Scout match-ups

Avoid his shots while trying to move in close for a kill with your Scattergun. Try to get the jump on him if possible, as you both have the lowest health of any class and a close range shot from a Scattergun can pack a punch. If the enemy Scout uses his double jump to evade your fire, wait until after his second jump or when he lands before shooting him. This gives you a better chance of predicting where he will be and hitting him. Running away from another Scout in the middle of a firefight is inadvisable, considering that you both have the same speed and he can stay on your tail and blast you full of scatter shots. Continuing to deal damage to him however while retreating to health kits or backup from the team will often give you an advantage. Combat against a Scout who has the unlockable weapons is generally easier, however that works the other way around too. With the Force-A-Nature, Scouts can't fire in the air without being sent back. Also, when using Bonk! Atomic Punch, a Scout has limited his gun choices to his Scattergun or his Force-A-Nature only. If he attempts to flee using Bonk!, simply stay on his tail and fire only when it wears off. Take advantage of this by using your Pistol and keeping out of his range. If you have the unlockables, try to hit him with the Sandman's baseball to stun him. This is very hard to achieve, but if you do, he is at your mercy. The Force-A-Nature is also great ambush weapon to Scouts who don't see you coming, being able to instantly kill them in a second if you are close enough by firing both shots consecutively. On some maps the Force-A-Nature can earn kills by firing at mid-range simply due to the knockback inflicted by the shots. The use of the environment, which varies by map, can lead to a huge advantage when engaged with a Scout. Pulling fakes or jumping over objects instead of circling around them can often land a shot in surprise or lead to a more compromising position.

The Pyro's compression blast ability negates the Sandman's stunning ability if the Pyro can reflect such a fast projectile, and may even stun you. Without the pistol, you cannot weapon heckle as well, and due to the large spread of the Force-a-Nature, a Pyro may be able to out range you. If the Pyro sees you coming, run!

A common strategy used by Scouts is to backpedal and pick the Pyro off with his Scattergun, where the Pyro can't hit him with his flamethrower/Backburner, as his Shotgun is less effective, and the flare gun's accuracy screws up due to the Pyro being in motion, however for an experienced Pyro this may not be an issue, especially with the critical damage dealt by the Flare gun past mid range.

Despite the high damage range and radius of Sticky bombs, many Demomen will not expect a Scout to run directly at them while using the weapon, and will attempt to kill you by planting stickies around to try and trap you. If you can get in close, your job of killing the Demoman becomes far easier, as it is much harder for him to kill you, especially without damaging himself. Occasionally a suicide rush to make a Demoman kill himself via splash damage can be effective if trying to discourage an enemy team from pushing into an area. It becomes much more difficult when facing a Demoman which utilizes both grenades and sticky bombs (since alt-fire explodes the stickies regardless of the weapon equipped) due to the space to dodge and avoid splash damage becoming lessened.

In the case of the Chargin' Targe and Eyelander, merely keep your distance and blast away at him with your Scattergun, or whittle him to death with your Pistol. It may also be a wise idea to bait the charge from the demo to prevent being struck by a guaranteed critical hit.

Try to stay in his face and circle strafe to avoid his fire or jump over him entirely to confuse him while delivering close range Scattergun shots; he's such a big target that it's difficult to miss. Throw a few double jumps into the mix to confuse him. If you are feeling lucky, try to land on his head, as he will wonder where you disappeared to and will continue to look around, long enough for you to finish him. It's always funny if you manage this.

If he is paired up with a Medic, it's generally a good idea to just run. If that's not an option go solely for the Medic first, since if you do die you've at least caused some lasting damage. You can then leave the Heavy to be dealt with by your team or you could try to finish him off using the above strategy. The Heavy often being a prime target for an ubercharge can be stopped with the Bonk! Atomic Punch due to his slow movement speed and large size. Simply moving erratically in front of the ubercharge will block it's path which is made easier if they're in tight or small locations.

Alternatively, blast him when he has his minigun powered down and get behind cover as soon as he revs his gun up. When you hear him stop spinning his minigun, get in and do damage. Repeat this until the Heavy is dead. If he doesn't power down his Minigun while going after you, try to pop up and attack him from unexpected angles and retreat before the Heavy starts firing at you.

If you have the Sandman, use it! The stun will allow you to kill him easily, though you should keep moving erratically or he may have enough time in the delay it takes for you to get close to spin up and take you out.

Another strategy if you have a little bit of height and surprise on the Heavy is to jump on his head. Since players on opposite teams don't pass through each other, his large size acts as a perfect platform from which to bash in his skull with your bat or scattergun. (Don't use the Force of Nature for this, the knockback will push you off his head.) Usually you can kill him before he figures out what's going on. This works the best when the Heavy's minigun is spinning or when he's standing near a wall. Valve are bound to patch this eventually, so make the most of it while you still can. But, avoid combat with the Heavy at all costs unless you get a long stun with The Sandman on him. You can also try to kill a heavy by help of 3-6 other scouts, remember to Stun him with the Sandman and go ballistic rage on him for being an pain in the ass for your team.

An alternative which requires team coordination is the use of the Crit-a-Cola with the help of a medic. Guaranteed mini-crits and guaranteed invulnerability results in a guaranteed disposal of heavies due to their low speed. However, do be aware that the mini-crit effect does wear off 2 seconds before the uber-charge which should act as a signal to either run or pursue any weakened enemies.

However, combat with an Engineer becomes more difficult if they are utilizing unlocks. If faced with an Engineer who plops down a sentry/mini-sentry during the middle of the fight, decide right then on whether you'll destroy the sentry or the Engineer as attempting both will often result in death. If the sentry is deemed to be higher priority to you, try to destroy it before it fully builds and remember to move erratically to dodge the Engineer's attacks. Also be aware that if the sentry is moved not built or has gained kills during your fight, the Engineer will gain revenge crits upon the sentry's destruction. The bullet-spread of shotgun fire and rapid fire-rate of pistols coupled with revenge crits will often not guarantee your survival due to the scout's low health. If you decide to kill the Engineer, it is best to run and then take down his sentry at range with your pistol. Another tactic, made more effective if against a building level 3 sentry, is to position yourself to circle strafe the sentry. Sentries that are dropped to allow the Engineer to engage in combat are often done during surprise encounters. This often results in the perfect situation for circle strafing as the sentries are not surrounded by walls. If an Engineer decides to help build his sentry faster it is advised to run. The most you could do in such a situation would be killing the Engineer but almost always die by the sentry. If facing an Engineer who wrangles his mini-sentry at close-quarters, chances of survival are also slim.

If the Engineer is with a Sentry gun however, he becomes a very high threat to your well-being. If possible, try to avoid any routes covered by Sentry guns altogether and check around corners before rushing into new areas - or you could be taken down in seconds. If you are quick, you can run past a Sentry gun before it target locks you but placement does not usually allow this. With luck you may be able to take out the Engineer, in which case you can stay out of the Sentry's range while taking shots with your Pistol until you destroy it (don't use your Scattergun to do this, as its spread makes it less effective). In certain placements, like right around corners, you may be able to run circles around a Sentry gun while attacking it with your bat or Scattergun until it is destroyed, as the Sentry rotates slower than you can run. Do not try this on a Level 3 sentry, the rockets will probably get you as you try to circle strafe.

Another thing to consider when trying to best Sentries is the knock-back of its fire. Sometimes you can aim your trajectory to land out of its range by double jumping strategically into its fire, taking some damage but getting pushed past it by the Sentry itself.

If there is no route around or past the Sentry, you can use the invulnerability granted by the Bonk! Atomic Punch to run past it, or distract it long enough for a teammate to demolish it.

If you attempt to destroy one of his buildables with your bat, he may notice you and wrench your face in, which will kill you in 2 hits, although the wrench also has an incredibly high crit rate. Keep this in mind.

Beware of lone Engineers as they may be attempting to lure you into their sentry or mini-sentry range. Both are dangerous.

Medics are very rarely alone, however, so when you see one go for him straight away then run, so his medigun target drops down to 100% (from 150%) health, then attack again.

Something you should watch out for when at close range is the sniper's Kukri, or even worse, Tribalman's Shiv. Both of these items can deal massive damage to you in a relatively short space of time, so despite your dodging abilities, you have to be careful at close range. Especially when a Jarate and Shiv combination will kill you in one hit via "bleed" damage.