This just in, a British man tries to share his opinion on the internet without pissing anyone off, again. In all seriousness, I do 100% agree with you on the buff banner needing a passive upside. However instead of a capture rate bonus, I think a reload speed bonus for your primary would be perfect, especially since people already like paring the buff banner with launchers that feel slow to reload.
I have the exact same thought, I think 10% reload speed for rocket launchers would be great. And would honestly make the buff banner pretty strong. And with the three banners now you got amazing defense with the battalions, amazing offense with buff banner, and a great in-between with the conch.
no offense but it's a half baked weapon for demo. I feel like valve had no idea what to put for the attributes for the weapon so they just gave it random stats and called it a day.
@@ishitmypantsinacarwheniwas7 no it IS good, its just really simplistic, and if your just going for kills THEN its useless but im not that kind of person
A suggestion I've seen for the Buff Banner is 100% extra reserve ammo for the primary weapon, which would let it keep up the pressure instead of falling back for ammo. Makes sense - the other banners get something that synergize with their game plan of tanking damage and healing damage. Particularly helpful with the Air Strike since that thing chews through ammo like nothing else. MVM with the Baggar's Bazooka would also be something too.
@@VerdeMortehow so? I myself mainly play backpack soldier and I think battalions is the best. The extra 20 health saves you against so many damage breakpoints and it has the best active effect in the game for pushing or holding ground. I would really like to know your opinion because I honestly thought everyone agreed battalions was the best. I think buff is the weakest out of the 3 because minicrits are decent but not great and as stated in the video, the lack of a passive is a big downside. You essentially just have a rocket launcher and a melee until it is charged. I myself think that a 10% reload speed for rocket launchers would be a great buff that plays into the banners offensive nature.
@@jsj0520 The Battalion takes forever to charge, where as something like the Concheror can proc up to an average of at least 3 times in a single map stage's firefight, before you die and respawn. The extra health doesn't matter if a support arrives with Kritzkrieg push or LvL 3 Sentry defense. The Concheror can perform just as well and fills the bar MUCH faster. Buff Banner just as much, but Banner is an attacker use, while Battalion's is defender based, problem being any little thing can take someone out if type match-up is not achieved, therefore a mutual heal where the entire surrounding team benefits rather than only those at high enough health is better choice.
This is more just a form of conditioning on my end but I've used the Scottish Resistance for so long as my primary sticky launcher that I find it incredibly diffcult to go back to the other launchers.
@@artifactU damage resistances and the charge. You can just fire off three shots at a distant nest (maybe while tanking some damage) and jet out of there. No sticky charging required.
As someone who's spent a lot of time putting effort in to hitting direct pipes, I can tell you that losing rollers is a massive downside for a very negligible upside. I've tried using it and whilst I can do well with it, in 90% of engagements I'd be better off with stock or the iron bomber, it's only that occasional hit that you get against someone that would be just slightly out of range of your grenade launcher, and even then that's kind of what your stickybomb launcher is for anyway. I don't get why such a big deal is made out of demo being able to potentially one shot targets when soldiers do it regularly and often out damage demoman on a shot-for-shot basis. People act like it'd be bad for the loch n load to be able to one shot light classes but ignore the direct hit which has faster projectiles, does less self damage, and is easier to aim. Honestly you're better off putting your effort into learning how to time double donks on the loose cannon, at least that can one shot light classes and medics/gunslinger engies. The loch n load is honestly kind of a meme weapon, don't fall for the hype, if you want to get good with a grenade launcher that isn't the iron bomber, then go for stock.
I don't think you're using the banners as they are meant to be used. Each buff banner is supposed to be used with your team because of AoE effect around you. Each buff banner have different purposes: The buff banner is supposed to be used to push forward against a stalemate situation, the batillions backup is supposed to used to defend and stop most damage for you and your teammates, and it could be used to attack sentries because of it ability to reduce sentries damage by 50%, which is really good. I think of the conch as a "scout emulator" and its passive healing as the weakest banner soldier uses. Not to mention, most people use it with the black box for better healing, which gives them the "lone wolf" mindset, thinking that the banner is only used for them instead for their team too. Going back to the buff banner, I think you're underestimating the buff banner's minicrits. For example, while the buff banner is active and the soldier has the stock rocket launcher, the damage he can deal is between 122-151 (according to the wiki). Minicrits with the stock rocket launcher can one shot a scout, a spy, and a sniper. Most other classes you can two shot, except the heavy.
Incorrect on the banners. The Buff Banner and Battalion's Backup are both "stalemate breakers" as they let you and your team coordinate a push, with the Banner giving your team more damage to push the enemy team back, and the Backup giving resistances to destroy a tough nest. Funnily enough, I think the Buff Banner is better for defense and the Battalion's Backup is better for offense, mostly due to which team is going to have more level 3 sentries. Even the Conch works, but I think it's best on offense where you're pushing into a team and having all that health and speed helps with momentum.
I always felt like the swing speed of the Jag made up for the decrease in damage it does in a single hit. Like it's the same amount of time to swing the Stock Wrench twice as it does to swing the Jag three times. Whether or not this is empirically accurate, it is why I never felt hindered by the downsides.
i use the jag myself and main it, just use a decent shot gun or have good awareness. If you can do that then spies aren't an issue unless its an organized push where a heavy pushes when your sentry is sapped but that a downside of all wrenches
Loch n load has a lot of obvious use cases, but the big thing it does really well is splashing the payload cart for huge damage from long range, and picking key targets that try to escape your effective range. It sees a lot of play in comp specifically because of how it lets you pressure the enemy medic from far outside your normal range whilst being able to keep a trap up, and can also be quite useful in scout duels since it's a lot easier to aim with. The loss of rollers IS big, and matters more in casual mode where there's more enemies to hit, but if you're going to be fighting at longer range it's pretty damn good. Not OP imo, but a good sidegrade. The biggest part for me is that you have to re-learn your projectile arc and lead habits to use it, making it quite the time investment to get good with it. Obviously it's also better vs buildings (and you can definitely just quickly swap to it for a life to pressure a sentry nest with bigger burst) but if you want to run it full time you really need to use it a lot before you'll have success.
Nono, the best passive to give the Buff Banner is extra reserve ammo, about 25%. I've played a rebalance server with this passive, and it lets you roam a lot more as you don't need the ammo packs as much, plus it synergizes with the Air Strike, Beggar's Bazooka, and Liberty Launcher pretty well.
Regarding the Jag, and as a person who has probably more insane hours with that wrench alone: The best way with dealing the Spies as a Jag person is to always make them think you're aiming at the Sentry, when in reality, you're aiming at him. If it's needed for you to switch back to shotgun instead of the Rescue Ranger for the time being, the better. Hit the Sentry once, and then proceed to attack him instantly. If all else fails, and the Sentry goes down, your biggest consolation is that you'll be able to get a Lvl 2 Sentry in no time, granting that you are near any ammo packs. Because the Jag builds faster than any other wrench, it wasn't always a problem for me to get another Sentry in case a Spy saps it. Hell, I'm waiting for it to go down and prepare another spot when it's done.
Most of these weapons are more advanced due to the change in play style and more situational (except for the Jag). For example: I find the Lock and Load better on more open maps like harvest to help mitigate the amount of prediction needed especially on scouts and increase the effective range with the open areas. The Lock and Load also forces demo to shoot slower and more accurately with the lower clip size and blast radius which leans him closer to a pick play style than a traditional power class.
The Loch and Load is arguably my favorite weapon for Demoman. Yes I'm that guy, the increased projectile speed, lack of rollers, and 3 pills instead of 4 make you learn how to hit projectiles and makes the weapon more satisfying to kill with. The increased projectile speed would throw people off I know, but it's satisfying to kill with due to it's higher skill floor. Also when paired with the Quickiebomb launcher, you kind of just become a menace to Engineer and Sniper respectively due to how much you can churn out mid-range explosives. Also also pair it with the Half-Zatoichi or Eyelander for a good long-range melee option that gives you buffs for using it when you need to.
Buff banner passive +50% primary weapon ammo. So instead of 20 rockets you have 30, that's always an issue with me on the buff banner. I love being aggressive with it and it takes more rage to fill than the other banners but it has no passive and you end up dying or running out of ammo before you can go on a tear with the mini crits
i feel like the buff banner is better on defense, which is really the only time i find myself using it. on defense, you are much more likely to have a secure backline to fall back to, while also not needing the pushing capabilities of something like the battalion's backup, or the sustainability of the conch as much. if there's an engie nest of any kind, the buff banner kinda falls flat imo. plus, fragging the enemy team is much more important on defense than it is on offense. that being said, yea i agree it's probably still the weakest option lol
The loch n load is like the direct hit except the payoff is shitty and the downsides SUCK The direct hit doesn’t have only 3 rockets in the clip Whereas the loch n load only has 3 pipes, requires you to be 100% accurate, and has less splash damage All of those downsides get you faster projectile speed and better damage against buildings… not even a damage bonus It’s very uninspired and feels unfun and counterintuitive to use. If you wanna be a sentry buster, go direct hit soldier. OR just use a different grenade launcher or your sticky launcher. The cool thing abt pipes is that they roll around corners… so if you know there’s a sentry around the corner, angle your pipes to go in that direction Can’t do that with the loch n load because they break on collision with a wall
A thought I had for the *Buff Banner* was to have soldier do *mini-crit damage* on the 3rd (or 4th) consecutive hit on the same enemy, similar to the Gunslinger but with all his weapons. I don’t think it’ll be OP seeing 3 rockets tend to kill most enemies anyway so it’ll often just *give soldiers more consistency with kills.* Plus, it’ll help *make more underwhelming rocket launchers/melees more viable* like the Liberty Launcher or Half-Zatoichi!
Yeah, but at that point, when you use the liberty launcher with the active buff banner minicrits, you're basically using the stock rocket launcher. The liberty launcher, when active with the buff banner, deals the same amount of damage the stock rocket launcher does with its base damage.
I can't really explain it very well on a comment, but very broadly, I use the jag in a wide spectrum between stock wrench and a mini. Which Implies moving a lot and for the most part not "fortifying in a corner". Which also means jag sentries are sometimes disposable. There are times in which the 3 hits are not a problem because simply put I, SOMETIMES I just let it go down and build a new one 😂
i dont like your buff banner passive idea, itd be useless on defense & on offense just use any other banner plus the pain train, the downside hardly matters. my personal favourate idea for a passive is to increase primary clip size by 1 but ive had some people tell me thatd be to op which i dont agree with but idk
a weapon I find hard using is the kunai, now I know your gonna say "oh but you get one backstab and your invincible" yeah but.....having 70 health SUCKS. and even if I do get a backstab I die instantly afterwards anyway.
I started doing much better as spy when I switched to the Big Earner from stock. The 25hp loss hurts but the upsides are immense. But then I figured out how to use the YER and it was pretty much all over for the other knives.
Other weapons that might be good for a part 2 if you decide to do one: - the Loose Cannon (double donk timings) - the Vaccinator (threat assessment, playing ddr on keyboard to switch resistances) - the Detonator (i play pyro to avoid using braincells, thank you very much) - the Market Gardener (not all of us can be smiths of sound)
who hates the loch n load? I have never met anyone who hates the modern loch n load, in fact I love using the loch n load, it's nice to have extra range as demoman, and two shotting buildings is great. Hit your shots, and it's really good. Honestly, loch n load is good
Oof - fell off the bus a bit with the buff banner point. Yeah, it definitely feels awkward to not have a free passive from your secondary, but my god you get so much value from dealing up to double damage. Yes thats right - DOUBLE. Because even though minicrits only give 133% damage, they also eliminate damage falloff, which means all those splash rockets that deal pathetic damage at range now majorly chunk light classes and a direct hit at any range will net you 122 MINIMUM. In close range you *one shot* light classes as damage ramp up still applies! IMO the part that makes it hard to use is that unlike the other banners, the buff banner PURELY scales with team skill. If your teammates can't hit anything or don't fire their guns, they can still die as easily as without the buff banner active. The other banners give defensive effects (speed or damage resistance/crit nullification) that can allow your meatbag casual teammates to continue being meatbags for extra time during a push, wasting good player focus and letting you get more done or get more cap time as a team.
maybe its me being bad at engineer but i cant bring myself to use the jag, i'll always prefer stock. the build time is amazing but on rare cases i actually play engineer the sustainability is more important. i hate the loch and load because there are some people whos a fucking menace with it, even compared to the direct hit. its so comedically fast its hilarious. also i swear they're cheating they bhop to me and crit with the pan, whenever i spec them they lock on to targets unnaturaly, and their reaction time is beyond unhinged.
If you want to use stock may I suggest, the southern hospitality. The only dowside is 10% faster melting rate against pyros for exceptional offensive capabilities (bleed) with impressive spy checking (bleed). As uncle Dane puts it, if you are in proximity to enemy pyro, you have plenty of options against afterburn already (dispensers) and imo if there is an enemy pyro near you one of you fucked up.
@@zeta0590 Problem is that scortshot exists and is one big middle finger to you to the point it's plain annoying but other than that it is really good wrench. (Also it can't crit like stock which dosen't seems like issue, but since Engi have high crit chance, most of the times you end up criting that spy to oblivion)
@Jasiuc330 jag can crit tho?? Also I get the 10% fire weakness making scorchshit unbearable. That's fine tho you wont die to it unless your team is hopeless or you are spectacularly out of position. Edit: jag can crit southern hospitality can't, sorry for that, am an id10t. But also try not to swing at a spy because trickstabs. Use shotgun.
When it comes to Jag, then indeed it is the best wrench if you wanna just stick to one loadout and be good to go. Yet other options still are viable and even better than Jag sometimes. Unlike most classes Engi benefits a lot from constantly changing his loadout, especially on defense. This is something I after 8 Years of playing Engi finally decided to try and indeed it changes a lot in good way for you. First of all especially on defense you wanna use Eureka to build both teleporters and sentry gun (You can do that thanks to lower teleport costs also it is always worth building entrance with eureka cause it gonna lower upgrade cost for your teleports from 400 metal for lvl 3 to 200 for lvl 3, be sure entrance will complete building it self, cause thanks to that your exit build by other wrench gonna have 100 metal cost for upgrade anyway) Then you swap to Jag and upgrade Sentry and tele. At the end you put dispenser and switch to eureka. You take tele exit to place you wanna settle and then use Eureka to teleport to spawn to get sentry and dispenser. And one most walid thing, You stay with eureka since its maintain buildings same way normal wrench does with benefit of teleporting to spawn whenever spy destroys your entrance. If your buildings goes down, it doesn't matter cause most likely enemy team probably already breeches trough your defense. Then it's worth switching to jag to set up line of defense on other point. If point is near your spawn then instated of using Eureka for maintenance, you can switch to normal wrench or SH since they gonna better preform if building eventually gonna go dawn especially on last. Use Jag only if you need to quicker feel up your defense hole or when you wanna play as offensive/defensive engi especially on BLU There is more nuance to it still but those glimpse my gave you idea how it is valid for engi to use multiple wrenches
How is the Jag difficult to use? It just builds faster as a trade-off for doing less damage. Now the Eureka Effect, that's a difficult weapon... (Also, Buff Banner over Battalion's Backup, really?)
Hold on, you're saying that Pain Train is bad and yet your idea of improving Buff Banner is to give it... the passive ability of the Pain Train? ......ok
The pain train is bad because its downside is abysmal, whilst its upside is relatively small. The buff banner needs a relatively small upside otherwise it could become really strong really quickly
@@Lonqudor It really isn't "abysmal", the difference it makes isn't that significant. And the upside alone makes it better than stock shovel, bottle, Caber or even Equalizer. Situational, sure, but when applicable, it makes significant difference. Buff Banner should be more flexible, so I think an extra rocket in a clip or reload speed increase is a way to go.
My guy I think you're just bad at TF2 OR you might just be spreading yourself too thin when you're spending your time spread out on multiple weapons instead of focusing on a few to get good at.
