I’m one of the only people to actually blindly charge in to enemies, it’s about surprise before strategy. Making an escape is easier than people make it out to be. For me I play a really ballsy Demoknight by playing around the frontlines
You forgot to mention how the charge work, how longer you charge, the more damage you do. Use as much as your charge as possible for that juicy crits instead of a mini crit or just normal damage
Except for the tide turner, it only does mini crits. I thought it did crits like the others, and I was like: WHY NO CHARGE CRIT?!? WTF WTF oh... (reads stat)
yes, by using the bootleger or wee booties there's a slight potential to trimp on a good condition ramp. though it's not as effective as tide turner itself
Well, after 300 hours on Demoman I've found four hybrid- and pure Demoknight loadouts that felt like they were the most effective: *1)The Bootlegger/Booties + The Splendid Screen + The Eyelander.* The Splendid Screen has the fastest passive charge refill rate - 8 seconds compared to 12 on the rest. It becomes 6 if you get a kill and these few extra seconds can save you from dying if you're being chased by enemies, retreating is your only option here because you don't have a grenade launcher to fight back so getting charge back ASAP even if you fail to kill someone is the key. Eyelander synergizes perfectly with the Booties and the S. Screen because gained heads increase your shield bash damage (+20%, caps at 4 heads) and since the S. Screen already has increased shield bash damage (85 at max on 0 heads, compared to 50 on the rest), it scales up to some terrifying benchmarks: you can instant kill a Heavy after a long charge shield bash and a melee swing. Because gained heads increase your passive movement speed it also compounds your odds of getting away alive and decreasing the need in charging any further. The Splendid Screen can be replaced with the Chargin' Targe if Pyros and Soldiers are everywhere. *2)The Bootlegger/Booties + The Tide Turner + The Half-Zatoichi.* The high-risk, high-reward loadout. The whole idea of it is compounding on the on-kill bonuses: should you succeed, you get a lot of health AND charge back. From there, you can immediately rush at the next victim or get away if odds aren't looking good for you. If you have overheal and a charge ready you can even wipe out an entire push squad as long as they are distracted by your teammates. Don't worry, they don't usually notice you until you show them the head of their dear Medic cut off. *3)The grenade launcher of your choice (I personally prefer the Iron Bomber) + The Tide Turner + The Claidheamh Mor.* These shield and sword are made for each other! Extended charges are usually only good when you have the full control over them to navigate through corridors and literally run circles around your enemies while all your charge is restored on kill. This loadout almost outclasses Scouts on CTF because you can bust sentries on your own while zooming through enemies quickly to get that intelligence away or at least where it's easier to pick up for your teammates. Outside of CTF it works in offense-oriented gamemodes (provided you're confident enough on your grenade launcher skills) where you have to be quick and aggressive without having to spend time on deploying your Sticky Jumper and stickies themselves (not to mention you won't have much success with the Sticky Jumper in some claustrophobic maps such as Junction). *4)The grenade launcher of your choice + The Splendid Screen/The Chargin' Targe + The Eyelander.* The less sentry-prone version of the first loadout. I'm not a big fan of the Scotsman's Skullcutter on Demoknight (if you use it in Medieval you are cancer, no offense) because it slows down your charges as well, and the Persian Persuader is straight inferior to the second loadout option unless you don't like taking risks and you don't feel like you're going to survive for long anyway. Thanks for reading!
#3 is my personal favourite, but l've been meaning to switch it out for 4 a lot of the time. l prefer the Iron Bomber, since you can pipe jump with it and, with the tide turner and a generous skybox, you can blast jump into trimp without needing to know shit about the map.
If you want fun over usefulness go with loose cannon, tide turner, and eyelander. If you boop a light class a couple times you can easily finish them with the sword, or on tankier classes a ddonk can lower them to finish. Pyro's have a hard time reflecting cannons due to the fuse. I prefer running sticky jumper and stock melee if I don't want to demoknight though
+papasmerf2 that's what I'm thinking too, though I forgot to mention that in the comment. It's pretty common for me to kill anyone in just 2 hits with the stock melee reskin when I'm fooling around in unserious maps such as 2Fort, Hightower or Banana Bay. It's usually the second swing that becomes critical after landing the first after-bash swing.
Here are some strategies that I use in-game: - Use Wee Booties, Splendid Screen, and Eyelander - Pick on weaker classes when under 5 heads - Flank when under 5 heads - When getting five heads, you'll be as fast (or faster) than the scout. Will also start to appear in the front lines more often
So are you saying when a demoknight is in the Frontline with the splendid screen and the eyelander and you see his always flank he probably have 5 heads
5 heads? you are under a misconception lad, the 5th head will only increase your shield bash damage, 4 heads will be enough to suffice as you get maximum speed and health. Not to mention, you DON'T want to kill enemies with your shield bash. You won't get an eyelander head, the tide turner recharge, the half zatoichi health bonus and the persian persuader's recharge bonus. Therefore every head after 4 heads will usually be redundant or a detriment
While this might not be the best strategy but using the Ullapool Caber as a Demoknight can be fun as you can insta kill most of the classes in one shot with the crit explosion that can also kill players in a radius. The best way you can do this is defending the final point like on the final point of DeGroot Keep where everyone is cramped in a small area which is perfect for get that Crit Ullapool Caber swing.
I personally play with the loadout: iron bomber/charge n' targe/ caber for getting a crit caber can seriously save your ass it triples the regular melee damage to 165 and the explosion damage to 225 more than enough to kill a heavy.
Tbh that's the point of the caber knight, you are a kamikaze. The best strategy i use with it is charging at crowds of enemies, specifically at their heavy so that i kill every light class and medic around them. It's also really good against spawncamping enemies, as you can one shot them, run back to spawn to recharge your caber and charge. Then rinse and repeat until they are cleared out
I wish demoknight had a weapon with crits on kill, like in mvm. That would make him somewhat better against crowds. Maybe with a 20% damage penalty to balance it out Although that would outclass the killing gloves of boxing, so maybe it's not such a great idea
Most of the time when I demoknight, I see pyros fighting me, and they’re easy to kill but if they know how to airblast, you’re dead. This is why whenever I see pyros who airblast me I just instinctively escape charge
Pro tip:if a pyro (that have a flamethrower that can airblast) that owning your team and you are a demoknight. always charge him when he is distracted (like airblasting a a rocket,etc) that way the pyro doesn't have time to react to your charge
The Shin Shredders cosmetic totally covers the Bootlegger primary. They can't tell if you have nades or not. Love iron bomber, targe and either the skullcutter or Eyelander. Primary there kinda bridges the gap between pills and stickies.
10:34 In that situation, your best bet is probably to finish off the engine, then jump on top of the sentry and spin around it, while hitting it. But it's pretty rare to just find a sentry mid-construction ;)
Demoknight is a great "catch and release" play style, you'll learn that it end the end it all amounts up to "should I do this?" Can I hit this group? Is the Medic open? Can I bait this pyro pull out their secondary? It is something you grow into understanding. Also trimping changes the gameset for a Knight. Now positioning is drastically more open on the basis of looking around and seeing a slope. Now You can be anywhere in this fight and it;s just a matter of "should I enter in from here". Demoknight is a very mindgamey playstyle when you have the nuances down. It's the greatest feeling to flank a heavy not prepared for you, to bait a pyro into their seconary, to catch a team not protecting their medic. You cover the job of a scout and a spy pretty well and if the team ain't ready for you, you roll them all hard.
I remember watching this way back when I was playing a lot of demoknight. And now I find myself coming back. Back then I thought, "this doesn't apply to me. I could never do that. This is far too in-depth for me to keep in mind" But looking back, I have actually implemented most of these tips when I play demoknight. It's funny how you can look back and realize that you learned something, and where you learned it.
6:41 Yes, and I'm sure the fact your charge was on cooldown had absolutely nothing to do with it. But seriously, this video was useful! Demo's my Defense main, and Demoknight takes up a large part of my time as him too, so this was quite handy!
Here is the tips for sheild Chargin Targe: You should use this shield if you wanna go hybridknight. It means that you have a sword with it, but you primarily use your gernade launcher, the Targe has the strongest resistances out of the 3, The Half Zaroichi goes well with it 2 with hybridknight cuz if your running low you can get 50 extra HP that can overheal and charge to make it easier to get the kill. Splendid Screen: If your a pure Demoknight with the Booties on and a sword, This is the shield for you. It still has a significant amount of resistance attached to it, But it does way more dmg when charging at Someone and recharges faster then the charge does. Tide Turner: If your crazy with Grenade Launcher, and cabers and Eyelanders and use them In unbealivible ways, use this shield, The control you get while charging makes this shield perfect for doing this, And if you get a charge kill you get almost all your charge meter back. This shield is a strong choice despite having the weakest resistances out of the 3.
As hibrid knight I like picking the persian persuator and the loch-n-load, it makes possible to still be destructive as a normal demoman thanks to the faster pipes (plus more dmg to constructions) and I always keep my charge meter full after swings and kills (Being able to do extend-charge after killing enemies or constructions at medium disances).
What i tend to do when using the tide turner is start a charge while facing away from the enemy to make it look like i'm running away, but then do a quick 180 and slam a pill in their face since they'll be moving in a straight and predictable line when chasing me since it's the most direct route.
Demoknight melee weapons for different situations: Bottle (Reskins: Scottish Handshake, Frying Pan, Conscientious Objector, Freedom Staff, Bat Outta Hell, Memory Maker, Ham Shank, Necro Smasher, Crossing Guard, Prinny Machete, Saxxy, and Golden Frying Pan) and Skullcutter =To deal random crits Eyelander (Reskins: The Headtaker, Nessies Nine Iron) = Level up to MAXIMUM POWERMODE Reset melee weapons: Half-Zatoichi (refill health to 100 hp after kill), Persian Pursuader, and Claidheamh Mòr (both refill charge metre) Caber = Taking out groups of enemies Pain Train: Use in CP and Payload maps
Actually don't sleep on stock melee its my personal melee of choice even with crits disabled because charging, firing a pill, then switching and getting a crit swing is suprisingly easy with practice. In my opinion it is an amazing hybrid knight weapon thanks solely to the combo potential the switch speed allows.
My personal favorite loadout is the bootlegger, tide turner, and eye lander. There's nothing I love more than slowly building up to becoming the godly force that is a demo knight with full heads. You just have to watch out for sentries.
10:37 Okay this is a risky situation, BUT, you could have gotten out of it pretty well if you had learned a really useful skill : sentry dancing. Here goes : when you come face to face with a sentry that is either A) turned away from you B) being upgraded C) being deployed If you are close enough (able to get to the sentry before it starts shooting your ass), you can crouch jump on top of it and start to "dance" on it, basically making circles on top of it, forcing it to track you while you wack it nervously.
really late on this, but id say a medic is hard af to kill with a pocket, especially heavies that can basically make food out of you especially with overheal unless the meds either alone or just doesnt check behind when youre flanking them
I main tide turner and zato. I want to say this about the limitations bit. Heavies can be taken out by a zato. Get the sneak on them and hit, bash, hit, and theyll be dead in the next 2 hits. With their gun revved up, unless brass beast, They cant turn as fast as you can strafe them for those last two hits. A level 3 sentry also cannot turn as fast as you can strafe. If you turn a corner and hear a sentry targeting you, get to safety, and wait one second for the sentry to go back to its idle animation. If you dash to the sentry and are quick enough, you can sword it to death and strafe it with barely getting touched. Pyros are OP but their players are predictable. They take 3 zato hits I find unless healed.
Here's a Quick Tip for players practicing demoknight!, you could either play practice or medieval mode, medieval mode is for demoknights who dont want to be interuptted with guns, etc, and for practice mode is a real deal.
If you use the Eyelander, The Tide Turner, and the iron bomber (or any grenade launcher that you like) You can play demoman normally And tale advantage of your melee kills Like a medic with the uber saw This can make you an HORRIBLE powerful Hybrid knight since the tide turner gives you really good mobility And if you take advantage and quit the lower health by just gettin a head Not good at every situation, but its hell of fun
I play demknight quite a bit and i just wanted to say that fighting pyros is pretty easy imo unless they airblast you but then u can easily retreat (i usually use eyelander and a full crit shield so i can take them out quickly)
Fyi, if you have the chargin targe, then the pyro becomes a very delicious target, thanks to the shields resistance to fire. The pyro's only hope of survival is to airblast you away and hope for teammate to help him, or if he just so happens to have the stock shotgun out. Today, I got a 21 kill streak with bootlegger, chargin targe and the eyelander on a CTF match for Turbine.
Demoknight may not be "competitively viable" but he is HELLA FUN TO PLAY! :D This vid is great! There are some really good advice here, and it helped me a lot with some of the mistakes I made :) Trimp for the Win!
the half zatoichi is lit a straight upgrade without crits if youre playing full demoknight. any other playstyle and you have a sword that deals damage to you everytime you get your primary / secondary out without killing anybody
Here's tip: learn on which pyros you can go against, some pyros just w+m1 and don't care you're hitting them. Some more advanced pyros unlocked ability to press m2 so you either have to be very careful around them or not engage them at all. ~Experienced pyro who killed so many cocky demoknights
I use the claydemor + tide turner for 90% charge on kill and turn into a sorta pick class, trimping into the medics and running away with my extra .5 sec of charge time. or use it to ping pong kills for a kill streak. demo knight in itself is sort of already a pick class but more so the scout pick class, I turn into a spy level of pick class
The tide Turner is the only shield that doesn't grant true crits on charge Meaning that the other shields are easier to use on the attack as they grant a full crit which can kill almost every class in the game
i love using the eyelander, so what is do is sneak and crit (splendid screen weak enemies for early heads, and then i ambush bigger groups once I have at least 4 of them.
I used to think that Tide Turner is complete shit, because it only allows you to do mini-crits, but taking it into the battle proved that most of the time it is enough to secure a kill and instant charge refill and added movement control make you a real force to be reckoned with. Using this with half-zatoichi is a real fun
I think your issue here is that you play Demoknight like if it was spy, basically prepare for a kill, hunt, then leave out. In that case, why go demoman anyways? spy is faster and more stealthy. I still feel obliged to play it safe, but there are those moments in a groupfight where you could benefit such as a kill spree, if you see a group that is falling back with your team on them, charge and give it all, it what makes demoknight in my opinion so much fun, the random moments where you'll be cutting thru heads in an instant.
if you have a good computer, and a good config, to trimp i use the splendid screen because i can turn just lightly less than tide turner while still being able to get crit melee swings
13:21 not true in the slightest, as long as you're using the wee booties any shield can trimp like crazy with the right angles and spots. not using the booties and tide turner will make it much harder to trimp, but it is sill something i find myself doing all the time as moving at double the speed as a scout and launching yourself is quite nice even if you can't accelerate as much.
This also works as a tutorial for bullies, pick on loners, outnumber people, use your charge to escape or attack, and attack from behind away from others.
I haven't watched the whole video yet, so you might've already mentioned this, but the Skullcutter gets random crits. You can use it with the Tide Turner and get completely undeserved prepatch Turner kills.
this is a decent tip however as a long time demoknight main (eyelander, boots and splendid screen) if you have 4 heads its way better to use your charge for offence due to the splendid screens amaizng ability to deal huge dmg, full dmg charge + crit from eye lander = killing 300hp heavy so.
10:38 should've be kill the Sentry and the recommend strategy is kill the Sentry on the top and keep spinning around on its head so it can barely be more good
fun fact: if you use turny shield, "no no, lm gonna just chill out, lm gonna hit back round". but if you use CHARGER shield so many classes gonna try escape from you, because 101- complatly shield damage + crit hit = 300+ damage. so you can kill all classes
