Team Fortress 2/Demoman

The Demoman has the highest damage output of any class except maybe the Heavy. He specialises in area denial, with the ability to lay down sticky traps or suppress the enemy with wave of grenades. He's a mildly difficult class to pick up, but performs well at any skill level, from spamming into chokepoints to direct grenade hits and movement prediction. He can also sticky jump across large distances, potentially giving him more mobility than a Scout. The Demoman also possesses a sub-class called the Demoknight. By sacrficing his sticky launchers for a targe, he can perform shield charges which greatly increases his melee power while giving him defensive bonuses.
 * Health: 175
 * Speed: 93%
 * Type: [[Image:TF2_achievement_impossible_defense.jpg||20px]] Defense
 * Special Ability: Pipe Bomb Jump

Weapons
The demoman's loadout makes him a flexible class, devasting at midrange combat, capable at long range combat and well equipped to deal with sentries. His one weakness is close range, he cannot deal much damage at point blank without killing himself as well. Choosing a Demoknight loadout almost inverts that, making him deadly at close range but less effective at longer ranges.

Grenade Launcher
The grenade launcher is a powerful weapon that also deals splash damage. On a direct hit the grenade will explode immediately. Against weaker classes, like scouts, a single grenade can sometimes score a one hit kill. If you miss, the grenade will bounce. Grenades have a 3 second fuse.
 * Clip Size: 4 - Reserve Ammo: 16
 * Direct Hit: 84-123
 * Splash Damage: 22-64
 * Self-Damage: 42-74
 * Critical Hit: 270-330

Grenades are versatile projectiles and are useful for both newcomers and veterans. Spraying grenades all over the battlefield can be quite difficult and annoying to dodge. Once you have better aim, direct hits are an effective way of killing opponents. Use the grenade's bounce to take down objects around corners.

A technique you can use with grenades is Rocket Jumping, which involve bouncing grenades under your feet for a higher jump. It is somewhat harder to perform, but deals less self-damage, and can be a useful tool when you have a shield equipped instead.

Loch-n-Load
The Loch-n-Load's grenades fly faster and deal more damage, but will shatter if it doesn't hit an enemy and deals higher self-damage to you making close combat riskier. It also has a smaller clip.
 * Clip Size: 2 - Reserve Ammo: 16
 * Direct Hit: 103-147
 * Self-Damage: 53-93
 * Critical Hit: 342-388

The Loch-n-Load is less useful for area denial and fighting around corners, but does better for close combat. It is basically a rocket launcher with no splash damage and arcs. You need to have good accuracy for this weapon, so practise with the stock Grenade Launcher before moving to this one. This weapon is useful when fighting on chokepoints and in areas clustered with enemies. Be careful of enemies fighting up close. Your increased self-damage as well as shorter clip means you will be taking more damage.

Ali Baba's Wee Booties/Bootlegger
The Ali Baba's Wee Booties gives you 25 more health and let's you turn during a charge. It is best paired with a shield, but remember that you will lose all form of ranged weaponry. It is really only useful for a purely melee-oriented setup. The turning ability can be surprising to enemies.

Loose Cannon
The Loose Cannon shoots spherical cannonballs instead of grenades which do not explode on impact, but knock enemies back. The cannonballs have a shorter 2-second fuse, and can be primed to make them explode sooner when launched. Priming it for too long will cause the weapon to overload, dealing lots of self-damage. The cannonballs deal more damage when exploding than normal grenades, but will have their damage halved if it hits a surface, so priming the cannonballs is key to maximise its damage output.
 * Clip Size: 4 - Reserve Ammo: 16
 * Damage: 33-101
 * Bounce: 16-48
 * Self-Damage: 37-96
 * Overload Damage: 103
 * Critical Hit: 151-302

The key to using the Loose Cannon is to prime its cannonballs so that it explodes near enemies midair or to use cannonballs to knock enemies back with direct hits and hopefully off a cliff or right next to a launched cannonball. The need to score direct hits and prime your cannonballs means that it takes more focus to use properly.

Stickybomb Launcher
The stickybomb launcher fires Sticky Bombs which can stick to any surface and can be detonated at any time. Holding down the fire button launches it further. Firing more than 8 destroys the oldest stuck sticky bomb. Three sticky bombs can take out most enemies, including sentry guns. The Demoman is great for taking out multiple sentry guns with the help of an Ubercharge. Sticky bombs have various uses, such as trapping a commonly traveled area, protecting the intelligence briefcase or control point, pipe bomb jumping, or even used offensively. Placing sticky bombs where they are hard to see, such as on a wall or ceiling, will increase the chance of an enemy running into your trap. Offensively using stickies is called "stickythrowing", which is where the demoman fires a sticky directly at an enemy and detonates it midair, making it impossible to dodge for most classes (unlike grenades). Because you cannot detonate stickies until they have spent at least 1 second out of the launcher, stickythrowing is impossible at close range.
 * Clip Size: 8 - Reserve Ammo: 32
 * Direct Hit: 120
 * Splash Damage: 60-124
 * Self Damage: 45-114
 * Critical Hit: 261

Sticky Jumping works like the Rocket Jump. Place a sticky beneath you, then jump as you explode the bomb. Unlike rocketjump, stickyjumping deals almost 50% damage to the demoman. On the bright side, it propels you much, much further and faster than rocket jumps. Sticky jumping will allow you to get to massive heights and get you across long distances in no time.

A useful location for Sticky Bombs is right on top or near your mission objective, such as on a control point, the payload, or the intel. When an enemy captures or touches said objectives, there will be both an audio cue (the administrator's announcements) and a visual cue (your HUD).

Chargin' Targe
The Chargin' Targe is just a shield. It makes you more resistant to fire and explosives. Right-clicking with any weapon let's you perform a shield charge. The availability of the charge is represented by a charge meter on your HUD. The colours on the bar determines the duration of the charge. White is recharging or stored charge, green is the early charge phase, yellow means your next attack is a mini-crit and red means your next attack is a guaranteed critical.
 * Charge Damage: 50+10 for every head
 * Recharge Speed: 12 seconds (6 with Persian Persuader)
 * Resistance: 50% to fire, 40% to explosives

In general, try to take enemies by surprise. Approach them from a distance while they're unaware, then charge straight towards them and melee them. Be careful of weapons capable of interrupting your charge, such as explosives and knockback weapons. The charge can also be used as an escape tool. You move faster than a Scout while charging, so it can be helpful for escaping the lethal ranges of certain weapons, and possibly death. Don't try to charge an enemy who is aware of your presence, as they can simply walk out of your predictable charge or anticipate your location and hit with their weapons.

Scottish Resistance
The Scottish Resistance fires faster, has more ammo, allows 14 stickybombs out at once, lets you detonate stickybombs selectively and it's blast can destroy enemy stickybombs, something other explosives can't normally do. However, the time between launching a stickybomb and detonating it is lengthened, making it harder to kill with midair detonation. It's stickybombs have an outline that is visible through walls, and becomes highlighted as you place your crosshairs on them, indicating they can be blown up. Bombs in your crosshair and directly under your feet will be detonated with a right click.
 * Clip Size: 8 - Reserve Ammo: 36
 * Direct Hit: 120
 * Splash Damage: 60-124
 * Self-Damage: 45-114
 * Critical Hit: 261

The Scottish Resistance lets you manage bombs easier, as you can detonate a select group of bombs individually without blowing up the rest. This can be useful when defending multiple exits, as you can have different groups defending different entrances, and save some for stickyjumping. Alternatively, you can set up a first trap, and if it fails to kill the enemy, lure them into a second trap.

The faster firing rate makes it better for close confrontations, but at the same time it's bomb's longer priming time makes it worse. A good tactic is to launch a few bombs somewhere behind the enemy, then switch to your Grenade Launcher and force them back, preferably right into your stickybombs.

The Scottish Resistance's stickybomb has the ability to destroy enemy stickybombs, so you can use this to your advantage. Place a stickybomb among enemy stickybombs and detonating it will destroy all the stickybombs nearby while at a safe distance. You can also use them to protect sentries from stickybombs.

Sticky Jumper
The Sticky Jumper is designed as a training tool for practising stickyjumping. It deals no damage, but it has some uses in serious play. As sticky jumping is usually costly on your health, you can't really do a lot of jumps without severely weakening yourself. The Sticky Jumper eliminates this problem, so now you can perform amazingly far jumps only needing to worry about fall damage. Just jump past otherwise impassable barricades, do some damage to the opposing team, then sticky jump back out.
 * Clip Size: 8 - Reserve Ammo: 72
 * Direct Hit: 0
 * Splash Damage: 0
 * Self-Damage: 0
 * Critical Hit: 0

Splendid Screen
The Splendid Screen let's you shield bash during anytime in the charge and does more damage with a shield bash, but gives you less resistance to fire and explosives. The way the shield bash is programmed also lets you do a critical hit with your melee weapon right after a shield bash without going the required distance. The strategy for the Splendid Screen is not too different from the Chargin' Targe, so refer to that section for more information.
 * Charge Damage: 85+17 for every head
 * Recharge Time: 12 seconds (6 with Persian Persuader)
 * Resistances: 20% to fire and 10% to explosives

Bottle/Frying Pan/Saxxy/Scottish Handshake/Conscientious Objector/Freedom Staff/Bat Outta Hell/Memory Maker
Unless you have extremely good aim with the Grenade Launcher, your trusty bottle will be your only hope in close combat. It does the same amount of damage as any other normal melee weapon does. On a critical hit or when you kill someone with it, the bottle will shatter and look broken; this does not affect gameplay. It also does not suffer any drawbacks as with his other melee weapons, so use this if you don't plan on meleeing enemies a lot.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

Eyelander/Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker/Nessie's Nine Iron
The Eyelander doesn't deal random crits and takes away 25 health. However, it features a unique head counter system. Everytime you get a kill with the Eyelander, you become faster and get more health, as well as healing 15 health. Killing a Demoman that also has the Eyelander gives you their heads. Heads are lost upon dieing.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195
 * Self-Healing: 15
 * Decapitation Duration: 5 seconds
 * Decapitation Damage: 500

The Eyelander is best used when paired with your shields, as it allows you to get critical hits while charging forward. It has quite some range for a melee weapon, so get accustomed to it's area of effect. You can also use it to finish off enemies damaged by your Grenade Launcher.

The Eyelander's taunt kill which is shared by all the other Demoman's sword weapons is the Decapitation taunt. The Demoman spins his sword around before one swift slice that cuts off the heads off any enemies in it's path. It's too slow to be viable and the Demoman loudly announces the attack, but it makes for a good humiliation kill.

Pain Train
The Pain Train let's you capture points and push carts twice as fast, but gives you increased bullet vulnerability. It is only useful when attacking on Payload or CP maps.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195

The Pain Train gives you the capturing speed of a Scout with the firepower of a Demoman. However, Heavies and Scouts become even more of a pain to deal with, and Sentry Guns are more dangerous. Use your Grenades and Stickies to keep enemies at bay.

Scotsman's Skullcutter
The Scotsman's Skullcutter decreases your speed, making you slower than a Soldier, but deals more damage. It is good with the Chargin' Targe or when you're defending a confined area with little need for movement. Ambush your enemies with a charge instead of going head-on. The reduced speed means you've more trouble getting to the front lines and escaping for health.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 78
 * Critical Hit: 234

Ullapool Caber
The Ullapool Caber is a handheld potato masher grenade. The first hit with the weapon causes it to explode, damaging you and the enemy as well as launching you into the air. Remaining hits with the weapon are much weaker. It cannot randomly crit. You can get a new one from a resupply closet.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 35
 * Explosive Hit: 185
 * Critical Hit: 405(explosive), 105(used)
 * Self-Damage: 100

The Ullapool Caber deals a lot of damage to you, but one hit can kill most classes instantly. Pairing it with the Chargin' Targe will make it even more powerful, as the critical damage can kill anyone without being overhealed. If there are many enemies in one spot, you can simply charge in and strike one, taking out most of the rest in the explosion. However, it leaves you vulnerable to foes that survived, so it's a suicidal tactic.

Claidheamh Mor
The Claidheamh Mor gives you half a second increase in charging time, but cannot randomly crit and decreses your health by 15. Since it's bonus only applies to shields, using this with a Stickybomb Launcher variant is not recommended.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195
 * Decapitation Duration: 5 seconds
 * Decapitation Damage: 500

The longer charges improves the Demoman's mobility further. He can charge across longer distances, letting him get close to enemies or escape. The longer charge time also means a longer crit period. It is really useful for offensive situations such as charging towards the Payload, escaping with the Intel, getting onto the control point and so on.

Half-Zatoichi
The Half-Zatoichi heals you fully after a kill, but cannot be sheathed once it's been drawn until you get a kill. Hitting a Soldier or another Demoman with their Half-Zatoichi equipped will kill them in one hit.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195
 * Decapitation Duration: 5 seconds
 * Decapitation Damage: 500

Since the Demoman moves faster than the Soldier, and has access to the Chargin' Targe, it is a better weapon for him. Remember that equipping it will effectively leave you without a ranged weapon until you score a kill. When fighting a large group of enemies in a confined area, the Half-Zatoichi is great for keeping you alive as you decapitate every enemy.

Persian Persuader
The Persian Persuader halves the recharge time for the shields and turns all ammo sources into health. However, it cannot randomly crit.
 * Attack Interval: 0.8 seconds
 * Normal Damage: 65
 * Critical Hit: 195
 * Decapitation Duration: 5 seconds
 * Decapitation Damage: 500

The Persian Persuader is great for offensive meleeing. It works better if your loadout is oriented for close combat, as you can't replenish your ammo outside of resupply closets. The ammo as health mechanic can let you survive longer, as you can pick up dead enemies weapons and ammo box if you need health.

The Expert's Ordnance
Like the set name suggests, this set is more suited for advanced players. The Loch-n-Load requires good aim with grenades while the Ullapool Caber is a high-risk-high-reward weapon. The fire resistance this set gives is useful for dealing with Pyros, which are frequently problematic classes when at close range. The set itself is good for clearing large amounts of enemies such as on chokepoints. The Loch-n-Load has a higher chance of success for hitting an enemy and the Ullapool easily clears out a group of enemies within it's blast radius.
 * Consists of Loch-n-Load and Ullapool Caber
 * +10% fire resistance to user

One Thousand and One Demoknights
This set focuses purely on melee combat, removing all of your ranged weapons, so don't get caught in a heavy gunfight. The Splendid Screen's shield bash in additional to the guaranteed critical from your Persuader can take down any unbuffed class bar the Heavy. Since you need to be close enough to the enemy to hit them, take them by surprise. Use the Persian Persuader's ammo-into-health conversion to restore lost health taken from stray gunfire.
 * Consists of Ali Baba's Wee Booties, Splendid Screen, Persian Persuader and the Sultan's Ceremonial hat

Swashbuckler's Swag
Use a shield with this set to maximise the Bootlegger's usefulness. The Scottish Handshake offers no drawbacks unlike your other weapons, so it's not a bad weapon to use.
 * Consists of Bootlegger, Scottish Handshake, the Buccaneer's Bicorne hat and the A Whiff of the Old Brimstone item

The Highland Hound
Like the other Halloween sets, purely cosmetic. It gives you the Wolf Howl taunt. Keep in mind that you cannot equip the Ali Baba's Wee Booties or the Bootlegger while wearing the Pickled Paws.
 * Consists of the Hair of the Dog hat, the Scottish Snarl item and the Pickled Paws item.

Using the Demoman
A skilled Demoman can be monumentally annoying to enemies. The grenade launcher can kill a full health heavy in 3 seconds, and the uses of the sticky launcher are endless. A well placed trap can completely close off a route into your base, stickythrowing can beat any class midrange, sentries can easily be edged and stickyjumping (with the help of a medic and health kits) can get you to the point faster than a scout.

The Demoman has a lack of direct weapons, so is more suited for a defensive role than an offensive one unless you are good with both your weapons. A good demoman on offense is critical. The Demoman, Spy, Soldier, and Heavy are usually the only classes that can take down a sentry without the use of an Ubercharge. Furthermore, on offense, the Demoman can be a real pain to deal with, if that demoman is any good. You must be able to use it as a way to set traps, with both of his weapons: one prime example is on payload games, in which a good demoman can both serve as a good protection of the cart and a strong forward offensive line, with his ability to easily destroy an engineer's gun turret without having to pass through it with the cart. Also, be sure to retreat when your ammo is low, as in-fighting reloads are just not possible as a demoman.

The demoman has 2 main problems, however: He has little close range ability and his weapons take a long time to reload. Fully reloading all your weapons can actually take longer than respawning in some cases.

Defeating Demomen
The demoman's main weakness is point blank range. Therefore, any class that can get in a good position has a fair chance of defeating the demoman just with melee.
 * 1) Scouts are agile enough to dodge both stickies and grenades and get point blank. Once you get there, remember to circle around behind the demoman, or else he may gib you with a grenade.
 * 2) Soldiers are decent counters for demomen Although they will be trumped mid and long range, soldiers can often rocketjump into short range, giving them a massive edge over the demoman.
 * 3) Pyros are only good against demomen when surprise is on the Pyro's side. As with the scout, circle behind the demoman. Although you cannot be killed in one hit, a grenade will still take a good chunk out of your health.
 * 4) Demomen can fight other demomen too. A head on duel will either be decided by stickythrowing or grenade aim, depending on the distance engaged at. If a demoman sneaks up behind another, plop a sticky next to him (or in his path, if he's moving) then swap to grenades and detonate the sticky after your grenade hits.
 * 5) Heavies are a fairly even match for demomen, however, whether you win or lose the fight will come down to the demoman's skill, not yours.
 * 6) Other than sneaking up behind them, engineers have no effective way to fight the demoman. If he starts firing stickybombs at your sentry, pack it up and "haul" it out of there.
 * 7) Medics have difficulty fighting demomen on their own, but patients that they heal can effectively fight demomen at mid range. Although stickythrowing does good damage, it does it fairly slowly and about half of it will be healed back by the time the next bomb arrives.
 * 8) Snipers have the advantage over demomen at long range, as he is fairly slow compared to other classes. Watch out though, he may fire a sticky at you from long range.
 * 9) Like all matchups, a spy should just get behind a demoman and backstab. Against demomen who can't stickythrow, you may be able to revolver them mid range.