Demoman strategy
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Advanced Strategy
Like the Soldier, the Demoman is an easy class to pick up and play and can be great for players with poor aiming skills or those who have experience of Team Fortress Classic's grenades. It is one of the three classes capable of being hurt by their own Friendly fire (the others being Soldier and Engineer). Advanced players can transform the Demoman from a grenade spewing player to a lethally accurate gibbing machine.
Pipe grenades
An easy weapon for the inexperienced to use which becomes deadly in the hands of an experienced player.
- Pipe grenades explode on contact with an enemy, provided they have not bounced first.
- Pipe grenades spin when fired, which sometimes causes them to bounce unpredictably. They do obey gravity (e.g. bouncing down slopes) and will bounce around corners and off walls. Predicting their direction after multiple bounces relies on knowing the area being attacked.
- Like most other TF2 weapons, accuracy can only be relied on at close quarters. Pipe grenades launch to the right of the cross-hair, so you should lead to the left to compensate. This is especially important for dealing with the faster classes such as Pyros and Scouts.
- Pipe grenades are affected by gravity. To shoot long distances it's often better to jump and fire than change the angle of fire much past 45 degrees.
Sticky bombs
The use of Sticky bombs is one of the defining features of advanced Demoman play. They are detonated by using your alternative fire (Default key mouse 2), no matter which weapon you are holding.
The basic rules for planting Sticky bombs are:
- When guarding a capture point or the Intel, create a large blast radius by spreading out your Sticky bomb carpet.
- After planting Sticky bombs around the Intelligence or a Control point, you can leave the area, listen for the announcements of "The enemy has taken our Intelligence" or "Our Control point is being captured" and detonate your Sticky bombs.
- When guarding other strategic locations place your Sticky bombs in locations that are either impossible to see until it's too late, or in well hidden/odd places (such as on ceilings, under stairs, above automatic doors etc).
- When attacking, place them where your opponent is heading.
- Never forget that you can launch them across the visible distance of all but the most open maps. Aim for windows, sniper ledges and other populated areas. When you have the trajectory right, lob in a few bombs and detonate them to clear the room.
- If your Sticky bombs are clustered too closely, enemy Demomen can clear them away with a single Sticky. To counter this, spread them out whenever possible.
- Place Sticky grenades around Health packs, particularly if they are inside buildings (e.g. under Contol point A on Gravelpit)
- You can destroy enemy Sentry Guns by peeking out from a corner, firing a sticky bomb, retreating, and repeating until you have 3-5 (depending on level), then detonate them. This way, the Engineer cannot repair his Sentry Gun because the damage is dealt all at once.
- If an enemy engages you in close quarters, you may retreat by moving backward, dropping Stickybombs at your feet. If he continues pursuit, detonate.
Scrumpy bottle
The Demoman's Melee weapon, the Scrumpy bottle, is valuable as an emergency fall-back.
- The bottle should be used in the same way as most other melee weapons when enemies are too close or too fast to hit with a Pipe bomb.
- The bottle can also be used for Spy checking, as it is safer to use than your other weapons in close quarters.
Sticky Bomb Jumping
Sticky jumping is similar to Rocket jumping, but you can go much higher but you also lose more health (Around 80, excluding fall damage). To do this, lay a sticky at your feet run over it, jump and then detonate your sticky. Same as Rocket Jumping, if you crouch in mid-air before setting off your sticky, you go much higher. You can also use multiple stickies for an even bigger effect. E.g. you can launch yourself from battlement to battlement in ctf_2fort.
Map Specific
CP_Well
- To defend the second point on Well, place your Sticky grenades on the ceiling above the Control point. They will be hard to see and very difficult to remove. A single detonation will clear the Control point if you have them spaced correctly.
- When assaulting the middle point, fire Sticky grenades at it when entering the area. You can then use these to clear the Control point or defend it for your team.
- Place Sticky bombs on the blind sides of the pillars in the second room when the Control point is already covered. These pillars are typically used to hide behind by teams assaulting the Control point.
- Place lines of Sticky bombs along the sides of the boxcars. Attackers typically skirt along these as cover from Snipers.
TC_Hydro
- The key to proper Demoman play on Hydro is staying alive. The maps are small, and keeping your Control point defended with a carpet of Sticky bombs is essential.
- When the sewer entrances are open, placing Sticky grenades immediately around the corner (on the wall by the health pack) will allow you to kill attackers, while also preventing them from healing.
- Place Sticky bombs on the catwalks and other high locations. These can launch people into the air, making them easy targets for others or leading to death by falling.
- On the ceiling of the radar dish point.
CP_DustBowl
- While defending the first point of Dustbowl, cover the back entrance to the point. Scouts sometimes stand on the point under the stairway, hidden from view.
- If you defend the first point by staying on the ramp leading to the mines, you can retreat if the enemy captures the first point. While retreating, place two Sticky bombs at each corner of the mine path. If you do this properly, you'll end up with four Sticky bombs left. Place these behind the mine cart and wait.
- At the beginning of the second section, place Sticky grenades next to both exits from the enemy spawn.
- On the second section of Dustbowl, place Sticky grenades on the wall between the stairs and the back entrance to the first point. This defends both ways at once, and has the advantage of your Sticky grenades being hard to see.
- When defending the second capture point on stage 2, protect your team's Sentry guns by placing your Sticky grenades as a mine field around them. Then listen for friendly Engineers saying "Spy sapping my sentry"; when they do, detonate to kill the Spy.
- When defending stage 2 cap 2, place Sticky grenades by the rock pile. This is a popular place for attackers due to its large Med kit.
- The third section consists of corridors and blind turns. Use these to your advantage by placing Sticky grenades at blind spots.
CP_Granary
- Rush to the top of the ramp overlooking the middle point. From here you can easily lob stickies and control the middle.
- Place Sticky bombs over any of the large open arches in the map. These Sticky grenades can't be seen by advancing enemies.
- When on the offensive on Granary, get to the blind spots before your enemy.
CP_GravelPit
- When defending Point B, remember that the entire room counts as the point, so spread your Sticky grenades out as much as possible.
- Grenade jump onto the roof of Point B, and rain Sticky grenades and Pipe grenades down upon advancing enemies.
- Place Sticky grenades around the attacking team's exits. They should need to be low enough that the enemy can't see them, you can then take out anything that comes toward the point you're defending.
- When defending the last point, remember that you can launch your Sticky grenades long distances. You do not need to be up at the top in order to replace them.
CTF_2Fort
- All enemies entering your fort will have to pass through the ramp room (or courtyard) to access the Intelligence, with the exception of soldiers, scouts, and other Demomen. This makes it an ideal spot for a Demoman to set up Sticky bombs. Above each of the two ground-floor doorways, and on the wall between those doorways, these are hard to spot. Enemies entering the room generally stick close to the wall to avoid Sentry gun fire from above. Scouts can sometimes slip in before you see them, but Sticky grenades on the wall between the doors will still stand a good chance of taking them out.
- If the enemy manages to get your Intelligence, place Sticky grenades at the top of the long stairs and in the doorway of the spiral. By standing in the hay room and watching the Intel compass, you can accurately predict when and from which exit the enemy will appear.
- When the Intel has been dropped, the enemy may make a dash to retrieve it before the timer resets. Drop Sticky bombs around the exposed Intelligence and wait. Often even visible Sticky bombs will be ignored by Scouts rushing the Intel. Detonate and repeat. If you are under fire, move out of sight and listen for the alert, or watch the Intel compass to know when the Intel is being picked up.
- Intel room. Place Sticky grenades on the closer walls (the sides that aren't immediately visible), and then by standing outside of the Intel room you can accurately gauge when to detonate them. If they go for you instead, retreat into the Intel room, and detonate the Sticky grenades behind you.
- The roof of the bridge is capped on each end by a triangle-shaped piece of wood. This area cannot be seen by approaching enemies. By placing Sticky grenades here, you can eliminate open travel across the bridge (eight Sticky grenades in this position will kill a fully healed heavy medic combo).
- Place Sticky grenades above each of the main entrances to your enemy's base or the entrances to your own.
- Standing on the grate next to the hay loft allows you to rain Pipe bombs and place Sticky grenades in the area below and affords you some protection from incoming enemy fire.
- In the Intel room, place Sticky bombs so that they appear to be right inside the Intelligence, hidden from view, and stay in the room and detonate when a Scout attempts to take it. Watch out, because critical sticky bombs can ruin this tactic, since their glow will be visible causing the Scout to hunt you down before attempting to take the Intel.
