DemomanboomOkay, since my last post regarding my rocky love affair with the Scotsman, I’ve given the other various classes another go to see if something else better fits my play style. The Medic is always good when the team needs one, but it seems you can only be as good as the person you’re healing. The Pyro is still a blast (no pun intended), the Scout is great, and I still suck something fierce as both the Sniper and Spy. The only two classes that I felt comfortable in were the Heavy and the Engineer. I enjoy the utility of the Engi, and the hilarity of the Heavy’s voice. Both can rack up some serious kill counts, but both have a similar problem; Spies. Whenever I play as either of these two classes, I either get a knife in the back, or have to be on the defensive for sappers. I wasn’t use to this kind of spy abuse while playing the Demoman.

So I kept rotating through the classes. Around and around through the cycle of disappointment like I was waiting for the big wheel on The Price is Right to land on the 100. Some came close, but nothing had that perfect balance for me. Then a couple of weeks ago, casting aside the others, I went back to the Demoman.

It felt good, it felt…..right. But I found I had to change the way I played. Maybe testing my mettle with all the others allowed me to clear my head and start with a clean slate. I began to use more strategy and a healthy dose of defense. Standing from afar, I lobbed grenades with high arches, raining death from above while being mindful of where I could run for more ammo and health if I got peppered with long distance shots. I used more of the environment to aid in my attack, bouncing grenades and relying on the splash damage more than getting clear shots. Before I would primarily use sticky bombs to take care of turrets and Heavy’s that were making their way around corners, now I place a smattering of them high in door arches and on ceilings before meeting up with enemies and eventually luring them into my traps. Scouts still give me a headache, but if I keep myself in corridors where there’s less running room for the little tikes, they usually wind up getting a face full of nade.

It almost seems like this is what Valve had in mind for the Demoman all along. It is, after all, a “defense” class according to the character select screen. It’s just that I never played it as such and did fine. They say you should never go back to an old flame, but with a new outlook on the play style, I think I’m back in love.