"TOO. MUCH. CAFFEINE." - The Beginner's Guide to Scout

Like the Scout class, yet you wanna actually be good at it? Well here's the guide for you! Click here and all your dreams will come true in a matter of minutes.

Introduction

You're probably here because you're a simple beginner wanting to get better at playing this epic class. Well I won't let you down. You're in the right place into figuring out how to get good at playing one of TF2's most popular classes.
Oh, nice to see ya!

The Basics

Meet the Scout
Name: Unknown
Motto: Literally the main title of this guide
Job: Rapid Recovery
Origin: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
The Scout is a young man from Boston who is rude and has a mean attitude. He tends to think he is better then everybody else and acts a lot tougher than he actually is. He likes women and seems to think he can handle anything.
Official Description: The youngest of eight boys from the south side of Boston, the Scout learned early how to solve problems with his fists. With seven older brothers on his side, fights tended to end before the runt of the litter could maneuver into punching distance, so the Scout trained himself to run. He ran everywhere, all the time, until he could beat his pack of mad dog siblings to the fray.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geNMz0J9TEQ
Abilities/Advantages and Disadvantages
The Scout is the fastest class in the game (133% base speed, 120% speed backwards, 44% crouched, and 107% while swimming), and he can even double jump (jump while airborne)! This makes Spies and Snipers frustrated in their attempts to kill you. His default arsenal is an ideal loadout in many situations and will almost never fail to succeed, as long as you handle it properly. He counts as two people when capturing control points and moving the payload bomb cart, meaning he caps/moves at a rate of two regular classes moving/capping. The Scout also has the smallest hitboxes of all the classes due to his size. All of these positive attributes are offset by his health (125). In fact, the Scout has the lowest health in the game, along with the Sniper, Spy, and Engineer. He can easily fall to the hands of a Heavy, Soldier, Demoman, Pyro, or even a Medic's Syringe Gun. (Needles hurt.)

What is the Scout's primary role?
The Scout's main job is to complete the objectives in order to help his team win the game. While his team should distract the enemy and hold them off, the Scout should be running away with the intelligence, capping a point, or moving the cart towards a checkpoint. (Teamwork is an essence, you need to communicate with them in order to win. After all, it's called Team Fortress, not Solo Fortress. However, in combat, the Scout's main job is to get up close to the enemy blast away with his Scattergun. But the Scout should then retreat when the enemy reacts due to his short health, and while running away, firing at the enemy with the pistol. Basically, the Scout excels at hit-and-runs. Also, the Scout can make great distractions due to his fast speed.

When is the Scout most effective?
Although the Scout usually works best independent, his team must make sure he's safe in order to complete the objectives. Also, in battle, the Scout's scattergun is DEVASTATING at point-blank range (really close range), killing a full-health Heavy in just three shots. It is decent at mid-range, but long range? Don't even think about it. Consider using your pistol in those situations. Your bat should be used only if you are absolutely sure you will win the fight, or if you want to conserve ammunition. I usually use my bat against an occupied Sniper or when I know when there is an enemy Spy in the area. Remember, the bat does significantly less damage then all the other melee weapons (35 compared to 65, and on crit 105 compared to 195). But, the bat has the fastest firing speed of all the melee weapons.

Tips & Tricks

Before we officially get started here are some tips to make sure you get the "feel of it":
-Run into players to spy-check. Remember, enemies are walls, but you can go through teammates.
-Due to the Scout's speed and short height, he is perfect at dodging rockets and crosshairs. Try being unpredictable when fleeing.
-As I mentioned a million times before, the Scout is short. When a large wave of enemies are walking by, try to hide behind an object. Avoid taking out a melee weapon, though, as the Scout holds them up in the air and rocks it around making it very visible.
-If you're in a map you aren't familiar with, don't engage in combat right away. Scout around and explore to make sure which areas have health packs, which areas are safe, and where the enemies come from.
-NEVER TAKE A SENTRY HEAD-ON. DON'T. JUST DON'T.
-If a Pyro airblasts you, double jump to avoid getting killed and/or to piss him off.
-Double jumping and crouching helps a lot.
-Jump while reloading, run around when firing.
-Do you see a Soldier/Pyro using the reserve shooter? Don't jump.
-Don't try double jumping over stickybombs. They're blast radius is large enough to kill you or at least seriously injure you. However, if you are seriously injured, you'd probably go flying in the air, and the fall damage will most likely kill you. The Demoman would be credited for finishing you off.
-Never stand still during combat. You'll get headshot, backstabbed, blown up, etc. After all, you have very low health.
-Know that you're going to lose a fight? Run. You have the maneuverability and size to successfully flee a battle.
-If there's a Sentry in your way, coordinate with a Spy to take it out. (As I said, teamwork.) If there are no spies, however, then take advantage of the Sentry's slow rotation speed by coming out of your cover, firing, retreating into your cover, and then doing it all over again.
-Double jump at the last second to avoid fall damage.

Speed

Not only is speed the Scout's best friend, it's his most important weapon. The Scout's speed is the reason why he survives and why he is himself. Speed is what makes the Scout unique and stand out from all the other classes. You must learn how to harness such a great power if you are to play as this class.

What does speed do?
The Scout's speed allows him to:
-Run from fights
-Secure the intelligence
-Chase down players
-Ambush/hit-and-run enemies

How do I use such speed?
Pairing up your speed with double jump makes you almost impossible to defeat. Enemies will have a hard time killing you and you will easily get behind enemy lines. You should also use alternate routes. As I said earlier, scout around and explore the map to try and find an alternate route. Use that path to quickly and quietly get behind enemy lines for a hit-and-run or an ambush. You can also flank the enemy this way.

Your speed will allow you to dodge enemy attacks if you sidestep/jump over rockets and nades. You can also retreat from Pyros and Heavies. Snipers will be completely frustrated and sometimes even ignore you completely (or be idiotic and pull out an SMG) and Spies will desperately give up in pursuit of you.

Get out the way Scout train comin' through choo choo.

Health

From left to right: A large health pack, medium health pack, and small health pack.

"Health?" You say. "An entire section dedicated toHealth? I know enough about it! He has low health and that's that!" Well, there's so much more to health than just that.

You need to know when to flee and when to engage.
If you have over 100 health it is OK for you to go and fight, but make sure you eventually get that health back. If you're going up against a Heavy, Soldier, or Demoman, (or maybe even a Pyro) or going to battle near a control point, the intel, or the bomb, than I strongly recommend you get full health.

If you have lower than 70 health, go back to your base immediately or locate a health pack/Medic/Dispenser. Avoid going into vulnerable areas that you're teammates aren't in. If you see a teammate acting suspicious, do NOT go near him, as he might be an enemy Spy and do NOT attack him, as he might think a little bit and pick you off with his deadly-accurate Revolver. Simply just keep an eye on him when retreating, make sure he doesn't see you, and when you get some health (and possibly ammo) try to find him again and spy-check him.

Aim/Accuracy

Your aim. How do I explain this? Oh well, doesn't hurt to try. As a Scout, accuracy is one of the toughest things to master, even learn. Why? Because you're going FAST. You don't have the time or the health to stop by for even a second and fire. You have to keep moving wherever you are--in battle, behind enemy lines, everywhere. This gets especially frustrating if you're going up against another Scout, as you both have blinding speed. There are only a few things I can teach you for you to improve your aim. The rest is your hand, your mind, and most importantly, your mouse (kidding, kidding).

Keep your crosshair locked on the enemy.
Remember, aim at the enemy during all times. Learn to know how fast you are going, how sensitive the crosshair is, and how fast the enemy is going. Try to predict the enemy's movements and think about where he would go next. For example, you're on RED defending a control point and a BLU enemy comes in. Naturally, he would try to cap the point. Think about how he will do that.

Adjust the sensitivity factor.
Sensitivity is just about how your crosshair reacts when you move your mouse. The higher the sensitivity, the less mouse movements required to move the crosshair. The sensitivity can be adjusted in the Main Menu > Options > Mouse > Mouse Sensitivity.

Resort to Aimbot if all the above doesn't work.
Joking, joking, That'll just get you banned.

Environment

As a Scout, the map your playing on can serve as something positive or negative for your team. Each map can provide a means of escape or defense. Maps can provide alternate routes for you to ambush/flank enemies and can have places for you to hide in (especially useful in VSH!) Remember--press CTRL to crouch so you have lesser chances of being seen, although this will significantly reduce your speed.

The map can also have places accessible to you if you double jump (or maybe rocket jumping/sticky jumping/sentry jumping Soldiers, Demomen, and Engineers) so you can escape enemy fire. Maps with cliffs and bottomless pits can also be useful if you have the Force-a-Nature equipped. But, remember, if Pyros try to airblast you so you fall to a clumsy, painful death, double jump!

Tactics & Techniques

Sometimes you need an ace up your sleeve to survive. You need a special sort of gimmick to amaze your teammates and kill, er impress your enemies. They'll be wondering: "How does he do that? I must learn his ways!" Well, you don't need to be that kind of enemy anymore.

Weapon Heckling
Weapon Heckling is easy to learn, yet hard to master. The basic understanding of weapon heckling is quickly and constantly switching weapons, then attacking, then switching to the same enemy to match the proper situation. This strategy is good against Soldiers, Demomen, and Pyros. Fire your scattergun at them up close then when they react, flee while firing at them with your pistol. Once they stop chasing you, attack them again with your scattergun. You can also do this with Snipers, fire at mid-range with a Pistol and then pick them off with your Scattergun. Weapon heckling is commonly associated along with ambushing.

Flanking
Flanking is a variant of ambushing and used my many classes, not only just Scout. What you do here is pick a target pre-occupied by your teammate, then ambush the target. You'll usually win, considering it's two (or more) against one, even if the distraction/bait dies.

Those were all combat techniques. Let me tell you some strategies to cap the flag, a point, or get the cart to the enemy base.

When capturing the control point, you should run around. This makes it harder for enemies to kill you. Also, when you have captured the point, stand still and look around, because enemies might ambush you. After a few moments, leave the point and go on to the next one.

You're short and have the smallest hitbox. While moving the bomb cart, be sure to crouch and hide behind the payload. Also if there is a sentry or heavy fire coming from one side, crouch and hide behind the other side of the cart. The cart also gives you health and ammo. Believe me, it works.

When you have the intel, keep moving. Double jump. Use alternate routes. Be unpredictable. And that's basically it.

Conclusion

Well, this shall conclude our tour of the first Offensive class. Remember: practice, practice, practice! That's how I got to be good at playing the Scout.

Oh, and thank you for taking the time to read this guide. I put a lot of work and effort into it and I hope some of my knowledge rubs off on you. I plan to make more Scout guides in the future and guides for game modes and other classes. Since I want to know how I did on my very first guide for my favorite class, rate this up or down and if you comment be sure to post any suggestions you have in mind for me.

Part 2 is out! It talks about each and every Scout weapon and a list of sets that has weapons that work well together. Hope you guys like it!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=125696470


Thanks, and until next time
Shredder

(Sorry about the bad image quality.)

[Gunhaver]

keep up the good work!!

[wumbo]

best giude eva :P

[Boots]

Very good guide. Thanks mate :3

[mayday]

Great It really helped me out. Thanks

[funkywaffles]

FINALLY! OVER 10,000 UNIQUE VIEWS!!!!!!!!!!

[funkywaffles]

wut

[Jager]

look like u need waffle a boo hoo hoo :D

[kams]

wow

[gh]

NO SANIC PIC? DOWNVOTE

[Room temp]

O rly?