Black Box/Conch: Crutch or Ally?

[Void The Protogen]

Ok so this is something i've noticed over my years of TF2,people always complaining that the Soldiers Black Box/Conch loadout is nothing but a crutch and comments have been made saying that players who use this loadout are "too bad at the game to use anything else", "They need to have health constantly" or things like this. Now me personally, I use it for a different reason,I use it so i dont have to have a medic attached to me 24/7 and i dont have to abandon a fight to scramble for a heath kit but this isn't about me,it's about what you guys think,is the Black Box/Conch combo for the Soldier a crutch or an ally? Lets go over the pros and cons of each of them to help make a sound judgement.

Black Box:
On Hit:Gain up to +20 health per attack
-25% clip size

So this all in all seems fairly simple to swallow doesn't it? you get health back for doing damage at the expense of one of your four rockets,pretty straight forward. Now the Black Box has since been nerfed from it's original +20 Health on hit which meant no matter how much damage you did you would ALWAYS get 20 health back each hit,making the Soldier VERY hard to kill even without the Conch,that has since been brought down to 1 health per 4.5 damage dealt meaning you have to deal 90 damage which is over half the health of the scout,spy,pyro and demoman in one hit just to get 20 health back making the Black Box more of a risk vs reward weapon so you have to pick your targets carefully if you're trying to recover from low health.

Now lets move onto the Conch

The Concheror:
+4 heath regened per second on wearer
On full rage,gives a speed buff and health on hit

Now like the Black box that's fairly simple and straight forward,you sacrifice a short to med range shotgun in exchange for a small health regen ability and buff on full rage. However it wasn't always like this,like the Black Box the conch too has been nerfed,while it still regens 4 health per second it ramps up to that starting from 1 health per second and increases for every few seconds you don't take damage back up to 4 health per second and resets back to 1 upon taking damage,before this nerf is was a constant 4 health per second,allowing the Soldier to easily outlast the afterburn damage from a pyro.

Ok,now that we've looked at the active buffs as well as the nerfs let's put two and two together and decide if this loadout is as bad as its repuation says it is

Pre-Nerf Black Box/Conch Set
+20 Health on hit
-25% Clip Size (1 Rocket)
+4 Health per second
Buff Yielding 35% of damage dealt in Health and speed boost

Post-Nerf Black Box/Conch Set
+20 Health on hit (amount is based off of damage dealt)
-25% Clip Size (1 Rocket)
+4 Heath regened per second (Regen begins at 1 health per second and ramps up to 4 after not taking damage)
Buff Yielding 35% of damage dealt in health and speed boost

Now when you put the stats of the pre and post nerf Black Box/Conch set side by side you can see that the post nerf set while still very good for staying alive if far more situational than its pre nerf couterpart,requiring your aim to be accurate and to have enough game sense to know when to fight and when to run while the pre nerf set gave you borderline invincibility.

So with the facts presented let me ask the TF2 Community,is the Black Box/Conch set a crutch or an ally?

[Magnus The Rad]

Still a crutch regardless of buffs and nerfs.

[Tsar Platinum]

It's the definition of a crutch. You lose so much power for mediocre healing. It might help bad players, but it'll just hinder better ones

[Celestial Otter]

Not a crutch, but a handicap, because the soldier trades a rocket and a secondary so they can stay in battle longer, this is negated by the fact that they throw most of their damage potential out the window and end up playing as a glorified bullet sponge.

[Stink3y]

I don't think it's an issue. They greatly sacrifice firepower for survivability. Having only 3 rockets for ranged damage in exchange for self healing is a big tradeoff to consider.

I almost always manage to overpower Black Box soldiers because of how easy it is to simply outdo their healing rate. It's a horrendous loadout to go on the attack with, with such limited damage output it forces you to be extremely passive.

Crutch? Maybe, it's more useful to lower-skilled players who need the help of added survivability. Overpowered? Hell no, if you can't outdamage someone who has only 3 rockets that's a problem on your end.

[stolen hi]

Originally posted by Mann With No Name:

It's the definition of a crutch. You lose so much power for mediocre healing. It might help bad players, but it'll just hinder better ones

[HoBoMiKe]

i'm not going to heal you if you have both those weapons AND call medic.

get your own health. that's just greedy.

[stolen hi]

Originally posted by HoBoMiKe:

i'm not going to heal you if you have both those weapons AND call medic.

get your own health. that's just greedy.

overheal though?

[Void The Protogen]

Originally posted by StinkyWinky:

I don't think it's an issue. They greatly sacrifice firepower for survivability. Having only 3 rockets for ranged damage in exchange for self healing is a big tradeoff to consider.

I almost always manage to overpower Black Box soldiers because of how easy it is to simply outdamage their healing rate. It's a horrendous loadout to go on the attack with, with such limited damage output it forces you to be extremely passive.

Crutch? Maybe, it's more useful to lower-skilled players who need the help of added survivability. Overpowered? Hell no, if you can't outdamage someone who has only 3 rockets that's a problem on your end.

This is very true,while the soldier can still be quite deadly even with only 3 rockets you give up that fourth rocket that might help take out an enemy sentry nest for that health regen. Every loadout has it's gives as well as its takes but it's up to each player to determine how to work with it

[Segatic]

If someone pairs the Conch with the Black Box just for heals then it's a crutch

[HoBoMiKe]

Originally posted by Drifter:

Originally posted by HoBoMiKe:

i'm not going to heal you if you have both those weapons AND call medic.

get your own health. that's just greedy.

overheal though?

maybe at the beginning of a match, or if everyone else on the team is dead including snipers and idle players.

[trash]

virtually everyone using that loadout is doing so because it's easy as ♥♥♥♥
9/10 of them are floorclickers who just cruise for easy solo kills instead of playing the objective because they're down firepower
you'd have to be blind to not notice they're ab/using it as a crutch

[Void The Protogen]

So let me make a small adendum to this,explain WHY you think it's a crutch or ally. We dont know why people say it's a crutch if nobody ever says why. And please for the love of gaben nobody wants to hear "it's a crutch because i keep dying to them"

[Tsar Platinum]

Originally posted by Mr.Stabby:

So let me make a small adendum to this,explain WHY you think it's a crutch or ally. We dont know why people say it's a crutch if nobody ever says why. And please for the love of gaben nobody wants to hear "it's a crutch because i keep dying to them"

Originally posted by Mann With No Name:

It's the definition of a crutch. You lose so much power for mediocre healing. It might help bad players, but it'll just hinder better ones

[trash]

Originally posted by Mr.Stabby:

So let me make a small adendum to this,explain WHY you think it's a crutch or ally. We dont know why people say it's a crutch if nobody ever says why.

it's easy
it compensates for lack of proper health management
it compensates for lack of teamplay
it makes you flat out worse against coordination

[76561198300840017]

Originally posted by HoBoMiKe:

i'm not going to heal you if you have both those weapons AND call medic.

get your own health. that's just greedy.