Horseless Headless Horsemann

“

This is my world! You are not welcome in my world! Click to listen — The Soldier on undead horseless horsemen

”

The Horseless Headless Horsemann (often abbreviated to HHH) is a neutral enemy in Mann Manor, released with the Scream Fortress update. The not-quite-dead form of Silas Mann, this character will crawl out of the currently contested control point after a pre-determined time, before hunting down and killing any player on either team until he is defeated. The amount of damage the Horseless Headless Horsemann deals is equivilent to two times the current health of the character it is striking.

Players too close to the monstrosity when it makes a kill will be designated as "It", whereupon they become the primary target. The current "It" is marked with a floating white skull-and-crossbones symbol (the same symbol used for the G.R.U.). The person marked as "It" can pass on their status by smacking someone on the opposing team with their melee weapon or by moving close enough to RED or BLU's spawn. After 30 seconds, the Horsemann will abandon chasing whoever is "it". He will then choose the first player that is within range as the new "it".

If no one is "It", he may perform a "Boo" taunt. He crouches and then spreads his arms wide, releasing a loud ghostly "BOO!" and scaring anyone in a range of 500 units. This is similar to the Ghost's effect and also grants the Scared Stiff Scarechievement. Wearing the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head or the Saxton Hale Mask provides immunity from being scared in this way.

Contributing in killing the Horseless Headless Horsemann awards the Sleepy Holl0wnd scarechievement and drops the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head hat. If a player delivers a single blow with a melee weapon he will drop an Unusual Haunted Metal Scrap, specifically when the Horsemann "shivers" when he is about to die. Contributing to the kill is not specific to melee or ranged damage. Dealing damage in any form to him awards you with credit for his death if you are alive at the time of his death.

The Horseless Headless Horsemann has a base health of 3000, increasing by 200 per player in the server, making his maximum possible health a massive 7800 (24-player server) or an even higher 9400 (32-player server). The Horsemann spawns every 8 minutes (plus or minus 1 minute). He will not spawn if there are under 10 players in the server (meaning the minimum health would be 5000 unless the console is used to spawn him). Also, 10 players must be actively playing in the match and not in spectator mode for the Horsemann to spawn.

Strategy

Damage graph showing the number of players, vs. health of the Horsemann.

• One basic strategy for "It" is to act as bait for the Horsemann while all other players inflict as much damage as they can.
• Another is to have a Heavy/Medic duo camp the control point where he will spawn next, building up a Kritzkrieg charge, and unleashing it upon him spawning, killing him after his spawn animation is complete.
• It might be a good idea for a Scout who is "It" to flee while the Horsemann pursues him towards your team's spawn room. If not, then lure the Horsemann towards the enemy team's spawn room to provide a distraction.
• A Scout can keep the Horsemann running back and forth at the Control Point nearest to Red team's spawn by jumping over the bottomless pits, and then jumping back over them when the Horsemann gets close.
• Playing as Scout while being "It" allows you to dodge the Horsemann's attacks and pursuits due to your agility and ability to double/triple jump. As a Demoman using the Chargin' Targe, it is also possible to outrun him by charging repeatedly in a single direction across open ground.
• The Spy's Dead Ringer will allow a player to survive the Horsemann's attacks. However, the monster will still pursue you recklessly and kill you as your damage reduction runs out.
• Because the Horsemann does not suffer afterburn damage, using the Pyro against the Horseless Headless Horsemann is not recommended. In addition, the short effective range of the Pyro makes attacking head-on a very deadly prospect. However, using the Backburner while he is distracted can be effective in defeating him.
• Using the Scottish Resistance, the Demoman can deal a considerable amount of damage with multiple stickybombs. Use the increased firing rate of the Scottish Resistance to your advantage. You can also plant stickybombs to the Horsemann's spawning point before he appears. This would deal a huge amount of damage in an instant.
• As the Engineer, Sentry Guns will not target the Horsemann. However, you can use the Wrangler to hurt and slow down the Horsemann. The Horsemann's is not affected by the Sentry Gun's knockback.
• As a Scout you can use Bonk! Atomic Punch if you are "it" to distract the Horsemann to aid your team although this would run out over time so caution is advised.
• The Horsemann has a specific search radius around the active control point. It is possible to stop him chasing you by running away from the control point and evading him until he loses interest in you. This will cause him to attack someone else, or if there is nobody in his search radius, to run back and stand upon the control point to await more victims.
• The control points are still active while The Horsemann is out. Use this time to take control of the point while the enemy is distracted!
• A strategy regarding RED on C is to stay as close as possible to spawn and retreat into the spawn as soon as a player on said team is 'IT'; this way, the HHH will spend most of the time chasing BLU, thus defending your point. This strategy works great with Sentry Guns aiming at the point.
• The Horsemann sees through the Spy's invisibility.
• Though the HHH can chase IT onto the roof of B, he cannot chase a player onto the roofs of the buildings near it, therefore it is still possible to deal damage without the risk of being killed.
• The Horsemann appears to be completely immune to most, if not all, status ailments such as being coated in Jarate, Mad Milk, afterburn, Natascha slowdown, The Sandman's ball, knockback, and headshots. However, the Horsemann is affected by Critical damage and damage ramp up/falloff.
• Like a building, the Horsemann does not activate any on-hit effects such as the Buff Banner's rage building, the healing of the Black Box or Blutsauger, or the damage text and hit sound.
• The Horsemann will attack anything blocking his path, this includes untargeted players and buildings. Keep in mind wrangled Sentry Guns can survive a few hits, allowing you and your team to profit from the distraction.
• The Horsemann runs as fast as a Scout.
• The Horsemann's target can trap him by standing on the ledge behind the wall of the shack on the rock outcrop. Standing there while targeted makes the Horsemann attack the wall of the shack and ignore all other players, including those attacking him with melee weapons. Using this method the "Gored!" scarechievement can be easily obtained.

Related Achievements

Sleepy Holl0WND Kill the Horseless Headless Horsemann. Reward: Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head

Gored! Collect the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Haunted Metal Scrap.

Gallery

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  The Horseless Headless Horsemann attacking some members of both teams

• 

  An in-game screenshot of the Horseless Headless Horsemann

Kill icon

See also: List of kill icons

Trivia

• The Horseless Headless Horsemann is a parody of the Headless Horseman from the story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving.
• A belt identical to The Horsemann's is attached to the Ghastlier Gibus.
• The Horseless Headless Horsemann's mechanics are similar to a community made mod called VS. Saxton Hale, in which everyone is on RED except Saxton Hale, who is able to instantly kill anybody with a single hit, as well as startle groups of enemies.
• The Horsemann appears to use 2 different Demoman animations, specifically, the Bottle animations when turning around on the spot to attack his next target and majority of the Eyelander animations for his attacks and movement.
• The Animation the Horsemann uses when walking changes depending on how much health he has. After he loses a certain percentage of health ( currently not known, presumably 50%) he stops using the Eyelander/Skullcutter walk animation (two handeded) and starts using the Bottle/Pain Train/Frying Pan walk animation(one handed).
• The Horsemann will not cause damage notifications to show up on any player's screen (the same applies with the hit sound).
• The Horsemann is purple and leaves a purple glow, perhaps referencing the fact that he is on neither RED or BLU and, therefore, targets both teams. Additionally, he leaves a trail of smoking purple footprints, allowing him to be easily tracked.
• By using the console command "ent_create headless_hatman", it's possible to spawn the Horseless Headless Horsemann in any map (requires cheats). However, like other bots, he won't move or attack unless the map has nav meshes. Another command to spawn the Horseless Headless Horsemann is the following command: tf_halloween_force_boss_spawn (requires cheats).
  • By using the former code to spawn multiple Horsemenn at once they will attack each other as well as players.
• The Horsemann kill's count as environmental deaths. Therefore achievements such as Foul Territory for the Scout can be achieved by stunning some one about to be killed by the Horsemann.

Presumably Silas Mann in the Mann family portrait. Notice that he is holding keys, and something is burning in the fireplace.

• The Horseless Headless Horsemann is referred to in the game files as "Hatman", presumably because of his role in providing the players with a free hat, should they kill him.
• The Horsemann has several unused animations that can be found in the game files. These include the "Cheers" thumbs up action and Medic calls. This is due to the Horsemann using many of the Demoman's original animations.
  • There is also an unused jump animation, also left over from the Demoman. This animation is unused as the Horsemann never actually jumps, though he will fall from a higher level if he is chasing someone. He will otherwise walk around height obstacles or change his target.
• Originally, it was possible to evade the Horsemann by staying on the roof of point B, as he would fall through the playerclip ladder. This was fixed in an update on October 28, 2010.
• While not identical, the symbol shared by both the belt of the HHH and the band of the Ghastlier Gibus strongly resembles the 'Mustachio' character icon from Left 4 Dead 2.