The Demoman is, in a word, ✨extremely powerful✨. He has powerful explosive damage, famed melee prowess, and can lay traps that are more often than not ✨complete unadulterated hokey✨. The Demoman has 150 base health, slower than average walking speed, and a wide variety of powerful weaponry. He is a "defensive" class, for some reason, even though his most well-known subclass, Demoknight, is most certainly NOT defensive. Before we get into the weapons, let's talk a bit about Demoknight. What it essentially means is Demoman, but melee. That means using one of two boots for primaries, a shield for a secondary, and one of about a dozen melee options. This, too, is ✨extremely powerful✨, but mostly if you have good timing and aim with a big ol' sword and/or bottle and/or frying pan and/or disembodied arm. PRIMARY Grenade Launcher The stock primary for the Demoman is unlike any other weapons in TF2; they have gravity and pare projectiles, but also have ground movement. They can roll, ricochet, and be a nice Hail Mary on a fleeing enemy. On a direct hit, they explode, dealing 100 damage, but on a miss, they can do however much, I don't really care enough to find a range. Basically, don't miss. Iron Bomber The Iron Bomber is my personal favorite. The projectiles explode sooner, do the same damage, but the big difference is that they don't roll when they hit the ground. This means that they're less effective at ricocheting or catching a fleeing enemy with a dirty trick. Loose Cannon The Loose Cannon is a weapon that isn't semi-automatic, and instead lets you charge your shots to make them explode sooner. If you charge it too much, it'll misfire, and go kaboom in your face. If you hit someone with a direct hit, the projectile won't go kaboom until the set time based on the charge says to. However, if you hit both a direct hit AND the kaboom, it'll do more damage. This is known as a "double donk", and is very funny to me. Loch'n Load This weapon also has no roll or ricochet, and will break if it hits a wall of floor or tree or something. It has less ammo, but does more damage to buildings. Ali Baba's Wee Booties These are boots. Not a weapon. But what they do is they let you move faster, work more efficiently, and be stronger in general but ONLY if you also have a shield. Bootlegger It's literally just the same thing. SECONDARIES Stickybomb Launcher With a maximum of 8 stickies out at a time and serious damage on each, stock is a solid choice if there's just one choke point you need to defend from an army of meany head other team players. (Fun side note: a Medic's Kritzkrieg can cause all stickies shot during the Uber to be critical stickies!) Scottish Resistance With this, you can have 14 stickies instead of 8, but they do less damage. The point is; you can aim at the stickies and see them through walls, and detonate which group you want and when. This one is more useful on Capture the Flag when there are multiple entrances to the flag room. B.A.S.E. Jumper A parachute. Use it in the air, but once you press space again, you can't reopen it until you hit the ground. Sticky Jumper This is basically the Rocket Jumper for Soldier, but different. No damage, only two stickies out, but big mobility. Quickiebomb Launcher Every sticky has an arm time. For most, it's usually just 2 seconds or so, but for this weapon it's significantly faster at the cost of some damage. A more offensive choice for "sticky spamming". Best paired with the Base Jumper and sticky jumping. Chargin' Targe A shield that will increase you fire and explosive defense and a powerful charge attack that can give you free critical hits if you use your melee at the right time. The only downside is not having a weapon that fires mines. Splendid Screen You have slightly less resistance, but your charge is faster and stronger, and you feel cooler. Tide Turner The main reason why shields aren't incredibly overpowered is that unless you have boots, you can't exactly, well... ✨turn✨. The Tide Turner gives you free turning and little else, but I still think it's the best shield. MELEE Bottle Bottle o' S C R U M P Y. Scottish Handshake The same thing as the bottle, but with a much cooler name. Eyelander The Eyelander has a slower equip and holster speed, but that doesn't really matter if you have no other weapons. It also has a wider melee range than the bottle and some others, and allows you to "take heads from fallen foes" when you vanquish them with it. Your speed will increase, as will your maximum health, to make up for the -25 max health the Eyelander gives you for equipping it. This weapon is also the same as the Nessie's Nine Iron. Persian Persuader This weapon is centered around charging. You have -80% of your maximum ammo storage on your secondary and primary, but ammo packs and melee vanquishes refill your charge meter. It's really powerful, but really centered around full Demoknight.
Claidheamh Mòr This weapon, the ✨Claidheamh Mòr✨ is kind of... eh. It gives you a longer charge time by about half a second, but not much else. It's certainly no Eyelander. Scotsman's Skullcutter This weapon, quite simply, goes more damage and makes you slower. Easy as that. It's really good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have the snowballing of the Eyelander or the sustain of the Persian Persuader. Half-Zatoichi This weapon is also usable by Soldiers! It does 50 damage to you if you put it away, a drawback that no one needs to worry about if you are a full Demoknight, and heals you when you vanquish other players with it. Ullapool Caber Explodes when it hits someone, but does less damage after. Doesn't explode until you retreat to a resupply locker. I don't use it, I don't really recommend it.
