The Demoman is really good. He's my most played class, really powerful, silly, and Scottish. However, being an effective Demoman is a bit more complicated than one might expect an alcoholic slinging explosives every which-way to be. Let's start with stock Demoman. A grenade launcher, sticky-bomb launcher, and a bottle. The grenade launcher does 100 damage on direct connection with an enemy, less if it hits the ground first, but still explodes after a short time, can bounce off walls, floors, and obstacles, and has four projectiles before needing to reload. The Sticky-bomb launcher sets up explosive mine traps that deal high damage and can be remote-detonated with the alternate fire button (typically right-click). You have a maximum of 8 mines out at once, and they take a second to arm before they can be exploded. Sticky bombs can also be destroyed with bullets and enemy Demoman Scottish Resistance or Quickie stickies, and pushed around by other explosives and Pyro air blasts. All sticky bombs placed by you are automatically destroyed upon death, not exploding or dealing any form of damage other than emotional damage to you for dying like a... person that, like, dies. skill issue. The bottle is the same as every other stock weapon, so we don't need to get into it. The different weapons the Demoman can use can fundamentally change how he works and how you should play him, like Demoknight. The Iron Bomber can set up spur-of-the-moment mini traps on the ground, since the projectiles don't roll or bounce. The Loch N' Load only does damage on a direct hit, which makes it good for stationary targets like buildings and revved Heavies. The Demoman also has a parachute and boots for primaries, the boots used mostly just for Demoknight. The different sticky bomb launchers can also edit your function. The Scottish Resistance allows you to utilize more mines (6 more for a total of 14), and let's you defend multiple entrances and choke points at one time, since each mine has a white outline that is visible through walls, meaning you have to aim at which sticky bombs you want to detonate. They take longer to arm, too, so they're better for defending your base or a point as opposed to offensive capabilities like the Quickie-bomb launcher. Speaking of which, is a pretty good weapon. Every stickybomb launcher can be charged to send the sticky bombs farther with more propulsion, and the Quickiebomb launcher makes them charge much, much faster. They can't go quite as far, and do less damage without being charged, but can do more damage when fully charged. They arm almost immediately, which makes you more aptly able to defend yourself without your primary. The Sticky Jumper is like the Soldier's Rocket Jumper; strictly mobility. It does no damage to anything, and you can only have two of them out at once. You have more maximum ammo as well, so the Sticky Jumper is good for going from once side of the map to almost anywhere else if you aim and strafe right. With Demoman, you can absolutely get aggressive and offensive, but it's smarter to do what the class was initially designed to do and defend. That doesn't mean hyper-aggression is bad, because it's not, but more passive play like the Engineer is arguably more or at least equally valid. For example, on 2fort, there are several entrances into both your base, your intel floor, and your intel room. For the main entrances, there's the two doors in the front of the base, and the sewers entry. For the intel floor, there's the spiral and the staircase, and for the main intelligence holding room, the two ways in are right next to each other. You can set traps on any of those entries with the Scottish Resistance or just the stock Stickybomb launcher. Any stragglers can be picked off with your primary if you have one equipped. You could also use your shield to quickly close distances, something I'll go over more in-depth in a future guide. In reality, Demoman can do either offense or defense, since his sticky bombs can be used as almost impeccable obliteration or denying enemy advances before they start. Demoman is such an open, all-around good, fun class that there is no right or wrong way to play him. He has decent health, relatively slow movement speed, overpowered mechanics, and a great voice actor, but... all that matters is having fun. and winning. (Demoknight guide coming soon?! ?? ?)
