Slowdown

“

What da hell's goin' on? Click to listen — The Scout on being slowed up

”

Slowdown or Slow is a gameplay mechanic that decreases the speed of a player for a set amount of time. This effect can be applied to a player when under attack by certain weapons or as a penalty for using a certain item. In addition, players can naturally slow down their own movement speed by crouching (33%) or by running backwards (10%). Specifics on how much a particular class is slowed down can be found in the Classes article.

The slowdown effect has no falloff distance; players hit from any distance will always be slowed down by at least a small amount.

Weapon Effect

Weapon	Slowdown Notes
Natascha	On Hit: 100% chance to slow target Every bullet that hits the target will slow them to approximately 113 hammer units per second. Differences in class or normal running speed does not change this figure. The slowdown effect is reduced the further away the target is. It is currently unknown as to how much speed is reduced over what distance.
Sandman	The Sandman's secondary fire launches a baseball that can stun the target for several seconds. The stunned target will be slowed down and cannot use any weapon for the duration of the effect. If the baseball is launched at the maximum ranged distance, the victim will be completely immobile and not be able to move at all for the duration of the effect.

Weapon Penalty

Weapon	Slowdown Notes
Scotsman's Skullcutter	-15% movement speed on wearer. As long as the Scotsman's Skullcutter remains in the Demoman's loadout, his movement speed will constantly be lowered from 280 units per second (93% of normal speed) to 238 units per second (78% of normal speed). This is marginally faster than a Heavy.
Minigun / Natascha / Iron Curtain	Movement speed is reduced to 37% while spun up.
Brass Beast	Movement speed is reduced to 14.66% while spun up.
Hauling	While hauling a building, an Engineer's movement speed will decrease to 75%, which is slightly slower than a Heavy.
Sniper Rifle / Sydney Sleeper	Movement speed reduces to 27% while zoomed in, but while zoomed and crouching, it reduces to 1.33%.
Huntsman	Movement speed is reduced to 45% while an arrow is drawn.
Disguise	Depending on the class a Spy is disguised as, his movement speed can be affected. As a Demoman, his movement speed will decrease to 93%, as a Soldier, it will decrease to 80%, and as a Heavy, it will decrease to 77%.

Removed Slowdown

Weapon	Slowdown Notes
Shortstop	Removed in the December 17, 2010 Patch. Each hit with this weapon would slow the victim by 40% for 0.5 seconds; the mechanic never worked and was subsequently removed.
Bonk! Atomic Punch	Removed in the April 28, 2010 Patch. After use, it would temporarily reduce the Scout's speed by 56%.
Razorback	Removed in the June 23, 2009 Patch. When equipped, the Sniper's movement speed was reduced to 85%.

Environmental Slowdowns

Cause	Slowdown Notes
Scared	On the map Harvest Event, there will occasionally be a ghost belonging to Zepheniah Mann wandering around certain areas of the map. If any players are near the ghost, they will be frightened and have their movement speed reduced. The Horseless Headless Horsemann in Mann Manor can scream and give the players a similar effect.

Related Achievements

Heavy

Don't Touch Sandvich Kill 50 Scouts using Natascha.

Scarechievements

Scared Stiff Kill a player scared by a ghost.