User:MastahDizzy/Mastah's "Project Fortress" Rebalance
 | Last Update: October 23rd 2023 |
This chart is designed with the open intent of suggesting balance changes that fits the vision of a version of Team Fortress 2 that would be up to modern standards, and which can benefit both the casual and competitive community.
Weapon statistics will remain fundamentally simple to prevent confusion and respect the original intent that the developers may have had regarding the title, and as such, most weapons that are significantly underpowered will be appropriately buffed in this chart to be able to contend with the competitively viable options that are made available within the same slot.
Weapons that may have polarising perceptions of their viability depending on player experience, specific matchups and format will potentially be tweaked to remain equally viable and less frustrating to deal with in the case that they would happen to be.
Now, while this chart is made by myself, based on the personal experiences that I may have on the game, it should be noted that my ideas shouldn't be taken for gospel, and that if you got any feedback, I'll be free to receive it and potentially incorporate within this chart, though I cannot guarantee that your suggestion will be always taken into account! Bleh!
Colour Notes:
- Custom weapons are marked in red.
- Reskins in the base game are marked in yellow.
- Beta (or beta-inspired) weapons are marked in blue.
Contents
Rules of Balancing
| Rule | Reasoning |
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Basically, it's just the age-old principle of trickle-down balancing, where each weapon should feel efficient and reasonable to play with at a higher level of play because logically, a weapon that's fair within skilled hands will, in a majority of cases, feel fair in the hands of the average player. In the case that a disparity in skill can make a technically balanced weapon unfair for newcomers, or a seemingly good weapon in casual play falters when matched-up against a veteran, then check rule #4. |
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Certain weapons have huge swings in perceived viability depending on the median skill range that a server may feature. Offsetting these disparities to help a tool be actually consistent to a reasonable extent usually result in a more engaging gameplay experience. |
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Unless a weapon is so deeply flawed in its core design that balancing it would prove to be too much of an unrealistic endeavour to fulfil, they should always keep their core concept accurate to what Valve may have had intended to create with it. |
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Extends further from the first three rules, but what I basically mean by that is that sometimes, the most viable option in someone's kit isn't in that position because it's way too good for its own sake, but more so because its competition just either does not compare or is too scarce to begin with. With that knowledge in mind, nerfing a weapon that's both META and balanced would essentially neuter the core appeal of the class as a whole. Good examples of weapons that remain the same by virtue of being balanced in spite of being usually considered the best in their respective slots in vanilla TF2 would be the Stock Rocket Launcher and the Crusader's Crossbow. |
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If a weapon features a mechanic that's usually associated with another class, said weapon cannot be as good at filling that role than the class that would normally do just about that. To cite a few examples, the Homewrecker is a wrench-type melee for Pyro in my chart, but is by itself inferior in that function to virtually any melee that the Engineer has at his disposal. Another case would include all the syringe guns, which, while buffed combat-wise, still remains very inferior combat options when compared to other full-auto primaries such as the flamethrowers and miniguns. |
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Basically, weapons should always have a clear archetype that other options may not exactly have, and any stat that may essentially go outside of that template will be replaced by something that is more appropriate. |
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To make weapons more readable to a newcomer, making stats not impressively extensive for the sake of being extensive is a good way to not overwhelm players with information. Any piece of information that can be simplified without hindering comprehension will be simplified, any attribute that serves next to no purpose and does not fit with the intended idea of the weapon is stripped away, and any element that may lie to the player is made to be more transparent. The only weapon in the base game that breaks rule #9 is the Dragon's Fury, while the Pomson 6000 could be considered an offender of rule #10 due to its stats being impressively deceptive, all while featuring a description that implied attributes that the firearm really doesn't have in Vanilla. |
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This rule could be considered a virtual follow-up to #8, but basically, stats cannot afford to be paradoxical in their design. If a weapon that's meant to help you survive does just about the opposite, that is a Schrodinger's Weapon, and their changes will swiftly address that problem. To cite a few examples in the base game, the Sugar Cane fits the bill by virtue of being exactly what I mentioned above, while the Baby Face's Blaster hinders your mobility more than it genuinely helps it, thus making it a Schrodinger's Weapon as well. |
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A weapon and class can be powered up as much as you want, but if a core flaw in their design makes their ability to be applied in a practical situation, well, impractical, finding a way to address it in either a direct or indirect way is a good way to make all tools feel balanced with each other. Regarding weapons, melees that are used by slow classes do come to mind, as low mobility means you cannot realistically reach your opponent, so giving options to make each melee either more resourceful as a tool or a combat option is welcome. In the base game, the Huo-Long Heater has a core issue regarding its ammo management and intended way of dealing damage, while the Classic as a sniper rifle that really struggles to actually deal burst damage, so my chart buffs them appropriately, while staying consistent to the other rules. For classes, typically, certain combinations of traits can make certain flaws more significant than they should really be, so having an eye for those issues is also important to have. |
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Basically, designs that encourage frustration, strips players of certain options or feel incredibly linear to experiment with should be given material to make it more fun for both sides, more potent for emerging gameplay, and overall enable the player in a way that allows them to express their skills to their fullest. |
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This mostly applies to the Sun-on-a-Stick and the Neon Annihilator, as both weapons cannot synergise within the classes respective set of weapons in the base game, thus resulting in incredibly situational picks that could literally be made better by just giving it an option to go alongside those. |
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Generally reducing the time it takes for a player to do what they're supposed to do leads to less frustration, and more possibilities for the player to accomplish different tasks in the game while respecting the confines of TF2's own balancing. This rule mostly benefits Heavy and Engineer on a fundamental level, as both classes have severe limitations regarding the speed at which they can perform certain key actions to fill their win condition. For Heavy, this would mostly apply to certain traits regarding his minigun, and how overly reliant on it he becomes due to a lack of secondary split between lunchboxes and shotguns. For Engie, it's primarily due to the impressively slow build speed that the class has overall, while being both squishy by himself, and thus very reliant on builds to even functions against most other classes (basically, too much commitment). |
Core Modifications
| Universal Gameplay Changes | Editor's Note |
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Elements of sudden randomness have always been prone to raise frustration from players, while breeding a gameplay experience that feels unhealthy because of the loss of control that players would have when attempting to make skilled plays of any kind. Disabling random critical hits would avoid unfair deaths and checkmate situations that couldn't have been reacted to, which would in turn be more fun overall than unpredictable kills that only seem to satisfy selfish players who would be quick to rag on the mechanic when they become the recipient of it (as in, enjoying random crits indicating either a lack of appreciation for game design, a lack of sympathy or respect for the opponent, if not both). Removing random bullet spread significantly improves the consistency of weapons with togglable spread (Shotguns, Scatterguns), and thus reduces the frustration that would come from using firearms of this type. However, it should be noted that weapons with permanent spread (Miniguns) or multi-tap spread (Pistols, SMGs, Revolvers) are unaffected by this change. Finally, the removal of fall damage deviation would simply make the range of each weapon that could be used for aerial movement consistent, and therefore reward players for judging their effective reach accurately, and this would prevent unfair loss of health in out of long jump situations, though this mechanic has historically been less cumbersome than the aforementioned two before. Overall, this would make the game more fair and balanced, all while respecting the intent of the game as a fun, yet chaotic title that is already able to accomplish a sense of surprise through its wide range of maps, weapons and gamemodes that is already available to the playerbase. |
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Back in '07, the original class labelling system somewhat made sense, but for modern standards, it's not only outdated, but also potentially misleading in regards to how some classes would seem to be played. Under the original system, Pyro was categorised as an "Offence" character even though they are most optimally played as a defensive character with flank potential, Demo was put under "Defence" in spite of being arguably the best class in the game for pushing through control points, and both Sniper and Spy are closer in role to the Scout than they really are to the Medic, and finally, the Engineer fills a dual defence/support role that should by that logic make him more of a utility-based class than the sneaky Frenchman or the outback assassin. Under the new system, Heavy is labelled as #1 since he is the face of the game, and as such, the de-facto main character of the roster (though #5 was a good attempt to put him in the middle to direct attention I guess), while Demo and Soldier follow suit since the former remains a pure power class while Soldier is basically an all-rounder that has better utility for his team overall, and as such, happens to be most utilitarian power class of the three. Engineer is #4 since he has the best DPM of the utility classes and thus better power potency, Medic is #5 since he is the anchor of any team who deserves to be in the middle of the selection screen to direct attention towards him should one's team start to get in dire straits, and Pyro is #6 since they carry both solid defensive utility while being a capable flank with higher burst potency thanks to airblast and close-up damage. Spy is #7 due to his combined ability to get close-quarter picks and generally being a disruptive presence to the enemy team, Sniper is #8 since he's basically the straightest pick class of the three Burst members, and Scout is #9 not only because he has very high power potency at close range, but also to nod at his father's class number in the old system. Ultimately, this should make class ordering more intuitive, which is always wanted when you want to design a game that relies on distinguishable characters to begin with. |
Changed: Random critical hits are now disabled by default.| Universal Gamemode Changes | Editor's Note |
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Capturing the objective already implies one team is having the upper hand over their opponent, so getting guaranteed critical hits for simply playing the game is a sure fire way for the developers to enable steamroll situations when Capture the Flag is played in a casual setting, where it's the most popular. Removing that mechanic from the gamemode would give better odds for the losing team of actually getting to fight back in the case that they have to deal with repeated assaults of their own intelligence. |
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Modifying the intel so that it stays on the ground for a lesser amount of time, on top of allowing the defending team a potential reclaim will essentially give more freedom from both teams to play around the complete layout of each map, instead of flocking to one point where the objective currently stands and the most optimal strategy is to simply "Rush B" and pray for your own survival, or at the very least touch the objective until it unavoidably gets captured. Since getting the objective out of the enemy's intel room would feel much less punishing and potentially unwinnable as a result of that rebalance, it would also allow players to fight the enemy team by reacting rather than simply anticipating a potential assault like it would be the case in current CTF, where teams simply flock to their own side to avoid unfair captures. |
Multi-Class
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Reserve Shooter    
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While the Reserve Shooter is technically good for combos, notably strong against Soldiers and Demos due to its perks, and can also preserve the range of a regular Shotgun unlike the Panic Attack, its lowered clip size means that its usage seems redundant when compared to the burst close range capabilities of the Panic Attack, and the consistent range of the Stock when placed within the context of most formats (with 6s being the notable exception, as the Reserve Shooter is actually ban-worthy here due to team composition). By making this weapon able to switch faster, get better accuracy, while being able to refill the user's primary on a successful pick, the Reserve Shooter not only gains a niche as a quick mix-up and refill option, but also keeps a lower clip size to balance it out against other Shotguns, on top of becoming better balanced in the context of 6s since its most defining trait in the format is now entirely removed to make place for a more universal mechanic. Overall, the Reserve Shooter is turned from a shotgun that is somewhat underwhelming in most formats, but too strong in 6s, to a firearm that is a decent sidegrade with a dual ammo/combo utility in both casual and competitive settings. On a final note, the Heavy is now able to equip the Reserve Shooter as a consequence of its new stats being able to synergise with his primary as well. |
 Family Business  
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Its larger clip size and faster firing rate means that this shotgun really is a slight upgrade to Stock thanks to a faster kill power against light classes, better consistency and strong spammability, which also results in higher damage potential overall. Introducing a mild debuff in its reload speed helps this shotgun retain most of its unique perks from its initial 8-shot clip, while making the reload more noticeable, thus making this weapon better at engaging combat, but also longer to get it back to its full clip, thus making this weapon a strong sidegrade as a result of this small modification. Also, by giving the option for the other classes that can equip shotguns to also use the Family Business, we're not only bringing what is basically an easy-to-implement unlock for a third of the game's roster, but we also get the opportunity to have unique decals on the weapon's cross based on the class that equipped it, which can make for nice easter eggs to implement, on top of giving more variety gameplay-wise. |
 B.A.S.E. Jumper 
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When it was initially added into the game, the B.A.S.E. Jumper was a very potent movement option that allowed both Soldiers and Demos to dodge any projectile in the game with extreme unpredictability, while doubling down as an easy "no-fall damage free card" that made this secondary fundamentally too strong, especially for the Soldier where using it meant having a guaranteed advantage against other Soldiers that weren't using it. Once it was nerfed, not only did the B.A.S.E. Jumper lost its perks, but it also got nothing in return to make up for the loss, so it suddenly became a seriously underpowered tool for both classes to use. Here, the parachute has been reworked to rely on a passive system of stacks that technically makes both classes able to perform the powerful things that the B.A.S.E. Jumper was originally being capable of, but since the stacks functions as a limited resource that has to be intelligently used to get the most out of it, this secondary now rewards you for sparingly using its perks, which makes it fundamentally less obnoxious to play against since the first version of this tool incentivised abusive strafing and spamming the jump button to get the most value out of it. Since the parachute cannot be deployed without stacks, abusive usage of it will punish the user in the longer run, and since the parachute now prevents the wielder from actually changing their trajectory when it is deployed, it also creates an incentive to plan your trajectories carefully to minimise the amount of stacks you may use from a single interaction. The two buffs that are added are there to not only somewhat improve the user's durability (bonus points for the Demo, who lacks any form of passive regeneration in the actual game), but also, most importantly, to gently reduce a flaw that stickybomb launchers have, since the Demoman is especially known for having a slow reloading rate as one of his main weaknesses. |
 Pistol  
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It's a decently honest chip damage option that's not too powerful by itself, so giving it to the Civvie is completely fair game for what it is as a result of him gaining a secondary slot. That's it. Like, really. | |
 From The Hood
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A mild sidegrade to the Stock Pistol that trades clip capacity and health pack potential for notably stronger ammo economy and pick-ups. For Engineers that want more leniency out of their metal count (especially during setup time) and Scouts who uses their hitscan secondary more regularly than the usual, this can become a very solid option to pick thanks to its ammunition-oriented strengths, though one should be mindful of their somewhat lowered DPM and durability, as taking damage can become more costly without a non-medpack source of healing on the horizon. |
 Hair Trigger
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An alternative option to the Stock Pistol that trades off consistent damage output for combo potential, as its faster deploy speed and reward on consecutive shots makes it potentially stronger in a vacuum, while its lower clip size balances the weight of its perks down by forcing the player to aim better with his primary. Its fire-type damage and potential afterburn can give it great use as a spychecker too, all while giving it solid synergy with weapons that may combo with it, such as the Sun-on-a-Stick, the Huo-Long Heater or any Pyro melee, though the player has to be careful when dealing with opponents who may have fire-resistant attributes. |
 C.A.P.P.E.R
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The change simply makes sense, as this pistol would fit the stats of the Hair Trigger better than the Stock Pistol, while fixing a potential discrepancy in the fact that laser weapons should deal fire-type damage, which the C.A.P.P.E.R does. |
 Pain Train 
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The original Pain Train has always been in an odd state from a balancing perspective, since it is technically a small, but straight upgrade on maps with capture rates, while being a small, but straight downgrade when said map lacked those features. Here, to make the Pain Train more distinct in its ability to capture objectives, it has now being given a wider range of buffs to facilitate its niche, while now trading its marginal bullet vulnerability to a somewhat substantial combination of lesser melee damage and heal potential, thus making it a strong roamer option when used by a confident wielder. |
 Defensive Crowbar 
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A beta-inspired melee that trades damage output and medpack durability to gain the ability to reverse control points thrice as fast while gaining active resistances to explosions and fire, for a double defence/objective niche that makes this tool a spiritual inversion of the Pain Train (which excels at capturing instead of contesting). It may be a poor combat option that would be ill-advised to pick for roamers, but as a part more pocket-oriented or otherwise defensive playstyle, it can be an interesting pick to choose, since it grants to Soldiers, Pyros and Snipers alike a decent escape option that can also alleviate captures in a pinch. |
Added: On Kill: Instantly reload a quarter of your primary clip size
Changed: Clip size decreased from 34% to 50%
Based on stacks that passively get filled over time, deploy it up to five times to slow your descent by pressing the 'JUMP' key in the air!
Vanilla Classes
Scout
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Pistols, while being fine by design, suffer from a surprisingly low ammo capacity, as it allows for only four clips to be used, in the case that no form of ammo refill has been taken by the user. By slightly raising the roof from five clips instead of four, we incentivise Scouts players to use their secondary more often for mix-up, though the core strengths and weaknesses of it remain unchanged. |
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Bats were intentionally gimped in terms of damage output to make up for the speed that the Scout has, but on the other side, the general theming of the character means that it is actually somewhat odd that bats virtually carry no core utility without relying on unlocks to be practical. Through the introduction of a universal Alt-Fire system for the bats, we actually turn the Scout's melee into a tool that, while weak from up close, can still be used to mix the opponent up at mid-range, and thus serve as a better template for other bats to be balanced around. It would also give some utility for bats that would have otherwise remained undertuned and unused, due in part to the fact that they were balanced around what was fundamentally a weak weapon from the inception of the game. Shoutouts for Miracule Weep for mentioning this concept. It honestly makes way too much sense. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Shortstop
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The Shortstop is a fine weapon by itself, with its better range and quick firing speed giving it a niche as a mid-range Scout primary. However, the shove is usually too hard, flimsy, unrewarding and committal to use, and the reload speed is definitely too slow for a weapon of its type, so, by giving combo potential to the shove and reducing the reload speed, we allow the weapon to be more flexible in its use and less punishing for whiffing shots with. |
 Baby Face's Blaster
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The speed meter is too unreliable of a mechanic to be properly used, since any ounce of aerial movement and damage taken can easily gut your meter, which results in highly inconsistent speed that can mess with both your footsies and aim, for the variations in movement can throw a wrench at your tracking. An improved speed stat however is quite a powerful perk for a Scout to have, so, by treading the line between stronger grounded speed, lower durability and more predictable air movement without overtuning any trait, we can potentially make the Baby Face's Blaster a proper sidegrade that's much easier to wrap your head around when compared to Stock. Since the lack of air jumping with your primary paired with worse durability against pellets from shotguns and other forms of bullet damage are reliably offset by superior footsies on the ground, it should be fair game for anyone. As a final note, the removal of fall damage is added solely for the purpose of not forcing the player to switch weapons in order to prevent it, primarily as a direct result of becoming unable to air jump when the primary is active. |
 Back Scatter
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The reduced clip size never really made much sense from both a gameplay and graphical perspective, since the Back Scatter's lower accuracy already gives it a unique niche as a weapon that is easier to land shots from up close, with burst potential if said shots connects from the target's back half of their hurtbox, at the cost of obviously having less range due to the bullet spread being less precise, and thus somewhat less capable of landing pellets as reliably once we fall out of close quarters. With these simpler stats, we effectively make a decent sidegrade to Stock, that is easy to understand, and becomes balanced by virtue of being slightly specialised, but still decently capable at performing the tasks that the regular Scattergun may do. |
 Nail Gun
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A beta weapon that trades burst close-range damage for a more consistent output, the Nail Gun rewards the player for having good tracking, projectile reads and decent spacing. This should make it a surprisingly decent option for new players since it can put out damage without being punished by range or reloading the same way the other primaries would be, but likewise, it could be serviceable when used in the hands of a skilled player, as its unique struggles regarding high-velocity targets and core damage output can be compensated by taking advantage of its range and spammability, thus making it surprisingly good in the Engineer matchup, or against slower frontliners such as Demos (they usually sticky jump to rollout, not to escape) and Heavies. |
 Winger
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The Winger is actually very useful as a movement option, and the small damage boost can be helpful, but the clip size is usually argued to be made too small when compared to the other pistols available in Scout's arsenal. Seven bullets is still an understandable decrease, but at the very least, it keeps the damage rate reasonable while preserving the mutual trade-off of a pistol that's better at moving, but worse at peppering. |
 Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol
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When compared to the stock Pistol, the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol is basically a marginally improved weapon in terms of damage output, that also doubles as one that gives health back on hit, which basically makes you wonder why the Stock option even exists when a more practical one is out there to be played with. Here, the Pocket Pistol has been redesigned to hinge more into its utility, while becoming the weakest handgun of the bunch for dealing raw damage. It is technically better at spamming, landing shots, and thus getting yourself healed, but the significantly lowered damage and clip size makes this weapon a proper stamina-centred sidegrade to the regular Pistol. |
 Bonk! Atomic Punch
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A niche secondary that can find decent utility at higher player counts since it can be used as a prepared escape option in a vacuum, the Bonk! Atomic Punch can also optimally be used to bodyblock or to force sentry aggro without taking damage, but when it comes to the latter use, it isn't too rare for a Pyro to outright deny a Scout in that plan, and even if we go with the assumption that a Pyro will not show up, sentries on their own can still easily force a Bonk! user into either a position where they'll lose the aggro (and therefore fail to distract it), or in the worst case scenario, they could end getting locked into a cornered ceiling where they'll become guaranteed to die for as long as no aggro switch was done, which can be problematic as this radioactive can of soda should ideally be able to get the user up-close to a building, and then planted around its target perimeter for as long as they see fit to help the team fill out a push for good, especially when Engineers are stacked on the enemy (as multiple sentries means even more potential for knockback scaling). To give a chance for Bonk! users to not only escape infinite juggles from sentries, all while becoming consistent at taking the aggro, an ability to give knockback immunity against pure damage and airblast when the user is crouched and under the effect of the Bonk! (which is simply noted as being invincible) will basically allow this secondary to go from being kinda useful at its optimal but niche usage into being very strong for that one scenario, while it will remain decent, and maybe arguably a bit stronger for escape scenarios, as Pyros will in theory be unable to force you into death traps and pits, while Engineers cannot rely on knockback stacking to make that strategy moot. This should make the Bonk! a great escape/aggro option to select when offensive secondaries just ain't cutting it. |
 Mad Milk
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Basically the Jarate for the Scout, and arguably one of, if not the strongest secondary for Scout, the Mad Milk is usually considered to be very powerful due to the insane reward it gives while being so easy to use, as simply throwing it can basically allow your team to be healed by quite literally playing the game as intended, all while punishing the opponents for simply existing within the radius of this throwable. By reducing the heal-on-hit potential of this secondary by two thirds of its original value, we already make it much less ridiculous in its ability to basically turn a whole fight around by pressing M1, and by exchanging a massive splash radius for faster travel speed, we also incentivise the Scout to have some aim for once, thus making it consistent for 1v1 interactions if skillfully applied, but less potent when thrown against clusters of enemies or when used by a player who lacks accuracy in their throws. In term, the Mad Milk still remains a decently powerful support-oriented secondary, but now, it requires the user to use it in a more deliberate fashion in order to have its reward properly ripped out from it. |
 Bat
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As a result of the universal buff for Scout's melee, the Bat now becomes an actually useful melee since its projectile can be used for combat, while having no listed drawbacks, thus warranting the use of this weapon in practical situations. |
 Sandman
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The original Sandman was overpowered due to having a projectile that was way too rewarding for the ease of use it granted, while the current version is too underwhelming due to having being balanced around the Bat rather than around more viable melees in the Scout's kit. Here, with the new stats, the intent was to turn the Sandman into a melee that, while not as applicable combat wise due to having a slower recharge rate and weaker damage output, benefited from turning the Scout into a class that traded off the efficiency of a quick mid-range option that can be easily refilled for what was effectively a slightly improved combo game, which somewhat makes the Sandman a sidegrade to what is effectively an improved Stock in that context. |
 Candy Cane
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The Candy Cane was originally designed to be a melee that passively helps the Scout and his teammates out by dropping medpacks that could heal his team, but the problem was that not only the Scout was gaining only little use from the heal itself, but he would also get obliterated by any rocket, pipe, or sticky that would have came his way, which arguably made this melee the worst in his kit due to how much harder the explosive matchups turned out to be. Here, the Candy Cane now becomes a weapon that forgoes the combat capabilities of the Bat, the pocket potential of the class itself, and even become somewhat of a commitment to use due to the slower movement on deploy, but to make up for these notable flaws, the Scout now has the option to drop medpacks on command every ten second to help his team, while his medpacks (from both his kills and the map) now grants him much better reward, all while removing the debuff that virtually made the Candy Cane awful in the first place. Basically, it gives a support/stamina niche for this melee, which allows it to compete with the other melees that may exist in the Scout's kit, since they usually revolve more around either movement, damage potential or consistency. |
 Boston Basher
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The Boston Basher basically gains the same buff as the Stock Bat, which is fine, given that the weapon already has good utility as an hit and run option that can also be used to fill Über. |
 Sun-on-a-Stick
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The Sun-on-a-Stick is hindered by the fact that it lacks any synergy in the Scout's kit, thus making its damage buff only possible through a coordinated attack with your allied Pyroes, which is not only incredibly impractical, but also not that notably rewarding, given the difficulty to use said melee for a fiery combo. By giving the possibility for the Scout to use a fireball, we not only make the positives of the melee actually applicable, but also competitively viable when compared to the other unlocks that can be used within the same slot. Also, it would be very funny to throw little suns at your enemy with a class that can move around like a mosquito. |
 Fan O'War
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The Fan O'War struggles to gain viability outside of Mann VS Machine because of the redundancy that its effect may carry when it comes to landing combos when a Scout player can simply land meatshots on his target to gain a better return on investment without wasting a melee slot with this weapon. By giving notably improved deploy and holster speed, we give this weapon the potential to be very quickly deployed, and then followed up into a meatshot, for as long as the user gets within melee range, which is already kind of a notable commitment if the initial hit whiffs due to poor spacing or timing. The universal ball change can also slightly synergise with the pre-existing stats, since the ball can now crit without requiring a headshot if the opponent is Marked-For-Death, though the ball doesn't slow, much like the Sandman does. |
 Atomizer
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Given that this melee is already fundamentally strong, it would only be logical that the projectile capabilities of the Atomizer would be gimped by giving the slowest recharge rate of all balls, on top of lacking the slow effect of the Stock Bat. However, since the weapon can technically mini-crit when airborne (or underwater, as a result of the Source code being absolute spaghetti), I felt like the damage penalty contradicted this other stat, so now, the Atomizer deals pretty normal damage for a bat. This will allow it to preserve a unique niche as a movement tool that can somehow be used like a Budget Neon Annihilator, at the cost of having arguably the weakest projectile of the bunch, due to how long it takes to recharge. |
Soldier
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Black Box
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While the "Heal on Hit" attribute is a pretty strong perk in itself thanks to the potential in durability and stamina that it unlocks for the user, it is however somewhat offset by an understandable, but fundamentally strong debuff since a lower clip size means the Black Box just loses a lot of its flexibility, due to the loss of one potential rocket that could have been used to either gain movement or engage an opponent, on top of requiring the Soldier to reload way more often than usual. Through the addition of a mild buff in the reload speed, it gives the Black Box a unique strength in being a rocket launcher that, while not being as potent for spamming or moving around, gains from a more lenient reload animation, on top of its original strength. |
 Liberty Launcher
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The Liberty Launcher is already pretty interesting, since its combined buffs makes this seemingly weaker weapon able to carry an effect akin to the Gunboats, able to fire faster projectiles with no splash reduction (thus making this primary the most accurate in practice for the Soldier), on top of having a better clip size, which allows for more flexibility when it comes to approaching, retreating and handling fights. By slightly reducing the damage penalty and increasing the projectile speed, the Liberty Launcher becomes somewhat better at being a rocket launcher that fills a dual accuracy/mobility niche. |
 Beggar's Bazooka
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Without the random projectile deviation being there to kill the consistency of this rocket launcher, we now have a primary that not only excels at barraging opponents and potentially increasing the movement of the user (especially when used in conjunction with the Gunboats), but now, it also becomes able to dish out said damage without having to rely on luck to sometimes hit its shots, which should make it more in line with the core philosophy of TF2's balancing, which practically rewards the player for making calculated actions in regards to their movement and accuracy. Also, since the ability to overload the chamber can be used to greatly enhance the user's ability to rollout and reposition, it can only be fitting that this attribute is not exactly much of a debuff at all, and as such, deserving of being noted as a white attribute, instead of the usual red that is seen in typical nerfs. To offset its newfound consistency that would make this weapon potentially very oppressive when used by a half-decent player, a further decreased explosion radius and double consumption upon non-barraged rockets are put in place to partially offset its strengths, as rockets has to either be barraged or properly read through to connect, and reckless spamming will strongly punish its user in the mid-to-long term. Shoutouts to Payn, cause without his feedback, this dumpster here would have been a monster of a weapon. |
 Air Strike
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A relatively okay primary that should specialise in having a strong airborne game, especially when bombing, the Air Strike can be potentially stronger in a few situations, but otherwise weaker overall as it is designed to be a specialised aerial rocket launcher. As such, to keep the specialty of the Air Strike and make it better at it, an added buff of removing fall damage when deployed has been added to not only make this weapon safer to use when performing rollouts, but most importantly, it also gives this weapon the potential to bomb without having to take fall damage, which should make it much more consistent for taking out high-priority (or otherwise weak) targets while still enabling a retreat for the user after a key picking has been successfully performed, which should overall make it a solid option to use for those who heavily incorporate those kinds of strategies in their gameplan. Its removal of a blast radius penalty while blast jumping is also done to give this weapon more fitting synergy while used in the air from afar, since an air-based rocket launcher shouldn't have its splash potential get nerfed while doing just about that. In shorter form, the Air Strike practically becomes "Bomberman: The Weapon". |
 Buff Banner
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While its perk is actually pretty strong, the Buff Banner however seems to lack a key strength that other banners have in some form of passive attribute that should improve the user’s durability. Since the Battalion’s Backup has pure increase in max health, and the Conch grants passive regen, it can be quite fitting that the Buff Banner grants stronger heal from medpacks, as it would give it a stronger niche as a chiefly roamer-oriented banner. Comparatively speaking, knowing that the Backup functions better as an option for pocket Soldiers, and the Conch’s long-term durability makes it stronger as a middle ground between pockets and roamers alike, it should prevent any overlap in utility since this banner would have a stronger offensive niche since bombing opponents and repositioning yourself around the map would become less of a risk thanks to its buffed medpack potency. In other words, if you want to roam around the map while having access to buffs that can help your team, the Buff Banner can now become a very smart choice to select thanks to the way it can support while preserving that kind of playstyle. |
 Mantreads
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A decent option for Soldier that just happens to be outshined by a wealth of powerful secondaries, the Mantreads got somewhat rebalanced by having much lesser fall damage and somewhat reduced self-damage to make it a very solid rollout option for primaries with lower damage output (such as the Liberty Launcher or the Air Strike), while having somewhat decreased push force reduction to offset this powerful attribute. This should make it worse at close-range combat and pure rocket jumping than the Gunboats (a double stamina/mobility secondary for the class), but as a pure movement option, it'll gain somewhat better coverage overall. |
 Righteous Bison
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Converts what is effectively the worst combat-oriented secondary for Soldier into a mini-rocket launcher that can be used to help for rollouts, and which can be used to potentially cover the weaknesses of the Black Box thanks to its unique perks. Its fire damage typing can be useful against the Vaccinator (though pretty niche), and its secondary fire pretty much allows the Righteous Bison to be stronger at mid to long range, as opposed to shotguns who are stronger at close to mid-range. Really, there ain't a lot to say about the Bison, besides that it's now a decent secondary weapon that distinguishes itself by being a backup launcher. |
 Equalizer
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When it comes to melee combat, the Equalizer is a poor option for Soldier since the class naturally has the second slowest speed on the ground, and its base damage output is abysmally low. Once said melee finally reaches a level of damage that warrants equipping it, the user's health is basically made so low that it will become near impossible to capitalise on it, and if you pair with the fact that the Equalizer has no utility whatsoever outside of helping with filling Übers, which even then, the Escape Plan, a significantly better melee for the same class, can also do as well, it is usually no secret that the Equalizer is usually considered to be not only the worst melee for the Soldier, but also, arguably, easily among the worst weapons in the game because of how fundamentally unusable it is. Its modified damage buff has been designed to make it so that the Equalizer not only deals tolerable damage when the buff isn't triggered yet (which is the least it can do, since the Soldier is so slow on the ground), but also gains some practical use, since 91 damage allows you to virtually two-tap seven of the nine classes in the game, on top of giving it good synergy with the Concheror and the Buff Banner, since the former will offset the poor grounded speed of the Soldier all while giving more value from its lifesteal property (thanks to the damage to "heal-on-hit" scaling), while the Buff Banner will allow the Soldier to potentially one-tap any of the light classes in the game, thanks to the 127 health of damage it would now deal. And in the case you wouldn't use the Equalizer to fight (which is highly likely, since melee is fundamentally a niche combat option for Soldier), you also get more value from medpacks, which reduces the risk that may come from rocket jumping as a result of it, which, indirectly, also gives this melee good synergy with the Liberty Launcher and Gunboats. Overall, it would turn what is effectively a mistake of a melee into one that is actually worth using, thanks to its survival perks and notably buffed combat, which wouldn't have been unlike the design philosophy of the originally broken Equalizer/Escape Plan hybrid from back in the day, though its execution stat-wise would be way more balanced. |
Pyro
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Being a class that's arguably has the weakest effective range in the game, with surprisingly limited means of closing the gap without resorting to the usage of a movement options such as the Powerjack, Detonator or the Thermal Thruster, the Pyro can not only be easily outspaced by pretty much any class, but also outrun by most of them still. Giving a small oomph in the Pyro's movement speed would allow them to catch up to pretty much any class that isn't the Scout when it comes to grounded movement speed, and since the Spy is now buffed in this chart to be faster too, it still gives the class a reasonable chance to chase the sneaky Frenchman thanks to their generally improved mobility. |
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Most melees that are considered competitively viable for the Pyro only do so by having either superior utility, combo capabilities or a mixture of both. By adding a mechanic that was originally specific to the Axtinguisher, we not only make the Fire Axe a better base template for the Pyro's melees to be balanced around, but we also allow other melees to gain utility by giving unique forms of synergy through their own stats. This would, in turn, make all of the Pyro's melees somewhat more viable, which is especially important, given the large amount of melees they seem to have anyway. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Backburner
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The airblast cost is way too high for a flamethrower that is pretty much like Stock, but with the added benefit of critical flames that requires a strict angle to hit, and can be kind of defeated by simply jumping out of range or by turning towards the user. By making the airblast cost go from 50 to 30 ammo, it practically keeps the simple stats that this weapon has without breaking its core balance of trading off ammo economy for potentially very high damage. |
 Phlogistinator
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Usually considered the weakest flamethrower (or at least the most situational) in a competitive setting, while being considered very frustrating for casual players to deal with, the Phlogistinator is honestly not a weapon that inherently requires a bit of a redesign to keep its core gimmick intact while making its application less polarising in-game. The lack of airblast being too harsh of a weakness for a class that notably relies on this tool to perform well, the Phlog is now given a higher airblast cost instead to put it closer to the core capabilities that other primaries in the Pyro's kit has, and the introduction of a slower weapon switch is done to reduce the strength of primary-dependant combos, which means the Thermal Thruster could actually become the stronger secondary to use with this futuristic flamethrower. Since meter is higher and can only be built by dealing primary damage, the user now needs to be braver in order to reap the rewards of the Phlogistinator, which will reduce frustration overall as a result of the player being more encouraged to confront his opponents without a buff in order to succeed with this weapon, and since flares will now stop your meter dead in its tracks, the Scorch Shot cannot be abused anymore to cheaply fill your bar at minimal risk, which overall should make the experience for both the user and the opponent that much more engaging. In other terms, the Phlogistinator is technically way stronger, but also much less annoying to deal with if you don't know the matchup since the user has to actually understand their kit to make the best out of this meter-dependent primary. |
 Dragon's Fury
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While the Dragon's Fury has better range, damage potential and even covers more difficult matchups for the class (such as Heavies and Engineers) to make up for its reduced afterburn and relatively increased skill floor, its original penalty to airblast made it not that desirable of a primary to use since fundamentally gimping the Pyro's ability to airblast means that matchups like Soldier and Demo becomes way too tough to manage in spite of its aforementioned strengths. By replacing a horribly slow airblast cooldown of 1.6 seconds into what is the equivalent of a Backburner-like debuff, we make a flamethrower that is now able to aptly reward the user for having consistent aim, consecutive shots and strong ammo economy. The simplified flavour text is merely just to keep the changes of the weapon clear while preventing it from being quite literally "too much texto" when compared to basically all the other weapons in the entire game. |
 Detonator
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Despite being a pretty well-balanced firearm in its current state, complaints has been voiced of the Detonator being an option that sometimes feel too punishing to jump with when compared to other burst movement options across the game, while being considered weirdly oppressive at pressuring from mid-range, especially in competitive settings, where its status has always hinged between being ban-worthy or debatably allowed, depending of the format. As a result of this arguably reasonable feedback, the Detonator got halved ammunition to reduce its ability to be spammed or used on a whim, especially if the player uses their ammo inefficiently, or has a lesser knowledge of ammo placement within a map. To make up for this somewhat notable nerf, the Detonator has been stripped of its damage penalty, and its self-inflicted damage is also reduced as well, so now, the Detonator is essentially even better for movement, and technically more capable of dealing pressure from any range, but can only do so for a much shorter amount of time, which would, in turn, make this firearm way more strategical to use. |
 Manmelter
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The current Manmelter is incredibly niche as a secondary when compared to other flare guns because it essentially relies on the fact that the enemy team has a Pyro that burns one of your teammates, and you somehow happens to extinguish that teammate in time specifically with that weapon to even get any use from it, and even when done so, it still is outclassed simply by the fact that its critical hits will come with a much lesser amount of consistency than a regular Flare Gun would. You then add the fact that this secondary has non-existent combo perks from burning opponents, and it shouldn't be too hard to assume that the Manmelter basically isn't a weapon that's really all that much worth equipping over literally any other flare that the Pyro has at their disposal anyway. Here, this secondary has been buffed by gaining improved base damage to counterbalance its inability to deal critical hits of any kind (thus preserving a lower damage potential when compared to the Flare), and additionally, its extinguish buff that felt redundant when initially compared to the airblast that Flamethrowers have now traded its poorly balanced ability to farm crits to instead extinguish any teammate that carries any form of debuff in the game. This effectively transforms the Manmelter into a more consistent secondary with a dual niche as a support/zoner weapon, that excels at dealing consistent damage from a broader array of ranges, all while being a solid ace up your sleeve when it comes to minimising the effect of negative statuses overall, but all these perks reasonably comes at the cost of lessened damage potential once mastered, which should give it enough of a purpose to be used without becoming meta-centralising in any way. |
 Scorch Shot
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As a secondary tool, the Scorch Shot is designed to be a reliable splash tool that can easily build afterburn, hinder enemy mobility and combo into itself. The problem with the current iteration of this weapon though is that while it trades its perks off by technically being a worse combo tool than the Flare Gun, it only does so marginally thanks to its powerful buffs, while being significantly better at doing literally anything else, so adding a stronger damage penalty will help preserve the perks that this weapon has while also making it notably worse at dealing damage than the Flare Gun itself, and thus turn it into a sidegrade that is better at being a jack-of-all-trades to make up for its loss of burst damage from any range. Also, given how easy it is to just connect a projectile from the Scorch Shot thanks to its innate splash properties, it can only be reasonable to remove the weapon's ability to destroy stickies since it is so potent at doing such a thing, for visibly no trade-off of any kind. |
 Thermal Thruster
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The Thermal Thruster is useful, but its unique modifications when it comes to its deploying and holstering animations makes this secondary needlessly clunky to use for a secondary that quite literally prevents the Pyro from using combo tools like their shotguns and flares. By making it less committal to just use, we not only make the Thermal Thruster less frustrating to play, but we also give a better incentive to use it as both an approach and escape option to make up for the more limited range that the Pyro effectively has. |
 Gas Passer
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The Gas Passer can easily be considered the worst weapon in the Pyro's entire kit, and can be argued to be one of the worst weapons in the game period, thanks to a myriad of flaws that had plagued this throwable since its inception. To make it viable, it was therefore modified to gain a slew of buffs that allows it to have proper applications that other secondary unlocks may not be able to fulfil, while preserving balance in mind. The explosion (and the built-in afterburn that comes with it) has been made to give a little oomph to the Gas Passer when thrown, and since this projectile is famously known for being notoriously hard to fill, the cooldown that comes both from damage and its passive effect were reduced to acceptable levels, as to allow it to rival with the other flaming projectiles in the Pyro's kit. The two listed debuffs that were originally listed for the weapon were also notably overkill and absolutely gutted its applicability, so removing these can only make sense to make this tool more useful in the longer run. Since the "Gas" effect also technically didn't wet players that were soaked by it for some reason, reintroducing said property also allows the Gas Passer to have great synergy with the Neon Annihilator, and by proxy, make said melee more viable than ever. All these modifications can, hopefully, turn what is arguably a terrible weapon into one that is actually viable to use, and fun to play and experiment with, on top of remaining unique gameplay-wise. |
 Fire Axe
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The universal buff to the Pyro's melees effectively turns what is a serviceable, but painfully mediocre weapon for the class to pick into a well-rounded option that can be used for combos without having any notable weaknesses to deal with whatsoever. |
 Axtinguisher
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Since the Axtinguisher is already a pretty good combo tool that has been designed to excel at punishing burning targets in a fell swoop, on top of being a potent hit and run option, it has been buffed by having a lesser damage penalty to accommodate for the universal buff in place. This should prevent this melee from being indirectly nerfed by virtue of having its mechanic that was originally exclusive to it becoming a universal perk of all the melees that this class have. |
 Homewrecker
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The Homewrecker is normally a melee that is way too niche in its use to warrant being used over more competent melees like the Powerjack or the Back Scratcher when it comes to practicality. By adding the ability to see your metal count and that of your fellow Engineers, on top of being able to help them by gaining the ability to upgrade and repair buildings, the Homewrecker remains a technically situational weapon that now excels at giving support to your Engineer, without overlapping their role as such. The added damage resistance when deployed also gives the weapon another, more universal utility as a light counterpart of the Fists of Steel, which can justify the use of this melee, even in cases when Engineers may not be around (either because they may set things up, or because nobody picked the class). Shoutouts to Miracule Weep for suggesting the idea of turning this weapon into a wrench-like melee. Without him, I would have otherwise been in a bind when it came to its hypothetical balancing. |
 Powerjack
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The Powerjack is usually considered to be the best melee that the Pyro has at their disposal thanks to its massive gain in speed only being really counterbalanced by an active damage vulnerability that is made easy to bypass simply by jumping to preserve the speed carried from that weapon while having it holstered. By giving it both a regular damage penalty on top of a critical reduction, we keep it virtually as strong as it should be, but now, it becomes a weapon that sacrifices its combo potential for the sake of being a very applicable movement option. On a final note, its speed boost grants an additional 30Hu/s (relative to the average speed of 300Hu/s, this would count as +10% growth) instead of the original 45, but in spite of that reduced value, this melee still grants higher speed by technicality since the Pyro has a faster movement speed to begin with. This change has been made with the open intent of preventing the Powerjack from getting shadow buffed because of this improved base attribute. |
 Back Scratcher
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Given that this weapon is a fundamentally pretty good melee to equip for Roamer Pyros, while managing to feel pretty balanced overall, it goes without saying that outside of its universal buff, the Back Scratcher really doesn't need to have another stat change of any kind. |
 Sharpened Volcano Fragment
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Turns what is arguably a redundant melee with only niche utility in Medieval Mode (where it's outclassed by the Back Scratcher and arguably even the official Powerjack) into a combat-centric melee that combos into itself and gains better range as a trade-off for its weaker mobility and more committal deploy speed. Basically, it's better at killing if you can hit it, but getting that hit to begin with will be somewhat harder to do than the usual melee, which balances things out since it rewards the user for having faster inputs and better fundamentals. |
 Third Degree
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The stats completely revamps what was a marginal upgrade to a mediocre weapon into an option that rewards the user for using their melee as a combo starter rather than a combo extender or finisher. This enables the Pyro to make a reverse combo from their melee to the flare gun for destructive damage, though it comes at the cost of sacrificed damage output against classes that will be burning, on top of lowering the Pyro's potential for swinging their melee on reaction. Coincidentally, it also allows the Pyro to gain counterpicking potential against any players that have immunity to afterburn, which includes other Pyros, as well as Snipers that use the Darwin's Danger Shield. The former case is however balanced by the fact that the Third Degree gains better efficiency with the Flare Gun, which is usually weaker for ditto matches thanks to the superiority of shotguns in close quarters, while the latter is made up by the fact that the Sniper naturally has better range than the Pyro anyway, and still is unable to be pressured by lone flares when using that option. |
 Neon Annihilator
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As a result of the Gas Passer being buffed already, the Neon Annihilator now becomes a Bushwacka-like option that excels at punishing wet targets while doubling down as a diet Homewrecker of sorts. Because of this already improved synergy with the Pyro's arsenal, this melee has only been granted two buffs, one of which is the universal mini-crit on burning targets, while the second is the removal of its damage penalty if the opponent is wet, which further reinforces the threat of being punished by this weapon when coated by a liquid of any type. |
 Hot Hand
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Since the Hot Hand is intentionally designed to be a joke weapon, the damage penalty, while being reduced, is still preserved to avoid confusion for newcomers that would have otherwise been tricked into thinking the weapon would be strong by virtue of lacking any visible negative stat (as in, red text). The increased speed boost enables this melee to be at the very least used as a potential chase and retreat option. This would in turn convert a straight up bad option to choose into what is effectively a practical joke: shitty when used on its own, but made surprisingly stronger when used in conjunction with the rest of the Pyro's kit once you get that initial hit. |
Demoman
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Mostly serves as a quality of life addition to modify the passive attributes of the Demo without proactively gimping his basic toolset. It also indirectly buffs the playstyle of the Demoknight, as the primary slot is now freed up from the boots, which ultimately allows the player to equip anything they'd wish to have without reducing the amount of options that would be made available to them in a fight. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Scottish Resistance
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Even though the Scottish Resistance is very good when it comes to laying down multiple traps and controlling the stage once it is setup, this secondary has however suffered from being fundamentally less applicable than its cousins, and since TF2 offers many ways to disable traps on a whim, this weapon, while far from being bad, is still way more predictable and punishable than the regular Stickybomb Launcher is. This problem indirectly comes from the intent that Valve had of making the Demo's secondary a weapon that felt closer to a complementary tool to its primary, rather than a second "primary" of sorts that can be used interchangeably for most interactions, and so, to preserve that design philosophy while making the SR more viable, I opted to give this weapon an "imperviousness" attribute that should make it a weapon that can still be countered with careful positioning and good game sense, though most projectile options that should have easily denied it are now out of the table to offset for the commitment that this secondary forces upon its user. The reduced arm time is also there to preserve that same sense of commitment, all while making it more manageable when being setup in conjunction with the user's pipes to defend the objective. For short, it turns a defensive secondary that is a bit too easy to counter, into one that's actually really capable of controlling objectives as a trade-off for its lack of true offensive potential. |
 Chargin' Targe
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The Chargin' Targe is usually considered a weaker shield due to its strength mostly boiling down to slightly stronger resistances that do not attain an additional damage threshold when compared to the Splendid Screen and Tide Turner, all while lacking additional perks that would set it apart from the aforementioned options. To alleviate these relative flaws, the Targe has been given a noticeable triple bullet-explosive-fire type resistance, which should make it the defensive shield to equip for the Demo, as he can now tank through shotguns, miniguns, sniper rifles and then some, which will already nicely set this secondary apart from its alternatives in the Splendid Screen and Tide Turner. To further hinge into the protective potential of this secondary, a perk against critical damage has also being granted to make the user not only less vulnerable to random critical hits (if enabled), but also to critical buffs, which will ultimately make the user harder to kill through burst damage, though the Sniper can still deal the full brunt of his damage output if he headshots the Demo. |
 Ullapool Caber
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The idea for the Ullapool Caber was that its first hit would be powerful, while the following hits would be notably weaker, which was fundamentally flawed as it effectively made the Caber the least useful of the melees in Demo's arsenal due to the underwhelming impact that the initial hit has without any form of status buff or combo, especially after the weapon got nerfed later in the game's history. Here, the Caber now becomes a melee with a higher skill ceiling, that rewards the user for choosing their fights wisely, taking as little damage as possible, all while spacing their initial hit properly, which now indirectly deals more damage to the target since the explosion is now targeted instead of existing within the user. This should make it an excellent finisher that strives from getting solid positioning over anyone that dares getting within close range of a class that traditionally struggles from up-close, though the risks that comes from the explosion itself, as well as the reduced damage output once the weapon finally explodes makes it a fine addition for the Demo's arsenal since its weaknesses, while notable, are still balanced by more noticeable buffs that rewards the user when used with a combination of skill and guts. |
 Persian Persuader
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Originally a strong melee option for the Demoknight subclass, but otherwise a weak option to use, the Persian Persuader is still kept similar in its stats as the Wee Booties are both directly buffed through a stronger stat spread, but also indirectly as a result of the universal change that moved Boot-type weapons for Demoman into an exclusive fourth slot. The original debuffs of the Persuader were as such replaced by a generally worse ability to reload, as its buffs are still only applicable if you got a shield equipped, which more than likely means you would want to use that weapon for a Demoknight playstyle and nothing else. |
 Demolition Kicks 
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Basically serves as the default option for the fourth slot, with no statistical modifier whatsoever to compliment what is pretty much a standard way of playing Demoman. |
 Ali Baba's Wee Booties
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Now indirectly buffed by virtue of not replacing the grenade launcher anymore, the Booties essentially functions as an enabler for the Demoknight playstyle that does not hinder the rest of your kit on a fundamental level, though a few buffs were added since most of its perks relate to shields, which are significantly weaker as secondaries than stickies. The reduced knockback is added to bring the user around the same level of knockback tolerance as a Heavy, which will be notably helpful since classes with splash damage will have to put in more effort to juggle Demoknights, while Sentries become less problematic since they do not shut the player down as hard as they already did (though it still remains one of the most notable weaknesses of the Demoknight). Finally, the flavour text is applied to prevent the weapon from feeling like a stat dump when it really is just a tool that forgoes your ammunition for a more unique playstyle, which also has the added perk of giving a much easier time for newcomers to understand the unique kind of gameplay that the Booties can allow for the Demo. |
 Bootlegger
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Completely overhauls the Bootlegger from what was pretty much a reskin of the Wee Booties into a completely new tool that buffs the user's ability to use his explosive options as a trade-off for lesser durability. The lesser damage to self gives this tool utility as a movement option, as it gives better rollout and escape potential to the user, all while reducing the risk that may come with engaging in close-range combat, as pipes and stickies from the user now present less of a risk when used from up-close. The faster primary reload speed lightens the margin for error when using pipes, especially throughout extensive combat, but as a proper compensation for the existence of such perks, the Bootlegger also nerfs the user's overall durability by making them straight up more susceptible to damage of any kind. Also, since its strengths are fully reliant on the user's equipping explosive weapons to fully take advantage of them, equipping a shield to alleviate enemy damage would have to be done so at the cost of sacrificing your ability to rollout, while equipping the B.A.S.E. Jumper to min-max mobility while preserving damage output would have to come at cost of surrendering on your primary specific perk, so, while the risk of using the Bootlegger is obvious, one can also make the most out of these boots by playing a more movement-oriented, yet conventional Demoman. Overall, this gives the user a strong alternative to the Demolition Kicks without needing to severely alter the core playstyle of the Demo to benefit from it, by giving a Gunboats-like option that trades off durability for stronger mobility, range leniency and primary spammability. |
Heavy
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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The minigun is already a notably clunky weapon to use, and deliberately spinning it down to even regain the possibility to switch weapons means that if one of your teammates needs healing from your lunchbox, or you're in the need of a proper retreat option, you will have a significantly harder time doing so than any other class in the game, even though the lack of core movement option for the Heavy should already be more than enough to balance it out. Reducing tis rather inconvenient flaw will not only help the Heavy feel more rewarding to play when you switch weapons since said switches are now convenient to perform, but additionally, it also improves the viability for lunchboxes for your team, your melee as well, and most importantly, it actually makes shotguns more of a threat since they can now be used with reaction in mind, which would have been made impossible to do before. This, in turn, will condition lunchbox users to support their team more often, but it will also give more notable viability to shotguns for this class, since they're fundamentally good weapons that just happen to be made less usable here, especially because of this arbitrary flaw that Heavy has. |
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It was always odd to know that the Heavy Weapons Guy, a class that is implied to be a specialist of heavy weaponry, was actually unable to have four equippable slots in the game unlike the Engineer and the Spy, two notably less bulky classes, especially when your consider that most Heavy players actually prioritise lunchboxes because of the utility that they can bring, which also causes the indirect problem of making the Heavy much more predictable to combat than his intended design, as shotguns were meant to give the class a non-committal tool to combat at full speed with, which, as one would have guessed, was indirectly made defeated by the original inability for revved up miniguns to be switched off. By giving a fourth slot for the Heavy that is lunchbox-only, we not only bring back shotguns on the menu while preserving the utility that potential medpacks may have for both the user and his team, but we also teach newcomers to not only use lunchboxes and shotguns alike, and as an added bonus, since the Sandvich now becomes a stock option rather than an unlockable, it also evens the playing field out between those that freshly installed the game compared to those that had spent the time to actually unlock other weapons. And, like, come on, the Sandvich is such an iconic thing for the Heavy to have that it would be weird to still have a game where this balanced meal isn't a part of the russian's kit. |
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Despite being the class with the highest amount of health in the game, the Heavy is known for being notoriously bad at melee due to his lack of speed, range and damage, on top of having only few viable melee unlocks in his arsenal, all of which only do so by gaining some form of utility that more combat oriented options simply lack. Now, while this issue is indirectly fixed thanks to the rework that the Steak has in this chart, it should be noted however that the Heavy is meant to make up for his lack of speed by having better durability and power than most classes in the game, and so, by adding a mechanic of this style, we allow Heavy players to be notably rewarded when they land proper melee combos upon their opponents. This would not only give more of a purpose to the Stock Fists and Holiday Punch, who are both made much more viable simply by virtue of benefitting from this mechanic, but it would also a better template to balance the other melees that the Heavy has at his disposal, especially by giving a clearer distinction between "utility" and "combat" melees, and reducing the gap in viability between both styles. Basically, this would make combat melees for Heavy more appealing to use, without eliminating what made the previously viable melees fun and useful in the first place. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Natascha
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The Natascha is very polarising in its current state, as this weapon is debatably the weakest minigun in Highlander, while being not only ban-worthy in 6s, but also very oppressive in casual play, which can be explained by the fact that its attribute to slow down other players can make this pick insanely oppressive against low-level opponents while potentially invalidating certain matchups, which, paired with a resistance attribute that makes the user fundamentally harder to kill for most battles, ultimately makes this primary busted in practically any ruleset (that is not Highlander, at least), which even then, it would only struggle because of the mid-ranged bait and punish meta that the Heavy has min-max into there instead of the weapon being lacking in its abilities overall. It has therefore being reworked to go from an anti-movement/defence minigun into a rushdown-type primary, thanks to a meter dependent speed resource that gives the user arguably one the best movement options for Heavy, which synergises well with a lesser damage penalty and complete removal of its rev speed penalty to make up for its lack of slowing bullets and damage resistances. The newly added increased spread makes it a solid inverse of the Tomislav as it is easier for the Natascha to spread damage across a shorter firing cone, thus allowing it to still preserve the perks of easier tracking against faster classes like Scouts and Pyros who will still have a harder time dealing with this weapon due this unique attribute. Overall, an annoying weapon that struggles in Heavy's most important competitive format while being otherwise very annoying (and kinda busted) to deal with in the other rulesets now becomes a fair alternative to the other miniguns by trading effective range and pure damage for incredible mobility and solid tracking potency. |
 Brass Beast
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The Brass Beast already fills a useful niche because its buffed damage output and damage resistances means that the Heavy technically gains more value from spinning it than any other minigun in the game, though the slower deployment and mobility makes optimal use of this firearm much harder to attain than any other primary as a result of it. By making the nerf more manageable, we keep the niche of the Brass Beast as a "hard to use, yet powerful" weapon, while not overly tuning it since its original perks are already pretty good, especially when used in the hands of a competent Heavy main since the weapon already strive from having good knowledge of both maps and advanced techs for the class (tap-firing, ledge picking and the likes), on top of being naturally strong in defence situations, where the Brass can punish anything that comes within its effective range. A bonus "heal-on-kill" buff is also added to give the Brass a unique edge in the case that the user have to suddenly deal with a larger player count, and the replacement of a pure damage bonus with a faster firing rate means that the Brass Beast is now technically easier to track (to make up for its nerfs), but also requires a better understanding of map layouts and ammo management, which reinforces the idea that the Brass is fundamentally designed to be more difficult to master than any other primary for the Heavy. |
 Huo-Long Heater
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The Heater's ring is already kind of a flawed perk since it easily reveals the Heavy's position through walls, makes his movement more visually telling, on top of having a limited hitbox that somehow obstructs his sightline when used from upper positions (thus giving the weapon the hidden flaw of having a blindspot for no good reason). Added that its ammo consumption debuff is a notably harsh flaw to compensate, and that its normal damage is made lowered for no particular reason (Tomislav has better deployment and range, Natascha has resistances and slowing bullets), and most knowledgeable Heavies would tend to argue that the Heater is actually the worst minigun in the game because, while it is technically usable, it is not only a subpar pick to have in virtually all scenarios, but it also basically fills no good niche of its own to warrant its use in virtually any scenario, unlike the Brass who can be a counterpicking powerhouse (especially in maps with good coverage), and the Natascha who can shred through some matchups like Scouts, Pyros and Medics who struggle more against this weapon, thanks to its combination of unique perks. Giving more height to the ring means Spies will now have to truly commit to land a backstab on Heater users since they can't jump above it anymore, though elevated platforms, splash surfing, using the Dead Ringer, Spy-Cicle or simply shooting at the Heavy can still be used to avoid the ring, and also, since the damage penalty would be removed, a basic Heater would now be able to deal damage that would rival the likes of Sasha without relying on the ring, which, arguably, is still pretty hard to connect. Admittedly, I'd say removing the early rev penalty from the Heater is a pretty strong perk because this means that at close range, the Heater now becomes the best minigun in the game for early rev-jumping scenarios, but its actually a fair boost to have when the consumed ammo penalty originally made a "lose/lose" situation where rev-jumping with this weapon meant giving up on your damage potential, the only perk that the Heater technically had, just to save up on ammo (which even then, was still worse than just using the Stock), while rev-walking with the Heater to bypass the early rev penalty meant you'd waste a lot of ammo even if you didn't shoot any bullets, all while the enemy could see you from a mile away, so, given how harsh, yet unique that debuff is, I think a strong perk to make up for it is arguably fair game. Since the ring of fire also created a blindspot under the user, it would only be logical to make it so that the particles don't actually obstruct your sightline, since it just feels frustrating to deal with when you are already the slowest class in the game using what is also probably the biggest ammo vacuum in the game. Basically, through these re-balances, the Heater is turned from a mediocre minigun that fills no niche, into a jump-revving menace that requires stronger map knowledge and proper restraint on the usage of your own minigun to gain the most value out of. |
 Dalokohs Bar
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While it is mistakenly considered a mediocre side-grade to the Sandvich, the Dalokohs Bar is actually very good when used in conjunction with the GRU thanks to a unique, yet somewhat poorly documented tech known as "Dalokohs Flashing", which allows the user to effectively duplicate the effective healing of the lunchbox by approximately 250% of its original value when consumed with the minimal amount of max health that the Heavy can have (100HP). While capped by an internal overheal limit of 350HP (as to prevent the now patched "Infinite Health" exploit), this technique allows that secondary to not only become the best lunchbox in the russian's arsenal for self-healing by a long shot, but additionally, since the overheal stat that's technically built within the lunchbox technically scales with the user's current max health (although the cap is still there), it also allows the Heavy to gain a de-facto health regen on consumption, on top of an even higher effective health pool than the stats may suggest simply by using this technique. As such, to preserve the uniqueness of the Dalokohs playstyle while keeping it better balanced with the other available lunchboxes in the Heavy's arsenal, the Bar now has much faster consumption rate to make it the least committal of the regular lunchboxes to consume, all while gaining stronger synergy from a technique that effectively makes this secondary a very solid contender to the default Sandvich when used by a knowledgeable player. To make up for all these aforementioned strengths, it also takes longer to reload to make its perk less abusable, and give more of a purpose for the Banana by also becoming the worst lunchbox in the game for healing your teammates. These small modifications should keep that lunchbox a durability powerhouse with excellent self-sustaining capabilities when paired with the GRU, though it will come at the cost of having the weakest potential as a medpack, or when its paired with another melee that is unable to tap into the hidden perks that this lunchbox has. For short, it's niche when used by itself, but when it's paired with the notably popular Gloves of Running Urgently and used to its fullest potential, it's a very solid option to pick, and even a potential upgrade to the regular Sandvich, in part thanks to the universal buffs that the Heavy will have received from weapon switches and having separate slots between secondaries and lunchboxes. |
 Buffalo Steak Sandvich
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The original Steak was arguably the worst secondary for the Heavy in the context of most gamemodes, and as such, it was only made viable in two specific formats, being Medieval Mode (where it's outclassed by Demoknights and projectiles) and 6s (where it's banned due to its rollout advantage). Here, the Steak was rebalanced to become a tool that enables both Fat Scouts and Boxers alike, and similarly its perks were reworked to make it less polarising when it came to its rollout capabilities, while becoming virtually stronger in all metrics. Gaining health from melee hits synergises well with the mini-crit boost and improved speed that the Heavy carries when eating that lunchbox, and the faster consumption that now heals the user makes the Steak more applicable while also rewarding the user for sticking to a more limiting playstyle that doesn't involve the use of the minigun in any shape or form. Being able to manually cancel the Steak at the cost of half of your own current health (as opposed to your max health like the Half-Zatoichi would do) virtually eliminates the part of that lunchbox that made it problematic for 6s, and it also gives some additional layer of skill in choosing when and where to cancel it out, in the case that the user needs to switch to their primary. The ability to now use shotguns and lunchboxes alongside your melee will now allow Fat Scouts to gain more credibility as well, thanks to the other perks that the Steak may have already possessed, all while rewarding the user for getting an early refill on their Steak, since picking up a medpack while already being full on health means the user can now consume another steak, and that even if the buff is still active, and thus reset the timer while regaining health once as a reward for having good map knowledge. Finally, the removal of the damage vulnerability comes into sense, as a Heavy that already commits to not using a minigun loses a lot from their effective range, close-range damage potential and consistency, and so adding a hidden debuff like that only serves to further reduce the viability of a lunchbox that was originally not that good to begin with. All these improvements would basically convert what is a shitty unlock that happens to be decent in Medieval Mode (and kinda broken for 6s) into a playstyle enabler that is able to rival with other lunchboxes thanks to its unique strengths and weaknesses. In short, it's actually fair and balanced, while remaining very unique as an unlockable. |
 Second Banana
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The original Banana is technically decent at what it does, but is both outclassed by the Sandvich and Dalokohs Bar in different fields, since the former is better at getting occasional self-healing on top of being better suited for supporting your team, while the Dalokohs has the best self-healing in the game (through Dalokohs Flashing) on top of its improved durability, and this despite the lesser heal it has on paper. Since the Sandvich is a more risk-free lunchbox that compliments both self-sustainability and support, while the Dalokohs bar is a better "solitary" lunchbox by design (and as such, overlap the original intent of the Banana as the king of that department), the Banana has instead being redesigned to do the opposite of the Dalokohs Bar by becoming the best "support" lunchbox of your team as a trade-off for its weaker self-sustainability. This would give a much wider range of options for the Heavy to choose from regarding his lunchboxes, since the Dalokohs and Banana would now become powerful options in their own clearly distinct ways, while the Sandvich becomes a very solid middle ground between both, and the Steak strives by being a playstyle enabler that the other lunchboxes cannot fulfil. |
 Ammo Reserv
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A lunchbox that partially trades self-healing and med pack potential for the ability to fully refill the ammo of both the user or a teammate in an informed way, it can find direct utility for the user as the sacrificed health gain can be made up if the expensive ammo spending cannot be recouped by either a lack of ammo packs from both the map layout and the picked targets, if targets are too far from the user to have their ammo become safe to go for, or if the user just has a hard time managing their bullets from the get-go, which can ideally make this an excellent choice for casual players as it is effectively the lunchbox that punishes you the least for making ill-advised plays in the longer run. However, in the hands of a skilled Heavy, it can also remain a wise pick to choose depending of your team composition, as the user can hugely benefit any Engineer that may want to set up their base, as the Ammo Reserv would get to be the only option in the game that can grant ammo and metal for virtually no cost, all while enabling the Heavy to potentially convert small and medium health packs laid around the layout into large ones, which means that with enough coordination, a player that uses this item can hugely benefit any Engie on their team by assisting them through their building process all while being already a good class to defend nests. Outside of that optimal situation, the Reserv can still find utility for other classes such as allied Heavies and Pyroes, both of which heavily rely on smart ammo management to be efficient, and weirdly enough, Medics using the crossbow can also benefit from this pickup as they would get to keep on getting burst healing without having to retreat if the situation calls for it (though that use is debatably more niche). This should make it a decent generalist secondary that would get noticeably popular at all levels of play for the unique perks it offers, both from a casual and competitive perspective. |
 Fists
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While still niche within the original playstyle that the Heavy has, the Stock Fists is now able to two-shot eight of the nine classes simply by successfully landing a one-two combo, which will make this melee way more appealing to use in conjunction with the Steak, where it'll have excellent synergy. |
 Killing Gloves of Boxing
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A proper side-grade to the stock Fists that were already buffed, the KGB now sacrifices its combo potential, damage output and margin for error for the potential of getting guaranteed crits both from kills and assists, which makes it excellent with the now buffed Steak during snowballing or chain situations, though it is definitely worse when used for both duelling, or within a context where the perks cannot be realistically be used. It's basically your quintessential high-risk, high-reward melee that is decent at punching one man, but way better when tearing through an army. |
 Gloves of Running Urgently
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The GRU is already an excellent utility melee for the Heavy, and usually the weapon of choice with the Fists of Steel to be equipped within that slot, so it goes without saying that its innate perks and flaws should be preserved as a result of its powerful stats, and the interesting skills that this melee encourages the user to develop to be used optimally. However, since the intent of the GRU has always been to be an option that improves mobility at the cost of durability and strength, this melee has been given a reduced ability to gain critical punches when compared to the Stock, and its gimped critical damage means that this melee now directly deals less damage from both the Steak's buff and its combo critical hits. |
 Warrior's Spirit
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Originally a bad melee because of its seemingly unusable perks due to how slow the Heavy normally is without the buffed Steak, on top of having to deal with another debuff that virtually trades-off your stronger melee capabilities by making all of your opponent's attacks stronger on YOU (which is "Perfect Game Design 101", lemme tell you), it's obviously no wonder than outside of Medieval Mode (where it can actually contend with the KGB, and only loses against it when random crits are enabled), the Warrior's Spirit had gotten a bad reputation as the weakest melee in the Heavy's arsenal. Here, it both benefits from the universal buff to the Heavy's melees while getting a more manageable set of perks and weaknesses. The removal of the damage vulnerability when active only makes sense, given the archetype that this melee is supposed to fill, and the addition of nerfed health packs and lunchboxes now means that the Warrior's Spirit is explicitly designed to get greater synergy with the Steak, where it'll shine the most. This'll allow the melee to fill a niche as bruiser-type option that can absolutely delete opponents if it can get in range, on top of giving greater reward from both kills and assists, but at the cost of somewhat less effective external healing, which will make this weapon more specialised, but very good for those that wants to use the Steak, especially since the removal of random critical hits by default now makes this weapon a proper combat side-grade to the KGB and the Fists. |
 Fists of Steel
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An already pretty balanced option that gains great utility from holding objectives and even escaping in casual play, the Fists of Steel practically doesn't need any form of rebalance that would affect its application there, since its strong perks should normally be offset by stats that, while most of them can be circled around simply by having deeper knowledge of the game's mechanics already, are still more than enough to make it fair when compared to the GRU and the now buffed melees that are available for the Heavy. However, the ease of abuse at which this melee can be used to force objective when applied by a coordinated team warrants more competitive-oriented nerfs, so a debuff in active movement speed will make the user have a harder time escaping attacks of any kind, while a newfound penalty in build rate will discourage Medics from gaining Übers from someone who actively uses this melee. Outside of the universal buff that this weapon received, it's basically the same tool when it comes to its practical usage otherwise, though the gimped deployment speed is added as a consequence of the Heavy being able to switch off his minigun, even when deployed. |
 Eviction Notice
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The maximum health drain made sense for the GRU because its speed buff was very noticeable, and it virtually lacked any other form of noticeable debuff that justified equipping any other melee beforehand that wasn't the old Eviction Notice or the Fists of Steel, but comparatively speaking, the fact that the current EN not only has lesser damage output, a weaker speed buff, and a slower maximum health drain that actually gimped its ability to roll out, since this melee would now roll slower and with less health than the GRU... Really, it's needless to say that the modern iteration is by all means simply a worse version of the GRU in all aspects for no good reason whatsoever. Here, the Eviction Notice is reverted back into a proper lightweight counterpart to what the Gloves of Running Urgently provided (and even slightly improved upon its original design through a lesser damage penalty), while the universal Heavy melee buff is now introduced as well. Coincidentally, that last buff is made to be both stronger and weaker than other melees in the Heavy's kit, since it is technically way easier to land consecutive hits with the Eviction Notice, though it comes at the cost of much lesser gains as well. |
 Holiday Punch
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The original version of the Holiday Punch was a very niche option that only gained utility from either tapping into random critical hits (which are now disabled by default in this list) or for disabling Ubers, but outside of that, it was basically a colourful variant of the stock Fists that was logically bad from a tactical standpoint, due to the innate slowness that the Heavy has to begin. Now, the fact that it gains from the universal critical buff makes the Holiday Punch way more applicable as an option, especially thanks to the introduction of both a buffed Steak and the ability for Heavy to switch off his primary with much more ease, but curiously, the ability for the weapon to directly counter itself is now removed. The reason as to why this extremely specific removal has been introduced is simply because the Holiday Punch's critical hit can be countered by simply being airborne (which jumping allows you to do in an instant), which obviously makes duels between two users of that weapon especially obnoxious. If both players don't know the trick, they will most likely buffer their following hit until one magically dies due to server-side priority. Basically, that last stat deadass sucks from a game design perspective, and the intern that thought this idea was actually good, and even got paid for it can honestly get bent. ...oh, yeah, it also taunt kills faster so now, you can Pootis Pow! your target with better consistency. |
 Lead Pipe
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A beta melee that serves a dual combo/comeback role by trading consistent damage or utility for one guaranteed critical hit once its passive meter is filled. As a passive, it makes the Heavy able to switch into another weapon with much higher efficiency thanks to a buff in spin down from 0.4s to a measly 0.2, which can enable the use of shotguns and lunchboxes on reaction, since the combined spin-down speed paired with its flat switch speed increase means that a Heavy can now transition from his revved-up primary to another option in 0.55s instead of 0.9. This would logically allow the Heavy to start shotgun combos at a speed almost equivalent to other classes (though sharper execution and speed compensation will still be at play to counterbalance), but to also throw packs at his teammates with a much more reasonable commitment, which would make the user able to better defend their teammates when using a non-primary option may be the optimal thing to do. As a comeback mechanic, it can also be used to surprise a reckless opponent by having an opportunity to bait them into a potential one-shot scenario which others melees wouldn't be able to accomplish, and beyond that rather specific use, it can also be used as a potential opener and finisher to a shotgun sequence, which would make this melee mostly advised for Fat Scouts, though it can still find decent generalist utility for a more traditional playstyle thanks to its aforementioned attributes. |
Engineer
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Rewards the Engineer for upgrading his building by improving their stamina and sustainability even further, especially given that a Level 3 building actually gives less of an improvement relative to a Level 2 building when compared to how that same Level 2 build improves upon the first level. It also streamlines the damage value of each buildings, as their respective health pools are properly streamlined into an increase of 45HP per level-up, which would be more intuitive to players of all skills. |
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Build values for Sentries and Mini-Sentries are now streamlined to make it easier for the user to defend a key position while preserving a commitment of some kind, while Dispensers and Teleporters now take at minimum nine less seconds than before to be built, which is mostly there to serve as a quality of life feature for the Engineer in the battlefield. In a reasoning similar to the health buffs of LV2 and LV3 buildings, it also helps streamlines the construction rate of each building, as they all, by default have a multiplicator of 4 as their construction value, thus improving the intuitiveness of the Engineer's building system to the player. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Frontier Justice
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A somewhat balanced sidegrade if you purely use it as a counterpicking option, the Frontier Justice has a potentially really good, but highly situational perk that banks on the fact that your sentry frags and gets destroyed (which implies having to eventually rebuild it, which is a notable commitment) to really make the most out of its high-risk, high-reward mechanic to truly come in handy when compared to other primaries that are just fundamentally more consistent. Otherwise, in situations where the FJ can't get its stacked critical hits, it's actually a very underwhelming primary to use as a default option because of its severely limited clip size which makes it less capable of dealing consistent damage, all while making it much more reliant on its reload animation to be of any use in the long run. By giving it the benefit of a slightly faster firing rate, the Frontier Justice now has at least some more utility as a more standard primary since its burst DPM technically becomes better than any other primary in the Engineer's kit, even when it is fired without critical hits to buff it up, and this in spite of the fact that its clip size is still eons below the other choices. |
 Pomson 6000
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Easily the worst Engineer primary in the game, and potentially one of the worst primaries period, the Pomson trades off spreaded pellets for what is pretty much a lacklustre projectile that have low speed and a relatively small hitbox, on top of having weaker reloading, lesser damage output, and no special mechanic beyond annoying Spies and potentially gimping Übers to justify shoddy stats, so, the weapon has somewhat been reworked to be not only be more transparent stat-wise, but also more generally applicable as a firearm. For starters, the weapon has been repurposed to deal fire-type damage and afterburn, since its original description implied that the weapon is quite literally able to immolate targets, which is not reflected in-game, thus resulting in a primary that had lesser damage from a direct hit without having the attributes to justify that debuff to begin with in the first place, and additionally, the projectile speed has also been tremendously increased to make this primary better at dealing damage from mid-range while retaining some level of efficiency at closer distances, thus ensuring that the weapon would be more efficient for poking a target and dealing damage overtime via burning. The reloading has been buffed to a consistent value of -20% relative to the Stock Shotgun to make the Pomson less of a commitment to fire with as a proper compensation for its lower clip size, and its damage penalty towards buildings is completely removed to make it capable of dealing with mini-sentries, and even nests from its ideal range as well. To make up for all these new strengths, the weapon is now unable to reduce Ubers and Cloaks, as the afterburn would already be helpful enough against Medics and Spies, and its originally reduced ramp-up is now completely wiped, which means the base damage of this primary is the best it can do out of a direct hit. Finally, most of the stats that went undocumented on the original spread are now made to be visible (or at the very least hinted) to reduce confusion, and in turn make the user more conscious of the strengths and weaknesses that comes with using this "hand-held irradiating utensil" in the battlefield. Overall, these modifications completely turns over what was pretty much a shitty unlock with one busted attribute against Ubercharges, into what is now a powerful mid-range spychecker that balances its unique strengths with lesser burst and sustained damage, for a fair weapon that rewards the user for having good reads and matchup knowledge. |
 Wrangler
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The Wrangler is arguably the best secondary for the Engineer, as its commitment to use is massively offset by a powerful armour that applies on the sentry both out of deploy, and even for a few seconds when the sentry is disabled in any capacity, which means destroying it is pretty tall ask for the enemy team, as they need to coordinate, communicate and just play pretty damn well to deal with what is practically speaking just an Engineer that decided to press "2" on their keyboard. By reducing the power of the shield itself, all while instantly removing it when the sentry gets disabled through unwrangling, disabling attacks or sappers, we reduce the potential level of oppressiveness that the Wrangler would have, especially when used by multiple Engineers on the same team, all while somewhat preserving the utility of the Wrangler as a potent sentry-improving tool when used accordingly. Given that the sentry is now way easier to destroy in spite of requiring the user to basically forgo their pistol, technically not use their primary or melee to actively use this tool, and somewhat expose themselves in the battlefield, there ought to at least be a few offsets to not make the Wrangler redundant in use when compared to the stock Pistol and the Short-Circuit. Because of this, the user can now sentry jump without taking damage (thus making a "Market Pardner" surprisingly viable!), and the disabling time that a sentry goes through when unwrangled is made much lower, thus allowing for a potentially more mobile gameplay if the player wishes to do so, though playing more stationarily can still function very well with that secondary. Basically, the Wrangler goes from being THE secondary for any Engineer that wants to play optimally to a solidly viable defence/movement option that can be used to both reasonably improve the sentry overall applicability and the user's own mobility as a reward for dedicating yourself to the sentry itself. |
 Short Circuit
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A decently capable secondary that would be considered kinda balanced in most scenarios, the Short Circuit however has one clear problem in the fact that its primary fire is practically useless, while its secondary fire is made to be too oppressive when used in conjunction with a payload, as its ability to deliver metal with no limit can make a projectile that's balanced by a higher cost for firing essentially void of that weakness for as long as the Engineer gets to push the objective. As a result of it, the range of the primary fire is now significantly increased to at least preserve the idea of a short-range non-committal option that is now usable, while the weapon's inability to gain metal from dispensers (which counts the payload as well) while active will at least force the Engineer to switch weapons in order to refill their metal count when close to a near-infinite source of ammo for their secondary. |
 Southern Hospitality
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Transforms what was virtually a marginal improvement on the Stock option (barred for random critical hits) into a reposition-based melee with stronger spychecking capabilities that trades-off metal capacity and fire durability, as the Engineer now partially adopts some of the strengths of the Pyro within his own melee. This would force the player to roam around their buildings more as its perks rely on the Engineer's ability to aptly move into an advantageous position, or to the inverse, move out of a bad situation, all while being able to engage in melee combat with overextending players that may be after his own builds. Its unique flaws would also make for an interesting pair of offsets, as the lesser metal count would make the user more cautious of their metal and build routing, while the fire vulnerability would make them more cautious in their approaches, as the buffed repositioning could get specifically countered by flares, flamethrowers and other fire-type options that can be used by other classes. This would, in turn, make the Southern Hospitality a solid replacement to Stock when used in the hands of a wielder who excels at planning his interactions out, both defensively and offensively. |
 Objective Chaser
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An objective-type wrench that is designed to help the player for handling offence while preserving his core capabilities, the Objective Chaser is designed to make it easier for the Engineer to simply pop out buildings while capturing the objective, though its significantly weaker metal count and damage penalty makes it both less sustainable in defence scenarios, but also notably unreliable to use as a combat option on your own. This means that on Payload and CP maps, this wrench can actually become a very solid option to pick if you happen to play while on attack as its ability to build multiple constructions all at once is eased up by its positive attributes, since its capture buff gives the benefit of making the Engineer the perfect dedicated capper on these kinds of maps thanks to his tripled capture rate, which in turn will allow him to max out the capture speed of a Payload, or reach 75% of the max speed of a regular control point, which should ultimately make him very resourceful in key pushes as the class is now being given a tool that makes him the best potential capper in the game for these gamemodes. |
Medic
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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This rebalance is mostly added to encourage players to keep using their Medigun without being void of ammunition to spare when threatened by the enemy team. This also partially evens out the playing field between the Crusader's Crossbow and the other primaries by not proactively punishing Syringe Gun users for simply defending themselves with firearms of this type. |
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Enables Syringe Guns to be actually resourceful for close-range retaliation, though their lesser range and lack of ability to heal still gives them a specific niche that sets them apart from the Crossbow without overlapping in utility. Base damage is as such buffed from 10 to 15, ramp-up from 12 to 18, and finally, fall-off is increased from 5 to 8. |
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The Übersaw is fundamentally a powerful melee that, while meta-centralising for the Medic, is also not inherently unfair to use due to the commitment that the user has to go through by trying to melee an opponent with what is effectively the number one target in the game. By giving the possibility for all melees in Medic's arsenal the possibility to gain Über on hit, we allow the Medic to gain use from his other melees, while preserving the utility that the Übersaw has as the most rewarding melee to use for gaining meter, as it still requires four hits to gain a full Übercharge, as opposed to the five hits that other melees would require to gain a full meter. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Syringe Gun
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Benefits from the universal buffs given to Syringe Guns by turning a mediocre defensive option that's somewhat committal to use and with no added utility whatsoever, into a decently capable defensive option that can be used on reaction without having to worry about a lack of passive reload while the user is in dire straits. |
 Blutsauger
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Gains the same advantages as the Stock, but to make up for its combination of oppressive close-range damage and ability to heal the user for simply hitting your shots, the weapon now has lesser self-healing potential and slower reaction times, which makes it a fair commitment for the added perk of surviving and potentially winning fights that would have probably being lost by using another primary. |
 Overdose
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On top of the universal buffs it receives, the Overdose is now able to give a passive speed boost to the user, which makes it significantly more applicable as it enables any Medic to now heal and engage in melee combat with much stronger mobility, thus ensuring that the defensive potential of the Medic gets proportionally improved alongside their ability to build Übercharge. As it gives a lot of potential for Medic to roll to key points faster, on top of playing with the range of their own primary with much more potency than the Syringe Gun and the Blutsauger (on top of the aforementioned perks that are mentioned above), the Overdose however gets a much sharper damage penalty to prevent it from becoming essentially the universally strongest Syringe Gun for Medic to use. |
 Quick-Fix
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The original Quick-Fix is actually both a weaker Medigun at higher player counts due to its Übercharge being relatively weaker when compared to other options, but also notably stronger at low player counts due to its core attributes making it better at healing and tanking damage than the Stock option, all while being able to easily follow any healed targets via its ability to mirror blast jumps and shield charges, which in turn makes it ban worthy in 6s, kinda underpowered in Highlander, and sorta inconsistent in Casual. To make its Übercharge stronger, it has therefore being made to be charged faster, on top of gaining two new attributes, with the first being to persist while holstered, which makes it a solid escape and last-ditch option that can be used in conjunction with your primary or melee to make you able to defend yourself in a pinch, while the second attribute makes the Übercharge in question last the same amount of time regardless of the number of healed targets, which makes it significantly better for rezzing your team, and thus encourages the player to use the Quick-Fix Über as a collective option instead of a pocket tool the same way that the Stock charge would be used. As a counterbalancing measure to these perks, the Quick-Fix loses its ability to mirror blast jumps and shield charges, and its heal rate, while still being faster than usual, remains weaker nonetheless compared to its base iteration. Overall, this makes this Medigun an option that trades off potential invincibility for a powerful team-based Übercharge that buffs the Medic's ability to fight, all while being mildly better at healing and tanking, thus making it less oppressive at low player counts, but also stronger as games gets more stacked. |
 Vaccinator
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Argued to be the best Medigun in the game for duelling, the Vaccinator makes the Medic notably harder to kill, but also allows the patient to essentially tear through any matchup with little to no commitment, all while preventing classes with singular damage types from being effective against anyone that gets pocketed by a player that uses this secondary, thus ensuring its supremacy in most situations that would be out there. By making it so that the Medic does not get a damage resistance of any kind from both healing and using meter, all while bubbles only reduce damage by half instead of three quarters for the patient, we make it so that the healer can still be picked on a vacuum if they end up getting out of position themselves, while the healing target can still get beaten if they recklessly move into a bad position. The passive crit resistance on the patient is added to make the Vaccinator a better anti-cheat measure against aimbots without severely affecting honest players, as Snipers can still one-shot the Medic with a clean quickscope headshot, while other classes may not rely on critical hits at all to take an opponent out of commission anyway. |
 Bonesaw
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Turns a melee that was decent for combat thanks to the user's speed, but also severely outclassed in terms of utility, into a balanced combat/utility option that, like most stock melees, benefits from lacking strong weaknesses, though it is counterbalanced by solely benefitting from its own universal mechanic and nothing more. |
 Ubersaw
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Keeps the innate strength that the Ubersaw has as an Über builder, and additionally, it even benefits from better value from medpacks. To balance these very solid perks, the firing rate has been made to become slightly slower, light classes now die in 3 hits, while both the Demo and Pyro have one health to spare upon taking three hits that would have originally killed them. This would further increase the risk value from this melee, though it wouldn't be devalued thanks to its arguably solid strengths, on top of the innate perks that the Medic has for melee combat, such as speed, durability, health regen, and even the access to an escape option in Übercharges, which are considered the single strongest mechanic in the game. Additionally, less damage would mean more potential for getting melee hits, which indirectly improves this melee's potential for gaining Über, in spite of its lesser fighting potential. |
 Vita-Saw
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Organs as a mechanic was originally made redundant by the fact that the Übersaw's ability to gain meter on hit virtually overshadowed this melee in almost all metrics, but on the other hand, being potentially able to retain Über while benefiting from a universal meter gain on hit for Medic would turn what was a usually pointless stat into one that would be somewhat overpowered and annoying to deal with in competitive play due to how hard it would make it for the enemy team to count the Medic's Übercharge from knowledge alone. By turning organs from their original state into a limited resource that can be used to improve the user's mobility for a short span of time, we effectively allow the Vita-Saw to become a melee that excels at improving the Medic's movement and enabling a hit and run playstyle for a class that would otherwise be somewhat lacking in this department. Basically, this version of the Übersaw could be considered a sidegrade to the current one, with the difference being that it synergises better with the balancing of the other available melees for the Medic, which got buffed accordingly. |
 Amputator
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Turns the Amputator's taunt into a meter-dependent effect that is way more practical to use for healing your team in a perimetre, all while feeling much less committal to apply, as the effect is instantaneous and doesn't force the Medic into a taunting stance. The universal change given to bonesaws as a whole, on top of the added bonus of passive regeneration, can give this melee a strong niche as a hybrid survival/support oriented option that can contend with the Übersaw thanks to the unique playstyle it enables. |
 Solemn Vow
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Converts what was a de-facto marginal upgrade to the original Bonesaw (a mediocre melee that was technically buffed by Medic's better melee capabilities) into a tool that sharply improves your ability to defend yourself and switch weapons, though at the cost of a less lenient margin for error for whiffing hits, and more importantly: a nerfed ability to build Über on hit. This reduced capability to get Über is in fact lowered enough that the Solemn Vow now requires eight hits to build 96% Über, instead of the six hits that all the others melees (with the exception of the Übersaw) would need to swing to get a similar advantage, which is definitely a pretty notable debuff, despite the small difference that -4% of Über on hit may appear to be on paper. For a Medic that wants to gain improved capabilities while minimising melee combat as much as possible, it can be a great option to choose since it virtually buffs the class in anything but Über building, but it obviously reduces the biggest reward that comes with most melees in his arsenal. If you need to kill those that are attacking you fast, and you need your switches fast as well, it should be a very solid melee to pick despite its introduced flaws. |
Sniper
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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It's mostly an addition that's included to prevent Snipers from potentially countering themselves via items that could deny such mechanics, since the class rely a lot on his ability to headshot to get anything done, and potentially having access to tools that prevents you from being critically hit (and as such, become the recipient of said headshots) thanks to your team composition while your opponent as no such luxury could be considered mechanically unfair to the receiving party. |
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Sniper normally doesn't need to manage his ammunition all that much, and added that his gameplan tend to be mostly centred around having strong positioning and good aim, anyone that plays the class is pretty much not incentivised to change positions in order to simply refill their ammo, which can result in moments of gameplay that can become notably slow for both the user and the opponent. By reducing the maximum reserve that sniper rifles have from the get-go, we encourage Sniper players to move around more often, and therefore, learn more about the value of positioning with the class, since it is a vital point in making him viable. |
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Mostly a change that would be useful for new players, it helps indicate to the user that a backpack pretty much sacrifices the kind of utility that a SMG would have for more passive attributes, thus justifying the appearance of an overwhelming amount of positive stats. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Sydney Sleeper
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Originally a bodyshot specialist that tried to be a support-oriented option for Sniper, the Sydney Sleeper had absolutely lacklustre headshot damage as a trade-off for a faster base charge speed, marking potential alongside a few noticeably niche buffs that effectively made it an odd primary to choose since its mechanics effectively made it weaker than the Stock, but all while managing to be technically broken by its own attributes as it was way too easy for the user to simply mark a target with Jarate. To increase the potential that this weapon has, the Sydney Sleeper has first of all improved from being completely unable to deal critical headshots (as its current iteration does pseudo-headshots that mini-crits instead) into a firearm that can now deal actual critical headshots, though at the cost of lesser critical headshot damage, which should make its highest burst damage go from a measly 203 to a more respectable value of 275, which is more than enough to pick any class that isn't a Heavy in a vacuum. Most of its niche strengths were traded off to gain a pure Jarate effect that lasts 7 seconds upon headshotting (instead of simply hitting the target while scoped), which rewards the user both from landing bodies and headshots alike, and so, while reactive headshots can be made more oppressive for opening up a target that cannot be outright picked even with a regular quickscope headshot from the Stock Rifle, this also open up a better potential for two-piecing a target from a headshot into a bodyshot sequence, and additionally, in the case that a quickscope cannot let you pick an opponent that comes up your way, the longer Jarate duration will give you the option to now gain a proper link into your Bushwacka for a defensive combo, which ultimately makes the Sydney Sleeper more apt at scaring your competition away with consistency. Its base charge speed has also been notably increased, so bodyshots are more reliable than ever, and make for an arguably stronger option when paired with the long-lasting Jarate effect that headshots would give, and finally, its unique immunity to soaking means that the user is effectively able to counter anyone that also uses the same weapon (as they would be immune to Jarate themselves), but can also by extension ignore problems that would come from being put under the effects of the Mad Milk, Gas Passer, or even from touching water at all, which can be highly resourceful when paired with the DDS and Bushwacka. Overall, the Sleeper pretty much becomes a proper support-oriented rifle that can oppress both through its downright lethal bodyshotting game and its uniquely status-oriented headshots that gain in efficiency if the target could have sponged a regular headshot anyway, all while doubling down as an anti-liquid option that directly counters any weapon that capitalises on soaking attributes. |
 Bazaar Bargain
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Against bad players, the Bazaar's Bargain ability to rack up impressive charge speed makes it a weapon that's very strong for pub-stomping, but when placed in a more serious environment, it seriously falters due to how excruciatingly long its base charge speed is when paired with a potential charge increase that can only be gained if you outright kill a target with a headshot, thus making this primary a weapon that has inverse viability as it would be considered a straight downgrade in Highlander, while being debatably stronger in the context of Casual play. Its circumstantial buff that relies on having multiple headshot kills to have it be somewhat on-par with Stock has been therefore changed to allow the weapon to gain a lesser amount of increased charge speed by simply landing headshots, no matter if it results in a direct kill or not, which should make the BB more capable of playing around its original weakness. The base charge rate has also been made less obnoxious to the player, as a 30% reduction still remains somewhat manageable when placed in the context of a game that features skilled players on both sides, and likewise, its max charge rate has been reduced to make the peak potential of this firearm less oppressive once it is attained. The added vulnerabilities to fire and melee-type damage makes it so that the user gains an obvious weakness regarding flare pokes and melee combos, which the Razorback and DDS can somewhat help alleviate, but still puts a reasonable risk as the Sniper gains the potential for having a reliably more oppressive primary at the cost of being an easier target overall. Basically, a typical pub-stomping weapon that shredded against weak teams, but struggled harder as the opposition was getting stronger is now getting arguably closer to the original plan that TF Team wanted to fill with that primary, by making this rifle a high-risk/reward tool that gives the user strong returns in the longer run if they get to land consistent headshots while avoiding any interaction that would result in a quick death. |
 Machina
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The original Machina is arguably the only primary for the Sniper that can actually outperform the Stock Rifle, as even though its marginal weaknesses can be problematic when put in the hands of the average player, especially when placed in a casual setting where player counts are higher and the average game sense is lower, it is however banned from 6s and Highlander rulesets due to its ability to both put vital classes at an even worse health position, all while being able to de-facto mark them and potentially getting the potential to tap both the healer and their pocket in a single shot for little to no trade-off, as a Sniper with good protection from their team wouldn't have to worry about the lack of no-scopes and somewhat easier tell they give to the enemy each time they fire a shot. The bonus damage it gains from a fully charged shot has been replaced by resistance piercing, which should keep it useful against tools that would normally resist its newfound fire typing, but all while also gaining counterpicking potential against items that are weak to fire damage, or buffs that would normally trivialise other rifles in the bushman's kit, which especially concerns the Vaccinator in those regards as the user would now have a direct answer against that Medigun. Its ability to fire tracer rounds is now documented as a neutral attribute since the cost of alerting players with bad game sense isn't much of a nerf when opponents with higher experience would still tell where a potential Sniper would be no matter the primary (before playing around their position accordingly), and when that tracer round can also be used in coordination with teammates at higher levels of play to make organised picks much more easier to call out and execute thanks to the visual indicator it gives to the teammates as well, it would be honestly be safe to say that tracers can be a blessing in disguise when used around a team that knows how to capitalise out of vital informations on the spot. Finally, a new weakness has been added in a mildly slower charge rate, which should give a fair trade-off to the weapon's unique perks as its shots will become somewhat more committal to execute in a heated game, since a full charge will take around 3.8 seconds to be obtained instead of the usual 3.3 rate, which while not a massive debuff, still would make this weapon have somewhat lower pick potential in both paper and practice unless the target has been put under the effects of a fire weakness or a damage resistance of any kind that the Machina would effectively pierce. This would make this slightly reworked version of the Machina a fire-type alternative to the Stock that trades some level of hit consistency in exchange for its anti-armour properties and increased teamwork potential. |
 Hitman's Heatmaker
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The Focus mechanic is honestly quite underappreciated, and the bodyshot penalty can reliably be played around by either straight up dealing headshots, or by taking advantage of the "Crikey!" mechanic used by the Cleaner's Carbine, but unfortunately, it suffers from being rather inconsistent to fill as headshots does not always equals to kills, and assists are usually very unrewarding, which means that this weapon, while in theory able to fill meter fast, is in all honesty not so consistent at doing so. By converting the Focus meter into one that's reliant on damage rather than picks (both direct and indirect), we reward the player for dealing consistent burst damage, and equally incentivise the use of both quickscopes and charged shots, since patience is now being heftily rewarded by the weapon when compared to the original design that almost punished the player for taking their time while meter wasn't active, but to the inverse slightly punished the faster option when Focus was active. The reduced Focus duration is therefore added to reward the player for actually scoring headshots while using the meter, as the meter would essentially still lose value if the player was simply charging bodies instead of going for headshots of varying strengths. Basically, this small rebalance would create an incentive to play this weapon consistently without relying on health pool variance to get the meter out, and now, since Focus can be filled with consistency, it actively makes it easier to take advantage of, thus truly warranting its bodyshot penalty after all. |
 Classic
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Improves what is arguably the weakest sniper rifle in the game into a mobility primary that gives the perks of avoiding tunnel vision while being able to move quite faster while charging than the average weapon of its category as a proper compensation for its lack of critical headshots without a full charge, which were also changed from the original stats into the ability to only land mini-crit headshots for as long as that limit wasn't reached, instead of simply having no headshot capability whatsoever. Basically, the Classic becomes a movement-based bodyshot machine that hugely benefits from giving the Sniper a defensive tool that genuinely does well from any range, both from up-close and afar, though its lack of critical headshots without a full charge will make it less potent as a pure burst damage option. |
 Jarate
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Easily the strongest secondary in the Sniper's kit (and even arguably his best weapon) due to how rewarding it is in spite of its extreme ease to use, especially against clusters of targets who, while capturing an objective, becomes very vulnerable to a game loss simply by having the long-range class press M1 with a bottle of piss, it goes without saying that the Jarate could reasonably deserve a nerf, but!... It still has to remain satisfying to use as it is a core part of the class identity, and many would probably object to this secondary being nerfed due to how popular it is. So, the core strengths that the Jarate has will remain virtually intact, and its much faster travel speed should logically make it better at sniping an individual target (which is like, the whole premise of the Sniper, y'know), but the significantly reduced splash radius around the projectile should also, by proxy, make it much harder to exploit for the user, as individual players can now avoid it more reliably when compared to the original design that was, to be brutally honest, very braindead to use, all while making team clusters less vulnerable against it, as they'd just need to spread out further to minimise the impact that this secondary would have in game (especially when you take into account that it takes merely 20 seconds to passively recharge the damn thing). Really, it keeps the identity of the throwable intact by making it an amazing single target debuff option when used in the hands of a Jarate Master, but now, it actually takes some skill to use, and teams don't get to virtually lose a game simply by being unfortunate enough to deal with what is, quite literally, a bottle of piss. |
 Razorback
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Both considered a strong pick in Highlander as Spies cannot directly backstab you anymore, but very underwhelming in the context of other rulesets (which includes Casual and 6s) due to either a lack of, or an overwhelming amount of Spies to cover their mutual weaknesses, the Razorback is usually too niche of a secondary to really warrant equipping it over more handy secondaries like the Jarate, SMGs or even other backpacks with more recurring utilities. Here, the Razorback has now been given extra max ammo capability in the case that you would happen to really hate managing ammo nonetheless, and the increased melee damage resistance, while seemingly niche too, can actually give you more of a fighting chance against Demoknights, Spies and even Medics, who usually rely on their melee options more often to kill an opponent, and because all of these attributes are maintained upon a shield break, Spies now have to truly resort to their revolver to stand a chance against you, as you would severely outpower a Spy if engaging with them in a good old sword duel (though you would have to still be weary of a backstab once the Spy isn't knife locked anymore). The faster recharge time is mostly a quality of life feature that makes the original gimmick of the Razorback more applicable without having to resort to the spawn resupply in order for the user to feel "safe", and so, the Razorback overall turns from an arguably conditional Spy-specific counterpick into an anti-melee counter with increased ammunition, for a more sedentary playstyle, though it can also boast from a having a good synergy with the Shahanshah as its perk directly offsets one of the main flaws of that melee as well! |
 Darwin's Danger Shield
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The current variant of the Darwin's Danger Shield is very good for directly countering Pyros, but lack the kind of generalist utility that the Submachine Guns and especially the Jarate has, which makes it fundamentally a weapon that the player would want to select solely to counterpick a single class, and nothing more than that. So, to hinge into the crocodilian theming of this backpack, the DDS now grants a passive ability to mini-crit wet opponents, which not only gives this weapon good synergy with liquid-based items such as the Jarate, Mad Milk (and even the re-balanced Gas Passer), as well the Bushwacka, which now gain guaranteed full crits when used for the kind of strategies that are normally employed by Pyrosharks, and even any primaries, whose burst capabilities can be especially used in conjunction with a weapon like the Sydney Sleeper, who arguably benefits more from this attribute thanks to its ability to apply Jarate on its targets. It also gains a small buff from medpacks, as crocodiles are usually thought to be sturdy creatures, which wouldn't seem too farfetched from both an intuitive and practical perspective. Obviously, because the utility of that backpack is now made more applicable, the DDS now has a reduced resistance to fire as to still maintain the idea of Pyro winning the close-range game against Sniper, while struggling at longer distances. |
 Cozy Camper
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An originally okay secondary that should somewhat help the player with aim consistency and long-term durability, the Cozy Camper doesn't have anything outright wrong with its core design barred for the obvious fact that it obviously trades an SMG for its perks, but even then, its perk of reduced knockback is virtually useless in most scenarios due to it being undertuned, and while its lack of flinching upon aiming seems good on paper, it is actually more difficult to apply it in practice due to the relative exposure that a Sniper has to deal with when tracking down a sightline already. Its incredibly ineffective knockback resistance has been upgraded to a full knockback immunity when aiming or charging (thus makings its perks applicable to the Classic and the Huntsman too), and its anti-flinch attribute loses its charge dependency to instead be applied from the get-go, all while being gained from either aiming or charging too. Its buffed health regeneration is also an interesting trait to have as the other rebalanced backpacks carry specialised resistances, while the Cozy Camper now gets to have a technically weaker, but generally more useful attribute in the longer run to keep the user alive, which should be fair enough when compared to the competition that this secondary has in regards to the other backpacks. On a fundamental level, the Cozy Camper preserves its double archetype of a stamina/stability secondary, but now gets to fulfil that role to a tee by being efficient in both of these traits instead of being kinda capable but lacking in its intended strengths. |
 Tribalman's Shiv
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The original weapon may be good at spychecking, and can find its uses in primary/melee combos against light classes without overheal, but its raw damage and the inconsistency of the bleeding effect means that in practice, this melee is usually considered to be weaker than the Stock option. To make up for it, I therefore opted to reduce the damage penalty to an acceptable level while increasing its bleeding duration to ultimately make this weapon the "hit and run" melee for Sniper, with diminishing returns when repeatedly swinged on the same target, but much better reward from a single hit, as its base damage of 49 stacked with a bleeding potential of 80 means this melee is now potentially able to dish a whopping 129 damage out of a single swing, which would be more than enough to get rid of a Scout that got overzealous in their approach, or a Spy that remained uncloaked. And in the case that the light class in question would survive that initial hit, you could go for a quick no-scope to get a kill confirm. |
 Shahanshah
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Originally a poor man's Equalizer that really struggles to get anything done due to the diminishing returns one would have out of using it in its intended way, it now has a comeback mechanic that genuinely favours the user at a health of 99 or below (which is much more manageable), thus allowing the user to deal high damage with decent consistency as a way to make up for its modified damage penalty that's much harsher to offset this solid perk. It also gains the ability to climb in a fashion similar to all melees in VSH, which grants the user what could be pretty much considered the only real movement tech that the Sniper would have in the game.
Obviously a very strong perk to have when used in the right hands, it's incorporation also serves as a reference to the Christian Brutal Sniper, as he's technically the character that started this trope of the Shahanshah being modded to let the user climb, and by extension, the whole mechanic that was then added as a universal feature of Saxton Hale. To counterbalance all these strengths, the Shahanshah has a max ammo penalty on primaries that is made notable enough to now seriously encourage the user to be more mobile overall in their playstyle, and as such, become a true nomad in the battlefield. |
Spy
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Falling shouldn't indirectly punish the player by alerting the rest of the team that a Spy is around for simply playing the game, as a Spy should be able to move across the map without alerting the enemy team simply for committing towards a shorter path. Therefore, making the Spy unable to take fall damage should in turn make him a sneakier class that now has the luxury to take the greatest of falls without risking losing health and alerting opponents because of it. |
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Gives a mix-up option for Spy, as the player can keep their mobility potential as high as it should be without having to cancel their disguise, which should be especially useful when disguised as a class with slower grounded speed (such as Soldier, Demo or Heavy), or when using a tool that affects movement, or the properties of the disguise itself (like the Big Earner for the former, and the YER for the latter). Overall, it makes the player less predictable by making all disguises more equally viable and by giving a quick button for the Spy to modify their speed on command. |
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As the Spy gets outrunned by the Scout and is technically unable to catch-up with the Medic to land a backstab, his seemingly higher-than-average mobility is, surprisingly enough, not all that good for his playstyle, especially when considering the fact that classes with standard mobility still don't have much of a disadvantage in regards to movement when compared to the sneaky Frenchman. By giving him a higher base mobility, we not only make his knife more consistent since melee weapons rely a lot on the user's mobility to be effective in the first place, but we also make Spy more capable of catching up with his targets (and especially the Medic, which is considered an important matchup for the Spy) and then retreat once he lands a stab, which in turn should make him more oppressive and evasive all at once, though his low health pool and limited damage potential would still make him a class that fares better when behind someone than when played in a more frontal way. |
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Gives a mid-range non-committal option to the Spy that further his ability to fight back when caught, at the cost of hindering his potential to sabotage when used at an inopportune moment, which in turn should give much broader utility to sappers besides countering buildings. By default, sappers deal explosive-type damage at a set value of 60, take five seconds to be automatically refilled, and can only be stored as a single unit. When refilling, sappers cannot be used, and as such, cannot be applied to disrupt buildings without limit. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Ambassador
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A technically powerful revolver that is sadly counterbalanced by having a much higher skill floor, thus making its ability to be optimally used much more difficult and inconsistent than other revolvers, it should be clear that the Ambassador shouldn't inherently need to kill things harder as it would make it too meta-centralising once again, but a due buff to the player's attributes may not be unwanted. Its faster switch will therefore give this weapon a dual niche as a pick/mix-up revolver, as its ability to headshot can lend well into a quicker backstab or even a butterknife, as it can give Spy a surprisingly stronger potential to get light classes out of a single headshot, thus making this secondary an option with a higher barrier for entry still, but with an additional perk that plays at the convenience of players of any skill level nonetheless for willfully using this gun. |
 Enforcer
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Intended to be a pick-type revolver due to its two positives relating to the secondary's ability to deal stronger damage out of its first shot, the Enforcer is found to be somewhat lacking due to a combination of its lower firing rate making this weapon worse at dealing damage overall, while its positives do not deal nearly enough damage to justify the commitment of its first disguised shot to justify weaker capabilities afterwards. Through a much beefier damage bonus and quicker reload speed, the Enforcer now partially limits its disadvantageous traits by being easier to recharge, and therefore easier to get it ready for another pick-or-fight situation, while its stronger main perk also means that this gun can now pose a legitimate threat for the first half of its clip size, since the initial bullet will be scary enough to keep any opponent on their toes without feeling overwhelmed by a consistently high-damage output, as this secondary can really only excel out of surprise attack situations where the player is disguised, and ready to pick any prime target on sight. The lower maximum health is incorporated to mildly counterbalance the newfound strengths of the Enforcer by forcing the user to be wiser in the situations they want to get involved with, but also in the selection of knives they want to equip, as using it with the Big Earner or Kunai could be a greater risk than expected, though one that can become highly rewarding if used optimally by the player. |
 Diamondback
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A revolver that rewards the player a bit too much for simply doing his job, all while being especially oppressive in casual play due to this secondary's ability to capitalise on opponents with low gamesense, the Diamondback is now rebalanced to deal less base damage (which also affects critical damage), while said crits are now be less prone to obnoxious stacking. The user also has to deal with sensibly slower reloading, thus making this weapon a proper high-risk, high-reward firearm that should be used accordingly to its unique strength. |
 Your Eternal Reward
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Already a pretty solid knife that is however made artificially more difficult to play with due to the high cost that this melee gives when using the disguise kit, said penalty is now reduced by half to make the YER more applicable while keeping its core strengths and weaknesses. |
 Wanga Prick
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A melee equivalent to l'Etranger, the Wanga Prick trades off durability and damage from butterknives to basically buff the user's ability to remain cloaked, both from meter alone, but also by gaining the unique attribute of gaining more cloak from ammo packs for a more lenient pathing. This should make this knife a well-rounded stealth option that can synergise very well with any revolver, by giving incredible stealth potential with L'Etranger, or by granting the user a more lenient pathing without sacrificing damage when paired with an option like the Stock Revolver. |
 Sapper
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As a result of the universal buff given to sappers, this tool can now be used to not only disrupt the Engineer's buildings, but also to shock targets from close to mid-range in a non-committal fashion, which should in turn enable the Spy to have more in the way of combat options to defend himself should he get caught. Its explosive typing can also be taken advantage of should your target have any form of weakness to it. |
 Red-Tape Recorder
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Originally a sapper who, in spite of being technically better against Mini-Sentries, all while being a very troll option to use against inexperienced Engineers, still remained worse overall due to its lack of raw damage, the RTR now benefits from the universal buff by being a tool that makes up for its weaker secondary ability by being a better throwable, thus giving it a stronger niche as a dual combat/anti-mini option compared to its former iteration. |
 Binary Decoder
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A sapper that trades off short-term durability from both its user (against its toughest matchup) and itself to grant not only stronger sapping damage, but also noticeably higher movement speed growth since the Spy can now stack up to an additional bonus of +30% of speed, which could potentially make him the fastest class in the entire game when used optimally. However, its unique perks does not come without risk, since the sapper can be one-shot by any wrench that exists in the game, all while the user as to now be especially worried of fire-type damage, since the Pyro is already a tough matchup for Spy to deal with, but the addition of unique fire-type attributes on weapons that are typically used by other classes means that the Spy now has to be more knowledgeable regarding the matchups he approaches to avoid checkmate situations. This, in turn, should make it a more traditional variant to the Stock Sapper that rewards smart positioning and situational awareness by opening up new ways for the user to handle situations that can potentially be solved better with the Binary Decoder when used correctly. |
Custom Class
Civilian
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Gives a ranged option so that the Civilian can somewhat protect himself, since his combined lower ground speed, lack of unique movement options and his melee restriction makes him utterly useless in combat when placed within the context of the TF2C SourceMod. This should still retain the class into "joke character territory" as it was the intent behind his design back in the Team Fortress Classic days, all while at least forcing enemies to somewhat respect his presence when approaching him at lower health, since he can now dish out easy chip damage to escape from bad situations. |
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Limits the potency of his newfound ranged slots to still make him an obviously weaker class in combat, since his combination of having a passive aura and the ability to buff teammates through a cooldown-based meter are already decently useful attributes to have in a team composition. It also fits his character quite nicely, as the Civilian is not meant to be a remarkable marksman one bit. |
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In exchange for having access to a ranged option that can potentially be buffed thanks to his newfound attribute to benefit from his own boosts, the Civilian's ability to grant buffs has been counterbalanced to have both a shorter duration and longer cooldown to make up for his otherwise notably improved kit, which pairs nicely with his passive attributes already. This should in turn give more variety in the way the class can be played without breaking his core design. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Umbrella
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A very resourceful melee for helping your team, it can actually become a very powerful utility for seemingly little to no cost, which made sense in the context of TF2C since the Civilian was basically the weakest class by far, and his almost complete lack of defensive options made him an incredibly easy target to pick without teammates to protect him. Because of these elements, the Umbrella therefore mostly benefited from universal changes through what is virtually one important buff and three circumstantial debuffs (one of which only applies because of another universal improvement that was being granted to his kit), which should not only keep it fair, but also more distinct in its mechanics compared to the other default melees given to the rest of the cast. |
 Fat Shark
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Trades damage potency from both buffs and melee for a speed boost that last longer and takes a lesser amount of time to refill, for a purely movement-oriented alternative to the Stock Umbrella. It completely guts the damage output of the user's melee from a potential 47 (with buffs) to 21, and cannot be used to break through a defence as reliably as the Umbrella would, but its unique boost in speed can be a very valuable resource to have as not only an escape option but also as a means to approach, as it enables the user to use their non-melee tools with better reliability since they can bob-and-weave in and out of an opponent's range, while giving the means for other teammates to benefit from that buff as well. Its custom name is a reference to the vehicle of the same name that's piloted by financial mogul Don Genie in the F-Zero series, which happens to also be the fastest non-custom machine in that game. |
