Team Fortress 2/Scout

• Health: 125
• Speed: 133%
• Type: Offense
• Special Ability: Double Jump, captures points two times faster than other classes

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.

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.

Primary Weapons

Get in, kill, get out. The scattergun has a long reload time which cuts your effectiveness in lengthy fights. The Force-A-Nature is even worse.

• Scattergun
  • Damage
    • Point Blank: ~95
    • Medium Range: ~25
    • Long Range: ~6
    • Critical: ~180 (reduced at range due to bullet spread)
  • Attack Interval: ~0.64
  • Clip Size: 6
  • Reserve Ammo: 32
  • Reload Speed
    • First Shell: ~0.76
    • Additional Shells: ~0.56

The scattergun is similar to the shotgun. It deals more damage at point-blank but due to it's spread it deals less damage at far range. At point blank, 2 hits will kill many enemies, but this also puts the Scout at great risk. As with all shotgun-style weapons in TF2, the damage dealt at point blank will vary depending on your aim. For best effect, aim directly at the center of your target.

• Force-A-Nature
  • Damage
    • Point Blank: ~102
    • Medium Range: ~27
    • Long Range: ~7
    • Critical: ~194 (reduced at range due to bullet spread)
  • Attack Interval: ~0.33
  • Clip Size: 2
  • Reserve Ammo 32.
  • Reload Time: ~1.64, clip based.

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.

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.

Secondary Weapons

Your pistol has limited ammo. Make frequent trips to ammo packs, dispensers and resupply cabinets or you'll be stuck without a secondary weapon.

• Pistol
  • Damage
    • Point Blank: ~21
    • Medium Range: ~12
    • Long Range: ~8
    • Critical: 45 (comes in streaks)
  • Attack Interval: ~0.175
  • Clip Size: 12
  • Reserve Ammo: 36
  • Reload Time: ~1.36

The Pistol deals less damage than the scattergun but is more accurate. Against many classes, the best strategy is hit them twice with your primary, then go to medium range and finish with your pistol. This is even more important with the FAN, where a third shot is not usually practical. The pistol reloads very quickly, but it has little reserve ammo, so keep the location of ammo packs and dispensers memorized.

• Bonk! Atomic Punch

After half a second of drinking, the scout becomes immune to damage, loses the ability to fire and recieves a small speed boost for 6 seconds. After the 6 seconds are up, there is a short period where the scout runs slower.

Bonk has 3 main uses. Firstly, retreating. When you are low on health, pop around a corner and take a swig of bonk, then run to the nearest safe spot. It's important to make sure that there is somewhere safe to run to before you drink Bonk; smart enemies will usually chase you down and kill you while you are vulnerable.

Secondly, it can be used to bypass sentries. Just around the corner from an enemy sentry, take a sip of Bonk and quickly run past. Be careful: Enemies will usually chase you if they see you. Normally, if only the engineer chases you you can still handle him even after the slowdown period. If more people chase you, however, it's usually game over.

Lastly, it can be used as a sort of substitute uber. The scout can drink bonk then run up to a sentry, absorbing all it's fire while (hopefully) someone else on your team takes it out. This works best with pyros and heavies, but most combat classes can work in a pinch.

Bonk! is usually worse than the pistol, but it is useful in some situations.

Melee Weapons

Heavies are very vulnerable to the sandman. Their speed combined with their large size makes them very easy to hit.

• 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

Unless the enemy is actively defending them, health kits are yours for the taking. Memorize their locations as soon as possible.

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.