So I usually play soldier, and recently I've moved to playing scout. Because I am playing that utility class spot, I've been trying to pick up sniper. I believe I am actually decent with the sniper rifle, but I've seen a lot of people using huntsman in competitive play, and I've been trying to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, I can't use it for crap :redface:.

Can anyone give any tips for the huntsman? I've been trying to lead people on my shots but that doesn't really seem to work, and the slow speed of the arrow makes it hard to use when going for head shots, etc. Also, is it best to go for a full charge shot, no charge, or somewhere in between? Since the huntsman is more of a medium to short range weapon, do you use jarate instead of the minigun?

Any other tips are greatly appreciated, and if you have a vid or a demo please post it!

Thank you very much!

-Slin

Only tip you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UjGc7OM7HE&fmt=22

yeah I've seen that one before. But that still doesn't help at all really it's just really cool that he did that.

Also, does charging the huntsman add damage or does it only change the trajectory?

Charging the huntsman also adds damage. A fully charged body shot does a lot more damage than just a click of the mouse.

I've noticed that the best time to use the huntsman is when an enemy is forced into a small hallway or chokepoint, that way you can peak around a corner, spam an arrow, and then miss four people and hit the last guy in the pack. That is the only way you get kills with the huntsman. They are always a combination of luck, spam, and retardedness by the other team.

Sorry I was referring to more competitive play. In pubs you can just spam into large groups, but I'm talking about good accuracy and killing when you're playing in 6v6 type situation

The rifle is a much better weapon to use in 6v6.

It's hitscan. (<- HUGE PLUS)
At same charge levels, it deals more damage.

The ONLY advantage it has is a faster charge them, so you COULD argue the DPS is higher. That being said, it's much easier to hit with a hitscan weapon than it is with a projectile.

Use the rifle imo.

Probably depends heavily on the map as well, would be best to get good with both.

Rifle is used more though, for sure. And you can only kill with headshots or bodyshots on hurt people using huntsman... the only situation I can really see this working in is turning around a corner and killing someone in half a second, or killing some mindless people who run straight at you.

Just my two cents there.

The rifle is generaly better for hitscan reasons. The arrow projectile is quite slow, even though the hitboxes for them are better. As for Jarate vs. SMG thats a matter of personal and tactical taste. The Jarate gives your team some extra damage, which is good for teams bunched up on a point, if you can get it off, whereas the SMG provides you a little hitscan damage for escaping enimies.

Usually people that play scout tend to be better with the rifle and people that play soldier tend to be better with the huntsman. Play the huntsman like you would a 3rd soldier if you only had one rocket left, peak corners and fire and gtfo and retreat to reload and fire at corners where you know the enemy will be coming. It's pretty hard to hit people that are looking directly at you trying to dodge so you need to be targeting guys that aren't paying attention to you.

Probably depends heavily on the map as well, would be best to get good with both.

Rifle is used more though, for sure. And you can only kill with headshots or bodyshots on hurt people using huntsman... the only situation I can really see this working in is turning around a corner and killing someone in half a second, or killing some mindless people who run straight at you.

Just my two cents there.

Huntsman is better on mid ranged small corridor fights where the rifle is traditionally marginalized. Granary mid comes to mind. The rifle is used more because people are very slow to try new things seriously in TF2 and the maps where running a sniper has been deemed OK by the masses (generally by way of the rifle being run on said map by pandemic during cevo-p season 1) the rifle is a better choice.

Usually people that play scout tend to be better with the rifle and people that play soldier tend to be better with the huntsman. Play the huntsman like you would a 3rd soldier if you only had one rocket left, peak corners and fire and gtfo and retreat to reload and fire at corners where you know the enemy will be coming. It's pretty hard to hit people that are looking directly at you trying to dodge so you need to be targeting guys that aren't paying attention to you.

The best 3 huntsman users I've played with/against (smaka, carnage, and dl) all main scout.

hey thanks for your replies guys!

yeah jaeg actually the main reason I considered even using the huntsman in the first place was because I was watching your matches and saw carnage pulling out the huntsman on cp_follower :biggrin:

I mean you're talking about the huntsman being used on mid range corridor fights, there's really not that many of them. Although in scrims I have faced huntsmen mostly on cp_freight and occasionally some other random maps. But like on cp_badlands or cp_granary I usually see the rifle more than the bow.

So would you say it's just map dependent? If one were able to have equal skill in both the huntsman and the rifle, which do you think would be the preferred weapon? The only reason I say equal skill is because most people are better with the rifle because it's been around longer, but if the huntsman would have more uses I'd be more inclined to use it more often.

Treat it like a projectile weapon. DL, Smaka and Carnage are also all good with pipes.

smaka, dl, and carnage is also good at every class

Considering again, Jaeger and mrslin both have good points, Huntsman is powerful in mid range corridors, but those are rare. I've seen it put to good use on certain areas, like the second point of Freight, mid of Granary (and second point to an extent), but I still think that the Huntsman is highly situational in where it's useful (although, this might just be because people know all the good rifle spots already and Huntsman is still being trialled) Maybe in time, if more people use the Huntsman, it could be a better developed weapon and see more sucessful usage.

Another two cents. Could be completely wrong, though ;)

If one were able to have equal skill in both the huntsman and the rifle, which do you think would be the preferred weapon?
The rifle easily.

The only other place that I could see the huntsman being used that has been mentioned already is badlands 2nd, if you hold the other team at the top of the yard. But if you try to hold this area with only one soldier, he better be able to airshot people trying to just overpower the combo in this area of the map.

The Huntsman is capable of a lot of chip damage, like the rifle, so in that respect it's good. You have to know when and where to use it. Think of it like a rocket, which is most effective spamming small spaces. In open ground you have to predict your opponents path, just like with a rocket. I think people are slow to use the Huntsman because hitscan is so much easier to hit with.

Ya, I have always thought that positioning and smart use of the huntsman far outweighs skill.

Ya, I have always thought that positioning and smart use of the huntsman far outweighs skill.

It's a weapon that requires intelligence more than raw skill.

Yeah as compared to the rifle which requires a lot of raw skill (it's tough to make those headshots sometimes!).

But yeah thanks for your help guys! I see how huntsman can be useful in certain situations, while rifle is better in others (which is apparently most of the time).

Been working on using the huntsman though, and you're right its definitely a lot of positioning and leading, but once you figure out how far to lead and how high to aim it's not too bad. Distance is definitely an issue though.

Does anyone have any tips on the point blank shot for huntsman? You know, you're shooting at a pyro who is running at you, and you miss once and suddenly he's right in front of you and you need to make the shot at his head. He's sort of strafing around, is there a better way to make that shot or are you just dead in the water?

Does anyone have any tips on the point blank shot for huntsman? You know, you're shooting at a pyro who is running at you, and you miss once and suddenly he's right in front of you and you need to make the shot at his head. He's sort of strafing around, is there a better way to make that shot or are you just dead in the water?

Pray for a headshot. If you get one, switch to SMG because that pyro is at =< 25 hp.

Other than that, you're pretty well boned. The only real thing at that range is prediction and instinct, which can't be summed up that well in words.

Right. Now you said use the SMG, is that the best secondary weapon to use? Cause I've been able to find some good uses of the jarate. which is better for comp play?

My opinion is that SMG works best with Huntsmen and Jarate best with the Rifle. This is based on limited actual competitive experiance as a Sniper, but the idea is, with the Huntsmen, you're closer to the front line, and you'll either kill or wound enemies, and the SMG is useful for finishing off the wounded enemies you'll be close to.
When you're using Rifle, you're further back and looking for picks; most often you won't be in close combat where you'll actually be able to kill anything with the SMG (if a Scout gets on you, in most cases you're likely screwed without getting a headshot on him), so it's more worthwhile to throw some Jarate and possibly assist your teammates in taking down the heavy classes easier.
Your milage may vary, but to be quite honest, either secondary is perfectly fine with the either primary if you use them well.

Right. Now you said use the SMG, is that the best secondary weapon to use? Cause I've been able to find some good uses of the jarate. which is better for comp play?

Depends on multiple things. Jarate works great when you throw it at a group, but it won't help you much against that scout flanking you, even if he's on 2hp. However, the SMG is great for finishing off people who are hurt, and is generally better for self-defense because the Kukri won't cut it. (lolpuns)

Huntsman + SMG is great because a fully charged Huntsman bodyshot will bring most classes into the health range where you can easily finish them off. As for Rifle + Jarate, you really need to be good at noscopes to be able to do more than assist your team, so I generally prefer to stick with SMG no matter which weapon I use, unless the situation allows for Jarate. (Example: Mid CP of Freight. Think about it :tongue: )

Essentially, depends on the map, your primary weapon, and how willing your team is to defend you / take advantage of your pee.

Only tip you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UjGc7OM7HE&fmt=22

I'm so glad I got the assist during that solly headshot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHeW3Jp53jk

hunstman is way too easy to dodge and counts on your enemy not being able to, in essence, luck. Although you can be a sneaky sniper which is the best way to use it you will find that in comp play especially once you are pointed out it is nearly impossible to get an arrow hit at long range if they are watching you. suprises scouts close-range though, and that really annoys them.

I would say that a huge part of playing huntsman sniper effectively is to not become a focus of the enemy. Because as posters above me have said, the huntsman can be easily dodged at anything longer than short range, given they are focused on the sniper.

Also don't expect the huntsman to work like a normal sniper, I think that you really need to know when to go huntsman, and when to go rifle sniper or just stick to scout/whatever class you normally play.

I guess I'm just mimicking other posters but: I would always go SMG with the huntsman, and almost always smg with the rifle as well.

Also don't quick switch (it's a bad habit of mine) with the huntsman because it will take longer for your arrow to be notched back into the bow. (at least it seems to be longer)

I agree with Riot, quick switching does seem longer, plus the smg helps, because a fully charged bodyshot does 120 damage, and using the smg to do 5 damage just finishes someone off

Situations like the ones at badlands mid(follower too i suppose) could use huntsman, because of the long narrow path of mid; you could easily spam a few arrows and hope for a lucky headshot easily.

The thing a lot of people don't get is that you have to lead your targets, you can't play the huntsman as a rifle.

Going for scouts close up is usually pretty easy; a strategy i use is to lay in wait behind a corner if a scout is chasing you, and timing the shot right so that when he goes around the same corner, he's hit by your shot. also, when you're fighting someone close up, aim to the left of their head because the huntsman comes out of the right side of your screen

...a strategy i use is to lay in wait behind a corner if a scout is chasing you...

Taunt. Killz. :cool:

i stop ubers with my taunts

quick switching definitely delays drawing back your next arrow. i hear the annoying click sound as though i'm out of ammo all the time when i try to draw back too quickly after firing and switching to smg and then back to huntsman.

I don't see a point to the SMG as no-scoping will most likely do more damage, so pick SMG with huntsman and piss with rifle.

I have never met a sniper that can do more consistent damage with no scoping at close range than using an smg, and I've played with some of the best.