Breakdown of the Scout: Primary weapon analysis

atatme

So scout is by far my favorite class in the game, and I have put a lot of time into thinking of how he plays and the different ways a player can be effective with scout. Because of this, I decided to do a write up of the scout and how he should be used.

There are basically 4 different ways to play the scout. Fortunately for us, those 4 different general playstyles align perfectly with the scouts 4 different primary weapons.

The Scattergun: This is the scouts close range weapon. It does the most damage per shot of any gun if you are close up, but its effectiveness drops rapidly as the firing range
increases. Because of this, the scattergun is the best short range/brawler playstyle's weapon. The scattergun's 6 shots means you can basically kill anything with 1 clip if you are accurate, which is why scattergun scouts rarely retreat unless the situation is EXTREMELY dire. Scattergun scouts pick 1 enemy in the crowd and make sure he dies. The only
time I retreat as a scattergun scout is when I am reloading my gun. Because of that, I have convinced many opponents to die to me when they think I am running away and come
chasing after me disorganized. Especially if a scout is leading them. Because the scout is so frail, and the effective range of the scattergun is so short, evasive skills are probably more essential with this primary weapon than any of the others, although dodging is always super necessary when you are a scout. Once the scattergun uses up its 6 shots and goes into reload/shoot mode, it becomes the worst weapon in this game bar none. Because of that, good scattergun scouts often do fake retreats so they can get 3 or 4 shots reloaded.
The scattergun also requires a pistol, either the scout pistol or the winger, in the second slot because you need something to finish off weakened opponents.

It takes a certain type of swagger to play scattergun scout well. Scattergun scouts know that if they have all 6 shots and a decent amount of health, and they come across ANY opponent on their own, (except for a lvl 2 or 3 sentry) they are DEAD if you play right. Because of that, scouts hate engies, and scattergun scouts believe that the scattergun is the best gun in the
game if used correctly (and they are right).

The Shortstop: The shortstop is the scout's midrange weapon. It does by far the most DPS at midrange, and actually does more damage than the scattergun at short range after the scattergun runs out of shots because of its fast reload time. Scouts who play with this weapon generally serve as constant DPS for the team. They are in the main lines of the fight mixing it up alongside the heavies soldiers and demos because they can do a good deal of DPS at mid range with this gun. And, in case you weren't aware, hitting even a decent scout at mid range is extremely difficult to do, making shortstop scouts quite hard to kill unless they are alone. Because of this shortstop scouts often stay with groups of allies, providing DPS and chasing down and finishing any enemies that attempt to flee the group. The shortstop shares ammo with pistols so it is actually a very poor idea to use the shortstop with either of the scout pistols.
Instead, you should probably use the milk. 1: With the right hat you get extra health, which makes you even more impossible to kill at mid range. 2: Milk works great for the strategy the scout is already set up to do with the shortstop. The milk allows not only the scout, but the entire group of allies hes with to regain health rapidly in the middle of the firefight. With this 2 weapon combination, scouts can spearhead large pushes into the enemies base and still be alive to make the use of their high cap rate to cap the point if the push works.

The Sodapopper: This is the scout's hit and run gun. This is the perfect gun for the scouts that just love to be a nuisance. Scouts who use this gun are all about pestering groups of people, and generally consider it a success if you start chasing them because you are worried more about killing them rather than doing whatever it is you should be doing (capping/defending a point, for example). In that way the sodapopper scout behaves much like a spy. The soda popper does very low damage at anything except low range and only has 2 shots, so it is not a very effective weapon for straightforward combat. However, the entire time you are running around while harassing your opponents, your mini crit gauge is growing. When you have mini crits, the soda popper suddenly turns into an absolute beast and because of this, soda popper scouts oftentimes immediately throw themselves headfirst into the fray once they get their mini crits. That isn't necessarily a bad idea, although continuing the harass strat with mini crits is also a good idea because suddenly your harass is a serious problem, and they still can't deal with you without having to completely divert their offense (defense). Mini crits activate automatically, making it tougher for you to save them for the perfect moment, however it is still very doable. The minicrit bar only charges while the sodapopper is out, if you switch to your 2nd or 3rd weapon when the bar is ALMOST full, you have successfully saved it. You just have to remember that you cant switch back to the soda popper until you need the minicrits.

Because the soda popper only has 2 shots, and doesn't even have an increased reload time like the FaN, AND you can't use it to fight while you are trying to save crits, its a VERY good idea to have a pistol with you when you use the soda popper. The mini crits will also apply to the pistol, as well as whichever melee weapon you have! As far as which pistol to pick, I generally consider the scout pistol to be better than the winger because the clip size on the winger along with the innate inaccuracy of the pistol at too long a distance makes it very difficult to actually kill people with the winger. However, once you get minicrits from the soda popper on it, the winger turns into an absolute rape machine capable of killing any full health character in 1 clip and quickly reloading ready for another. Because of this, I suggest the winger to be used with the soda popper.

The Force a Nature: Ah the FaN. The FaN was originally used as the scout's hit and run weapon until the soda popper came out and was way better at it. Because of that, the FaN's ideal game has become far more specific. The FaN is designed to rape low health classes. The fast reload time combined with the advantage a scout can gain from the weapon's knockback and the fact that snipers, spies, medics, engineers (when not near their sentry) and other scouts basically die to 2 solid hits from the fan make it great for harassing the low health classes of the enemy. Because of this, FaN scouts are often seen sneaking behind enemy lines (the additional jumps you can gain from the FaN by aiming at the ground and shooting are very helpful for this) in order to harass the supply lines and assasinate any of the classes mentioned above that are alone. FaN scouts posess significant advantages against any of those classes if caught in a 1 on 1 situation.

THAT BEING SAID: FaN scouts ONLY have an advantage on other scouts if they manage not to fall into the other scout's weapons advantage. That means that if fighting another scout, you have to play your game very intelligently and be willing to change how you are playing depending on which weapon they have. Breakdown below:
FaN vs. Scattergun scouts:
Scattergun scouts deal more DPS than you at short range which is your most affective range. They should crush you, and will think precisely that and thus make themselves predictable. Make them waste their 6 shots (by concentrating on dodging and only shooting at them enough to keep them distracted [if they are allowed to shoot without dodging you are dead]). Once they are out of 6 shots, if your still alive, the advantage is yours and you should kill them.
FaN vs. Shortstop scouts:
Stay close! Don't let them get any distance on you and make sure your shots count (because even close up you don't win the damage race by much). If they do get distance on you, don't give them any long hallways to unload on you while you have to approach. If you give them that you are dead. If they get distance on you, you should probably retreat unless you are confident you can sneak up on them somehow.
Fan vs. Soda Popper scouts:
Simple. The longer the fight goes, the more fucked you are. If they hit their crits you lose this fight, otherwise you win. Because of this you should always have the following mentality when coming across a soda popper scout as scout. Time is on their side, kill them quickly and your fine.

Because the FaN is best when used behind the enemy lines, FaN scouts usually use the sodas in order to increase their effectiveness at this. On offense a FaN scout generally gets the bonk atmoic punch, so that they can get past sentries and thus access areas that sentries would otherwise have cut the scout off from. The scout can also use this beverage to distract a sentry allowing a friendly unubered teammate to close distance with it without getting
annihilated. Defense FaN scouts love the crit-a-cola because it is literally unfair if they don't know you are coming. Anything but soldier or heavy dies in 2 shots if your crit a coload, so if you have the drop on them than that's all she wrote. That being said, the FaN is still very good with the pistols too, so if you don't need one of the sodas the pistol is not a bad idea.

Melee weapons:
The good melee weapons really work well with any of these strategies. Its all about using them correctly and you can get the most out of any of the mellees with any of the primary weapons/scout strategies. That being said, I still have suggestions:
Scattergun: The tripple jump bat gives the scattergun far more close range maneuverability, and the scattergun uses the bat to actually attack far less than other strats. plus, the 3rd jump is great for dodging soldier's rockets when they think they have you after you jump the 2nd time.
Shortstop: Use the fish! Get more health! The shortstop doesn't need the candycane if it has the milk, and the extra health from the fish just makes them so tough to kill.
Soda popper: I haven't actually decided what is best here yet. Its not the candycane, if you use that you just get absolutely melted by a soldier while trying to hit and run. I think it might be the Sandman because you don't take many hits so the less health isn't that important. Plus the stun ball is SO good for people chasing you. I'd say its prolly the sand man.
FaN: Candycane gives you more health for every oblivious sniper you put down? For every hopeless medic who can't escape? For every wounded soldier who retreats to the max health thinking they are safe only to see you standing on it? Seems like the best choice.

Last edited by atatme on Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

Eugene · Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:55 pm Post subject:

I agree with many of your points there, the only thing you really didn't mention is how dangerous a Shortstop+Cola scout is at harassing, though obviously not as dangerous as a soda popper scout.

I would also like to point out that anyone who is good with the sandman stun-ball can single handed stop a heavy/medic combo raping a base. In fact the other days I had a scout stun me on egypt 2 as I was destroying offenses entire push, and that stun ball allowed the offensive team enough time to kill me and my medic.

Guilt · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:24 pm Post subject:

This is a pretty nice analysis. But just like Sleeples, I think the shortstop+crit a cola should be mentioned, with that you can be much more aggressive and go for larger enemies on your own.

And as far as melee weapons go, scouts who have a more daring approach should use the fan o war with the shortstop, so they don't even need crit a cola and they get to keep their milk. And the other day I realized that the soda popper's crits actually stack with the bleeding effect of the boston basher, so that's the dream weapon for those that are cautious enough to learn to use it. And the sandman, I just love the sandman. I use it with my FaN to stun a heavy and pop him with two up-close shots. which will kill him even with overheals. I don't remember the number exactly but i'm quite sure the point blank damage of one FaN round is 205.

In my opinion it's a little wiser to change your loadout a few times a round. Because every weapon has their strongpoint and it's really situational. If a match is pyro heavy go shortstop w/milk instead of FaN and if there's too many soldiers drop the candy cane. etc etc.
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Vlad Piranha · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:50 am Post subject:

I realized that I've seen these strategies in play many times. Shortstop scouts often try to hunt down medics. It's the Blutsauger retreat strategy that usually saves me from those guys as they're pretty aggressive and dangerous if you aren't able to get to your teammates in time.

Don't forget about my favorite strategy with scouts in Egypt. Use the Bonk! to get behind enemy lines with your immunity to enemy fire. Once back there, bushwhack those fools from behind as they leave the spawn. I desperately want the Soda Popper so I can use that for this. The Force A Nature is already pretty fun for it since point blank back executions do the trick. It's also amazing how readily a team will divert a couple guys to deal with you when you're running amok behind them. Egypt phase 1 is the best for this. There's so much health and ammo spread out in the second point area that you're a veritable cockroach until your team caps point 1. Then it's time to hit the point yourself and keep your fingers crossed.