Stickybomb Launcher
“ | Ye appear to 'ave trodden on a mine!
Click to listen
— The Demoman
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” |
The Stickybomb Launcher (labeled confusingly in the game files as a Pipe bomb launcher), is the default secondary weapon for the Demoman. It appears as a modified Template:W with a large magazine and wide barrel.
This weapon launches small spiked bombs that adhere to almost any surface, but bounce off enemy players, buildings, and certain map entities such as spawn gates or carts. Stickybombs do not explode on contact, but instead are detonated manually with secondary fire. The bombs disappear harmlessly in a white flash if the owner dies or if they are hit by bullets, syringes, melee attacks, or explosions caused by Scottish Resistance Stickybombs. Up to eight Stickybombs can be placed at one time; the oldest Stickybomb detonates when the player tries to deploy a ninth bomb. The total number of bombs in place on the map is shown in the HUD.
Should a Stickybomb be hit by an explosion or compression blast from any enemy weapon bar the Scottish Resistance, it is pushed away, but does not detonate. The Stickybombs are otherwise unharmed by the force of the blast. Stickybomb explosions deal splash damage: there is a blast radius falloff that causes less damage to be done the greater the distance a target is from the center of an explosion, even for critical hits. Note that sticky explosions can juggle targets for more damage.
The Demoman can also use Stickybombs to propel himself into the air. Unlike the Soldier, however, the self-damage incurred by such a tactic is much higher; sometimes as much as half of a Demoman's total health.
Stickybombs are fired from the launcher at 805 Hammer units per second, around 34 miles per hour. By holding down primary fire, the launcher can be charged up to launch a Stickybomb over greater distances. A meter below the ammo count will show how much force is behind the Stickybomb, and the launcher will begin to tremble when it reaches its maximum strength. If the charge bar fills completely, the sticky will fire automatically. A fully charged Stickybomb travels at a speed equivalent to approximately 230% of that of an uncharged one. It should be noted that Stickybombs will not be 100% accurate in where they land.
Contents
Damage and function times
Damage and function times | ||
---|---|---|
Shot type | Projectile | |
Damage | ||
Maximum ramp-up | 115% | 138 |
Base damage | 100% | 120 |
Maximum fall-off | 50% | 60 |
Critical | 6 ft: 180 3 ft: 261 Under: 353 | |
Mini-crit | 162 | |
Splash damage | ||
Minimum splash | 50% | 10 ft |
Damage reduction | 1% / 3.18 | |
Splash damage range | 6 ft: 47-90 3 ft: 60-124 Under: 103-138 | |
Self-damage | 45-114 | |
Function times | ||
Attack interval | 0.6 s | |
Reload (first) | 1.09 s | |
Reload (consecutive) | 0.67 s | |
Activation time | 0.67 s | |
Maximum charge time | 4.00 s | |
Values are approximate and determined by community testing. |
Demonstration
Related achievements
Soldier
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Pyro
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Demoman
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Heavy
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Engineer
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Update history
- Fixed prediction error that caused jittery Stickybomb Launcher behavior.
- Reduced Demoman's maximum Stickybomb reserve ammo from 40 to 24.
- Fixed critical modifier for explosive weapons (rockets, pipe bombs) increasing critical chance more than intended.
- Stickybombs now get a reduced close range damage ramp up (like Rocket Launcher & Syringe Gun).
- Ultimately reduces damage done by Stickybombs to enemies < 512 Hammer units from the Demoman.
- Demoman's secondary weapon has been renamed to Stickybomb Launcher.
- Fixed deflected Stickybombs becoming mini-crits when detonated.
- Fixed deflected Stickybombs becoming crits if the Pyro was crit-boosted.
- [Undocumented] The Stickybomb Launcher now drops the appropriate weapon on death, on RED team.
- Fixed the Stickybomb Launcher viewmodel sleeves using the wrong team colors for team BLU.
- Fixed melee attacks not destroying remote detonation pipes (Stickybombs).
- Fixed this item and the Sticky Jumper using the wrong skins.
- Fixed a case where stickybombs could sometimes damage enemies on the other side of a wall.
- Updated the gamehaptics file
- Refined the Demoman's Stickybomb Launcher reload forces
Bugs
- There are various inconsistencies between the first-person and third-person views of the weapon:
- Increasing the viewmodel field of view shows that, in first-person mode, the weapon is held in one hand, whereas in the world model he holds it in two hands utilizing the forward grip.
- The weapon's view and world model views differ. In the first person view, the drum is wider to the left side, while in third person the wide side is to the right side.
- The Stickybomb Launcher's reload animation is inconsistent between the view model and the world view. In the first person perspective, the Demoman grabs the bolt over the top with his palm facing down. In the world view, he grabs it from below, with his palm facing upward.
- Before reloading, the Demoman's unused hand (left if viewmodels are right and vice versa) remains hidden. After reloading and bringing his opposite hand to pull the bolt on his weapon back, the hand will remain in the screen until he switches weapons or fires again.
- Players are able to deploy Stickybombs beyond the starting gates at the start of a match.
- If the player dies while holding a Stickybomb Launcher, and before they respawn it is changed in the loadout to the Chargin' Targe, the Demoman will appear to be holding an invisible bottle on respawn. This invisible bottle cannot attack. To fix this, switch to a new weapon.
- There have been instances where a player has gotten the Scottish Resistance taunt achievement Second Eye with this weapon.
- Taunting with this weapon will cause it to clip through the Demoman's right leg near the end.
- Killing someone with the Stickybomb Launcher while wielding the Persian Persuader will result in a Persian Persuader based voice-response rather than a Stickybomb Launcher based one.
- If you charge with the Stickybomb Launcher and quick switch to another weapon, you will still be able to hear the charging sound.
Trivia
- Based on its name displayed on the stats page, the Stickybomb Launcher was originally supposed to be the Pipebomb Launcher, a weapon from the first Team Fortress. It is thought to have been similar to the Grenade Launcher except that the grenades would only detonate when the player pressed the alt fire key (as seen in Trailer 2). The Pipebomb Launcher's grenade is still in the game files.
- The Stickybomb Launcher bears resemblance to a weapon cut from Half-Life 2, simply named the "Sticky Launcher". Had it been included, it would have functioned in an almost identical manner, except that it would stick to enemies as well as map surfaces.
- In a 2008 interview Robin Walker explained that internally at Valve, at one point Sticky Bombs were referred to as "winbombs" due to being perceived as too powerful by the development team.
Gallery
Merchandise
In the Valve store, there are currently a RED and BLU stuffed Stickybombs featured to be sold to the general public. Currently, they both cost $14.99 independently.
See also
References