemies while they are stunned or slowed. The Big Hurt Stun 2 Medics that are ready to deploy an ÜberCharge.

Soldier

The Longest Daze Kill 5 stunned or slowed players.

Trivia

• Originally any stun effects inflicted would result in the current maximum stun pose but their duration would be subject to the range (as it is now, though the minimum ranges have been tweaked also). This was changed through many permutations of The Sandman in the name of balance.
• The Sandman could also stun ÜberCharged players (one of its original main selling points when its drawback was no double jump), but once again, this was removed due to balance issues, and the associated achievement (The Big Hurt) changed to stunning fully charged Medics instead.
• While stunned it is possible to taunt, which can be used as a last ditch attack if you have a tauntkilling weapon equipped and your enemy is close enough. As the Heavy you can also keep the Minigun spun up for the entire duration of a stun, so that upon regaining control you can instantly fire.
• Should a Sniper with the Huntsman drawn be stunned, the arrow will be released as if normally fired and may injure or kill opponents.