User:MastahDizzy/Mastah's "Project Fortress" Rebalance
 | Last Update: 4th June 2023 |
This chart is designed with the open intent of suggesting balance changes that fits the vision of an unmodified game of Team Fortress 2, and which can benefit both the casual and competitive community.
Weapon statistics will remain fundamentally simple to prevent confusion and respect the original intent that the developers may have had regarding the title, and as such, most weapons that are significantly underpowered will be appropriately buffed in this chart to be able to contend with the competitively viable options that are made available within the same slot.
Weapons that may have polarising perceptions of their viability depending on player experience, specific matchups and format will potentially be tweaked to remain equally viable and less frustrating to deal with in the case that they would happen to be.
Now, while this chart is made by myself, based on the personal experiences that I may have on the game, it should be noted that my ideas shouldn't be taken for gospel, and that if you got any feedback, I'll be free to receive it and potentially incorporate within this chart, though I cannot guarantee that your suggestion will be always taken into account! Bleh!
Core Modifications
| Universal Gameplay Changes | Editor's Note |
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Elements of sudden randomness have always been prone to raise frustration from players, while breeding a gameplay experienced that feels unhealthy because of the loss of control that players would have when attempting to make skilled plays of any kind. Disabling random critical hits would avoid unfair deaths and checkmate situations that couldn't have been reacted to, which would in turn be more fun overall than unpredictable kills that only seem to satisfy selfish players who would be quick to rag on the mechanic when they become the recipient of it (as in, enjoying random crits indicating either a lack of appreciation for game design, a lack of sympathy or respect for the opponent, if not both). Removing random bullet spread significantly improve the consistency of weapons with togglable spread (Shotguns, Scatterguns), and thus reduce the frustration that would come using firearms of this type. However, it should be noted that weapons with permanent spread (Miniguns) or multi-tap spread (Pistols, SMGs, Revolvers) are unaffected by this change. Finally, the removal of fall damage deviation would simply make the range of each weapon consistent, and therefore reward players for judging their effective reach accurately, though this mechanic has historically been less cumbersome than the aforementioned two before. Overall, this would make the game more fair and balanced, all while respecting the intent of the game as a fun, yet chaotic title that is already able to accomplish a sense of surprise through its wide range of maps, weapons and gamemodes that is already available to the playerbase. |
Changed: Random critical hits are now disabled by default.| Universal Gamemode Changes | Editor's Note |
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Capturing the objective already implies one team is having the upper hand over their opponent, so getting guaranteed critical hits for simply playing the game is a sure fire way for the developers to enable steamroll situations when Capture the Flag is played in a casual setting, where it's the most popular. Removing that mechanic from the gamemode would give better odds for the losing team of actually getting to fight back in the case that they have to deal with repeated assaults of their own intelligence. |
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Modifying the intel so that it stays on the ground for a lesser amount of time, on top of allowing the defending team a potential reclaim will essentially give more freedom from both teams to play around the complete layout of each map, instead of flocking to one point where the objective currently stands and the most optimal strategy is to simply "Rush B" and pray for your own survival, or at the very least touch the objective until it unavoidably gets captured. Since getting the objective out of the enemy's intel room would feel much less punishing and potentially unwinnable as a result of that rebalance, it would also allow players to fight the enemy team by reacting rather than simply anticipating a potential assault like it would be the case in current CTF, where teams simply flock to their own side to avoid unfair captures. |
Multi-Class
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Reserve Shooter |
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While the Reserve Shooter is technically good for combos, notably strong against Soldiers and Demos due to its perks, and can also preserve the range of a regular Shotgun unlike the Panic Attack, its lowered clip size means that its usage seems redundant when compared to the burst close range capabilities of the Panic Attack, and the consistent range of the Stock when placed within the context of most formats (with 6s being the notable exception, as the Reserve Shooter is actually ban-worthy here due to team composition). By making this weapon able to switch faster, get better accuracy, while being able to refill the user's primary on a successful pick, the Reserve Shooter not only gains a niche as a quick mix-up and refill option, but also keeps a lower clip size to balance it out against other Shotguns, on top of becoming better balanced in the context of 6s since its most defining trait in the format is now entirely removed to make place for a more universal mechanic. Overall, the Reserve Shooter is turned from a shotgun that is somewhat underwhelming in most formats, but too strong in 6s, to a firearm that is a decent sidegrade with a dual ammo/combo utility in both casual and competitive settings. On a final note, the Heavy is now able to equip the Reserve Shooter as a consequence of its new stat being able to synergise with his primary as well. |
 Family Business |
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Its larger clip size and faster firing rate means that this shotgun really is a slight upgrade to Stock thanks to a faster kill power against light classes, better consistency and strong spammability, which also results in higher damage potential overall. Introducing a mild debuff in its reload speed helps this shotgun retain most of its unique perks from its initial 8-shot clip, while making the reload more noticeable, thus making this weapon better at engaging combat, but also longer to get it back to its full clip, thus making this weapon a strong sidegrade as a result of this small modification. Also, by giving the option for the other classes that can equip shotguns to also use the Family Business, we're not only bringing what is basically an easy-to-implement unlock for a third of the game's roster, but we also get the opportunity to have unique decals on the weapon's cross based on the class that equipped it, which can make for nice easter eggs to implement, on top of giving more variety gameplay-wise. |
 B.A.S.E. Jumper |
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When it was initially added into the game, the B.A.S.E. Jumper was a very potent movement option that allowed both Soldiers and Demos to dodge any projectile in the game with extreme unpredictability, while doubling down as an easy "no-fall damage free card" that made this secondary fundamentally too strong, especially for the Soldier where using it meant having a guaranteed advantage against other Soldiers that weren't using it. Once it was nerfed, not only did the B.A.S.E. Jumper lost its perks, but it also got nothing in return to make up for the loss, so it suddenly became a seriously underpowered tool for both classes to use. Here, the parachute has been reworked to be dependant of a passive system of stacks that technically makes both classes able to perform the powerful things that the B.A.S.E. Jumper was originally being capable of, but since the stacks functions as a limited resource that has to be intelligently used to get the most out of it, this secondary now rewards you for sparingly using its perks, which makes it fundamentally less obnoxious to play against since the first version of this tool incentivised abusive strafing and spamming the jump button to get the most value out of it. Since the parachute cannot be deployed without stacks, abusive usage of it will punish the user in the longer run, and since the parachute now prevents the wielder from actually changing their trajectory when it is deployed, it also creates an incentive to plan your trajectories carefully to minimise the amount of stacks you may use from a single interaction. The two buffs that are added are there to not only somewhat improve the user's durability (bonus points for the Demo, who lacks any form of passive regeneration in the actual game), but also, most importantly, to gently reduce a flaw that both rocket and stickybomb launchers have, since the Rocket Launcher may take a while to reload, while the Demoman is especially known for having a slow reloading rate as one of his main weaknesses. That last buff also carries better synergy with the Air Strike, who generally suffers from reloading way too often compared to other rocket launchers, while the Demo will benefit from having basically an improved stickybomb launcher as a fair trade-off for his lack of pipe launcher. |
Added: On Kill: Instantly reload a quarter of your primary clip size
Changed: Clip size decreased from 34% to 50%
Press 'JUMP' key in the air to deploy.Scout
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Pistols, while being fine by design, suffer from a surprisingly low ammo capacity, as it allows for only four clips to be used, in the case that no form of ammo refill has been taken by the user. By slightly raising the roof from five clips instead of four, we incentivise Scouts players to use their secondary more often for mix-up, though the core strengths and weaknesses of it remains unchanged. |
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Bats were intentionally gimped in terms of damage output to make up for the speed that the Scout has, but on the other side, the general theming of the character means that it is actually somewhat odd that bats virtually carry no core utility without relying on unlocks to be practical. Through the introduction of a universal Alt-Fire system for the bats, we actually turn the Scout's melee into a tool that, while weak from up close, can still be used to mix the opponent up at mid-range, and thus serve as a better template for other bats to be balanced around. It would also give some utility for bats that would have otherwise remained undertuned and unused, due in part to the fact that they were balanced around what was fundamentally a weak weapon from the inception of the game. Shoutouts for Miracule Weep for mentioning this concept. It honestly makes way too much sense. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Shortstop |
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The Shortstop is a fine weapon by itself, with its better range and quick firing speed giving it a niche as a mid-range Scout primary. However, the shove is usually too hard, flimsy, unrewarding and committal to use, and the reload speed is definitely too slow for a weapon of its type, so, by giving combo potential to the shove and reducing the reload speed, we allow the weapon to be more flexible in its use and less punishing for whiffing shots with. |
 Baby Face's Blaster |
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The speed meter is too unreliable of a mechanic to be properly used, since any ounce of aerial movement and damage taken can easily gut your meter, which results in highly inconsistent speed that can mess with both your footsies and aim, for the variations in movement can throw a wrench at your tracking. An improved speed stat however is quite a powerful perk for a Scout to have, so, by treading the line between stronger grounded speed, lower durability and more predictable air movement without overtuning any trait, we can potentially make the Baby Face's Blaster a proper sidegrade that's much easier to wrap your head around when compared to Stock. Since the lack of air jumping with your primary paired with worse durability against pellets from shotguns and other forms of bullet damage are reliably offset by superior footsies on the ground, it should be fair game for anyone. As a final note, the removal of fall damage is added solely for the purpose of not forcing the player to switch weapons in order to prevent it, primarily as a direct result of becoming unable to air jump when the primary is active. |
 Back Scatter |
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The reduced clip size never really made much sense from both a gameplay and graphical perspective, since the Back Scatter's lower accuracy already gives it a unique niche as a weapon that is easier to land shots from upclose, with burst potential if said shots connects from the target's back half of their hurtbox, at the cost of obviously having less range due to the bullet spread being less precise, and thus somewhat less capable of landing pellets as reliably once we fall out of close quarters. With these simpler stats, we effectively make a decent sidegrade to Stock, that is easy to understand, and becomes balanced by virtue of being slightly specialised, but still decently capable at performing the tasks that the regular Scattergun may do. |
 Winger |
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The Winger is actually very useful as a movement option, and the small damage boost can be helpful, but the clip size is usually argued to be made too small when compared to the other pistols available in Scout's arsenal. Seven bullets is still an understandable decrease, but at the very least, it keeps the damage rate reasonable while preserving the mutual trade-off of a pistol that's better at moving, but worse at peppering. |
 Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol |
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When compared to the stock Pistol, the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol is basically a marginally improved weapon in terms of damage output, that also doubles as one that gives health back on hit, which basically makes you wonder why the Stock option even exists when a more practical one is out there to be played with. Here, the Pocket Pistol has been redesigned to hinge more into its utility, while becoming the weakest handgun of the bunch for dealing raw damage. It is technically better at spamming, landing shots, and thus getting yourself healed, but the significantly lowered damage and clip size makes this weapon a proper stamina-centred sidegrade to the regular Pistol. |
 Bat |
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As a result of the universal buff for Scout's melee, the Bat now becomes an actually useful melee since its projectile can be used for combat, while having no listed drawbacks, thus warranting the use of this weapon in practical situations. |
 Sandman |
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The original Sandman was overpowered due to having a projectile that was way too much rewarding for the ease of use it granted, while the current version is too underwhelming due to having being balanced around the Bat rather than around more viable melees in the Scout's kit. Here, with the new stats, the intent was to turn the Sandman into a melee that, while not as applicable combat wise due to having a slower recharge rate and weaker damage output, benefited from turning the Scout into a class that traded off the efficiency of a quick mid-range option that can be easily refilled for what was effectively a slightly improved combo game, which somewhat makes the Sandman a sidegrade to what is effectively an improved Stock in that context. |
 Candy Cane |
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The Candy Cane was originally designed to be a melee that passively helps the Scout and his teammates out by dropping medpacks that could heal his team, but the problem was that not only the Scout was gaining only little use from the heal itself, but he would also get obliterated by any rocket, pipe, or sticky that would have came his way, which arguably made this melee the worst in his kit due to how much harder the explosive matchups turned out to be. Here, the Candy Cane now becomes a weapon that forgoes the combat capabilities of the Bat, the pocket potential of the class itself, and even become somewhat of a commitment to use due to the slower movement on deploy, but to make up for these notable flaws, the Scout now has the option to drop medpacks on command every ten second to help his team, while his medpacks (from both his kills and the map) now grants him much better reward, all while removing the debuff that virtually made the Candy Cane awful in the first place. Basically, it gives a support/stamina niche for this melee, which allows it to compete with the other melees that may exist in the Scout's kit, since they usually revolve more around either movement, damage potential or consistency. |
 Boston Basher |
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The Boston Basher basically gains the same buff as the Stock Bat, which is fine, given that the weapon already has good utility as an hit and run option that can also be used to fill Über. |
 Sun-on-a-Stick |
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The Sun-on-a-Stick is hindered by the fact that it lacks any synergy in the Scout's kit, thus making its damage buff only possible through a coordinated attack with your allied Pyroes, which is not only incredibly impractical, but also not that notably rewarding, given the difficulty to use said melee for a fiery combo. By giving the possibility for the Scout to use a fireball, we not only make the positives of the melee actually applicable, but also competitively viable when compared to the other unlocks that can be used within the same slot. Also, it would be very funny to throw little suns at your enemy with a class that can move around like a mosquito. |
 Fan O'War |
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The Fan O'War struggles to gain viability outside of Mann VS Machine because of the redundancy that its effect may carry when it comes to landing combos when a Scout player can simply land meatshots on his target to gain a better return on investment without wasting a melee slot with this weapon. By giving notably improved deploy and holster speed, we give this weapon the potential to be very quickly deployed, and then followed up into a meatshot, for as long as the user gets within melee range, which is already kind of a notable commitment if the initial hit whiffs due to poor spacing or timing. The universal ball change can also slightly synergise with the pre-existing stats, since the ball can now crit without requiring a headshot if the opponent is Marked-For-Death, though the ball doesn't slow, much like the Sandman does. |
 Atomizer |
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Given that this melee is already fundamentally strong, it would only be logical that the projectile capabilities of the Atomizer would be gimped by giving the slowest recharge rate of all balls, on top of lacking the slow effect of the Stock Bat. However, since the weapon can technically mini-crit when airborne (or underwater, as a result of the Source code being absolute spaghetti), I felt like the damage penalty contradicted this other stat, so now, the Atomizer deals pretty normal damage for a bat. This will allow it to preserve a unique niche as a movement tool that can somehow be used like a Budget Neon Annihilator, at the cost of having arguably the weakest projectile of the bunch, due to how long it takes to recharge. |
Soldier
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Black Box |
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While the "Heal on Hit" attribute is a pretty strong perk in itself thanks to the potential in durability and stamina that it unlocks for the user, it is however somewhat offset by an understandable, but fundamentally strong debuff since a lower clip size means the Black Box just loses a lot of its flexibility, due to the loss of one potential rocket that could have been used to either gain movement or engage an opponent, on top of requiring the Soldier to reload way more often than usual. Through the addition of a mild buff in the reload speed, it gives the Black Box a unique strength in being a rocket launcher that, while not being as potent for spamming or moving around, gains from a more lenient reload animation, on top of its original strength. |
 Liberty Launcher |
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The Liberty Launcher is already pretty interesting, since its combined buffs makes this seemingly weaker weapon able to carry an effect akin to the Gunboats, able to fire faster projectiles with no splash reduction (thus making this primary the most accurate in practice for the Soldier), on top of having a better clip size, which allows for more flexibility when it comes to approaching, retreating and handling fights. By slightly reducing the damage penalty and increasing the projectile speed, the Liberty Launcher becomes somewhat better at being a rocket launcher that fills a dual accuracy/mobility niche. |
 Equalizer |
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When it comes to melee combat, the Equalizer is a poor option for Soldier since the class naturally has the second slowest speed on the ground, and its base damage output is abysmally low. Once said melee finally reaches a level of damage that warrants equipping it, the user's health is basically made so low that it will become near impossible to capitalise on it, and if you pair with the fact that the Equalizer has no utility whatsoever outside of helping with filling Übers, which even then, the Escape Plan, a significantly better melee for the same class, can also do as well, it is usually no secret that the Equalizer is usually considered to be not only the worst melee for the Soldier, but also, arguably, easily among the worst weapons in the game because of how fundamentally unusable it is. Its modified damage buff has been designed to make it so that the Equalizer not only deals tolerable damage when the buff isn't triggered yet (which is the least it can do, since the Soldier is so slow on the ground), but also gains some practical use, since 91 damage allows you to virtually two-tap seven of the nine classes in the game, on top of giving it good synergy with the Concheror and the Buff Banner, since the former will offset the poor grounded speed of the Soldier all while giving more value from its lifesteal property (thanks to the damage to "heal-on-hit" scaling), while the Buff Banner will allow the Soldier to potentially one-tap any of the light classes in the game, thanks to the 127 health of damage it would now deal. And in the case you wouldn't use the Equalizer to fight (which is highly likely, since melee is fundamentally a niche combat option for Soldier), you also get more value from medpacks, which reduces the risk that may come from rocket jumping as a result of it, which, indirectly, also gives this melee good synergy with the Liberty Launcher and Gunboats. Overall, it would turn what is effectively a mistake of a melee into one that is actually worth using, thanks to its survival perks and notably buffed combat, which wouldn't have been unlike the design philosophy of the originally broken Equalizer/Escape Plan hybrid from back in the day, though its execution stat-wise would be way more balanced. |
Pyro
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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Most melees that are considered competitively viable for the Pyro only do so by having either superior utility, combo capabilities or a mixture of both. By adding a mechanic that was originally specific to the Axtinguisher, we not only makes the Fire Axe a better base template for the Pyro's melees to be balanced around, but we also allow other melees to gain utility by giving unique forms synergy through their own stats. This would, in turn, make all of the Pyro's melees somewhat more viable, which is especially important, given the large amount of melees they seem to have anyway. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Scorch Shot |
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As a secondary tool, the Scorch Shot is designed to be a reliable splash tool that can easily build afterburn, hinder enemy mobility and combo into itself. The problem with the current iteration of this weapon though is that while it trades its perks off by technically being a worse combo tool than the Flare Gun, it only does so marginally thanks to its powerful buffs, while being significantly better at doing literally anything else, so adding a stronger damage penalty will help preserve the perks that this weapon has while also making it notably worse at dealing damage than the Flare Gun itself, and thus turn it into a sidegrade that is better at being a jack-of-all-trades to make up for its loss of burst damage from any range. Also, given how easy it is to just connect a projectile from the Scorch Shot thanks to its innate splash properties, it can only be reasonable to remove the weapon's ability to destroy stickies since it is so potent at doing such a thing, for visibly no trade-off of any kind. |
 Thermal Thruster |
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The Thermal Thruster is useful, but its unique modifications when it comes to its deploying and holstering animations makes this secondary needlessly clunky to use for a secondary that quite literally prevents the Pyro from using combo tools like their shotguns and flares. By making it less committal to just use, we not only make the Thermal Thruster less frustrating to play, but we also give a better incentive to use it as both an approach and escape option to make up for the more limited range that the Pyro effectively has. |
 Gas Passer |
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The Gas Passer can easily be considered the worst weapon in the Pyro's entire kit, and can be argued to be one of the worst weapons in the game period, thanks to a myriad of flaws that had plagued this throwable since its inception. To make it viable, it was therefore modified to gain a slew of buffs that allows it to have proper applications that other secondary unlocks may not be able to fulfil, while preserving balance in mind. The explosion (and the built-in afterburn that comes with it) has been made to give a little oomph to the Gas Passer when thrown, and since this projectile is famously known for being notoriously hard to fill, the cooldown that comes both from damage and its passive effect were reduced to acceptable levels, as to allow it to rival with the other flaming projectiles in the Pyro's kit. The two listed debuffs that were originally listed for the weapon were also notably overkill and absolutely gutted its applicability, so removing these can only make sense to make this tool more useful in the longer run. Since the "Gas" effect also technically didn't wet players that were soaked by it for some reason, reintroducing said property also allows the Gas Passer to have great synergy with the Neon Annihilator, and by proxy, make said melee more viable than ever. All these modifications can, hopefully, turn what is arguably a terrible weapon into one that is actually viable to use, and fun to play and experiment with, on top of remaining unique gameplay-wise. |
 Fire Axe |
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The universal buff to the Pyro's melees effectively turns what is a serviceable, but painfully mediocre weapon for the class to pick into a well-rounded option that can be used for combos without having any notable weaknesses to deal with whatsoever. |
 Axtinguisher |
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Since the Axtinguisher is already a pretty good combo tool that has been designed to excel at punishing burning targets in a fell swoop, on top of being a potent hit and run option, it has been buffed by having a lesser damage penalty to accommodate for the universal buff in place. This should prevent this melee from being indirectly nerfed by virtue of having its mechanic that was originally exclusive to it becoming a universal perk of all the melees that this class have. |
 Homewrecker |
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The Homewrecker is normally a melee that is way too niche in its use to warrant being used over more competent melees like the Powerjack or the Back Scratcher when it comes to practicality. By adding the ability to see your metal count and that of your fellow Engineers, on top of being able to help them by gaining the ability to upgrade and repair buildings, the Homewrecker remains a technically situational weapon that now excels at giving support to your Engineer, without overlapping their role as such. The added damage resistance when deployed also gives the weapon another, more universal utility as a light counterpart of the Fists of Steel, which can justify the use of this melee, even in cases when Engineers may not be around (either because they may set things up, or because nobody picked the class). Shoutouts for Miracule Weep for suggesting the idea of turning this weapon into a wrench-like melee. Without him, I would have otherwise been in a bind when it came to its hypothetical balancing. |
 Powerjack |
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The Powerjack is usually considered to be the best melee that the Pyro has at their disposal thanks to its massive gain in speed only being really counterbalanced by an active damage vulnerability that is made easy to bypass simply by jumping to preserve the speed carried from that weapon while having it holstered. By giving it both a regular damage penalty on top of a critical reduction, we keep it virtually as strong as it should be, but now, it becomes a weapon that sacrifices its combo potential for the sake of being a very applicable movement option. |
 Back Scratcher |
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Given that this weapon is a fundamentally pretty good melee to equip for Roamer Pyros, while managing to feel pretty balanced overall, it goes without saying that outside of its universal buff, the Back Scratcher really doesn't need to have another stat change of any kind. |
 Sharpened Volcano Fragment |
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Turns what is arguably a redundant melee with only niche utility in Medieval Mode (where it's outclassed by the Back Scratcher and arguably even the official Powerjack) into a combat-centric melee that combos into itself and gains better range as a trade-off for its weaker mobility and more committal deploy speed. Basically, it's better at killing if you can hit it, but getting that hit to begin with will be somewhat harder to do than the usual melee, which balances things out since it rewards the user for having faster inputs and better fundamentals. |
 Third Degree |
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The stats completely revamps what was a marginal upgrade to a mediocre weapon into an option that rewards the user for using their melee as a combo starter rather than a combo extender or finisher. This enables the Pyro to make a reverse combo from their melee to the flare gun for destructive damage, though it comes at the cost of sacrificed damage output against classes that will be burning, on top of lowering the Pyro's potential for swinging their melee on reaction. Coincidentally, it also allows the Pyro to gain counterpicking potential against any players that has immunity to afterburn, which includes other Pyros, as well as Snipers that uses the Darwin's Danger Shield. The former case is however balanced by the fact that the Third Degree gains better efficiency with the Flare Gun, which is usually weaker for ditto matches thanks to the superiority of shotguns in close quarters, while the latter is made up by the fact that the Sniper naturally has better range than the Pyro anyway, and still is unable to be pressured by lone flares when using that option. |
 Neon Annihilator |
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As a result of the Gas Passer being buffed already, the Neon Annihilator now becomes a Bushwacka-like option that excels at punishing wet targets while doubling down as a diet Homewrecker of sorts. Because of this already improved synergy with the Pyro's arsenal, this melee has only been granted two buffs, one of which is the universal mini-crit on burning targets, while the second is the removal of its damage penalty if the opponent is wet, which further reinforces the threat of being punished by this weapon when coated by a liquid of any type. |
 Hot Hand |
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Since the Hot Hand is intentionally designed to be a joke weapon, the damage penalty, while being reduced, is still preserved to avoid confusion for newcomers that would have otherwise being tricked into thinking the weapon would be strong by virtue of lacking any visible negative stat (as in, red text). The increased speed boost enables this melee to be at the very least used as a potential chase and retreat option. This would in turn a straight up bad option to choose into what is effectively a practical joke: shitty when used on its own, but made surprisingly stronger when used in conjunction with the rest of the Pyro's kit once you get that initial hit. |
Demoman
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Ali Baba's Wee Booties |
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Sacrificing your grenade launcher for boots that will enhance your gameplay further when the user is fully committed to a melee-centred playstyle is already quite a tall ask to perform, but the fact that Pyros can completely shut down Demoknights just by pressing M2 for virtually no risk means that a fundamentally specialised subclass is also very easy to counterpick, so in that sense, making the player able to ignore airblasts is a pretty sensible balance decision to incorporate in order to help the Demoknight feel more effective to use. Besides, the Pyro still have plenty of tools at their disposition to play around the strengths of the Demoknight, such as peppering with their shotgun, micro-spacing with their primary, zoning with their flares, on top of having access to two movement options in the shape of the Thermal Thruster and the Detonator, which can be both used to retreat in the case that things go sour. The reduced knockback is also added to bring the Demoknight around the same level of knockback tolerance as a Heavy, which will be notably helpful since classes with splash damage will have to put in more effort to juggle Demoknights, while Sentries become less problematic since they do not shut the player down as hard as they already did (though it still remains one of the most notable weaknesses of the Demoknight). Finally, the flavour text is applied to prevent the weapon from feeling like a stat dump when it really is just a tool that forgoes your pipes for unique playstyle, which also has the added perk of giving a much easier time for newcomers to understand the unique playstyle that the Booties can allow for the Demo. |
 Scottish Resistance |
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Even though the Scottish Resistance is very good when it comes to laying down multiple traps and controlling the stage once it is setup, this secondary has however suffered from being fundamentally less applicable than its cousins, and since TF2 offers many ways to disable traps on a whim, this weapon, while far from being bad, is still way more predictable and punishable than the regular Stickybomb Launcher is. This problem indirectly comes from the intent that Valve had of making the Demo's secondary a weapon that felt closer to a complimentary tool to its primary, rather than a second "primary" of sorts that can be used interchangeably for most interactions, and so, to preserve that design philosophy while making the SR more viable, I opted to give this weapon an "imperviousness" attribute that should make it a weapon that can still be countered with careful positioning and good game sense, though most projectile options that should have easily denied it are now out of the table to offset for the commitment that this secondary forces upon its user. The reduced arm time is also there to preserve that same sense of commitment, all while making it more manageable when being setup in conjunction with the user's pipes to defend the objective. For short, it turns a defensive secondary that is a bit too easy to counter, into one that's actually really capable of controlling objectives as a trade-off for its lack of true offensive potential. |
 Ullapool Caber |
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The idea for the Ullapool Caber was that its first hit would be powerful, while the following hits would be notably weaker, which was fundamentally flawed as it effectively made the Caber the least useful of the melees in Demo's arsenal due to how underwhelming that initial hit became after its nerf. Here, the Caber now becomes a melee with a higher skill ceiling, that rewards the user for choosing their fights wisely, taking as little damage as possible, all while spacing their initial hit properly, which now indirectly deals more damage to the target since the explosion is now targeted instead of existing within the user. This should make it an excellent finisher that strives from getting solid positioning over anyone that dares getting within close range of a class that traditionally struggles from up-close, though the risks that comes from the explosion itself, as well as the reduced damage output once the weapon finally explodes makes it a fine addition for the Demo's arsenal since its weaknesses, while notable, are still balanced by more noticeable buffs that rewards the user when used with a combination of skill and guts. |
Heavy
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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The minigun is already a notably clunky weapon to use, and deliberately spinning it down to even regain the possibility to switch weapons means that if one of your teammates needs healing from your lunchbox, or you're in the need of a proper retreat option, you will have a significantly harder time doing so than any other class in the game, even though the lack of core movement option for the Heavy should already be more than enough to balance it out. Removing this rather inconvenient flaw will not only help the Heavy feel more rewarding to play when you switch weapons since said switches are now convenient to perform, but additionally, it also improves the viability for lunchboxes for your team, your melee as well, and most importantly, it actually makes shotguns more of a threat since they can now be used for potential combos and mix-up which would have been made impossible to do before. This, in turn, will condition lunchbox users to support their team more often, but it will also give more notable viability to shotguns for this class, since they're fundamentally good weapons that just happens to be made less usable here, especially because of this arbitrary flaw that Heavy has. |
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It was always odd to know that the Heavy Weapons Guy, a class that is implied to be a specialist of heavy weaponry, was actually unable to have four equippable slots in the game unlike the Engineer and the Spy, two notably less bulky classes, especially when your consider that most Heavy players actually prioritise lunchboxes because of the utility that they can bring, which also causes the indirect problem of making the Heavy much more predictable to combat than his intended design, as shotguns were meant to give the class a non-committal tool to combat at full speed with, which, as one would have guessed, was indirectly made defeated by the original inability for revved up miniguns to be switched off. By giving a fourth slot for the Heavy that is lunchbox-only, we not only bring back shotguns on the menu while preserving the utility that potential medpacks may have for both the user and his team, but we also teach newcomers to not only use lunchboxes and shotguns alike, and as an added bonus, since the Sandvich now becomes a stock option rather than an unlockable, it also evens the playing field out between those that freshly installed the game compared to those that had spent the time to actually unlock other weapons. And, like, come on, the Sandvich is such an iconic thing for the Heavy to have that it would be weird to still have a game where this balanced meal isn't a part of the russian's kit. |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Brass Beast |
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The Brass Beast already fills a useful niche because its buffed damage output and damage resistances means that the Heavy technically gains more value from spinning it than any other minigun in the game, though the slower deployment and mobility makes optimal use of this firearm much harder to attain than any other primary as a result of it. By making the nerf more manageable, we keep the niche of the Brass Beast as a "hard to use, yet powerful" weapon, while not overly tuning it since its original perks are already pretty good, especially when used in the hands of a competent Heavy main since the weapon already strive from having good knowledge of both maps and advanced techs for the class (tap-firing, ledge picking and the likes), on top of being naturally strong in defence situations, where the Brass can punish anything that comes within its effective range. A bonus "heal-on-kill" buff is also added to give the Brass a unique edge in the case that the user have to suddenly deal with a larger player count, and the replacement of a pure damage bonus with a faster firing rate means that the Brass Beast is now technically easier to track (to make up for its nerfs), but also requires a better understanding of map layouts and ammo management, which reinforces the idea that the Brass is fundamentally designed to be more difficult to master than any other primary for the Heavy. |
 Huo-Long Heater |
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The Heater's ring is already kind of a flawed perk since it easily reveals the Heavy's position through walls, makes his movement more visually telling, on top of having a limited hitbox that somehow obstructs his sightline when used from upper positions (thus giving the weapon the hidden flaw of having a blindspot for no good reason). Added that its ammo consumption debuff is a notably harsh flaw to compensate, and that its normal damage is made lowered for no particular reason (Tomislav has better deployment and range, Natascha has resistances and slowing bullets), and most knowledgable Heavies would tend to argue that the Heater is actually the worst minigun in the game because, while it is technically usable, it is not only a subpar pick to have in virtually all scenarios, but it also basically fills no good niche of its own to warrant its use in virtually any scenario, unlike the Brass who can be a counterpicking powerhouse (especially in maps with good coverage), and the Natascha who can shred through some matchups like Scouts, Pyros and Medics who struggle more against this weapon, thanks to its combination of unique perks. Giving more height to the ring means Spies will now have to truly commit to land a backstab on Heater users since they can't jump above it anymore, though elevated platforms, splash surfing, using the Dead Ringer, Spy-Cicle or simply shooting at the Heavy can still be used to avoid the ring, and also, since the damage penalty would be removed, a basic Heater would now be able to deal damage that would rival the likes of Sasha without relying on the ring, which, arguably, is still pretty hard to connect. Admittedly, I'd say removing the early rev penalty from the Heater is a pretty strong perk because this means that at close range, the Heater now becomes the best minigun in the game for early rev-jumping scenarios, but its actually a fair boost to have when the consumed ammo penalty originally made a "lose/lose" situation where rev-jumping with this weapon meant giving up on your damage potential, the only perk that the Heater technically had, just to save up on ammo (which even then, was still worse than just using the Stock), while rev-walking with the Heater to bypass the early rev penalty meant you'd waste a lot of ammo even if you didn't shoot any bullets, all while the enemy could see you from a mile away, so, given how harsh, yet unique that debuff is, I think a strong perk to make up for it is arguably fair game. Since the ring of fire also created a blindspot under the user, it would only be logical to make it so that the particles don't actually obstruct your sightline, since it just feels frustrating to deal with when you are already the slowest class in the game using what is also probably the biggest ammo vacuum in the game. Basically, through these re-balances, the Heater is turned from a mediocre minigun that fills no niche, into a jump-revving menace that requires stronger map knowledge and proper restraint on the usage of your own minigun to gain the most value out of. |
Medic
| Class Changes | Editor's Note |
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The Übersaw is fundamentally a powerful melee that, while meta-centralising for the Medic, is also not inherently unfair to use due to the commitment that the user has to go through by trying to melee an opponent with what is effectively the number one target in the game. By giving the possibility for all melees in Medic's arsenal the possibility to gain Über on hit, we allow the Medic to gain use from his other melees, while preserving the utility that the Übersaw has as the most rewarding melee to use for gaining meter, as it still requires four hits to gain a full Übercharge, as opposed to the six hits that other melees would require to gain a quasi-full meter (96%, to be exact). |
| Weapon | Changes | New Statistics | Editor's Note |
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 Bonesaw |
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Turns a melee that was decent for combat thanks to the user's speed, but also severely outclassed in terms of utility, into a balanced combat/utility option that, like most stock melees, benefits from lacking strong weaknesses, though it is counterbalanced by only benefitting from its own universal mechanic. |
 Ubersaw |
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Keeps the innate strength that the Ubersaw has as an Über builder, and additionally, it even benefits from better value from medpacks. To balance these very solid perks, the firing rate has been made to become slightly slower, light classes now die in 3 hits, while both the Demo and Pyro have one health to spare upon taking three hits that would have originally killed them. This would further increase the risk value from this melee, though it wouldn't be devalued thanks to its arguably solid strengths, on top of the innate perks that the Medic has for melee combat, such as speed, durability, health regen, and even the access to an escape option in Übercharges, which are considered the single strongest mechanic in the game. |
 Vita-Saw |
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Organs as a mechanic was originally made redundant by the fact that the Übersaw's ability to gain meter on hit virtually overshadowed this melee in almost all metrics, but on the other hand, being potentially able to retain Über while benefiting from a universal meter gain on hit for Medic would turn what was a usually pointless stat into one that would be somewhat overpowered and annoying to deal with in competitive play due to how hard it would make it for the enemy team to count the Medic's Übercharge from knowledge alone. By turning organs from their original state into a limited resource that can be used to improve the user's mobility for a short span of time, we effectively allow the Vita-Saw to become a melee that excels at improving the Medic's movement and enabling a hit and run playstyle for a class that would otherwise be somewhat lacking in this department. Basically, this version of the Übersaw could be considered a sidegrade to the current one, with the difference being that it synergises better with the balancing of the other available melees for the Medic, that got buffed accordingly. |
 Amputator |
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Turns the Amputator's taunt into a meter-dependent effect that is way more practical to use for healing your team in a perimetre, all while feeling much less commital to apply, as the effect is instantaneous and doesn't force the Medic into a taunting stance. The universal change given to bonesaws as a whole, on top of the added bonus of passive regeneration can give this melee a strong niche as a hybrid survival/support oriented option that can contend with the Übersaw thanks to the unique playstyle it enables. |
 Solemn Vow |
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Converts what was a de-facto marginal upgrade to the original Bonesaw (a mediocre melee that was technically buffed by Medic's better melee capabilities) into a tool that sharply improves your ability to defend yourself and switch weapons, though at the cost of a less lenient margin for error for whiffing hits, and more importantly: a nerfed ability to build Über on hit. This reduced capability to get Über is in fact lowered enough that the Solemn Vow now requires eight hits to build 96% Über, instead of the six hits that all the others melees (with the exception of the Übersaw) would need to swing to get a similar advantage, which is definitely a pretty notable debuff, despite the small difference that -4% of Über on hit may appear to be on paper. For a Medic that want to gain improved capabilities while minimising melee combat as much as possible, it can be a great option to choose since it virtually buffs the class in anything but Über building, but it obviously reduces the biggest reward that comes with most melees in his arsenal. If you need to kill those that are attacking you fast, and you need your switches fast as well, it should be a very solid melee to pick despite its introduced flaws. |
