Team Fortress 2/Scout

The Scout is the fastest and most agile class in Team Fortress 2. They have low health to compensate. Scouts are most effective in maps with few chokepoints, like ../cp_fastlane/ or ../cp_badlands/. They can also be effective defenders in maps with wide open spaces like ../cp_gravelpit/ or some parts of ../cp_dustbowl/.
 * Health: 125
 * Speed: 133%
 * Type: [[Image:TF2_achievement_nemesis.jpg||20px]] Offense
 * Special Ability: Double Jump, captures points two times faster than other classes

Weapons
The scout is well suited for hit'n'run attacks. He can stay in combat for some time if needed, but it's not advisable.

Scattergun
The scattergun is a sawed off Shotgun, and is basically a more powerful version. It deals impressive damage in close range, and can kill a normal health class in a few shots. Fire your shots while you strafe, don't actively try to aim at the enemy. Try to fire as close as possible, catch an enemy by surprise and escape. Jumping while firing onto a foe can usually kill them before they can react.
 * Clip Size: 6 - Reserve Ammo: 32
 * Point Blank Damage: 85-105
 * Mid Range Damage: 10-40
 * Long Range Damage: 3-10
 * Critical Hit: 180

Force-A-Nature
The Force-A-Nature is the unlockable scattergun. It only carries 2 shells in a clip, but it attacks 50% faster, does roughly 8% more damage and knocks enemies up and backwards. In addition, using it in midair will propel you upwards and away from the direction you are facing.
 * Clip Size: 2 - Reserve Ammo: 32
 * Point Blank Damage: 92-113
 * Mid Range Damage: 11-43
 * Long Range Damage: 3-11
 * Critical Hit: 194

The knockback is a double edged sword: It is useful against 125HP classes because if you can hit with your first shot point blank, the knockback will make your next shot (a kill if you aim it right) much easier to aim. It is also useful against pyros: They will have an even harder time catching you than before. On the other hand, classes with more than 150HP gain a large amount of distance on you and can retaliate safely while you reload. In particular, soldiers will be launched to an ideal range where they won't take damage from their own rockets.

As with the scattergun, try and land point blank shots when possible. When using this gun against light classes, take the time to aim your first shot well and the second shot will be much easier due to the knockback. When fighting heavier classes, fire both shots as quickly as possible, then run away, reload and try again.

Something to remember when using this gun is that reloading always uses 2 shells, even if you've only fired 1.

The scattergun is much more effective than the FaN in direct, extended combat and longer ambushes, but the FaN is very effective in quick, single kill ambushes, it provides some more mobility that is very useful on some maps and it is much easier to use than the scattergun. Make your choice carefully.

Shortstop
The Shortstop has a reduced clip size but has a fast firing speed and quick reload. It has less pellets in a shot, but they do more damage. It uses the same ammo as the Pistol, so equipping both can burn your ammo out very quickly. The Shortstop let's you fight enemies effectively at mid range while still being able to pack a punch at point blank. You can stay engaged in combat with enemies at longer ranges without needing to escape or dieing. It's good to simply unload the clip at an enemy without trying to aim the other three, since it fires fast enough that all shots are likely to hit if the first shot hits. Crit boosts with the Shortstop can be devastating, since it has amazing damage allowing you to take down Heavies at mid range and the tight spread at close range makes it even deadlier.
 * Clip Size: 4 - Reserve Ammo: 36
 * Point Blank Damage: 69-72
 * Mid Range Damage: 24-48
 * Long Range Damage: 6-12
 * Critical Hit: 180

Soda Popper
The Soda Popper is very similar to the Force-A-Nature, with less clip size but faster firing speed and reloads the entire clip. It has the damage of a Scattergun, doesn't do knockback and cannot randomly crit. However, running around for a certain length will build your Hype meter, which when full grants you Mini-Crits to all your weapons for 8 seconds. It pretty much has the same strategies as the Scattergun or Force-A-Nature. Hit-and-run and shoot when up close. Always keep moving to not only dodge attacks but also build your Hype meter. Remember that the Hype boosts apply to your other weapons, so don't hestitate to switch to your Pistol or Bat if the situation calls for it.
 * Clip Size: 2 - Reserve Ammo: 32
 * Point Blank Damage: 90-105
 * Mid Range Damage: 24-76
 * Long Range Damage: 3-26
 * Critical Hits: 180
 * Hype Duration: 8 seconds

Pistol
The Pistol is a good weapon for dealing with targets to far away for your Scattergun to perform effectively. It is quite accurate and has a short firing and reload time. It's good for taking out unattended buildings in mid range. The Pistol is useful for weakening enemies as you run up to effective Scattergun range and for finishing them off when they try to escape. Crit boosts are useful on this weapon, since it's quick and accurate shots will quickly rack up the damage and kill any classes quickly.
 * Clip Size: 12 - Reserve Ammo: 36
 * Point Blank Damage: 20-22
 * Mid Range Damage: 10-15
 * Long Range Damage: 8-9
 * Critical Hit: 45

Note that the Shortstop uses the same ammo as the Pistol, so it is unwise to equip both as you will run out of ammo very quickly.

Lugermorph
The Lugermorph is identical to the Pistol in terms of gameplay. All strategy for the Pistol is applicable here.
 * Clip Size: 12 - Reserve Ammo: 36
 * Point Blank Damage: 20-22
 * Mid Range Damage: 10-15
 * Long Range Damage: 8-9
 * Critical Hit: 45

Bonk! Atomic Punch
Bonk! Atomic Punch is the Scout's unlockable secondary which, when used, grants the Scout 6 seconds or invulnerability similar to an Ubercharge. However, you can't fire your weapon, capture or defend control points, push or stop payload carts or capture enemy intelligence. You can still use your taunt kills as an attack.
 * Ammunition: Infinite
 * Effect Type: Invulnerability, but unable to use weapon, capture or defend.
 * Effect Duration: 6 seconds
 * Recharge Time: 24 seconds

Use Bonk as an emergency tool to survive heavy fire and retreat. You can also help draw Sentry Gun fire upon you while your teammates take them out. Distract enemies safely by running circles around them. You can also use Bonk for actual scouting. Drink Bonk and run around the enemy base, relaying information about their team composition, defenses and sentry gun positions. You can also use Bonk to make yourself immune to certain status effects and self-inflicted damage, such as afterburn damage and the third jump damage of the Atomizer.

Crit-a-Cola
Upon drinking the Crit-a-Cola, your weapon will glow and any damage you deal or receive will become mini-crits. This is a high-risk-high-reward weapon, as you gain much more firepower in exchange of dying much easier. Enemies will notice your weapon glow and take you out in a few shots. It is best consumed when flanking and not during direct combat. Landing a surprise hit with your primary weapon can quickly kill any low health classes. Your melee weapon's fast swing time also allows you to take enemies out swiftly and quietly.
 * Ammunition: Infinite
 * Effect Type: All damage dealt and received are mini-crits
 * Effect Duration: 6 seconds
 * Recharge Time: 24 seconds

Mad Milk
The Mad Milk is similar to the Jarate, throwing it at enemies will coat them with white liquid. Attacking an enemy who is milked heals you by 60% of the damage done. It extinguishes burning teammates and shorts out enemy spy's cloaks. The Mad Milk let's you stay in direct combat and survive longer. Land shots quickly to replenish any lost health. Note that your teammates also get healed if they hit a milked enemy, so coating a bunch of opponents while your teammates push forward can easily overpower the enemy team.
 * Ammunition: Infinite
 * Effect Type: Some damage dealt on enemies is returned as health and exposes cloaked spies. Extinguishes fire on teammates
 * Effect Duration: 6 seconds
 * Recharge Time: 24 seconds

Winger
The Winger is an alternate Pistol for the Scout. A shot deals more damage, but the clip size is reduced by more than half. Much of the strategy for the Pistol can be applied here, but take note of the reduced clip size. You will be reloading very often with only 5 shots per clip. As with the Pistol, it shares the same ammo with the Shortstop, so don't equip them both.
 * Clip Size: 5 - Reserve Ammo: 36
 * Point Blank Damage: 26
 * Mid Range Damage: 15-19
 * Long Range Damage: 10-12
 * Critical Hit: 52

Baseball Bat

 * Damage: ~35
 * Critical: 105
 * Attack Interval: ~0.5

The Scout's bat is generally used to conserve pistol ammo when finishing off damaged targets. Avoid using it on enemies that are dangerous point blank, such as pyros and soldiers. Good targets include snipers, spies and unaware engineers.

The Sandman

 * Damage: ~35
 * Critical: 105
 * Attack Interval: ~0.5

Right clicking with this weapon will hurl a baseball which stuns enemies. The further away you hit them from, the longer the stun. Stunned enemies take 25% less damage and cannot move, attack or use any items. Once you've used your ball you can either pick it up off the ground, visit a resupply cabinet or just wait for the ball to recharge, which takes about 15 seconds.

The sandman does, however, have a very large disadvatage: Your health is reduced by 30 while you have the sandman equipped.

This weapon's taunt is an instant kill.

Using the Scout
The Scout's speed is his main advantage; with capture point games he can reach the control point fastest. On most 2-way CP maps Scout rushes work extremely well attacking-wise if you can get there before the enemy. Even if you die before taking the middle point, you will slow them down a fair bit. Scouts are also very useful in CTF games if the enemy team isn't too experienced. The worst case scenario is you run straight into a sentry and give the engie an easy kill.

The scout only has 125HP. Engineers have buildings, spies have cloak and snipers usually have distance. Scouts have none of these luxuries, as such, you must get very good at dodging if you want to live for very long.

Learning to aim at speed as well as controlling the Scout's airborne movement is important. Mastering aim will allow you to land point blank blasts with the scattergun and hit with the maximum number of pellets, while proper control of movement will allow you to get in and out of trouble quickly, as well as minimizing damage while you're in the danger zone.

The Scout's speed, combined with his double jump ability, allows him to quickly flee trouble and often take paths where the enemy can't follow. Double jumping also allows you to get over enemy heads, which can be useful if you're cornered. In addition, you can occasionally land on the heads of enemy players. Since most enemies will immediately look behind and not up when you jump over their heads, this usually gets you an easy kill with the scattergun or bat.

The Scout's low health means that he can't take much punishment before he dies, and because his scattergun is so dangerous enemies usually make the Scout a primary target. Even his speed can't outrun enemy fire. In particular, one Pyro ambush with a flamethrower spells almost certain doom for a Scout unless they are very close to a health pack or water. Unless you are shooting them at the time, always keep something solid between you and dangerous enemies. Anything from a wall to a rock to a teammate can provide good cover.

Defeating Scouts
Scouts have incredibly low health, so it doesn't take much damage to put them down. Generally, using high damage weapons that don't require good aim is the best strategy.


 * Another Scout: Scout versus Scout fights tend to last a long time and are dependent mostly on who controls sources of healing. Because Scouts cannot run away from other Scouts, this type of fight is usually kill or be killed.
 * Soldier: Soldiers are fairly evenly matched versus Scouts. As long as the Soldier isn't ambushed, fear of the his rockets will usually keep the scout out of effective scattergun distance, turning it into a pistol vs. shotgun fight.
 * Pyro: Pyros are one of the best counters for Scouts. Afterburn deals 50 damage in total, so as long as the Pyro deals over 80 damage with his initial ambush (shotgun helps a lot here), the Scout will be forced to find healing/water or die. A single hit with the flaregun will also reduce the Scout to half health and a second will guarantee death unless the scout can get extinguished.
 * Demoman: Demomen usually have trouble actually hitting Scouts. If direct hits can be scored, a scout will usually die in 2 stickies or 2 grenades.
 * Heavy: Heavies are fairly good against Scouts. Smart Scouts will hit you once or twice then run away before you can spin up, so either start spinning before they arrive or walk with your shotgun out.
 * Engineer: Engineer sentry guns are a hard counter to Scouts. As long as you or another Engineer is present to repair your sentry when it takes damage, the Scout can usually do nothing against the sentry except try Bonking past it. Keep an eye out and chase Bonking scouts down. Alternatively, if the engineer isn't present, the Scout can get into a position in which they can shoot the sentry, but cannot be shot back. From that position, the Scout can kill a lvl 3 sentry in 2-3 pistol cartridges.
 * Medic: Medics can be effective against Scouts defensively, Scouts usually have to retreat if you do something as simple as backpedal while firing syringes. Offensively though, the Syringe Gun (and it's counterpart, the Blutsauger) is not effective while moving forwards.
 * Sniper: Snipers are usually outclassed by Scouts unless the Sniper has very good aim. A single headshot or a fully charged bodyshot will kill a Scout.
 * Spy: Spies are poor against Scouts. It's difficult to land a backstab on a fast moving scout and hitting them with the revolver is difficult.