Is the Natascha a crutch weapon?

[The Sexpert]

I recently thought about cructh weapons overall and I got stuck deciding what the Natascha's status should be. But by my definotion of a crutch weapon- A worse player will make better use of it than something else (for example stock) but a skilled player will do what the crutch weapon tries to do while using a different gun. For example the Liberty Launcher's faster rockets more clip size and less self damage can all be mitigated by a skilled player who can hit their shots better and manage recources, but he can't do much about the damage penalty, making it pointless. But the Natascha is weird. The slow makes it so one clean hit leads to an easy kill on an enemy who is basicly stuck in place, but a better player won't have a problem with hitting the target even at normal speed. But there are some situations where the slow secures a kill that stock couldn't (like when the enemy can't move around a corner cause the slow) but on the flip side the damage penalty sorta equals out with the slow making you hit more shots. The other to stats are kinda just slap-ons form the Brass Beast which we know are kinda ♥♥♥♥♥♥, but the damage resistance is kinda bonkers and underrated. So what do you think? Is it (by my definition) a crutch? Or do you have a different definition for why it is/isn't a crutch?

[76561199397979635]

Natascha is the best to kill scouts thats all can i say..

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

I've been experimenting with Shotgun Heavy without going full Fat Scout (I use the minigun and shotgun equally), and I've found the Natascha substantially outperforms the Brass Beast in every situation but Heavy-v.-Heavy duels.

Even with reduced DPS and rev speed, the Natascha still out-DPS's any non-Heavy weapon, and the slow is amazing useful for melting Scouts, punishing peakers, and suppressing chokepoints. The damage reduction is also surprisingly useful in Casual, since most Medics will default to pocketing Heavies unless there's an obviously better target.

[Spartykins]

I can't see the natasha as a crutch because it's just so crappy

like it's funny to annoy people with it and that's about it

[Wiener Hole Paper Cut]

Originally posted by Spartykins:

I can't see the natasha as a crutch because it's just so crappy

like it's funny to annoy people with it and that's about it

No.

It's quite powerful if used correctly but most of the people you see using it don't know what they're doing. Only heavy duels and attacking sentries are weaknesses. But otherwise? It's a lot better than most people think.

I enjoy killing demoknights with it.

So no, it's not a crutch. Good players can do very well with it.

[twunny phaiv]

crutch if you're using it solo. making your enemies slow as molasses, funnily enough, can actually make them take more damage from other sources, offsetting the damage penalty if you play correctly

[dneirf]

Its not really a crutch but it is good if you want to improve your aim as a heavy but other mini guns including the huo long heater out damage it

[twunny phaiv]

Originally posted by Chocolatine:

it is good if you want to improve your aim as a heavy

in the same way that eating deep fried pizza is good if you want to lose weight

[UNBREAKABLE]

It's really good for pinning down enemies so your team can finish them off, especially outside of Heavy's normal effective range where scout and rocket jumping soldiers generally can usually ignore heavy. But if you're solo and need DPS then you're probably better off with any other mini gun.

It was a truely monsterous weapon back when the slowdown worked across the map, but I'm pretty sure that got toned down in the Engineer Update.

[Arc]

Weaker than stock
Slower and louder than tomislav
Less of a threat tanking on an objective than brass beast
Its just mediocre

[WeeHawky]

Natascha is great to hear "this natasha using ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥"

[WeeHawky]

Originally posted by Arc:

Weaker than stock
Slower and louder than tomislav
Less of a threat tanking on an objective than brass beast
Its just mediocre

Yeah but it pisses people off more

[.°• Sheep ༄𖦹]

Originally posted by Chocolatine:

Its not really a crutch but it is good if you want to improve your aim as a heavy but other mini guns including the huo long heater out damage it

it's a horrible weapon if you want to improve your aim, lmao? the slow removes any need to do so, if you're using it in this way it is absolutely a terrible crutch that you should avoid.

[charbway]

it's maybe a crutch if you can't aim with one of the easiest types of weapons in the game to aim with (all miniguns) but it falls flat in so many other areas that i don't think it really matters

Originally posted by head crab:

Natascha is the best to kill scouts thats all can i say..

i've been playing a lot of scout lately and the heavies that usually give me the most trouble are heavies using the tomislav or stock and have good tracking. they can react to me faster and track me long enough to kill me whereas most people using natascha are using it specifically because they have bad tracking. they can't get the gun spun up and track me long enough to kill me in most cases

[charbway]

Originally posted by twunny phaiv:

Originally posted by Chocolatine:

it is good if you want to improve your aim as a heavy

in the same way that eating deep fried pizza is good if you want to lose weight

who gave this a clown award this is just correct. you aren't going to learn good tracking if you're reliant on the slowdown

[Mina]

That would be the black box