Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman

Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 1 - steamsplay.com
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 1 - steamsplay.com
Are you looking for an alternative to the MvM Demo meta? This guide explains the basics of Pipe Demo and the differences in gameplay between it and the traditional Sticky-based demo.

 
 

Introduction

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman - Introduction 
 
I dislike the MvM Demo meta. It’s all just “SCOTTISH RESISTANCE…. KRITZ…. AND MORE SCOTTISH RESISTANCE”. Sure, it’s effective, but it’s boring to play. Plus, once a scottish res demo gets powerful enough, they just take over the game because “muh CArRy dEmO!!!!” 
 
Fortunately enough, there’s another camp of Demo players (ignoring the demoknights). Yes indeed, a demo who upgrades their grenade launcher instead of stickies is an equally viable way to play as our drunk scottish cyclops friend. Unforunately, this playstyle seen that way by many players because he’s not a “carry”. 
 
In actuality, Pipe Demo can do a lot of the same things a Sticky Demo can. The main advantage Pipe demo has over the traditional style is a more consistent DPS. The grenade launchers have no falloff, always deal the same damage and they don’t take nearly as much time to reload. 
 
So are you looking for a more fun way to play as the drunken pipe bomber we all know and love? You’ve come to the right place. 
 

Notes before we begin:

 

 
 
1. FULL DISCLOSURE: The majority of my MvM experience comes from playing community-made missions like those by Potato.TF and Pineapple.TF (along with Boot Camp on occasion). I’ve never really felt the desire to touch Mann Up, but I can understand why the Demo meta exists (especially considering how it is on Two Cities). I just don’t like it, that’s all. 
 
I would guess 1/2 to 2/3rds of my hours dumped into TF2 is in MvM alone, so I’d hope I know what I’m talking about. Still, don’t be afraid to comment if I got anything wrong. 
 
2. If you don’t have much experience using pipes, that’s OK actually. I myself actually first started to learn how to aim pipes by playing Pipe Demo. It takes a bit getting used to, so I’d recommend starting out on the lower difficulties if you need the practice. 
 
 

Weapon Choice: Primary

 
Your main weapon that you’ll be using. 
In order from best to worst: 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Grenade Launcher 
The ever-reliable classic pill shooter. This is, by and large, the best and most reliable primary for a grenades-based demoman. Good direct damage, good splash damage, no downsides and no gimmicks. It just works. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Iron Bomber 
This is largely seen as a downgrade in MvM, but I myself use it legitimately sometimes. It deals the same normal damage, but it has a reduced splash radius for no other damage upside. It is easier to aim, but it’s not like hitting pipes is overly difficult for the most part (when it comes to MvM, anyway). 
 
I mostly just use it when my ping is interfering with my ability to aim normal pipes. Also the ability to reliably pipe-jump is a nice bonus. Overall, if you’re struggling with stock, use it, but most of the time it’s more worth it to just use stock. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Loose Cannon 
In theory, the Loose Cannon can deal more DPS than stock when used correctly, but from my experience it tends to create more issues than it’s worth. The excessive amounts of knockback it creates just ends up being a disadvantage for your team since you’re interfering with their ability to aim, and you have constantly to stand at a specific distance so you don’t have to waste time charging it but don’t lose out by not hitting double-donks. 
 
Just avoid this weapon, especially if you’re inexperienced with this playstyle. It fits a sticky demo better. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Loch-n-Load 
The Loch-n-Load is just not worth using over Stock, or even the Iron Bomber for that matter. The increased projectile speed is essentially worthless in MvM, and the reduced clip size just reduces your damage output needlessly. 
 
Even if you want to use it for anti-Engiebot purposes, just equip a sticky launcher for that, it works much better. 
 
I won’t mention the Ali Baba’s Wee Booties or Base Jumper for obvious reasons. 
 
 

Weapon Choice: Secondary

 
When it comes to secondaries, remember that pipes or not, if no one else is looking after the uber meds, your teammates will be counting on you to take them out. 
 
And unless your grenade launcher is upgraded enough to oneshot them to begin with, you’ll be relying on stickies to do that for you. But thats fine, because stickies don’t need any upgrades to do their job anyway. 
 
But before we go over that… 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Chargin’ Targe 
Hey, you! Do you hate taking damage? 
In all seriousness, if uber meds are not an issue (either because the wave doesn’t have them or someone else is on top of it), then this is the secondary of choice. That free +30% blast resistance is solid. Extra mobility and the ability to just eat flames without a care in the world is nice, too. 
 
Note that resistances stack multiplicatively, not additively. Using this with +75% blast resistance upgrades is not 105% blast resistance, it’s 83%. 
(100 dmg x 25% left after res upgrades x 70% left after shield == 17.5 , 100-17.5 = 82.5%, rounded to 83%.) 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Stickybomb Launcher / The Scottish Resistance 
These fulfull the role of the med-killing secondaries. Stock sticky works better for those heavy-medic combos (the ones that come two at a time) because of the fast arm time (which allows you to take them out one after the other), but Scottish Resistance is better for the massive clusters of medics that gather behind giants because of the larger trap size and faster firing speed. 
 
Scottish is also just a good secondary in general (you know, how the weapon is SUPPOSED to be), since you can use it to trap multiple areas at once and keep an eye on your stickies through walls while you’re doing something else. 
 
For the other secondaries: 
– The Tide Turner and Splendid Screen are better as demoknight-oriented playstyles, and offer weaker resistances as a result. Use them if you don’t have targe, but targe is better mostly. 
– Quickie in my experience is mainly useful as an anti-engiebot weapon since you can snipe them from afar. But in a med-picking task, it tends to perform poorly when compared to the other launchers. 
– Don’t use the sticky jumper. If you want to sticky jump, just use the stock launcher. 
 
 

Weapon Choice: Melee

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman - Weapon Choice: Melee 
 
aye, me bottle o’scrumpy! 
Simply put, for most Pipe Demos, especially inexperienced ones, stock or a reskin will be just fine as a melee. You won’t be using it much (though when I’m using targe, I do enjoy demopanning the spies that come around from time to time) 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Eyelander 
Anytime I equip the Eyelander I forget it’s there most of the time. As a result, it’s not much use to me personally, but I’ll leave it here just because it’s a popular choice, since extra health and speed. Not recommended for newer players. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
The Half-Zatoichi 
This is my personal favorite melee for pipe demo. 
 
… OK, it’s honestly kind of more a meme choice, but I like using it nonetheless. It doesn’t incur any penalty until unsheathed, and it has the extra range on the melee weapon (which is nice for dealing with those fists of steel heavies). Plus overheal! The only real downside is dealing with other enemies with the Half-zatoichi. Especially those stupid OP demoknights on mannhattan with infinite range because valve forgot to remove an old fragment code and ugh.. 
 
seriously though i like it don’t judge me 
 
 

Upgrades

 
Ah yes, the juicy section, the section that REALLY separates the good demos from the not good demos. 
 
Basically just upgrade your primary and nothing else, until all that’s left is the less important primary upgrades. Get resistances then. 
 
That “nothing else” part is important. Do not upgrade your secondary or melee weapon (unless you have nothing else to upgrade). 
 
With that in mind, here is my personal upgrade path: 
 

There are two upgrades worth special consideration:

 

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

Crit Resistance

 
This one’s simple. 
– If there are crit robots in the next wave (the ones with the flashy blue border on their icons), max out crit resistance immediately. 
– If there are no crit robots, don’t buy crit resistance. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

Ammo Capacity

 
How much you upgrade this depends on your preference, the map, how good your engie is, etc. I usually buy at least one after I start upgrading reload speed just because 16 pipes isn’t a lot, but for you, it’s your choice. 
 

Now, the upgrade progression:

 

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

1: Health-on-kill (two ticks)

 
You may or may not need 2 depending on if you have a medic and/or if they’re any good, but I always get at least one. Health-on-kill is just a basic upgrade that every damage class can make use of (except scout). Do not max this upgrade out. (atleast not now). 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

2: Reload speed (max out)

 

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

3: Damage, Firing Speed (upgrade at the same time, max out both)

 

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

4: Body Resistances (as many as you want/need)

 
Prioritize the upgrades that correspond to the damage types in the upcoming waves. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

5: Clip Size, more Health-on-Kill, Health Regen, Movement Speed

 
After everything else, these are what I consider the “low priority” upgrades. Nice to have, not essential. 
 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman 

Don’t buy Projectile Speed. It’s a bad upgrade.

 

 
 
 

Gameplay

 
On a basic level, Pipe Demo is all about shooting the enemies full of pipes until they explode. However, there are some things to remember. 
 
– Much like the Soldier, Pipe Demo is somewhat weak during the earlygame when compared to Heavy, or even Sticky demo for that matter, but he becomes obscenely powerful by endgame. He requires a lot of money to get there however, and he ain’t got any equivalent to the Beggar’s either. So make sure you’re on top of your medic picking duties while you’re still leveling up your launcher, lest you be labelled as useless to the team. And make sure you get decent upgrades, too. Don’t waste your money on bad upgrades, or canteen/buyback spam. 
 
– The key to taking out Uber Medics is that they pop uber instantly if they drop below 55 HP (from 150). Two stickies is usually enough for one, but for the clusters of them, you might as well use a full clip. 
 
– Be wary of Pyros. Although reflected pipes aren’t as deadly as reflected crockets, they’re still hazardous to your team. Use stickies to take care of them, or let a hitscan class take care of them while you’re off doing something else. 
 
– If you’re using Scottish Resistance, it’s a good idea to always keep a few stickies on the bomb if it’s way far behind the front lines. Because of the way Scottish Resistance works, you can use it to kill meds and also keep a separate trap at the same time. So if a common manages to sneak past, you can watch the indicator on the bottom to know when to detonate and take care of them. 
 
– Remember that Pipes have no ramp-up or falloff. They always deal the same amount of damage (on a direct hit) regardless of how close or far away you are; 100 with no upgrades, 180 when fully maxed. So you can put plenty of distance between you and the bots, provided you compensate your aim. Just don’t be too close, as you take self-damage (obviously) 
 
– Pipe Demo is a fairly decent tank buster on his own. Not on the level as Phlog Pyro, Beggar’s Soldier, or Cola Scout, but he can do a lot thanks to his consistent damage output. Whether or not you should prioritize the tank depends on if your team already has it covered or not, and if you need to stay up at the front to keep the DPS up and the medics dead or not. Shoot the tank when it comes, but only follow it if the team needs the help. 
 
– In addition, when it comes to crits, Pipes crit a lot harder than scatterguns or miniguns do because they have no ramp-up. So if you have a medic, when the tank comes don’t be afraid to ask for a Kritzkrieg charge, since Demo can do quite a lot with it. 
(What I mean by “pipes crit harder” is that Scattergun goes from 105 damage to 180 damage when kritz’d. Pipes go from 100 to 300.) 
 
– Make sure that your team can effectively deal with Giant Scouts, since you can’t reliably spam traps for them. Scottish res helps a bit, but they may be an issue for you otherwise. 
 
 

Thanks, and have fun!

 
Team Fortress 2 MvM: The Guide to Pipe Grenade Demoman - Thanks, and have fun! 
 

Written by Thenimas

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