A Guide to Saxton Hale

This guide well cover almost everything in the Saxton Hale gamemode. I have played at least 400 hours on this gamemode (What a noob). I have found many, many, MANY ways to defeat Saxton, and also to win as Saxton. We well cover the basics, to loadouts, to glitches. this well be a long guide. So feel free to skip around if youre eyes start to bleed. Enjoy! :D

What is Saxton Hale?

Saxton Hale is a gamemode in which an entire team of Mercs. face off against hale (or a boss). Hale is the boss of Mann. Co. and you've interupted his breakfast steak. Hales Health is corallated with the amount of players on the Mercs. side. The List below is how much max health Hale can have.
Players-------------Health (max)
1---------------------2046
10-------------------9871
20-------------------21761
23-------------------25447
30-------------------34232
31-------------------35507
Not only does he have a nightmare ton of health, he deals out around 200 dmg. (usually 202) with his fist. Hale is restricted to using melee (with the exception of bosses who can gain a weapon when they rage) and runs about as fast as a scout. Hale has a escape plan effect on him which means if he has 1 HP, you are basically running from a train (exageration). Saxton can also use an ability called "super jump" and fly far into the air to reach places where mercs. are. he can also rage, which is an ability hale recieves once he has enough damage put out on him. Rage well scare enemies exactly like the ghost does on that one halloween event map. The rage renders them unable to use their weapons but still able to move (slowly). Rage well last up to about 5 seconds.

However, the mercs. also have some tricks up there sleeve. They can all taunt for crits, which makes for some very lethal tactics. This also makes the high five taunt very useful. Having the ability to hold the crits until saxton is in sight. However, the crits well eventually fade in about 8 seconds. Really the only other feature mercs. have is to spam the x5 pootis.

As you can see, teamwork is the best skill for the mercs.

Class Basics

Scout

The scout has a special ability knows as "ANNOYANCE" he uses this skill to be well... annoying. The scout is used to harrass hale. Being able to move faster than hale and double jump to get to unreachable places. He is the perfect character for this. Survival for this class is to always be moving and move unpredictably.

Soldier

The soldier is a fragile class but can be used to help support teammates. when the soldier has crit rockets, he becomes quite the supporter. Aim at the ground with the rockets and you'll find that Hale is not immune to knockback. The rocket launcher can send him flying. The best way to survive with this class is to rocket jump when it gets to risky. dont let hale get close to you. And defend large groups of mercs. with that knockback of yours.

Pyro

The pyro is a good rage counter. And also an annoying one. The pyros airblast is able to keep Saxton at bay and away from melee range. To put this to best use, save teamates who are raged by pushing him back. However, any good saxton player well rage you if you airblast to much. Your airblast also makes him gain rage so be careful. To survive, use airblast of course.

Demo

The demo in my opinion is the best class. survival is a bit complicated though. There are so many ways to survive depending on the items you use. You can gather heads as a demoknight, make crit sticky traps, or spam pills. I'll cover more on the demo when i get to the specifics.

hoovy

The hoovy is the tank of the team. Taking 2 hits to go down. The heavies job is to deal as much damage to hale as possible. When the heavy has a crit minigun, he well be able to do knockback on hale requiring hale to not walk in a straight line to get him. To survive, work with medics and engis to recive constant ammo and healing that can allow you to take up to 3 hits.

Engi

The engi is the most targeted class by a good hale. Giving the engi time to set up is a dangerous thing to do as Hale. The engis sentry does MASSIVE knockback and fair damage. A level 2 sentry requires 1 hit to destroy and a level 3 requires 2 hits. You also are able to make dispensers and teleporters for a quick escape from Hale. However, the sentry can be raged and the rage also does 49% of a level three's health. To survive, build your nest fast and in a good spot. Also have team mates help defend your nest if possible.

Medic

The medic is a powerful class in this mode. His uber now gives 50% more time, gives crits, and makes himself and the teammate have invicibility. The medic also does not ever have 0% uber. He starts with around 34% ubercharge already. If the medic is being chased by hale, he can build uber by hitting hale with his needle gun. he gains 5% uber for every needle landed and 10% for the crossbow. The medics uber also is not affected by rage, so if you can time your uber right before saxton rage (hard to do) you cancancel saxtons rage at least on yourself. To survive, stick with teamates and help cancel those rages with ubers.

Sniper

The sniper is a very fragile class. He can do ALOT of damage if left untouched. Every time the sniper hits hale with the regular stock sniper, hale well have a green outline than can be seen by anyone on the map even through walls. This makes the sniper a great class if hale is hiding or being sneaky. The longer you charge the shot, the longer Hale well be affected by the outline. the sniper rifle is also buffed capable of doing around 450 dmg for a fully charged body shot. jarate also helps with hales rage, lowering it by 8%. The Sydney Sleeper also has this ability but does not make hale appear in the green outline. To survive stay well hidden.

Spy

The Spy is a dangerous class in Hale. Able to do 10% of hales max health with a single backstab. If Hale has 35000 Health and you get 1 backstab. Congratulations you just did 3500 damage. This does not work well if Hale has 2000 Max Health. His revolver is not to good but can be used if Hale is checking for spies every microsecond. You can also disguise as freindly scouts to make Hale ignore you allowing you to get the backstab. To survive, cloak when neccessary and Cloak immediantly after you get a backstab.

Saxton Basics

Being Saxton as a noob can be irritating, but once you get a feel for the controls, you can wreck some serious faces UP!

4 noobz!
w - forward
a - left
d - right
s - backward
[spacebar] - jump
[ctrl] duck
M1 - attack
M2 - alt attack

anyway...

Super Jump
There are 2 ways to perform a super jump. The first is very basic, and is normally attempted by new players. You duck, look straight up, and let go and you well fly up. The more efficient and professional was of super jumping is to hold alt. fire and look straight up then release and you well fly as well.
Whenever you are about to release note the charge meter for the jump, it goes up by 20% about ever .3 seconds. The higher it is, the higher you jump. Jumping is pretty easy. I'd recommend using the right click jump since crouch jumping leaves you painfully vulnerable to spies.
Another variation of the super jump, is the super-duper-jump. This jump sends you FLYING, up to skybox. the only way to do it though is to fall into a enviromental hazard. The jump is meant to get you out of the hazard. Such as the pit on Nucleus.

Mantreads/weighdown
Hale is obviously able to swing his deadly fist at enemies but he can also combine two deadly effects/abilities.
Weighdown is an ability Hale has that sends him flying down to the ground after being in the air for 5 seconds. You can activate Weighdown by holding crouch and looking straight down. This ability is to give saxton the ability to get out of a tight spot if a sentry has him pinned in midair.
Saxton also has a Mantreads affect and is able to crush players with them if he falls far enough. This is ALMOST gaurunteed instant kill against anything. The only exception is if a demo has a shield, or the enemy is ubered.
Combining these 2 abilities/effects can lead to some awsome kills and some "wtf"s in chat.

RAGE!!!!!
Saxtons ultimate ability. Like I said earlier, it is the ghost effect on your enemies for 5 seconds. Your enemies are going to be so spooked because you screamed real loud??? This ability is meant to be used agaisnt players who are TooPro4U or gigantic crowds of players who are raping you. Rage also grants Hale extreme resistance to damage and knockback for a very short amount of time. To gain rage, go get hurt. It takes normally around 1500 damage to gain 1 rage. Rage also does 49% damage to sentries, and 1 % damage to any other buildings. The rage effect also affects players within an estimated line of 25 sentries. Not to short not to far. However, using rage agaisnt 1 player or using it to much is bound to get players angry at you for whatever reason. Use at your own risk.

Punching
Left click- swings fist- enemy dead

Scout Loadouts

The scout has a variety of loadouts to use. Most of which are looked down upon in the community. Ill put my favorite loadout in *stars*

Support Scout

Soda Popper
Mad Milk
Candy-Cane
This scout helps the team by giving health to everyone. great for a team with no medics. Fights Hale with candy cane to drop mini health packs and makes an escape with the Soda Popper when neccessary.

***Offensive Scout***

Scattergun
Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol
The Sandman
This scout, as the name suggests, has a more up-front battle style. He harrases Hale by stunning him with the sandman. He also does not need the secondary so why not equip the PPPP for extra health and no fall damage. Also the scattergun since it damages Hale the most.

Go Away! SHEESH! Scout

Force-a-nature (FaN)
Pistol (any secondary)
Sandman
This scout is going to usually be the last one alive in a round. The FaN does knockback on Hale and just enough so that Hale can't outrun the Scout. The scout also uses the Sandman to stun Hale getting even more ground agaisnt Hale. This scout well usually end up getting "solo-raged"

Troll Scout...

Baby-face-♥♥♥♥♥ (BFB) ((Baby-Face-Blaster))
BONK
Frying Pan (because you can never be annoying enough right?)
The point of this scout is to destroy the servers hope of ever playing again. The BFB is most likely the most hated weapon in Saxton Hale. And ever since the buff for this weapon, it's even more annoying. The scout runs SOOO FAST with this. And even when raged, still moves really fast. If the scout is in danger, why not drink BONK for a quick escape? Why not indeed... If you ever have to face one of these as Hale. The server well thank you if you solo rage him :D!

Soldier Loadouts

The Soldier has 3 different types of loadouts that help him not die from Hale.

***Jumping Soldier***

Black Box
Gunboats
Escape Plan
This soldier can jump while gaining health and doing very good damage. If you have no more health, you can gain more from the black box, or use it agaisnt Hale with the escape plan.

Spam Soldier

Cow mangler
Shotgun (anything)
Shovel (anything)
This Soldier is basically what his name is. he spams with the infinite ammo he has. This is a good loadout if you do not have any engis or ammo boxes on the map. Not very good damage however.

Precision Soldier

Direct Hit
Battalions backup
Half-Zatoichi
This is one of the hardest classes to use. But very rewarding. 2 hits from the crit direct hit well fill your rage meter. use it, then you become very resistant to Hale. Then use your Half-Zatoichi to gain Health back from Hale. However, be careful that you get 1 hit in from the Half-Zatoichi or youll have it stuck out. You also get +30 HP from the BB in this mode and plus your teamates get the buff from the BB as well. This means a Scout can survive a hit.

Pyro Loadouts

The Pyro Can be destructive if used correctly

Regular Pyro

Flamethrower
Detonator (sends you flying in this mode)
Powerjack
Just your typical pyro. can help the team with airblasting and do descent damage. Can also detonator jump and get away easily. (NOTE: in SH, the detonator jump is extremelly buffed)

***Damage Pyro***

Phlog
Detonator
Powerjack
The Phlog can be used very well in this mode. It gains mmmph meter very fast. then you become invulnerable while taunting. Then your fleshy, but if you can avoid his attack until you can taunt again you're golden. This pyro is meant to deal as much damage as possible.

Ranged Pyro

Degreaser
Shotgun
Powerjack
This Pyro does not like Hales fist. He'd rather airblast him away and pound at him with the shotgun. Good for support and distractions.

Demo Loadouts

The Demo in my opinion is the best class. Try him out for yourself using one of these classes and you well see what i mean.

Beginner Demoknight

Boots
Splendid Screen
EyeLander/Nessies-nine-Iron/Headtaker
This Demo loves to paddle Hale with his long stick. The Splendid Screen well break after Hale hits the Demo. After that you well not have your shield anymore. Once you get 4 heads you can move very fast and confuse Hale. You also have +37% range on the Eyelander and that really comes into help you fight Hale. At 5 heads your shield does max damage.

***Advanced Demoknight***

Loch-n-Load
Splendid Screen
EyeLander/Nessies-nine-Iron/Headtaker
This Loadout, if I do say, is the best loadout in Saxton Hale. It has so many options. But the best way to use this loadout is to get your 4 heads, or 5 if your a risk taker and your shield hasn't broke. Once you get the heads, you can bombard Hale with Pills from the Loch-n-load which deal MASSIVE dmg to Hale. around 360 I believe. Once hale gets to close try and juke him with a melee attack and keep running. If you have all 4 heads and a shield, you can take 3 hits before death. 3 or less heads with a shield, 2 hits. The major difference between this and a begginer loadout is that you aren't relying on the boots and HAVE to get 4 heads to be able to live 2 hits instead of getting 2 heads. Its worth it though.

Trap Demo

Loose Cannon
Scottish Resistance
Ullapool Caber
This Demo sets a crit sticky trap and gets to a vantage point using his other explosives and waits for Hale to stumble into his trap. Deals massive damage if Hale does not see. Also, you cannot detonate your stickies while raged.

Hoovy Loadouts

Ahh yes Mr. Pootis himself has basically 1 tactic. DAMAGE DAMAGE DAMAGE!!! Whats your weapon of choice? Pick 1 out of the 1 actual loadouts.

DPS Hoovy

Brass Beast
Sandvich :D
Gloves of Running Urgently
This hoovy is all DPS. The Brass beast is a powerful, powerful, very powerful gun when it has crits. The knockback is also insane with crits. If you have a medic and engi on your side when you go against Hale. Ohhh boy, hes gonna have a tough time fighting you. Especially if the medic ubers right before he inevitably rages you. BTW- watch out for weighdown.

Yup thats kind of it for heavy. nothing else really works...
.......
....
..
Ok fine. Here!

*****The Ultimate Hale Hoovy*****

Minigun (any minigun whatever)
Sandvich :D
Holiday Punch/Pan/Ham
PRETTY PRINCESS OUTFIT! ( should work in any official Saxton Server that has Halloween enabled)
pootis Pride
When I play heavy, you better believe I troll the hell out of people. I usually go heavy when a very good player is Hale and make friends. Might as well, your gonna die anyway. Go out with comedy.

Engineer Loadouts

The Engi can make a huge area of the map unaccesible to Hale with his big gun (sentry). Without his buildings, hes useless. SO BUILD!

***Nesting Engi***

Rescue Ranger
Wrangler
Jag
This Engi makes nests that Saxton has trouble destroying. A good engi well know to use his wrangler to sentry jump (something that you should practice to be able to get to vantage points). If you are on the ground with your buildings, chances are that Hale is gonna whoop your $^%. if you build in a hard to access place with a hight advantage you'll probably do some good damage before your fate comes. have teamates with you. A nest is better with a medic+heavy combo. and a demo with traps on your buildings.

Migrating Engi

Widowmaker
Pistol
Gunslinger
This Engi uses the mini sentry in order to focus on what his team needs more. He focuses more on teles and dsipensers/amps. More of a team Engi. And a mini sentry can be used more efficiently to knockback Hale in the right situations. It's also ALOT more annoying. Use the mini and your pistol to soak up damage on hale. I'd reccomend being good at melee skills since hale usually ignores mini sentries and comes straight for you. Your sentries explode after you die in this mode. Your dispensers and teles don't, however.

Medic Loadouts

The medics job is to counter rages and give the team the ability to outpout alot of damage by criting and ubering. All the mediguns are replaced by a medigun that lasts 50% longer, crits, and ubers. You'll always start at around 30% uber. There are really only 2 loadouts for the medic.

Healing Medic

Crusaders Crossbow
Medigun (super medi gun)
Amputator
This medic uses his tools to heal everyone. He'll have the uber usually built up but doesnt use it until he needs to. Other than that he's just healing people.

***Uber medic***

Stock (replaces syringe gun anyway)
Medigun (super medigun)
Uber-saw
This medic is more aggresive and usually well use the uber as soon as he sees Hale. A wise medic well use his uber on a heavy or demoknight (so he can gain his heads safely) or a spy.

Sniper Loadouts

The sniper has many different variations. There is 1 item i'd like to talk about before that though. the Bushwacka. In regular Saxton hale, this weapon allows you to climb up walls by attacking the walls. However, in some modded Hale servers (the ones I play on) the bushwacka does nothing. So keep that in mind.

***Scouting Sniper***

Sniper Rifle
SMG
Pan (why not?)
Basically I believe stock sniper is the best. The green outline is AMAZING on maps with alot of secret passage ways where Hale could be sneaking around.

Support Sniper

Sydney-Sleeper
Piss
Pan (why not?)
Throwing piss at Hale makes him less angry for whatever reason. But I'm not gonna argue with that. Just thow and cover him with piss and you are a good team supporter. Especially agaisnt a Hale that relies on rage.

Damage Sniper

Machina
Cozy Camper
Bushwacka (if it works!)
This sniper is about... damage... My fingers hurt from all this typing. Good job for making it this far :D. anyway, each time you take a shot make sure Mr. hale isn't looking right at you. Or your gonna be that breakfast steak he didn't get to eat.

Screwing Around Sniper

Huntsman (really... really?)
SMG
Pan (why not?)
You are bored aren't you. Whatever. Just don't be too aggresive with Hale with this loadout. Stay around your team mates and you might get 1 good shot in and do 400 or so damage.

Spy loadouts

The sneaky man comes in 2 loadouts that I find descent. Also, when you are cloaked or have the dead ringer active, If hale hits you, he well do exactly 62 damage.

***Sneaky***

L'etranger
knife
Invis Watch
Cloak and get behind Hale, uncloak, quick prayer, swing, FACESTAB!, cloak and run away. Don't just run in there though, take your time. The best times to get hale is when he's after a sentry or Hoovy. Never, EVER, EVER!!! go after Hale when he's in a melee battle. He'll always accidentaly hit you.

Aggresion

Enforcer
Big Earner
Dead Ringer
Used for when you just can't seem to backstab Hale. Just shoot him. Once you've done your fair share of damage with the revolver, then you can go for the backstab. (Fair share of damage is Hale's max health divided by however many players are on your team)

Advanced Saxton Tips

As you play as Saxton Hale there are some very clever ways you can get very clever players to die. These stunts however are sometimes hard to pull off. But when you do i hope that you have the Shred Alert at hand becuase you deserve it.

Lock-on-jump

Use the right click super jump while moving forward. While in the air use only a and d keys to circle around your target until you come to a landing and smash his head in. This is mainly used agaisnt enemies that are faster than you. If you get good at it, you'll have no trouble at fighting BFB's.

Lure

Pretty simple. If there is 100000 players chasing you, hide behind a corner you just turned. At least 1 idiot well follow you.

Jump Jump Jump

If there is a insane amount of demoknights on the enemy team, just keep jumping. Dont let them get there heads. Eventually you well be able to finish them off 1 by 1.

Noob trap

I've seen this work before. High five like your friendly, and the noob well come to melee you. Then come out of the high five and immediantly hit him. Only if they are newbish.

Death by Sentry

If an engi is on the same level of height as his sentry, move behind the engi and his sentry well kill him. Really funny if you can pull this off.

Glitches/Advantages (Updated Regularly)

This section well be on all the little glitches that you can use to your advantage in hale Also some little tips that well help to :)

Shield Surfing

Find a very steep slope as a demo with the shield. You can fly up it with charge and gain air. Makes for a very speedy retreat from Hale.

Capping

Looked down upon but sometimes you really need to do it. If the hale is hiding or if a player is hiding. Can't get blamed for that. Also it extends the time making the server go into overtime.

Teleportation Stuck

Some hales give up super jump for teleportation (Horserman Jr.) Sometimes when you teleport, you become stuck in a player. This can be very good or very bad. Very good usually means you caught a soldier or Scout in midflight and you kill them. Very bad usually means a medic has ubered the person your stuck in and a spy is continually backstabbing you. Thats not fun.

Telefrag

Get Hale to step over your teleporter exit and then take the entrance. You'll do 9001 damage. The ultimate Hale Skill.

***THE SHIELD GLITCH***

Note: This glitch only works in server where once you die, you turn into a ghost. This glitch allows you to have a shield as any class allowing you to take one extra hit and also able to charge using r+m2. or reload + alt fire. To do this insane glitch, once you die and turn into a ghost, switch to demo with a shield. Then, once you spawn back in as the demo, change to your prefered class. (I like soldier the best) You should have a shield wedged into your butt and also you should have the your demo's miscs on as well. If you are still alive at the end of the round with the shield still intact, you should be able to have the shield again the next round. Otherwise you well have to repeat the earlier steps.

The Bosses

There are too many bosses to count in Hale. Way to many. Most of them are really stupid. Like REALLY stupid. I well be doing the most known bosses. But first the abilities.

Superjumping/Teleporting

You'll either have 1 or the other but not both. Their both pretty much self-explanatory. Teleporting takes ALOT longer to recharge though.

Rage Ability

Gained by recieving damage and activated by taunting.

Stun Like i've said before it's like being stunned by the ghost on the event map. Can still move slowly but you have no weapon.

Uber Become invicible to damage. Not knockback though. If a pyro is airblasting you while you are ubered, you well remain ubered until he stops.

Gain Weapon Some bosses gain a weapon with limited ammo once they rage.

Area Effect of pain Some bosses kill/bleed/ignite enemies in a small area around them once they rage. (I hate that one) Devastating against the demos shield

Mix Some bosses have mixes of these types of rages. Like the christian brutal Sniper and the Vagineer.

So here are some bosses

Saxton Hale

The original. the most balanced in my opinion.
Weapon: fists
Ability: Super-Jump
Rage: Stun (large radius)
Has some pretty funny stuff to say while he's destroying your self-confidence.

Vagineer

His face looks like a.... yeah... very well thought out name.
Weapon: Wrench
Ability: Super-Jump
Rage: Stun (medium Radius) + Uber For a good while.
He can be a real pain if he spams his rage. Other than that, just like Saxton.

Horseless Headless Horseman Jr.

How did his dad even get it on with a girl? We'll never know I guess.
Weapon: Unusual Horseless Headless Horsemans Headtakers Axe
Ability: Teleport
Rage: Stun (Large Radius)
I've noticed teleportation usually teleports to an engineer. He has extra range so be careful. Get to high ground when facing this Boss.

Christian Brutal Sniper

Weapon: Tribalmans Shiv (no bleed)
Ability: Super-Jump
Rage: Stun (small Radius) + Gain Huntsman with 4 ammo.
Very good Boss. I love to tauntkill people with the Bow. Very fun to play since you can also talk.

Player Skill

Player skill has alot to do with this game. When you see a noob player step up to be Hale, you can do really good. When you see an admin play as Hale, you might as well type "explode" into the console because your gonna die. Not to brag but after 400 hours of this gamemode I am very good.
Just made this section to say that know who your facing and make a plan off of that.


That guy is probably an admin

Conclusion

Hope you learned more than your brain is capable of knowing. If this guide becomes popular enough expect alot of people using the shield glitch. It'll be great seeing heavies go 100mph. Anyway, enjoy getting destroyed by Saxton and i hope this guide well help.

If you could trade me and give me a couple of unusuals leave a like I would like that Alot! :D
also if you noticed that i missed something or wrote something thats wrong please let me know in the comments below. I also love constructive critism critisism critsm critisim.

Thanks 4 Reading
- Wheatley

[CalvinLol500]

Is there any way i can play as saxton BESIDES in the new summer gamemode? Im looking for a command or something.

[Frieren]

Best VSH loadout:

Fists
Soviet Gentleman
Heavy Lifter
Jungle Booty
Buffalo Steak Sandvich

[Goofy Goober]

Haloween bosses and admin aboosers.

[Tytonium]

x10 Hale randomizer rtd mvm

[Goofy Goober]

Hale isn't crazy enough, I play x10 Saxton Hale. For MLG Quickscopers only.

[arbabf]

Also, too many wills are spelt like well.

[arbabf]

You forgot Gabe Newell because HALFLIFE 3 CONFIRMED! his special ability 2g, fly wherever he shoots at, best for killing.

[Tytonium]

Portal 3? hahahahaha! good one!

[kotamine]

Wheatley, after that guide, I want to you come back from space c:

[RangedSpider]

ok