Class Counters (Competitive)

A "counter" is a matchup where one class have an advantage over another one (especially if both players are on a similar skill level). As such, if a class such as Sniper counters the Heavy for an example, then, it means the Sniper has an advantage over the Heavy.

There is three types of counters in the game :

• Neutral Counter (or Situational Counter) :
  • Matchups that can't really be considered to be advantageous for both classes (neutral matchups) fall into that category.
  • It is the most polarizing type of counter since it implies both classes have to wield properties of their own that can be mutually abused by both parties.
  • Neutral Counters shouldn't be confused with Mirror matchups (Also known as Dittos), where two players are using the same class to fight against each other, like the classic Soldier VS Soldier matchup to mention one example.
• Soft Counter (or Light Counter) :
  • Matchups which give a slight advantage to one class against one another fall into that category.
  • In these scenarios, classes that are at a soft disadvantage can still reliably deal against the opponent that have the advantage, but the amount of effort and teamwork required to do so may be tougher than usual.
• Hard Counter :
  • Matchups where classes have a clear advantage against another one, and generally can easily exploit the disadvantaged class weaknesses without having to worry as much about getting punished in the long run can fall into that category.
  • This type of matchup tends to be more common with "specialist" classes, since they're the ones that tend to boast the most noticeable weaknesses to make up for their drastic strengths (Heavy and Sniper are noticeable examples).

(Note that these counters will mostly apply to Competitive Play.)

Scout Counters

A short-range, glass-cannon archetype, the Scout usually seems to get an advantage against classes that can't reliably to react to his approaches or aren't mobile enough to beat him in a neutral scenario, while classes that possesses tools that somewhat hinder his mobility or make it his speed not as reliable for dodging their own attacks are more inclined to beat him in a typical stand-off.

Neutral Counters

•  Pyro
  • The Scout can reliably outrange the Pyro, and therefore score hits without getting damaged by their primary or being combo'd by their secondaries when engaging with them in a more open area.
  • However, at close range, Pyroes can also reliably hit and outdamage the Scout thanks to their automatic fire primary, which forces him to respect the effective area of said class. If the Scout fails to do so, he may actually get punished by the Pyro itself.
  • Afterburn can be easily denied through the usage of the Mad Milk (although it is banned from most whitelists), or grabbing a medpack, which is easier to reach since the Scout always moves 33% faster than the average class.
•  Demoman
  • Scout's overall mobility allows him to not only engage in and out of fight against a Demo, but also pick him from all sorts of routes, given that they weren't trapped beforehand.
    • Also, pipes can be reliably evaded by a Scout thanks to that same mobility he wields, although his low health pool means he have somewhat of a low tolerance threshold towards unsuccessful attempts at dodging these.
  • The Scout's primaries are especially potent at dealing against classes who aren't designed to fight at close range, which obviously benefits him once he gets to approach the Demo since his stickies aren't designed to be used at point blank, and any of his explosives also deals self-damage.
•  Heavy
  • While the Heavy both outclasses the Scout in terms of damage, health, and even range, his somewhat predictable automatic-fire hitscan can allow the Scout to effectively approach him and score a kill if said primary isn't deployed yet.
  • Since the two classes have a huge gap in mobility (77% VS. 133%), it is very easy for a Scout to choose when to fight the Heavy or to escape when things go sour.
    • On a similar note, Scouts will be able to grab medpacks with much more ease than the Heavy, which can be exploited during longer fights.
  • The Flying Guillotine and the Wrap Assassin's bauble can both be used to pressure the Heavy from afar and deal a free amount of damage without taking risks, which can in turn make the approach easier for the Scout since a non-overhealed Heavy can then be forced into a situation where he's forced to fight at a disadvantaged state.
•  Medic
  • The Scout's base mobility and strong damage pool at close range allows him to effectively disable a Medic when successfully flanked or pressured, although the healing properties of his Medigun can make his partner a pain to deal with in return, which can directly hinder his ability to pick the Medic overall.
    • The Back Scatter, while having 4 ammo instead of 6 in it's primary clip, can also mini-crit opponents when being shot in the back, which can be used to secure a frag more quickly, especially if you're a flank Scout.

Soft Counters

•  Sniper
  • Despite being unable to tank a single uncharged headshot when not overhealed, Scout's mobility still allows him to reliably take advantage of the map's geometry to evade the Sniper's field of view under most circumstances, and makes him more difficult to snipe than any other class.
  • The low mobility that Sniper possesses means he will have a harder time evading the Scout if he manages to get an approach on him.
  • The bleeding effect (Which can be accessed through the use of the Flying Guillotine, the Boston Basher or even the Wrap Assassin's bauble) forces the Sniper to flinch, which both throws his aim off and reduces his current health pool over time, which can be easily exploited by a class that wields both high mobility and a smaller hitbox such as the Scout.
  • Bonk! Atomic Punch prevents the Scout from being sniped.
•  Spy
  • Scout's mobility allows him to evade backstabs / trickstabs more easily, and even dodge the revolver's bullets altogether, making him able to outdamage the Spy reliably.
  • While a Spy can disguise as a Scout to throw the enemy's Sniper off (His hitbox doesn't change when he disguises, allowing him to "lie" about the actual position of his head), the drastic difference in raw speed between the two classes essentially gives his identity away to a careful team.
  • Weapons that causes a bleeding effect and can be used to spycheck, preventing the Spy from outsmarting the Scout as reliably as it would be the case with a few other matchups.
    • The Mad Milk can also be used for the same purpose, although it should be noted that, again, it is banned from most conventional whitelists.
  • In a similar fashion, any critical / mini-crits effects can be used to reveal an invisible Spy (through the text that pops up above his head when he gets hit), which can be accessed through the use of the Crit-a-Cola and/or the Back Scatter.
    • By extension, a non-overhealed Spy can get one-shot by a clean mini-crit meatshot if he isn't invisible (the cloak 20% superarmor can potentially save him, although it is unreliable at best).

Soldier Counters

A "jack-of-all-trade" explosive class, the Soldier possesses a wide array of tools that can be used to stand his own ground against all sorts of matchups. While he may not directly possess a matchup that could be considered to be drastically "advantageous" on his own side, his overall versatility can make him peculiarly threatening against classes that rely on more predictable strategies to score a win.

Neutral Counter

•  Pyro
  • The limited range of the flamethrower can be abused by a Soldier, although airblast can both drastically reduce the amount of pressure that the Soldier can potentially put out if he's solely using his primary as a means of attacking, and it can even hit him back if he's not cautious enough.
  • Shotguns can however be used to pressure the Pyro without having to worry about his reflects as much as usual, although the Pyro can also take advantage of it by effectively approaching you, and even starting combos if you are poorly positioned, relative to it.

Soft Counters

•  Scout
  • Despite having a strong base mobility, a Scout will somewhat struggle to avoid the radius of the rocket's explosions, which can make you a harder target to approach for said Scout
  • Rocket Jumping can be used to reliably chase the Scout down if he attempts to make an escape, making his chances of survival somewhat dependent on the map's collisions and his ability to outmaneuver the Soldier, which is unreliable at best.
•  Engineer
  • Buildings are normally easier to destroy for a Soldier thanks to the splash damage property of his own primary, as well as the strong raw damage value a single rocket can put out against a target.
  • A Soldier can reliably steal ammo supplies thanks to his jumping capabilities, which can somewhat limit an Engineer's capacity to repair his buildings when being put under pressure by him.
  • The sheer knockback a sentry can put out on a single target however means the Soldier will have a hard time bombing anything for as long as the building is in the area, which forces him to play at the Engineer's pace to even succeed a push.
    • And the stronger the sentry is, the worse it obviously will be for the Soldier to get a punish game in any reliable capacity.
•  Sniper
  • A grounded Soldier can easily be headshotted by a Sniper, but the usage of a Rocket Jump in any form can not only allow him to be a harder target to hit in the said matchup, but he can also approach him more easily and without being as predictable as a class that have limited to no access to similar jumping techniques, making the Soldier overall not as easy to pick if he's experienced.
  • Splash damage can be used to pressure the Sniper, even at longer ranges, which somewhat forces him to reposition himself if he's fired off by a Solly.
  • The Sniper can't aim if he's in mid-air, which can be abused by a Soldier who can, through the knockback of his own rockets, prevent the Sniper from dealing headshots at all.
•  Spy
  • While his base mobility of 240Hu/s (80% of the average class speed) should normally make him an easy picking for the Spy, his ability to reposition himself at any moment through the use of Rocket Jumping actually makes him a really hard class to backstab due to his unpredictable movement options.
  • A revealed Spy both wields a lower health pool, damage pool and general mobility than that of a Soldier, which can make him really vulnerable against them once he scores a pick (for an example, a Medic).
  • The Cow Mangler 5000, a weapon who is banned in 6s but allowed in Highlander, can be used to spycheck thanks to its charged shot feature that can set the targets who got hit on fire.
    • Similarly, the Buff Banner can also reveal a Spy's position when activated, since all targets who got hit by mini-crits will always have a text appear above their head, regardless of if they're invisible or not.

Pyro Counters

Neutral Counters

•  Scout
  • While a Scout generally can pressure and outrange a Pyro when fighting in more open spaces, it should be taken into account that the masked maniac has both a superior health pool and damage output, which can be used to reliably punish him if he gets too close to the Pyro (Most notably, in flank routes and KOTH maps).
  • The Detonator can be used to reliably pressure and even finish a Scout if he attempts to run away after an unsuccessful fight.
    • With it, the Pyro can also use the Flare Jump technique to track him down and secure a kill if the former strategy couldn't be applied in time.
  • In a similar fashion, any shotguns or the Flare Gun can be used to combo the Scout and effectively take him down.
•  Soldier
  • Soldier can both outrange, outdamage and even outspeed Pyro, but the usage of airblast can allow them to not only virtually prevent the enemy Soldier from using his primary altogether, but it can also prevent him from approaching the Pyro or their teammates in scenarios that could otherwise have been a pick for the opposing team.
    • Airblast can also be used to attack the Soldier's teammates, which creates even greater pressure, as there might always be the eventuality that a deflected rocket can potentially be used to kill any of the enemy's teammates.
  • Any flare gun can deployed and fired to pressure the Soldier from longer distances, and it goes without saying that Pyro can also finish an approaching Soldier through the usage of both combos and afterburn.
•  Medic
  • The effects of afterburn, while not being as efficient for pressuring the Medic (thanks to his passive regen), can still be very useful for crippling his healing capabilities, since burning foes have a passive healing beam debuff that last until they're not under the effects of fire anymore.
  • The airblast can be used to push an Übercharge away (with the exception of the Quick-Fix) from the objective or a strategic point, which gives the Pyro a pretty solid amount of potential to essentially deny one the strongest options in the Medic's arsenal.
    • It can also be used to either lock the Medic into corners, where he cannot escape, or both stage hazards or void, which can be used for cheesing an Übercharge reset on the enemy side.
•  Sniper
  • Despite the fact the Sniper wields both a superior picking potential and range, the Pyro can still effectively pressure him from any range through the use of any flare guns, which can flinch the Sniper, and in turn hinder his kill potential, although the Sniper can also somewhat counter this strategy by using the Darwin's Danger Shield.
    • By extension, any Bushwacka users is passively more vulnerable to fire damage, which can be specifically abused by the Pyro itself.
  • Despite being a worse option for pure combat (mostly because Pyro relies a lot on combat-focused secondaries to pose a threat in the longer run), the Thermal Thruster can still be used to reliably approach or flank an enemy Sniper, and eventually kill him.

Soft Counter

•  Demoman
  • Since the Demo possesses by default two "primaries" that both fires explosive projectiles that can be deflected through airblasting, the Pyro can severely hinder the Demoman's potential to pick and pressure targets altogether.
  • The usage of any flare guns can reliably pressure the Demo and prevent him from using Sticky Jumping as a mean of escape (since his reduced health pool may kill him in the process).
    • Also, despite being banned from the 6s global whitelist, as well as both the North-American and the European Highlander whitelist altogether, the Scorch Shot can also be used to pressure the Demo from even greater distances thanks to it's splash damage, and on top of it, destroy his own stickies (Despite having this special property mentioned nowhere in the secondary's stats).
  • Despite the fact shields always give a passive resistance against fire, charges can be nullified through the usage of airblast, which makes true Demoknighting undesirable against Pyroes overall.

Hard Counter

•  Spy
  • The Flame Thrower's afterburn can be used to reveal the Spy's position, and its automatic firing property also prevents him from just simply dodging his way through waves of projectiles and single-fire hitscan weapons.
    • And if the Spy manages to escape the reach of the Pyro's primary, he can still use any flare gun to extend the duration of the afterburn, and even finish him off.
  • The Powerjack can be used to outspeed a Spy on the run, making it in theory impossible for him to escape a Pyro once he's revealed by it.
  • The usage of the Dead Ringer can be nullified through either the use of airblast to block the Spy into a corner, or pushing him into either a stage hazard or the void.
  • Even though sappers can be a pain to deal with for fellow Engineers overall, Pyroes can simply prevent the Spy from sapping if it uses either the Neon Annihilator or the Homewrecker.

Demo Counters

An explosive class with great crowd-control capabilities and a wide array of both defensive and offensive options alike, the Demo does a better job at pressuring a target while taking advantage of the map geometry itself, which in turn makes him better against classes who are naturally slower, whether it may be because of their statistics, or their general game plan.

Neutral Counters

•  Scout
  • Stickies can be used to not only condition the Scout into somewhat unfavorable positions, but they can also be used to setup traps that the same Scout may not predict, and therefore die against when the Scout gets within reach of said trap.
    • The Quickiebomb Launcher can also be used to deal with him at closer ranges, which can gimp his potential to pressure you even more.
  • Pipes, while being somewhat unreliable against a fast target, still deals a hefty amount of damage that the Scout can't afford himself to tank out in the longer run, so being able to call out on his moves and then land pipes can prove itself to be a reliable strategy, although it mostly applies to higher divisions.
•  Spy
  • Stickies can be used to pressure a Spy with some degree of ease, whether he is revealed or not, which can even lead to a kill confirm.
  • Most of the melee weapons the Demo can wield have possesses extended range property, which can be used to downright outmaneuver a Spy in scenarios where he attempts to score a stab on you, all without receiving self-damage from your primary or secondary.

Soft Counters

•  Soldier
  • The slow ground mobility that Soldiers have can make them somewhat easier targets to hit with when using the Grenade Launcher.
  • Stickies can reliably be used against Soldiers as a mean to either stuff their landing when they're in mid-air, or rack up damage against them when they're moving on the ground, where they're at their slowest.
  • Since shields always have a passive damage resistance against explosions, it shouldn't be mentioned that hybrid Demos (Demos who equip a grenade launcher alongside a shield) are generally harder to kill since they become drastically less vulnerable to the effects of the Rocket Launcher overall.
•  Heavy
  • A Heavy without overheal can die in three, easy to land pipes from his grenade launcher if he's playing without overheal.
    • It should be taken into account though that if the Heavy either uses the Dalokohs Bar, or is spinning either the Natascha or the Brass Beast, the minimum amounts of pipes required to take him down becomes four (five if the Heavy stacked the two aforementioned effects together), which drastically reduces the margin of error required for a Demo to win the matchup.
  • Stickies can be used to pressure him without risking much retaliation from the hulking Russian.
    • The Stickybomb Launcher can also be used to finish a Heavy off if he's low on HP (especially if he tanked a few pipes out before).
  • The Loose Cannon can be used to severely hinder the approaches from the Heavy and lower his effective damage pool by forcing him out into an unfavorable position.

Hard Counter

•  Engineer
  • Due to the powerful damage output the Demo is capable of dishing out at mid-range from both his primary and secondary, all while being capable of avoiding exposition of an Engineer's building, it is therefore fairly easy for him to destroy what is arguably the most important tools that an Engie may have access to within his kit, and thus nullify the very thing that makes the Engineer a threat under normal cirumstances.
    • Also, unless the Engineer manually changes a building's position by either getting close to it or by using the Rescue Ranger to grab it from afar or the Short Circuit to destroy a trap (which are both very costly options that the opponent cannot afford to spam), the Engineer have a somewhat limited range of options to prevent stickies from doing their job, which makes these really efficient to open up the line of defense that an Engineer may attempt to setup and maintain.
    • If you also add pipes into the mix, there's not much an Engineer can do to save a building from an opposing Demoman, given that he gets to approach a building while the Engineer is out of range to protect it.
  • The Engineer on his own also has fairly limited ways to deal with a Demoman, since his shotgun can be easily outranged and outdamage by his both his Grenade launcher and StickyBomb Launcher, but on top of it, the Engineer also lacks any type of movement options that he could apply to consistently escape, and his lower health pool means that he is much more vulnerable to pressure that the scotsman may deliver upon his enemy thanks to splash damage.
    • Technically, the Engineer could still attempt to Sentry Jump or Circuit Jump, but even these options are a notable commitment that are by all means to use unreliable, since the former requires the Engineer to be close to a functioning sentry that needs to be wrangled, all while being high on health (which generally won't happen if in a pinch against a Demoman), while the latter requires the Engineer to basically hug the Demo to potentially net a de-facto blast jump, that even then, will cost metal, and probably kill the Engineer if he got hit with a pipe beforehand.

Heavy Counters

Neutral Counters

•  Scout
  • An approaching Scout generally wants to close the gap between him and the Heavy to reliably to score a kill, which can be prevented by either preemptively deploying your primary and applying pressure to the attacking Scout, or covering your teammates back for additional protection.
  • While being a banned weapon in 6s, the Natascha's slowing bullets can threaten the Scout's mobility by a huge margin, and effectively make the matchup drastically more easier to handle overall.
  • The Huo-Long Heater can also be a surprisingly effective option to counterplay the Scout, since the ring of fire will force him to take an undesirable decision to either get out of range of said ring (which is actually his worst option in this scenario, since it means the Heavy will have a significantly easier time tracking him down), or, more logically, play the matchup as usual by finding an opening to reliably get as close as he can be from the russian heavyweight, all while using his mobility to evade his bullets, but even then, it still means that he will have to take guaranteed damage from the ring, which can potentially combo with its bullets if the Heavy manages to track him down, which in turn means it drastically reduces the margin of error in which a Scout can engage in this scenario.
•  Spy
  • While the Spy can easily chew through the Heavy's health pool thanks to his one-hit kill backstab, his primary also makes for a very reliable spy-checking tool due to the strong firing rate and damage pool it offers, especially against an approaching Spy.
    • The Natascha's is an even better option to keep an eye on the Spy since the slowing bullets properties of it will prevent the Spy from quickly escaping, which is something he may have had desperately needed if other allies were onto him at that moment.
    • While the Huo-Long Heater doesn't guarantee that a potential target will get burned if in theoretical range, due to its ring of fire not covering enough height, thus allowing the Spy to jump above it for a clean backstab, it however still represent a much bigger risk for him to engage against a Heavy using this primary, since whiffing a stab means guaranteed afterburn, which is arguably a very unfavorable state for a Spy to be in, especially when they are within the kill range of a minigun that deals additionnal damage against burning targets.
  • Shockingly, shotguns can prove to be a surprisingly useful option against escaping Spies, since they can be used on an instant without committing to a spinning animation while slowing down to a crawl, and that additionnally, the bigger health pool that Heavy boasts means it'll be harder for a Spy to contest his presence through the use of his revolver since the Heavy now have the option to chase him, on top of his natural ability to easily take damage.
    • If you worry about being the Heavy's slow movement speed being a hinderance for chasing Spies without commiting to your primary, it can also be smart to use the Gloves of Running Urgently since it'll increase the user's movement speed, while allowing him to easily switch to his secondary, since the holster penalty that these gloves wields can be nullified by slipping a swift primary deploy before transitioning to the secondary, thus increasing the potential for pressure that a Heavy may showcase against revealed Spies.

Soft Counters

•  Soldier
  • The sheer amount of knockback a Heavy primary can put out on a target can be used to severely hinder a Soldier's bombing potential, and at close range, the Heavy both outclasses the Soldier in health and kill power, which can advantage him in face-to-face duels.
  • Even if a Soldier fires an entire clip of rockets against a non-overhealed Heavy, the target can still survive by virtue that rockets are still affected by damage falloff, which in turn forces the Soldier to engage with the Heavy at closer range, which generally leads to a disadvantageous scenario due to the reasons mentioned above.
  • The GRU allows the Heavy to outrun a Soldier and chase him down, which either forces the Soldier to re-engage with the Heavy in an unfavorable fight, or pull out a Rocket Jump to save himself, which is somewhat of a risky technique to use when applied in an escape scenario (Unless he uses the Gunboats).
•  Engineer
  • A Heavy can destroy a Level 1 / 2 Sentry in a face to face encounter reliably, and he can even beat a Level 3 if he gets close enough to it, making the Sentry somewhat not as threatening as expected in this matchup.
    • Also, given that the Heavy can't reach the Sentry, or that if he attempts to do it, he may be picked by the enemy team, he can still constantly pressure any buildings from any range without having to worry about damage falloff, which can make this class a pain to deal with for the Engineer.
    • On another note, since the Brass Beast possesses a higher DPS as well as a superarmor statistic that can be used against any other matchups, the Heavy can also use this primary to essentially pressure the Engineer's building even more, and increase his chances of destroying them, which can be advantageous for the team overall.
  • Since every miniguns boast a tremendous damage pool at close range, it's possible for a Heavy to "trap" a teleporter by deploying his primary right next to it, killing every classes that makes the mistake of taking said teleporter, which also includes the Engineer himself.
    • In this scenario, if you want to trap a teleporter without being called out by the enemy team, using the Tomislav will be better overall. If you want to get your picks as quickly as possible while gaining additional durability in case you're getting eventually pressured off, use the Brass Beast instead.

Hard Counter

•  Pyro
  • The Heavy have both a higher health pool and a better damage output at close range, which makes him able to beat a Pyro without much trouble if the masked maniac can't escape him on time.
  • Since his primaries also arguably outrange the Pyro's own flame throwers, the Heavy can also pressure them out of position, while the Pyro can at the very best pressure him back with their flare guns, although to a lesser extent due these weapons being projectiles whose damage output seem limited in comparison to what any of the Heavy's primary is capable of doing.
  • Using the Tomislav can also prevent the Pyro from knowing where you are, which can be used to effectively approach them and get the pick before he even has time to react.
  • If the Heavy is under the effects of afterburn and is out of range from any form of healing source that could save him from potential death due to the fact he may be low on health, he can however still prevent this effect from killing him outright by simply eating one of his many lunchboxes (with the exception of the Buffalo Steak Sandvich) to restore health, and thus potentially nullifying an additional threat that the Pyro can normally use to pressure their foes.

Engineer Counters

Hard Counters

•  Scout
  • Since sentries can aim at the closest target with near perfect accuracy, Scouts can't really do much to evade the sheer amount of pressure being put out by these buildings, aside from using the Bonk! Atomic Punch, which, while it can be used to hinder the Engineer's pressuring capabilities in the longer run, still remains a niche option that mostly remains used for the sheer purpose of blocking enemy fire.
  • A teleporter can be used to help the Engineer's teammates roll to a strategic area much more quickly, which can somewhat minimize the utility of having a Scout roll to the same area with more ease (thanks to his raw speed) since a single Scout can potentially deal with multiple teleported foes at once (that is, if the Scout's teammates are at a disadvantage, and have no teleporter of their own).
  • A Widowmaker user can effectively both use his buildings and a potentially infinite clip to fight the Scout back, which in turn can make a face-to-face encounter especially threatening for the said foe.
•  Pyro
  • Pyroes normally lack the range to reliably fight a sentry back, which can be easily exploited by a competent Engineer by either pressuring them with the usage of either Mini-Sentries or Level 1's, or in the worst case, downright prevent him from accessing entire chunks of the map with Level 2 or 3's.
  • The Engineer can also use both the map collisions and his own buildings to cover himself from the flares that a Pyro can fire, which overall makes him a tougher class to burn.
  • Also, since buildings are immune to the effects of afterburn, it goes without saying that flare guns are wildly inefficient against buildings of any kind, which in turn means that the Pyro can only reliably harass the Engineer at close range in most situations, which also means they'll be obviously exposed to sentries.

Medic Counters

While the Medic's ability to fight is pretty underwhelming when compared to the other playable classes in the roster, he still more than makes up for it by having supporting and healing capabilities that not only allows him to have a great synergy with the other playable classes in the game, but also severely hinder the other classes ability to fight him and his teammates back, which in turn makes the Medic arguably the most consistently dangerous class in the entire game, not thanks to his ability to fight, but his capacity to enhance the fight.

Neutral Counters

•  Scout
  • While the Scattergun definitely can pose a legitimate threat at close range, it should be considered that being being able to heal your teammates up to a 150% of their total health pool (Overheal) not only does drastically increases their chances of survival, but also forces the Scout to respect your position, since any unconsidered approach may lead to their death by the hand of your own healed-up ally.
  • The Crusader's Crossbow can be used to pressure and even finish off an enemy Scout at longer ranges, while any syringe gun can also be applied to some extent to defend yourself at closer ranges.
    • The Overdose can be used to increase your mobility, and therefore reposition yourself with more ease towards medpacks and teammates alike, which can condition the enemy Scout into, again, refraining himself from approaching you in the longer run.
  • Since the Scout's effective range is relatively low, it is also somewhat not so hard to bait the Scout into melee range, which can help with scoring kills, and even gain an Über advantage when pulling these types of strategies while wielding the Übersaw.
•  Pyro
  • Overheal can effectively be applied to not only save teammates from a reflected projectile, but also from the effects of afterburn, which are normally essential parts of the Pyro's game plan.
  • The passive regeneration stat that the Medic wields can also reduce the effectiveness of the afterburn on them, since it cannot be applied to kill them as reliably as it may be the case with other matchups.
    • The Amputator's also increases this very same statistic when deployed, which in turn also makes users of this melee weapon even less vulnerable to this effect overall.
    • Since Medics are also high-priority targets, and therefore better protected when around competent teammates, it is also pretty usual (if not customary) for Heavies with an equipped lunchbox to just toss it to a burning Medic, thus stopping the effects of the afterburn altogether.
    • Additionally, taunting with the Kritzkrieg can give a pinch of health back to its user, which, while it still means the Medic has to commit to an unskippable animation in order to gain such a small effect, it can, however, in niche situations, save him from potential death when no other option is readily available.
  • Respectively, the Vaccinator can be used to cripple the damage pool of the Pyro in general, while the Übercharge of the Quick-Fix is invincible to the effects of airblast (or simply knockback for that matter), which can both be applied to make the Pyro easier to pick.
    • Both of these weapons are however banned from most 6s whitelists, although the most recent whitelists in the Highlander format allow for their usage instead, which should be taken into account when elaborating strategies with the rest of the team.

Soft Counters

•  Heavy
  • The Crusader's Crossbow can be used to pressure the Heavy from any range, which is also easier to pull out since this class both have a slow mobility and a primary that can only be deployed after a specific amount of ticks, allowing the Medic to apply zoning without having to worry about an actual punish in most circumstances.
  • Overhealing and healing effectively makes zoning with any minigun somewhat redundant to perform, and it also gives teammates (Most notably, explosive classes) a better shot at fighting the Heavy from closer ranges without being able to put out as much of a consistent punish, despite having a strong damage pool at close range.
  • The Heavy generally have a harder time escaping Übercharges due to his base ground mobility, although his tanking capabilities and the GRU can somewhat make up for his somewhat linear means of evading the combo in these situations.

Hard Counters

•  Engineer
  • The healing and overhealing properties of the Medigun allows the Medic and his patient to push through a Sentry, and therefore limit the kill power and crowd control potential that said building may pose in the longer run.
    • Additionally, the effects of the Übercharge can deny a sentry with a successful push, which can force the Engineer to either reposition himself or let his sentry be destroyed by the opposing team.

Sniper Counters

Neutral Counter

•  Pyro
  • The drastic difference in range between the two classes can be exploited by the Sniper to effectively keep the pressure on the enemy Pyro.
  • The Darwin's Danger Shield stat boosts it grants to the user not only does make pressuring with the flare guns near useless, but it also effectively hinders the kill power that the Pyro may also wield against a Sniper if he gets an approach, although the Pyro can also counter the use of this secondary back through the usage of shotguns or their wide array of melee weapons.

Soft Counters

•  Demoman
  • Without the use of movement options that can't be applied as often such as Sticky Jumping or Trimping (relative to the more accessible Rocket Jump), the Demoman combination of only having a slightly above average health pool and a below average ground mobility can make him somewhat vulnerable to the shots of the Sniper.
  • Pipes have a somewhat limited range, which can be exploited by the Sniper to effectively bait the Demo into a scenario where he will struggle to reliably score a kill, while the Sniper himself can on the other side headshot him, and even use his SMG as a finisher if the fight becomes tougher than expected.
•  Engineer
  • Snipers can pressure buildings from afar and reliably destroy them, even if they're essentially "invincible" to headshots.
  • Engineers repairing their building from melee range can be easier to pick since their movement becomes much more predictable in the long run, although they can also use their buildings as a form of protection to a limited extent.

Hard Counters

•  Heavy
  • The slow mobility of the Heavy can make him an easy target to headshot, although his larger health pool will require the Sniper to either aim for a longer amount of time, or fire at him at multiple instances if he wants to get a kill confirm.
  • Since the Heavy gets drastically outranged by the Sniper, and he doesn't possesses much options to quickly contest his presence, it essentially becomes a requirement for him to respect his position and only get an approach if the Sniper is at range of being hit by his weapons without facing lethal retaliation, which can potentially happen, although the approach can be also be predicted and shut down by a Sniper under proper communication.
•  Medic
  • A fully charged bodyshot and/or an uncharged headshot can both one-hit kill a non-overhealed Medic, which is especially useful since it means the Sniper is able to potentially reset an Übercharge counter down to 0% with a single tap.
  • The Sniper can still pressure and even one-shot an opposing player, regardless of overhealing, which can somewhat hinder the Medic's ability to help his teammates pressure their opponents down since the health boost granted by him, while still being helpful, isn't gonna be as threatening with a class that can potentially one-shot any member of the team.

Spy Counters

Neutral Counters

•  Demoman
  • Demos being naturally slightly slower on the ground and generally not nearly as unpredictable movement-wise (in part, due to how the stickies work), can make him somewhat more predictable to score a backstab against.
  • Any invisibility watch can be used to essentially pass through sticky traps and call their coordinates out to the rest of the team, which can hinder the Demos potential to cheese kills outs with their own explosives.
•  Heavy
  • The Heavy presents both a huge hitbox, slow movement speed (especially when firing with his primary) and a somewhat lower lethal range, which can make him a prime target for backstabs and trickstabs alike, however...
  • His strong firing rate and damage pool can make him potentially a pain to deal with for the Spy if he isn't already distracted by another event happening during the round, such as the objective being contested, an attacking flanker, or a sack wave to mention a few examples.
  • While the Huo-Long Heater's ring of fire can be jumped above for a safe stab that doesn't burn the Spy's feet, it should also be taken into account that any failed attempt at backstabbing a Heavy using this primary may result in said Spy being both revealed and vulnerable to the enemy team.

Soft Counters

•  Engineer
  • His ability to both deny buildings through the use of sappers, and destroy them even more quickly when being applied in conjunction to a revolver of any type makes him a reliable class for nullyfing the supporting capabilities an Engineer can bring on the table.
  • He can both use dispensers and teleporters from the teammate he disguised himself as, which allows him to effectively use the Engineer's own contraptions to replenish himself and reposition around the map, making him even more unpredictable than usual.
  • Sentries do not spycheck if the Spy is disguised and/or invisible, and the Engineer himself has somewhat limited options to spycheck, with any of his typical shotguns (which includes the Panic Attack and the Widowmaker) being the most consistent, while the Pistol can somewhat help for chip damage, while the Short Circuit can make an orb that can hit the Spy consecutively, although even this tool is limited by the fact that the Spy can just run to a direction different from the trajectory the Energy Orb is currently taking, all while the Engineer kneecaps his metal count even further, thus making the Engineer's spycheck potential kind of a gamble.
•  Sniper
  • Due to the fact the Sniper's possesses both low mobility and tunnel-vision when he's scoping through Sniper Rifle, the Sniper can become somewhat of an easy pick for a Spy when he's attempting to himself pick a member of the said Spy's team.
  • While the Razorback can definitely be used to prevent the target from being backstabbed, it also goes without saying that a Spy can also reliably use his Revolver to score a quick kill on the Sniper, who is now without any secondary to pressure the Spy out in this scenario.
  • Disguises can be used to fool a Sniper about the Spy's true hitbox, which in turn can give him a harder time scoring a kill if the Sniper managed to find the Spy out before he could have being picked out by him.
    • The Scout disguise is actually the most notable case of the Spy using this specific visual trick, since the hunched-over pose the Scout tend to adopt while he is wielding a firearm means he has a shorter stance when compared to his father, despite a simple conversion of Hammer Units into real-life measurements revealing that the Scout is approximately 5'10"/177cm tall, and thus technically the 3rd shortest class in the game (behind the Pyro and the Engineer), and in actuality a character with an hitbox size not too different from the Spy.
      • Due to these aforementioned reasons, it also explains why the Pyro, while being technically shorter, is actually a worse disguise to use for this trick, since their stance actually doesn't pose much of a difference when compared to the somewhat more upstanding Spy.
    • While being a much less usual disguise to use, the Engineer is also really useful for this trick, since his upstanding pose is made by the fact he is arguably the shortest character in the game by far, with an effective height of approximately 5'6"/167cm, which is significantly shorter to the Spy.

Hard Counter

•  Medic
  • The Medic doesn't possesses much options to effectively pressure a Spy aside from his own melee, and a single backstab can one-shot him, which effectively resets his Übercharge, and at the same time, put his whole team at a disadvantage.
  • Overhealing can be bypassed by the Spy, who can potentially one-tap any class in the game, given that he gets a backstab on his target.
    • In a similar fashion, the Spy can also bypass the resistances buffs that can be brought out by the Vaccinator by either scoring a backstab again, or using the Enforcer.
  • The Disguise Kit can be used to know what loadout the Medic is currently using, which can make counter-strategies easier to setup for the team receiving the said information.
  • A Medic can also be tricked by a Spy into healing him, which can be exploited for getting short-term healing, and even getting escape, on top of the psychological warfare that may have been induced on the Medic that got outsmarted.

See also

• Competitive item restrictions