Stun
| “ | Nice catch, knucklehead!
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 rendered 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.
Contents
Sources
Sandman
With the Sandman equipped, the Scout gains the ability to stun opponents with his trusty baseball. By pressing alternate fire 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 miniguns will continue to spin when stunned (whether primary or alternate fire is pressed). The ability to stun opponents has lead to the controversial nature of using the Sandman, especially in competitive scenes.
Getting hit by a ball will damage the player 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. Pyros can compression blast a baseball and stun opponents if it hits.
Other
The initial stab of the Sniper's Skewer, the Medic's Spinal Tap, and the Engineer's Organ Grinder will fully 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 Ghosts on Halloween maps can scare players, as well as the Horseless Headless Horsemann's taunt on Mann Manor. This counts towards achievements as a stun, and also causes the Flying Guillotine to inflict crits.
In Mann vs. Machine, Sappers can be placed on robots to disable them. But unlike the 'scared' effect, this is an ordinary full stun, and can even trigger Sandman voice lines if the Spy placing the Sapper is disguised as a Scout. Giant robots are immune to being stunned, but will still receive slowdown from Sappers and the Sandman, and crits from the Flying Guillotine, for the duration of the effect. Additionally, all regular-sized robots on the map Mannhattan will automatically be stunned for approximately 20 seconds whenever a point is captured.
The Natascha and the Pyro's Compression blast are also able to stun players for a short time, granting the Flying Guillotine guaranteed crits during that time. These stuns do not disable the use of weapons on stunned opponents, unlike other forms of stunning. Subsequent compression blasts do not grant further stun on the target as of the Tough Break Update.
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
- These tests were done with bots. Stun times may be subject to random variance.
- The closest the Sandman can stun is 256 Hammer units / 16 feet.
- 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.
- Critical hits add 2 seconds to the normal stun duration.
- Mini-Crits do not affect stun duration.
- 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.
| Class | Stunned Speed | Original Speed |
|---|---|---|
 Scout
|
200v | 400v |
 Soldier
|
120v | 240v |
 Pyro
|
150v | 300v |
 Demoman
|
140v | 280v |
 Heavy
|
115v | 230v |
 Engineer
|
150v | 300v |
 Medic
|
160v | 320v |
 Sniper
|
150v | 300v |
 Spy
|
150v | 300v |
 Civilian
|
150v | 300v |
Demonstration
Related achievements
Scout
|
|
Soldier
 |
The Longest Daze Kill 5 stunned or slowed players. |
Update history
February 24, 2009 Patch (Scout Update)
- Added Stun mechanic.
December 17, 2015 Patch (Tough Break Update)
- Consecutive Airblasts will no longer prevent enemies from air-strafing until they touch the ground.
Bugs
- Being stunned while taunting allows a player to move at the reduced stun speed before the taunt's completion.
- It is possible to perform melee attacks while stunned with any of the Heavy's melee weapons via alt-fire.
- It is possible to perform melee attacks while stunned with the Disciplinary Action.
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.
- While stunned it is possible to taunt, which can be used as a last ditch attack if you have a taunt-killing weapon equipped and your enemy is close enough.
- Should a Sniper with an arrow drawn, or a Soldier charging a Cow Mangler 5000 or reloading a Beggar's Bazooka be stunned, their shot will be released as if normally fired and may injure or kill opponents.
- It is possible to still keep reloading if the player reloads before getting stunned.
- A Heavy can rev up his primary weapons while stunned.
Class Gallery
See also
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