A lot of you guys have asked me to do a video to help you improve with the Demoman

And i say Demoman, the guy with the bombs. Not that abomination besides him.

So today i bring you 10 essential tips to get better with the Demo

Despite the fact that people thinks Demoman is an easy class

you need to practice a lot with it in order to fight experienced players

This video is oriented towards beginners and/or people who want to get better with it in general

Some advices might help veterans aswell tho

So...

"What makes me a good demoman?!"

First: Practice your Aim

This is essential with all the classes, demoman included

The people who thinks that the classes with explosives don´t need to aim

never played against someone who destroys you unless you land 2/3 perfect grenades on him.

In fact, since both of his weapons are proyectiles, makes it harder to aim than the Scout for example.

Let me explain

With classes like the Scout, you only need to click on the enemy to do damage

but classes like Soldier or Demoman requires you to predict where the enemy will move before you shoot

This is easy to do against new players, but vs veterans it can be pretty hard

Normally, you want to aim at the enemy´s feet

with both stickys and grenades

Since you can make them fly if you do it this way, preparing them for an airshot

where his trayectory is easier to track.

You might be wonering...how do i improve my aim?

There are many ways

You can fight bots in maps like tr_rocket_shooting2 and tr_walkway_rc2, for airshot practice

or you can also fight other players in 1v1, in something called MGE

This is a map made of parts of other popular maps, like viaduct middle, badlands spire,....

In which you have a duel against other player to see whos the first to score 20 kills

and the hp and ammo regenerates after every kill / Death

So its always a fair fight

and of course, no critical hits.

For more information on these maps and gamemode, check the description

Second: Use the arc of the proyectiles

Both grenades and stickies are proyectiles that make an arc with their trayectory

and this helps to attack the enemy from blind spots, or destroy sentries without taking damage.

The Demoman is the only class that can do this

and this is why he is the best vs the Engineer

Making good use of this its vital for any good Demo

Remember that the grenades come out faster than the Stickies, so the arc is smaller

that helps you taking out enemies from the distance

The stickies are useful to take out enemies that you cant hit with the nades

Or simply those objetives that are outsustaining your damage (people with medics / Sentries being repaired)

Its very important to practice with both of these weapons and get used to its arc

and you will get better at this when you practice your aim

Third: Charge your stickies

All of you should know that you can charge the stickies if you hold M1

but how many of you use this on a daily basis?

For some reason this is overlooked by a lot of people and its really useful.

It allows the demoman to have some way to of damage from long range

since in this range the grenades are way too easy to dodge, and not many people expect a sticky from afar

therefore, this is useful to finish off fleeing enemies

On top of that, charging the stickies gives them a lot of extra speed

Whereupon its all advantages in 99% of the situations.

Keep the arc of the stickies in mind before shooting

This is the difference between aiming to the horizon

and aiming 45 degrees upwards

The difference is quite massive, isn´t it?

In order to practice this, get used to charge a sticky everytime you are about to fight someone

this way it will be ready when you get to your objetive

Fourth: Be creative with your Traps

Everyone knows that the Demo is great for area denial thanks to the sticky traps

However not many of the demos use this outside of doors, control points and corners.

Zones where the enemy will probably check, since they are the most used to sticky trap

If you want to surprise the enemy you must be creative with the traps

hide the stickies under any object of the map that is in a zone where the enemy can walk on

There are many props that can be used to hide stickies in

for instance: Cones, buckets, stones, wheels and even plants

So experiment with the map and find the best trap for the given situation

Remember that the enemy will learn about its mistakes and (probably) won´t fall twice on the same trap.

I might upload a video showing many sticky traps of some competitive maps in the future, stay tuned

Fifth: Practice your Sticky-jumps

For me, this is one of the key abilities of any player who wants to master the Demoman

and you can surprise the enemy with it

since it gives you increased mobility and versatility both for fighting and fleeing from any problem

A good sticky-jumper can cause asspain on the enemy team, attacking from unexpected spots

on top of that, he goes pretty fast when he jumps, so its hard to hit him while doing so

In fact even the sentries have problems tracking you in open spaces

The downside is that the jump takes 60 of your health, so its good to have a medic healing you before the jump

If you want to learn or get better at sticky-jumping, i recommend that you check out my 2 tutorials

Click on the left for the basic stuff, or click on the right for more advanced techniques.

Sixth: Practice the Rollouts

I think its wise to separate rollouts from jumps in general,

since i believe these are the most used jumps in competitive play.

These let you reach the middle point of cp5 maps in mere seconds.

sometimes faster than Scouts or Soldiers.

Normally each map has 2 or 3 different routes, so be sure to at least know them all

and use the one you need the most given your team composition and the situation of the match

Remember that the Soldier Roamer can still be faster than you in some maps

so in those cases its better to play more defensive even if that means getting to the mid a bit later.

I have a 30 minute video explaining tons of rollouts for some of the competitive maps

Click on the middle of the screen to check it out

If you want to know a rollout for a map that is not in the video, leave a comment and i will help if i can

Seventh: Combine your weapons correctly

If you want to maximize your impact on the match you must use your nades and stickies both

Don´t listen to the people who cry about demos only using stickies and think its an op tactic, because is not.

These are the same people that cry over Pyro W+M1, little baby whiners

You cant defeat any enemy using only 1 of the demo weapons, since its easy to counter that

If the Demoman is abusing stickies simply get up close and he will be forced to damage himself to live

if hes using grenades, stay away and dodge them while shooting

You could say that the Demo has 2 primary weapons

since as opossed to someone like the soldier, the demo uses the secondary a lot more.

The only way to get better at weapon management is with experience

Eight: Don´t waste ammo

Both the greande launcher and the Sticky launcher have very long reload times

so you don´t want the enemy catching you without ammo

A demo without explosives is as useful as a meatshield

and the enemies can easily exploit this in his favor.

You must try to be efficient with the ammo

Having 8 stickies doesnt mean that you need to shoot them all at once

the same with the grenades, you don´t need to shoot them all just to spam

Reload as soon as you have a chance and try to keep 1 nade and 2 stickies for emergencies

In competitive is easy to run out of ammo in the middle points, since you waste a lot of proyectiles there

Be careful with that

Nineth: Be careful with Self-dmg

When you were a little kid im sure someone told you not to play with fireworks

Demoman´s bombs are not toys either, and if they explode on your face you will take some damage

In fact if you grenade explodes right on your face it can deal up to 74 hp

A sticky, on the other hand, can go up to 114hp, so be very careful when fighting enemies up close.

Don´t understimate rollers either

they can deal up to 64hp if you dont pay attention where you shoot them.

Keep the distance and try to fight at medium range, the Demomans best range

Always remember where you put the stickies, to avoid surprises...

Don´t forget that the bottle can be useful in a few ocassions where the enemy is on your face

Tenth: Postioning

Truth is, the demoman is a weak class if hes alone

a Scout and a Soldier can easily take a lone demoman out in open field

and he cant do ANYTHING if he needs to reload.

For this, its recommended to get help from your team in order to cover these weakness

With a Medic in your ass, you can play way morea aggresively

Allowing you to even a stickyjump anywhere without having to deal with low hp

but keep in mind that the Demo is not the best at protecting the Medic like the Soldier or Heavy

And a little mistake can cost you his life

If you are alone or without Medic you must play in a much different way

Changing between offensive and defensive play

When your team advances, help with your explosives and avoid being in the very first line of fire

(unless no one else can)

In defense, make traps and damage the enemy combo (medic-patient)

In competitive you must pay attention to your team composition

If you get the ubers, your objetive is to kill the medic or force him to use his uber as soon as possible

If the Soldier / Heavy is the one getting the heals

You should stay behind them and finish off all the enemies you can, since they will try to flank your medic.

I hope this video has helped you understanding some of the keys of our favorite black scottish cyclops.

Remember to check the description for the maps and gamemodes used.

If you have any questions dont hesitate to post it in the comments and i will answer asap.

I hope you enjoyed it, and see you in the next one

Adios!

THANKS FOR WATCHING!

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