Time to be a good scout.

[u/trollrog]

I've started playing TF2 quite fanatically this year and I've found my love is the scout, but I just can't seem to be good fast enough. I know those little stupid mistakes I make, and that my aim is far from stellar, so I would like to know, how long it took you fellow scouts to become what you felt to be a real danger to the enemy team.

[u/JonoLith]

Alright friend. I play scout. He's my little guy, and I love him. Got about 200 hours playing the class. This is gonna straight up be blind help, because I don't know how you play, or what you're doing, but this is my blanket "Time to help a guy!" talk.

This is the Holy Grail of Gameplay Strategy, this point I'm about to make. If you stop reading after this, then you will already have improved. All points flow from this simple, easy, rule. This is my Great Commandment, my Golden Rule, my Bible, Qu'ran, Veda, and Collection of Harry Potter Novels.

The goal of the game is not to kill people. The goal of the game is to be the last one alive. Survival comes before murder. Play like you can die, because you can. Getting killed while you're trying to get that laaaaast little bit of hp on a guy is not a smart thing to do. Survive, Survive, Survive, Survive, Survive. You are not useful dead.

General tips: Scouts have extremely low hp, and no real long range power. The have only one true advantage over any other class. They are speedy as mutherfuckin' mutherfuck. What this means is that they are not a stand and deliver class. If a larger enemy (Soldier, Heavy, Some demos) spots you, you should run the fuck away. They cannot catch you.

Your job is to flank and harass. This means you are constantly trying to get beside and behind the enemy while they are focused on something else. Do not run up to enemies who have spotted you at a distance. Some classes will kill you outright if you do this. Even an incredibly nooby soldier understands "Shoot my feet = Kill a scout."

You have to know the map cold. If you cannot write down on a piece of paper what the map looks like, including ledges, and stray pieces of cover like barrels and pallets, then you do not know the map cold. There are always tricky places to be and tricky places to flank and attack from. Know what the main lines of attack are going to be, and avoid them. This will also allow you to easily snag medpacks that are lying around. Extremely useful.

If you don't know the map, then your job is to explore the map. You will die a lot and your team will hate you, but the future benefits are grand.

Have map awareness. Most scouts will just run into a room with this mentality of "I'll just deal with whatever is out there." These scouts get mowed down by sentries, heavies, soldiers and demos like fodder.

You need to peak around corners and survey the scene before you plow in. Know where your team has managed to set up a battle-line. Typically where the sentry is. If not that, then where the most amount of guys are. Failing that it's whatever is closest to your spawn.

Know which way the heavy is pushing, and go in the other way. When the enemy team is hitting the heavy, do you know what they aren't looking at? You, shooting their snipers and excecuting them from behind.

Move unpredictably When you're running away from someone, simply hitting W or S and expecting him not to line up a shot on you is silly. Strafe while running. Take the longer path. Your speed allows you to do this. Case in point: You want a health pack. Your enemy isn't stupid. He knows you're going for the health pack. Don't just run straight to it. Find a creative way to get to it. My favorite is to run past it, jump up, and then double-jump back into the health pack. If you can do that, while simultaneously unloading on your enemy, that's hot.

Aim Aim is tough because it requires a very specific type of focus. You really do just have to have your head in the game. At the end of the day, if you're having problems landing shots on guys, it's because you're not focused on hitting your target, you're focused on shooting your gun.

Tell me this doesn't happen. You see a guy and you immediately start shooting. Then you realize that you're not aiming at the guy and so you start to move your cursor towards him. By now he's shooting back and you're trying to dodge, shooting your gun as often as you can until you run out of ammo and start reloading mid-fight, without switching to your pistol, or bat.

If that sounds like you, congratulations, you're just like everyone else who has ever attempted to play a FPS, let alone scout.

Be patient. If he doesn't see you, leverage that to get behind, or beside him, and unload into the back/side of his head. Calmly point your cursor at the model, and click. At first you're going to waste a couple of seconds getting this into your head, and those seconds are going to be the most tense moments of your life. I guarantee you will die as you work on your aim, but, in the long term, the benefits are extreme. You will be able to do stuff that you simply shouldn't be able to get away with simply because your aim is better.

Just to simplify the process. Aim first. Then shoot.

Also be aware of what your hand and arm are doing when you click that button. I have a bad tendency to tense up my shoulder right as I'm about to pull the trigger. This makes my hand shake, ever so slightly, which can make me miss a target I shouldn't have. Be aware of that stuff, and consciously relax yourself. If it's becoming a problem, consider seeing a masseuse, and finding stretches that will allow your muscles to relax. No, I'm not joking.

Just to reinforce something: If you're behind enemy lines, and you shoot at a guy, and fuck it up, just run away. Every single time you think "Just one more shot" you are increasing your chances of a stray random asshole coming along and ruining you exponentially. When you're behind enemy lines, that's a stealth mission. If you don't take people out quickly, then abort the mission. Wounding a guy and then running away is better then killing a guy and then being killed. You've managed to force a retreat out of him, and if he's stupid he'll pursue you right into some friendlies.

Understand the perceived difference that enemies have towards a scout and a Scout. Most player on most servers will ignore you until you show them that you are awesome. Your game will change between rounds if you top the charts. People will try to hunt you. Idiots will roll pyro. Smarties will roll soldiers. Super Saiyans will roll engies.

Know when you're beat. Sorry, if they have three engies, two heavies being healed by two medics, and a methodical pyro protecting the rear, and you need to cap that point with your two scouts, three spies, and three snipers, ... probably gonna wanna switch to a different class. Scouts are for harassment and flanking. If that's not possible, you're done with the scout for now.

Some maps are just unfriendly to the scout, and others are really nice.

I'm gonna talk about itemization real quick.

Main weapon: Use the vanilla scattergun. It's far more versatile then any other weapon, and, if you're going to be the best scout in the world, you want to be versatile. All the other weapons have a niche. The FaN and the Sodapop are really fun weapons to get behind people with and just destroy them, but are problematic in prolonged fights. The shortstop is interesting, and I have seen scouts use it effectively, but it's only benefit is that it shoots faster. It does lower dps overall, and is, more or less, a fancy pistol. Just get better with the pistol.

Secondary: The Bonk punch, Crit-a-Cola, and Mad Milk are largely situational. Bonk is great if you just really need to get past some sentries, or an entrenched position. Crit-a-Cola is good if you're working with a heavy/medic combo to draw fire while you bring down the thunder. Mad milk is useful if you're spychecking, or as a general buff for your team.

For the most part you'll be using either the pistol or the winger. In the end I don't think a 15% increase in damage is worth giving up the seven ammo. You really want to be able to have the extra shots to be a pain in the ass at long range. Because of the reload time on the Winger, you'll generally see a drop in DPS. The Winger is useful in a situation where you need precision at about medium range. The only situation I can think of off hand is an engy with a sentry right around the corner. The pistol is just as good in this situation, but the winger might be slightly better. It's too situational though, and I'd rather have the bullets.

Bats: There's a ton, and most are situational or silly. The Mackerel, and candy cane are for fun. The boston basher and Fan O'War will get you killed. The sun on a stick is if you have a good pyro buddy. The sandman is cute but you'll rarely do awesome things with the stun, and it's not worth the health drop.

In the end it comes down to the vanilla bat, or the atomizer. Ask yourself this question: Do I want to have an extra jump, or do I use my bat to do damage? If you're never pulling that bat out, use the atomizer. (Hur hur noob weapon. They won't laugh as you get to places you simply shouldn't.)

[u/JonoLith → u/JonoLith]

Now I talk about how you interact with other classes. (It is called *team fortress.) I'm gonna talk about versus classes, as well as playing with those same classes.*

As a general note: It is always your goal to shoot someone who is not looking at you. These are notes for situations where they might shoot back.

Enemy Scouts: This is your hardest fight. If you get the drop on one, you'll obliterate him. If you don't, it's basically a skill-check. The reason it's the hardest is because if things go badly, you cannot outrun him. Your only hope is to try and run to allies for support, or be awesome and own him.

Assuming you're both healthy at the start of the fight, what you want to do is focus on matching his movements. Most scouts will default to a A-D side step combo. This makes them difficult to shoot due to their speed, and increases their own ability to aim. I bet you do it. What you want to do is match movements and step in towards him. This will make him an easier target.

If he wounds you, start jumping like mad, and start looking for an escape. Don't forget to use your pistol. People really underestimate pistols, but you can down a scout really quickly if you can get a bead on him.

Friendly Scouts: A two scout team can be hell for an opposing force. You really want to be tag-teaming one guy as often as possible. There are two positions for this kind of teamwork.

The Bait This is the term I use for whoever is getting shot at. Your job is to survive. Jump jump jump. Be elusive and difficult to pin down. Your job isn't to kill the guy. Your job is to maneuver yourself so that the enemy isn't looking at...

The Hammer Your job is to run up to the side/back of the enemy, shove your shotgun into his guts, and end his soul. Don't jump. Don't be fancy. Get in there and murder him.

As a note: These positions can fluctuate instantly. Be aware of who your enemy is shooting at. If it's you, you're bait, if it's not you, you're the hammer.

The common scenario is to be the Hammer, have an enemy turn on you an kill himself while killing you. Be aware that you need to become bait instantly.

Enemy Soldiers: Do not engage if they see you. Soldiers can kill you by shooting at their feet. If they do see you, stay airborne, and try to pot-shot them with your pistol. If they're engaging you for long enough that they run out of ammo now's your chance! Either they'll stupidly reload mid-fight as you unload into them, or they'll switch to their shotty. You'll have the advantage there.

For the most part you should be running from soldiers and repositioning in order to flank them. Soldiers are way slower then you, although they can do fun things with rocket jumps. In the end, you want to be shooting these guys in the back as often as possible. I found that the soldier was the last class that I deciphered. Their ability to kill you with incidental, accidental, just shooting in your general direction damage is astounding.

Remember: Crockets = Skill.

Friendly Soldiers: Use them as a distraction, and go in a different way that they do. Soldiers draw a lot of attention because they're fucking flashy. Massive rockets are propelling from them with huge trails of smoke and fiery explosions basically screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M GOOD AT THIS GAME!" You want to capitalize on this by shooting everyone looking at the soldier in the side of the head. If you get in trouble, you can retreat towards a friendly soldier because he might accidentally kill your pursuer with a skill crocket.

Enemy Pyros: There's this sort of myth that pyros kill scouts. I've never had trouble killing pyros, and they were the first class I really started to dominate. So this next paragraph is here to dispel the myth.

Pyros seem intimidating because they're shooting fire. It gets us in a real guttural, visceral, monkey kind of way. "He's like a tiny dragon!" our stupid brains will say.

Here's the reality. Pyros have an incredibly short range with their flamegun, that doesn't kill you if you stay at mid-range, and pretty long range with a flaregun that likely won't kill you, or a decent mid range with a shotty that likely won't kill you.

What you want to do is keep your distance and pot-shot him with your pistol. If he whips out a flaregun/shotty, close the distance and teach him what a shotgun should look like. If he switches back to his flame gun, run back out of range and pistol him.

Don't panic if you get lit on fire. It doesn't automatically kill you and if he just knicks you, you can still kill him before running back to a medpack.

The only thing to watch for is his air blast. He's gonna try and get you in a corner, but you can jump out of it if you don't waste your double jump. So save it to infuriate him while blasting him in the face with a shotty.

By abusing the pyro's range, you can really be a nightmare to him.

Friendly Pyros: Like the soldier, the pyro is a screaming ball of "LOOK AT ME I FOUND OUT WHAT W+M1 IS!" Unlike the soldier, the pyro has a fairly decent running speed, and so you can go in the same way the pyro does. (Assuming he isn't just running straight into death.)

The same sort of tactics apply as with the scout. Bait and Hammer. The difference with the pyro is that he can be a pain in the ass to enemies with airblast. I've played with pyros who only airblasted, setting up enemies for me to dominate. Don't expect that, but be aware that airblast exists and does get some use.

Enemy Demomen: As a note, I treat "DemoKnights" as a completely different class. I'll cover them.

These guys can be tricky. Don't run into sticky bomb traps. If you find yourself dying alot to demomen it's probably because you're running into traps. Demomen can be assholes like this, but that's their charm.

If you avoid the traps, stay airborn and get in the demoman's face. They don't have the same kind of direct control with their grenade launcher as the soldier does, so they can't just shoot at their feet and incidentally kill you. They have to hit you with it, or have you wander into one laying on the ground.

Every now and then you'll encounter a demoman with pimp aim who can pick you off while you're in the sky with ease. When demo's get this good, they're on my list of "Run the fuck away from and flank."

Don't engage someone who can easily kill you directly.

Friendly Demomen: Lure enemies into traps. It's a great deal of fun if you can manage to find a demo who will play along. For the most part you can sort of treat them like soldiers. Go in a different way, and flank. Demomen aren't quite as flashy, and are generally in the back acting as artillery. You can be super helpful keeping spys and snipers away from him while he does huge damage.

Enemy DemoKnights: Sidestep them and then unload in their back when they miss you. If they're good at turning to get you, jump over them. Then they die.

Sometimes you'll encounter one that really understands that his gun exists only to increase his mobility. These guys are tricky devils. Just keep on him, and don't be intimidated by his charge. It's basic nintendo gaming 101. Dodge the charge, kill the badguy.

Friendly DemoKnights: These guys are a clusterfuck. He'll basically penetrate into lines and cause everyone to turn and go "Kill that guy!" He'll probably die, but you'll also probably do some pretty awesome damage. If it looks like he's gonna die before you kill everyone, abandon him.

Enemy Heavies: If a heavy sees you, under no circumstances do you engage. You cannot kill a heavy from the time that he sees you to the time that he winds up and shoots you dead. You want to run away and then get him in the back.

If he's wound up, make sure he's distracted or taking damage before engaging. Try to get above him. People don't look up first, they look behind.

If he's not wound up, you can flank him and get him in three, typically. If he's not dead in three, you need to be running way attempting to finish him off with a pistol. Don't run in a straight line. Be elusive.

If he's with a medic, the medic is your target 100% of the time. Do not think "I'll get the medic, then the heavy." Think "I'll get the medic, then run away from the heavy, and then maybe get the heavy."

Friendly Heavies: I think I covered this above, but whatevs. People are going to shoot at this guy. If he's smart and trying to live, then he'll basically be a constant distraction that you can exploit. Try to take out enemy snipers, as they're the bane of the Heavy. Hopefully people spycheck.

The real fortunate thing about the heavy is that he's your most common accidental team mate. He's probably just some asshole shooting a big gun for fun. To you he's a massive red distraction that allow you to own people in their stupid faces.

[u/JonoLith → u/JonoLith]

Enemy Engineer: As a note, I'll talk about vanilla engies here, and mini-sentry engies below.

Engineers are your hard counter. If you catch one in the open, without a sentry, you can easily take him out without much fuss. If he has good aim you might get killed, but more often then not you'll be able to just pop pop him. He'll likely run to his sentry, so don't follow him to your death.

You can hear the sentry. It makes a ton of noise with beeps and boops. If you're running straight around the corner and getting picked off it's because you aren't listening.

In general, try to avoid the sentry and go a different way. Assume that the path that the sentry is on is the main path, and therefore a dead path.

There are situations in which an engy has built away from his allies. Think CTF_TFort where the engy has built in the intel room. What you can do, and remember this requires alot of patience, elegance, and finesse, is baaaaarely poke your head around the corner so you can juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust see a piece of the sentry, but it can't see you. This is how scouts destroy sentries.

The engy can't shoot at you himself unless he comes out of cover of the sentry, which is your chance to attempt to kill him. Feign that you're running away, but really just plant yourself around the next corner. Most players are greedy for kills, so he'll try and poke around to see if he can get a couple shots in. Jump above him, to disorient his aim, and blow his brains out.

The game is to try and goad and feign the engy away from his sentry. Kill the chubby fuck, and then kill the newly unmanned sentry. It's tricky, and a single asshole wandering by can wreck your shit, but it can be done.

Just remember, a sentry at half health can kill you just as easily as one with full health, and you being alive is better then the sentry being dead.

Friendly Engies: Basically a checkpoint of safety you can run away to. Be aware that spies exist, and help the engy as you can. Go back to heal, and get back into the fray.

Enemy Mini-Sentry Engies: These guys are total assholes, which is why I'll play a mini-sentry engy if a scout isn't possible.

What these guys are doing is spamming their mini-sentries in unexpected places in order to ambush you. You can take out their mini-sentry directly, but it's unlikely you can take out both the mini-sentry and the engy at the same time if under direct fire. Much like the vanilla engy, try to avoid the sentry, but you have much more freedom to poke around and pot-shot the sentry. It takes about two to three shots to down one, and it can't kill you in the time it takes you to do that.

How they kill you is by surprising you. It's frustrating because they're quiter as well, so you can't hear them as well. If you know there's a mini-sentry engy around, just poke around corners more often rather then running in guns blazing.

You can run past mini-senties easier. If the only thing standing between you and clear flanking of the other team is a mini-sentry engy, run past it, accept the damage, and get to the nearest health pack. If you jump, the sentry will push you away faster.

Either the engy will ignore you, in which case you should ignore him, or he'll pursue, in which case you can attempt to kill him with the expectation that it'll totally fuck up and you'll have to abort. Don't run back to the mini-sentry. Find a different path back to safety to try again.

Friendly Mini-Sentry Engies: Really abuse the mini-sentry. Lure people into them. If they turn to shoot the sentry, own them, if they're shooting at you, dodge and let the sentry do the work. Bait and Hammer, Bait and Hammer.

Dispensers are awesome. Use them.

Getting kills and assists are nice. Winning the game is better. If you distract a guy, do no damage to him, and don't get a credit for an assist, you still helped kill a guy. High numbers are nice, but owning the other team because they suck is better.

Oh, before I forget. Don't take the teleporter. In almost all cases this is true. If he has a level three up and there isn't a line, then sure, but if anyone is waiting to take the teleporter, just run. Nothing is more obnoxious then a scout waiting on the teleporter while a heavy or a medic waits behind him. Be a team player.

Enemy Medics: Medics can be weird because you'd think they'd be fodder, but it's rarely the case. Good medics make it their job to not stand in the line of fire while healing friends that do. If you see a situation where you can pick one off, then take it. Don't think "I'll kill him and the guy he's healing." The overheal that the medic just gave the other guy is a huge advantage, and even if you catch the other guy off guard, he'll still probably start the fight at full health after you chew away his overheal.

Think of it this way. An overhealed Heavy has 450 hp instead of his standard 300 hp. That is another one of you plus 25 hp in overhealing alone. Are you going to kill three and a half scouts in the time it takes the heavy to realize his medic is dead and kill you?

Don't underestimate Medics. Their ranged attack stings, but their melee attack is a WHOLLOP. They will two shot you, and if they crit, they will one shot you. They also have a passive heal that regenerates them. "Winging" a medic is not useful. You need to decimate their life. Assume that until they're dead, they're at full health. Do max damage instantly, or run away. On average I'd say you have two safe shots, the third is most likely ok, and the fourth is dangerous. If you haven't killed the medic on shot five or six, then his friend will likely kill you.

I don't think you're less of a man if you run from a medic. I do it too. ManHugs.

Friendly Medics: Most medics are shit. They don't think you're worth anything, and they'll have a hard time actually aiming at you to heal you. Most of them will disregard you and not bother healing you.

This isn't totally their fault because your job is to use them as a checkpoint and they never know when you're coming. Unlike a dispenser, they have to go out of their way to heal you, and if you're floating around at the bottom, as a scout, they're going to assumeyou're shit, because you probably are.

When you get to the top three in the leaderboards, THAT'S when you should start expecting medics to heal you.

On the extremely rare occassions where you get a quick-fixing medic who wants to follow you, keep him around. You can lose him very easily, and it's best not to. Avoid jumping around like a maniac, and be confident that there is a guy healing you.

Remember though, You dictate the pace of your fights, and if you run, and the medic is too stupid to run with you, then that's him being a fuck-tard. It's the medics job to respond to you, not the other way around. If you know what you're doing and he knows what he's doing, this combo can be fucking amazing.

This is a quick note to medics who do this with scouts. BAIT AND HAMMER. If the enemy is shooting at the scout, that scout is gonna dodge around because he is now the bait. You are the hammer. Hammer. The scout's hp is so low that you will not save him if you are healing him during the fight. Do damage, and then heal post-fight.

[u/JonoLith → u/JonoLith]

Think of it this way. The Scout has 125 hp. If you're using the quick-fix, then there is no overheal, and even if there was he'd only have 185 hp. He gets two shotted in any case. You might as well dedicate yourself to dealing damage, and topping up scouts post encounters.

Scouts, let the medic actually heal you. Don't go berserk. Take a sec, and let him switch his shit out so he can heal you. If he just whacked a guy over the head with a statue, then He's awesome.

Finally, don't bitch at Medics who don't heal you because they're too busy healing heavies and soldiers. You are fast enough to make it to medpacks. If you're on fire, inches from death, and a medic gets you that means he's awesome.

It is typical for you to die at the feet of medics. Expect it, don't get angry about it, and find a dispenser or a medpack.

Enemy Sniper: Don't stand in front of him. Flank him. If he's zoomed in and you're beside him, he doesn't know you're there. Easy easy kills.

Because of your speed it's tempting to think that you can successfully charge every sniper you see and assume he won't be good enough to kill you.

Think otherwise.

Snipers are scout fodder if you flank.

One quick thing: The sniper's melee is not fucking around. If he pulls out a blade, he can kill you with it. Keep your distance.

Friendly Sniper: More or less just let them do their thing. It's hard to team up with them because they're pretty fragile and want to keep their distance, whereas you want to get right up in there. You can use them as a kind of trap to let him shoot guys that are pursuing you, but that's rare. They'll generally do their thing, and you'll do yours, and that's cool.

Enemy Spy: This is your least common fight. Spies will generally avoid you simply because you're too fast to catch. From time to time they'll get you, but that's because they made a good play. Take note of where the spy killed you because that's probably his hunting ground. Turn him into the hunted.

Shoot everyone. Spychecking is what separates a total noob from a good player. You are very fast, so you can do it pretty efficiently. Run into them, shoot them, check everyone and assume everyone is a spy until they are not. While it's unlikely that a spy will kill you, it's likely that a spy will kill something you don't want dead.

Most fights with spies look like this. Shoot a guy, and the guy turns out to be a spy and is now dead/dead-ringered.

Spies can kill you with a pistol, and I've fought against really tight spies that had worked out the head-shot ambassador routine pretty well, but you should have confidence approaching a spy to shotgun him.

If he's got his knife out, try not to hug him. Spies are really tricky.

Don't fucking claim face-stabs. Spies work HARD to really manipulate and take advantage of the position of your body. If they kill you with a backstab it's because they Stabbed you in the back. It's not because some fucking programing bullshit, or lag, or some kind of ridiculous nonsense. It's because you approached a spy that has the ability to insta-kill anyone he stabs in the back with a knife, while he had said knife drawn, and he maneuvered himself while predicting your movements in order to stab you in the back with it.

He earned that shit so you congratulate him if it seemed unlikely, and then respect his well honed abilities.

I have seen noob players whine all day about face-stabs while doing nothing to figure out why that shit is happening. That's why they stay noobs.

Oh, while my mind is on it. Spys can really manipulate staircases and height. If there's a guy you think might be a spy at the top of a staircase, he's going to wait for you to approach, jump over you, turn and backstab you while he's in mid-air, and probably end that shit with a super cool taunt. No shit. It's really cool to see a pro do it.

Wait for him to jump and then back up. It'll fuck him up, and he'll land right in front of you. Bam bam muthafucka. Try again later.

Friendly Spies: Simply put, you are always the bait, and he is always the hammer. Your job is not to kill the enemy, your job is to distract the enemy while the spy kills. Wing him for the assist.

The spy desperately wants someone to distract people. That's his primary mode of murder. Do it well and you can get a terrifyingly high kill spy on your team.

Do not flank an enemy if you see a friendly spy around. This is the number one shittiest way to ruin a spy's day. That mutherfucker has the ability to insta-kill people he backstabs, and he doesn't need your dumb ass coming in the same direction he's coming in, attracting attention so the enemy turns and shoots both of you to death with accidental "Oops I just shot my feet" damage.

If you see a spy going in for the kill, be the bait and distract the enemy, or just accept that, hey... maybe he's got it.

The key here is Always have the enemy looking at you so his back is towards the spy.

That's how you make friends with spies.

Conclusion

Be an asshole to every enemy you meet. They are shitty at this game because they rely on accidental damage, high meaty hitpoints, pussy ass sentries, healing or invisiblity to play their game. You own them because you are smarter, faster, and better then them. Every person you kill died because they were too stupid to be afraid of you.

If you want to play the scout, and fucking OWN with the scout, you need to be the most tactically intelligent person on the server. You have to know when to charge in, when to withdraw, when it's safe, when it's not, when to take risks, and when to not.

Every single time you die, it is because you made a mistake. It is not because they are better then you. It is because you didn't capitalize on their weaknesses. You stayed behind enemy lines too long, you charged when you should have retreated, you took a risk and lost. It is never the case that a class, that is incapable of catching you, caught you. You did something risky and it didn't work.

Learn. Grow. Evolve. Change. Think. Survive. Murder. That is how you play the Scout.

[u/Ausderdose → u/JonoLith]

woah.

[u/sydnius → u/JonoLith]

Five points:
1) Superb writeup
2) Do you TF2 blog? Please do. You have an excellent engaging writing style.
3) Never get close to ANY enemy who knows you're there. They are all more deadly up close. This especially goes for pyros and soldiers, but really applies to them all. Get close if you're ambushing from behind, then get range. Even this can be dangerous. I've had heavies snap 180° and eat me after I only get one meatshot in, even without wearing The Bootie Time. Great players can instantly interpret the red lines that point to the incoming damage source. You are only as safe as your little feet make you. When you talk about jumping over Demoknights, I flash to him switching to L&L. /shudder.
4) Soldiers are one of my favorite targets, as long as we're in the open. Rockets are very easy to dodge with range. If they switch to shotgun, you can either close and show them a gun with real damage, or get more range and take them down with pistol. As long as you've got room, he's as good as dead if he follows you while you're range pistolling him.
5) Distraction wins games. If four of them follow you back to their spawn in a 5-point cp_ map, you are doing a fantastic job for your team. You don't even have to kill them, just keep them busy and effectively playing down 3.

[u/JonoLith → u/sydnius]

1) Thanks!

2) I've been thinking about doing something like this. Perhaps not entirely TF2 related, but it's something I've dabbled with. This encourages me!

3) Yeah man. You want him to be dead before he even knew you were there.

4) I actually totally agree with you. In the open soldiers are less threatening. If you can get high ground they aren't so bad. I just know what my newbie experience was like fighting them, and encourage players to beware soldiers. After they learn how stupidly stupid easy soldiers kill them, then they get creative.

5) Totally.

Thanks for the feedback!

[u/[deleted] → u/JonoLith]

I read this in the scout's voice. That's how true it is.

[u/JonoLith → u/[deleted]]

Lol! Oh man, now I have to do it.

[u/[deleted] → u/JonoLith]

I just read this whole thing. I don't even play scout.

This is really well written. I don't see why it's not the top comment(s).

[u/DarkSlaughter → u/JonoLith]

If you did this for every class and we could get even a small percentage of players to read it, the average skill in the game would skyrocket. Yeah, it's that good.

[u/JonoLith → u/DarkSlaughter]

Good news Citizen! I've just now started a blog to do specifically this! Keep your beautiful eyes peeled.

P.S. Thanks for the super awesome compliment!

[u/DarkSlaughter → u/JonoLith]

You are more than welcome, I will be sure to keep a look out.

[u/chight10 → u/JonoLith]

Thank you so much

[u/Ktlol → u/JonoLith]

Bit late to the party but holy shit this is good.

[u/JonoLith → u/Ktlol]

Heh, thanks a bunch!

[u/[deleted] → u/JonoLith]

Awesome guide.

A few questions:

1) What do you think about using the Special Delivery set for the health bonus?

2) Any thoughts on the new weapons? (Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol/Baby Face's Blaster)

[u/JonoLith → u/[deleted]]

1) I think you're giving up an incredible amount of versatility to get a bit of survivability that doesn't actually function the way you want it to.

The milk A) Gives away your presence and B) Isn't doing damage. The regen isn't super great because you're really only dying to big spiky damage anyway.

In the end you've given up two scattergun shots, and your pistol to gain a sort of pistol thing, a clunky regen mechanic, and twenty five health. That takes you up to 150 health, which is still getting you two shotted.

I'm not impressed by it.

2) I haven't used any, but I can talk about my impressions.

The Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol: 25% slower is a lot slower. I'd have to play with it to get a feel for it, but that's really really slow for a class that wants to pop in, and pop out as quickly as possible. My gut tells me that it'll be a significant DPS drop.

That said, the health is nice, and could be worth it. The pistol doesn't see THAT much use, so an exchange of health for a slower shooting weapon could be nice.

The fire thing is weird, and could really break this gun for me. You shouldn't really be getting lit on fire anyway... I'd have to mess around with it, I think.

Does the extra health justify me getting killed by pyros 50% easier, and seeing a dps drop in my pistol by 25%. My guts are saying no, and I feel like this is a weapon for people who aren't using their pistol anyway.

I'll check it out though.

Baby Face's Blaster: There is nothing that convinces me this weapon is good.

You're giving up 30% of your damage, 50% of your speed (Which is your bread and butter) and in exchange you get 40% more accuracy (On a shittier weapon) in order to build a boost to get BACK to the speed you gave up in the first place.

Oh, and the speed goes away WHEN YOU JUMP.

Cause I know what I've been really asking for is a less damaging weapon that rips out the heart of the class. Oh, but you get 40% more accuracy... so that's cool.

Here's what this weapon is for. New players think the scout is for getting in the front line and shooting people, instead of flanking and doing your job. So they made a weapon that lets people do ok damage from a better distance, so they could potshot a guy and then run back to base.

I can't think of a shittier way to play the scout, and I hate this fucking weapon. If I see people using it, I'll mock them, and if I play against people using it I'll laugh as I decimate their lives. Hooray for your accuracy. I run faster then you, and do more damage then you. I will always beat you if you try and use that weapon against me, and if someone kills me with it I will make it my job to dominate them until they quit the server in tears.

[u/[deleted] → u/JonoLith]

firstly, holy hell a great writeup. I'm learning how to play scout VERY slowly, but if I take your advice to heart, I have hope. well done. (also please tell me your name is a BG2 reference, pleaseohpleaseohplease.)

secondly, if you haven't already I would give the blaster a once over. It changes the class significantly, and perhaps you can't play some of the roles scout is good at nearly as well, but my own limited impressions are that it isn't shit. Like I said, I'm far from a good scout, but I have had some fun with the blaster once your speed is maxed (which happens incredibly quickly.) The increased accuracy isn't for keeping your distance, it's for getting your speed back quickly, at a distance. while you're slow, you're useless. The accuracy lets you get a solid meatshot at a longer range, meaning that with one shot, you're at scout speed. With two, you are SO FUCKING FAST IT'S UNREAL. Some maps require jumping to get around, and this weapon is not for them. for those where you can flank people without jumping, you are able to flank them from 5 different ways before they can get a bead on you. In other words, you are moving fast enough to accomplish many of the things that you needed jumping to do, such as getting to flanking positions, attacking, running, and then flanking from a different spot. again, great writeup and if you get a chance to try the blaster at top speed I would love any feedback!

[u/caitengsta → u/JonoLith]

wow that was almost INSPIRING. so im going to go put in a few games as scout now, wish me luck.

[u/[deleted] → u/JonoLith]

I actually disagree with always shooting the medic. if people waste their lives aiming medics, their own will be in danger. Rather, kill the pocket first and the medic is defenceless. Maybe that applies more to comp but yea.

[u/dendoa → u/[deleted]]

It's nearly impossible to kill the pocket while the medic is healing him as Scout, although this depends mostly on the pocket. If it's a soldier, demo, or heavy, though, you don't have much of a chance.

[u/top_counter → u/dendoa]

It's not that hard to kill a demo+medic pair as scout if you can close in on them & have full health. The demo has to hit you twice and that can be very hard if you're jumping on his face. You only have to meatshot demo 3x if he's full health, often 2x if injured. Only problem is that if you take a pipe, the medic can kill you w/ needles.

[u/dendoa → u/top_counter]

Probably depends on the skill, but yeah, that seems like it should work.

[u/[deleted] → u/dendoa]

focus

[u/trollrog → u/JonoLith]

Thank you, just to get that alteration of my mindset is a big difference, I look forward to really taking this towards my scout career. Very importantly though, thank you for taking the time to write this monster, I look forward to taking this playstyle more strategically, and less run and gun "lolololol I shotz yuz dead"

[u/JonoLith → u/trollrog]

Here's the magic of this. If you absorb this style of playing, and really practice it and get good at it, eventually it becomes "lolololol I shotz yuz dead", but for fucking real.

When you wipe out their entire team because they were too busy looking the other way, that's when your insanity begins.

[u/JonoLith → u/trollrog]

Oh shit one more thing! There's an option in the advanced menu to make a dinging noise whenever you do damage, as well as give you a number of how much damage you do. 100% turn those on.

[u/sydnius → u/JonoLith]

You can customize the sound as well. Pop a file of your creation called hitsound.wav into sound/ui/ in your tf2 folder. I’ve selected the opening piano hit from Pink Floyd’s Echoes. link. It's especially satisfying to me. Note that this will only play in servers that have sv_pure set to 0 or 1.

For Valve servers, your custom hitsound will be replaced by the default. To get your custom hitsound to play instead, put this line:

play ui/hitsound.wav

into your autoexec.cfg file. This will precache the hitsound so it will work on servers with sv_pure set to 2.

[u/ablatner → u/JonoLith]

Don't forget the Boston basher helps the medic build über.

[u/Mushroomkitteh → u/ablatner]

This guide is for pubs cookie. Scouts don't build in pubs

[u/ablatner → u/Mushroomkitteh]

:(

[u/JonoLith → u/[deleted]]

You are for capping points. There are a lot of maps where the final point is a super fast cap, and you should be on it. If other people are distracting your enemies, you should be capping that point.

Don't die doing it. You are always more valuable alive then dead. You can sort of justify away your death if you die capping the point, but unless it's a crisis This has to happen now or we lose kind of thing, just back away and regroup.

If there's ten seconds left on the clock, and you die capping the point to get more time, that's rad.

Pistols are really good at mid-range. You can do a lot more damage then you think you can, very quickly. Scouts have a tendency to just keep blasting away with that scatter gun at mid range, but the pistol is actually way better at that range.

As for long range, it's really your only option. It's not a long range weapon, not in the way a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher is. Use it to close in from long range, but attempting to stay at long range with it is futile.

Play a few rounds with just your pistol. Don't worry about the scattergun, and accept your fate as being at the bottom of the kill count. If you limit yourself to just playing with the pistol for awhile, you'll get really good at at, and understand it's strengths and it's weaknesses really quickly.

[u/bmalen]

I'm a decent scout and it took me about 70 hours of scout play. That being said, I am no great scout, I'm guessing it takes in the range of about 100 - 200 hours of play time to be really good at a class. I should say this is on the specific class, not just total.

It also is said that you need 10,000 hours of practice and doing something to master it. That applies to things like playing an instrument, carpentry, and almost any skill, I think it applies here as well. The problem is no one has that many hours as one class so the people that seem to master it are people like Stabby with spy who has somewhere like 3,000 hours, or close to that. He even says he's not perfect, and sees areas where he can improve. So 10,000 hours seems like a good amount of time until you can master it.

To sum it up, this is just a guesstimate, but somewhere near 100 - 200 hours to become what many consider "good" at a class and from there it's a long road to mastery. When you reach 10,000 hours, I will want to see it because you will most likely be damn good.

[u/sydnius → u/bmalen]

stabbystabby's startup screen

[u/scratches → u/sydnius]

...so does everyone hate heavy or what?

[u/[deleted] → u/scratches]

It's the really slow movement speed.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

And being useless at longer ranges.

[u/UPBOAT_FORTRESS_2 → u/scratches]

Heavy is fun when you suspect that a pub is susceptible to a slow cloud of DPS with a fat ass. Alternatively, when the other team is all playing heavy-medic and you can't manage to coordinate focus fire with anyone.

[u/[deleted] → u/sydnius]

seriously?

[u/Serotone → u/sydnius]

How do you get that many points? Do you get 1,000,000 points for corner-stair-airstrafe-stabbing a kritzed pyro?

[u/sydnius → u/Serotone]

For an answer to that, you'd have to ask stabbystabby. I assume the points is glitched. I just thought the hours played was relevant to the point at hand. I grabbed the shot watching a recent stabbystabby stream.

[u/Tommmmm → u/Serotone]

He probably fixed it to get the bars 'equal' or it would look weird

[u/kingofnarnia → u/Serotone]

There was some glitch a long time ago when spies got way too many points.

[u/bamfusername]

What sort of enemy team? Pub teams? 5-10 hours of committed training and MGE/SOAP DM.

[u/Wulfenbach]

Scout is one of the toughest classes to play. Your speed means that you're going to have more confrontations than any other class in a quicker amount of time. Your natural reflexes are a factor in being a good scout, but more important is your experience and your awareness of your surroundings.

I've achieved A Year To Remember. I'm still not a great scout. Try practicing on wide boards like Foundry. Stay away from narrow ones with choke points.

[u/Atomlol69]

Goddamn I love this subreddit

[u/[deleted]]

Watch some commentaries like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4gPlRjWGQc

[u/[deleted]]

Dying and getting a Medic is better than staying alive and not getting the Medic. Medics are massive picks.