What is so special about Pomson 6000s?

[laserbeamdynamite]

Seems everybody wants one.

[romsync]

No, stupid people want it.
Its not special...

[AWOOGA]

The projectile shoots through targets hitting opponents behind your target. It also reduces a medics' uber charge meter by 10%, and spies' cloak meter by 20%. It also has infinite ammo. It also has a longer range than the shotgun. It also only has 25% damage fall off over long distances unlike the stock shotgun which has 50% damage fall off. It's an all around good weapon. Some even think it is too powerful and it is banned from UGC matches.

Originally posted by J03P:

No, stupid people want it.
Its not special...

Don't listen to this guy.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Penetration was removed. The uber and cloak drains -- what people were actually complaining about, and for good reason -- remain, combined with the long-range spammability.

[AWOOGA]

When was penetration removed?! I guess I haven't used it in a while but I thought this effect was still in place?

[Gino-Ren]

line up a few spies or medics, surely one of the two had to go

[templar]

It's spammable and has a large hitbox. Means you can sit far back from the fight and still annoy people.

[Octavia]

Originally posted by Hank Peggy Bobby Luanne:

When was penetration removed?! I guess I haven't used it in a while but I thought this effect was still in place?

Because you could spam it at a Medic and hit him through his patient, which was ridiculous considering how large the hitbox was; I'm not completely sure, but I believe it used to do three 'hits' of damage as well, meaning the draining effect would hit three times, although I'm not sure if that was the case.

The Uber and Cloak drains were really the problem, since it allows the Engineer to counter two classes which have means to deal with him; factor in how it has unlimited ammo, functions as a projectile and has ridiculous amounts of range to see how ridiculous it is, even after the nerf. It's a weapon that rewards spam to ludicrous levels, as a lucky shot can counter an Uber before they pop on a Sentry; they don't even need to kill the Medic, the shots simply need to connect in some way.

In essence, it's a weapon that can counter two classes in ridiculous ways; most players find that very appealing, and unfortunately, Valve doesn't seem to care that the weapon is a poor concept. Messing with a Medic when he's already one of the highest priority targets, has no defense against several 'instant kills', such as a headshot or backstab, barring Overheal from another Medic in the case of some headshots, and factoring in the fact that he gets penalized even more for not dodging one projectile is ludicrous. The same goes for the Spy, especially if he uses the Cloak and Dagger; the Pomson 6000 simply counters them by dealing a single hit, which is unfair.

Broken weapons are always in high demand, as many players enjoy using them to make up for poor skill or to 'win' in situations that they engage a player with similar skill; either that, or they happen to have very desirable effects. The Pomson 6000 has both.

[Zoxphyl]

Funny how everyone says the Pomson is OP. I got one recently and I can't kill jack squat with it.
:J

[Sentient_Toaster]

Penetration was removed in August. As a side effect, this also fixed the bug where the same shot could drain the same spy's cloak multiple times.

And Zoxphyl, you should read more. It's not considered OP because of its direct lethality, but because of its ridiculous uber/cloak drains.

[Octavia]

Originally posted by Zoxphyl:

Funny how everyone says the Pomson is OP. I got one recently and I can't kill jack squat with it.
:J

Overpowered doesn't mean it has high damage; if you hit a Medic or Spy with it, even once, you've effectively countered them without killing them. It isn't really overpowered either, it's simply a poor concept; as such a concept, it simply rewards bad play in a way that's completely unfair. Even if you don't get an assist, if you prevent a Medic from popping his Uber or a Spy from retreating, then you've already won the engagement, or at the very least, you've come out in a better situation than you would've with any other gun, without outplaying them in the least.

[System]

Ever since the penetration was removed, I stopped seeing engies use it.
I just assumed it wasn't useful anymore, but I see that it is still annoying spys and medics.

[Wanderer(Retired)]

Originally posted by System 32:

Ever since the penetration was removed, I stopped seeing engies use it.
I just assumed it wasn't useful anymore, but I see that it is still annoying spys and medics.

Penetration was the only reason most people used the Pomson, it's the weakest of the Engineer primary weapons otherwise(from a damage standpoint).

[Qui "Hit The Quan" Jinn]

before the MVM update the pomson was epic. Now I'd sugest using the shotgun.

[Boxcar Comorant]

Originally posted by Zoxphyl:

Funny how everyone says the Pomson is OP. I got one recently and I can't kill jack squat with it.
:J

People used it because it had penetration, which people wanted. Heck I remember there were petitions on SPUF for a Bison style weapon for Engineer, and discussion over the concept on the TF2 Reddit and Facepunch about how the Righteous Bison would be great for Engineer. These days? Without that, it ends up being a flare gun without ignition or crits and two mechanics that are annoying. Not overpowered, just a broken mechanic that has no place on an Engie weapon, and thanks to the loss of penetration, it loses the fun factor as well. It just isn't worth using anymore. Which is lame, Valve removed penetration because of Mann vs Machine, instead of what everyone had complained about.

[Infi^]

Pompson is probably one of the most irritating weapons to face against, second to the Gunslinger's mini-sentry Spam. If you're a class like a Scout, Soldier, Demoman you'll simply laugh at the minor damage.

This completely changes when you're a Medic or a Spy. Weapons designed to hardcounter specific classes I feel have always been terrible. See Razorback, Natascha etc.