This is a sequel/update to my post-JI post about weapon balance which can be found here

With Valve's 6v6 format more or less launched, there is no better time to discuss weapon balance in TF2. In community competitive, certain weapons are banned due to being overpowered in highly skilled hands, being bugged in some way, or just generally being overcentralising or uncompetitive. The Jungle Inferno balance changes addressed many of these weapons, and the subsequent Blue Moon update addressed more, but there are still a handful of problematic weapons that need to be addressed.

This list will focus on the banned weapons, but will also cover weapons generally seen as underpowered or underwhelming.

Scout Weapons

Soda Popper

The stats:

50% faster firing speed

25% faster reload speed

On Hit: Builds Hype

-66% Clip Size

Hype Mode takes 350 damage to fill, after which the Scout will be granted access to 10 seconds of 5 mid-air jumps.

The Problem:

On a per-shot basis, the Soda Popper does the same damage as the Scattergun. It also has a 50% faster firing speed, giving it far greater burst damage, albeit requiring better aim to do so. Add in the -66% clip size, and it seems obvious that this is designed to be a burst-damage weapon. However, the 25% faster reload speed, combined with the fact that it reloads both shells at the same time, means that it can actually deal higher DPS than the Scattergun, too. So, higher burst damage and DPS for no actual downside except slighly lower ammo, plus a Hype meter that grants an extremely powerful mobility boost to the Scout? No wonder this thing's banned in basically everything except Highlander.

Suggested Fix:

Just get rid of the 25% faster reload. This way it's still capable of high burst damage, but will have a lower overall DPS, like the Force a Nature.

Bonk! Atomic Punch!

The stats:

Replaces Pistol with consumable drink can.

When consumed, grants full invulnerability to all damage sources for 8 seconds. The Scout is unable to attack in this time. After the 8 seconds, the Scout is slowed down scaling by how much damage was negated by Bonk. Takes 24 seconds to regenerate.

The Problem:

Scout is a squishy class with little ability to break through chokepoints. The Bonk! allows him to break through with no risk to himself, giving him free positioning and allowing him to clear enemy Demomen's Sticky traps.

Suggested Fix:

The JI changes to this weapon were good, they reduced significantly the positioning ability that this weapon granted. It still has a potentially overpowered ability to clear Stickies, however. I suggest keeping the full bullet invulnerability, but reducing the explosive (and fire) resistances to 60%.

Crit-a-Cola

The stats:

Replaces Pistol with consumable drink can.

When consumed, grants mini-crits on user for 8 seconds. Marks user for 5 seconds after any attack during the 8 second duration. Takes 22 seconds to regenerate.

The Problem:

Scout already deals pretty high damage at point-blank range. The CaC increases your damage output by a minimum of 35%, by virtue of mini-crits ignoring damage falloff. This means that at mid-range, damage can increase by 50% or even more. The weapon itself is effectively an instant win card in a 1v1 against an enemy Scout, as you can one-shot them without being marked for death beforehand. The marked for death downside only really shows itself in fights against tankier enemies.

Suggested Fix:

Whilst the JI changes were certainly a good idea, they unfortunately don't quite punish the user for mistakes as much as they need to for such a powerful upside. I suggest making the user take mini-crits for the entire duration, plus 2 seconds afterward. Alternatively, remove the mini-crit boost entirely and re-add the old 25% movement speed on wearer.

Flying Guillotine

The stats:

Replaces Pistol with throwable Cleaver.

Cleaver deals 50 damage at any range, and inflicts 5 seconds of bleed for an additional 40 damage. The Cleaver takes 6 seconds to regenerate, but will be sped up by 1.5 seconds by a long-range hit.

The Problem:

The Cleaver is capable of outputting extremely high damage at any range, and reloads passively. In the hands of skilled players who are unlikely to miss their shots, the Cleaver can easily kill a far-off weakened enemy.

Suggested Fix:

The removal of the crits on stunned targets mechanic did tone down the damage this weapon could deal, but it didn't go far enough. I suggest reducing the damage to 40, and reducing the bleed to 3 seconds, resulting in a max damage of 64.

Winger

The stats:

15% more damage

25% jump height when active

-60% clip size

The Problem:

This weapon isn't actually problematic at all in competitive, and this suggested rework is based more on personal preference than anything. The Winger used to synergise really well with the Atomiser, but the synergy was mostly removed in Jungle Inferno, and completely removes in Blue Moon.

Suggested Fix:

25% jump height also applies when holding melee. Whilst this does technically go against the recent trend of removing any mobility-increasing effects that don't require the weapon providing the effects to be wielded, I don't think the change is significant enough to cause any issues.

Mad Milk

The stats:

Replaces Pistol with throwable milk bottle.

Splashes on contact with the world or a player, coating all enemies in the splash radius with milk for 10 seconds. Hitting a coated enemy will return 60% of all damage dealt to you as health, but cannot overheal. Takes 20 seconds to regenerate.

The Problem:

Like the CaC, this weapon acts as an insta-win card in 1v1s. The passive reload and single-fire nature makes it easy to throw before a 1v1, and the health regen makes it nearly impossible to kill you. However, this weapon can also be used to coat multiple enemies, which in a 6v6 can essentially win any teamfight.

Suggested Fix:

The splash radius for this thing is huge. I recommend reducing it by 50%, but also removing the line-of-sight check to prevent a few edge cases where players can appear to be in the splash zone but aren't coated. (Gullywash 2nd has an area known for swallowing throwables.)

Currently the milk can be removed early by submerging yourself in water, touching a resupply cabinet, or being healed by a Medic or Dispenser for 2.5 seconds. I suggest adding Airblast, Health Packs and the Thermal Thruster blast as additional ways to remove it early. I also suggest changing the healing requirements to 1 second, to be consistent with afterburn.

A possible third change I'd like to suggest is making the health regen apply the same ramp-up as the Medi gun healing does. What that would mean is that if you have taken damage in the last 10 seconds, you'll only recover 20% of the damage dealt, and will only be able to recover the full 60% if you have not taken damage in the last 30 seconds.

Soldier Weapons

Cow Mangler 5000

The stats:

Does not require ammunition.

Alt fire launches a projectile that mini-crits enemy players, sets them on fire for 6 seconds, and disables buildings for 4 seconds.

-Alt fire requires (and consumes) a full clip.

-80% damage vs buildings.

The Problem:

Soldier's ability to spam out a choke-point is high, due to his large splash damage. This ability is balanced by a low clip size, long reload time, and a small-ish Rocket reserve. The removal of ammunition means that a CM5K Soldier can endlessly spam out a choke far more effectively than another Soldier.

What makes this weapon unique is its charge shot. But having to reload 4 times between shots leaves little chance of follow up shots.

Ultimately this weapon functions pretty much the same as the Rocket Launcher, except a bit more spammy and not as good against bulidings. It has no real niche to occupy, and the charge is underwhelming.

Suggested Fix:

Decrease the spamming ability of the weapon by reducing the clipsize by 25%. This passively buffs the charge shot by making it require 3 reloads instead of 4. Add in a min-crits burning enemies on normal shots and full crits on burning enemies for charged shots and it should give the weapon a niche.

The B.A.S.E Jumper

The stats:

Replaces Shotgun with toggleable parachute that slows descent. -50% air control when active.

The Problem: Whilst for most users this is a gimmicky and underwhelming 'weapon', skilled users can reliably dodge 2 enemy rockets whilst rocket-jumping.

Suggested Fix:

Remove ability to retract parachute completely. Remove air control reduction when activated.

Pyro Weapons

Backburner

The stats:

100% critical hits from behind (uses 90deg cone instead of 180deg).

150% Airblast cost

-No random critical hits (missing from item description)

The Problem:

This weapon isn't banned in 6s, so this is primarily just my thoughts on the weapon. The other weapons that give bonus damage when attacking from behind deal relatively low damage from the front. Spy Knives deal only 40 damage per attack, and the Backscatter has 20% reduced accuracy to make it less effective in frontal attacks. The Backburner functions exactly the same as the Flamethrower from the front. The more expensive airblasts does prevent the Pyro from reflecting many projectiles, but it also discourages the Pyro from extinguishing teammates.

Suggested Fix:

Add a -10% damage penalty to make frontal attacks not as viable, to encourage Pyros to actually flank with this thing. Change the 150% airblast cost to 50%. Actually put the no random crits attribute in the description.

Manmelter

The stats:

50% projectile speed

Does not require ammo

Alt-fire constantly exinguishes nearby teammates

Extinguishing a teammate grants a free crit, and restores 20 HP

-No random crits

The Problem:

Again, the Manmelter isn't banned, it's here because it's just painfully bad. It lacks the combative ability of the Flare Gun, the mobility of the Detonator, and the crowd control of the Scorch Shot. Its only real draw is the ability to extinguish teammates, making it only useful alongside the Phlogistinator or the Backburner. The weapon also lacks any visible reload animation, making it difficult to know when you can shoot the thing.

Suggested Fix:

Give it mini-crits on burning enemies. Also give it an actual reload animation, or a cooling off animation, or a recharge bar.

Gas Passer

The stats:

Replaces Shotgun with throwable canister of petrol.

Produces a cloud of gas that lasts for 'several' seconds (thanks wiki). Any enemy that enters the cloud is doused in petrol for 10 seconds. If the enemy receives any damage during this time, they are ignited for 10 seconds, resulting in 80 Afterburn damage. The Gas Passer regenerates passively over 60 seconds, and can be filled by dealing 750 damage.

The Problem:

Once again, not banned, just mindbogglingly bad. The effect is very underwhelming, and requires a ridiculous amount of time and/or damage or charge. The petrol itself required 5 seconds of healing to be removed, but the resulting afterburn takes only one second. The player also spawns with the meter completely empty.

Suggested Fix:

Reduce the burn damage required to 300, and reduce the time taken to regen passively to 30 seconds. Make ignition automatically deal 20 damage, bringing total damage up to 100 (plus the damage that caused the ignition). Make the effect removeable by 1 second of healing, Airblast, Thermal Thruster blast, and water. Also have the player be considered wet for interaction with the Neon Annihilator.

Demoman Weapons

Ali Baba's Wee Booties/Bootlegger

The stats:

Replaces Grenade Launcher with wearable shoes

25 max HP on wearer

200% increase to turning control when charging

Melee kills refill 25% of your charge meter

10% faster move speed on wearer (if using a shield)

The Problem:

Again, not banned, just personal preference. To a Demoknight this weapon is invaluable. But, to a Demoman using a Stickybomb launcher, this unlock grants a measly 25 more HP.

Suggested Fix: Give the weapon a Gunboat-esque stat of -30% damage from explosive jumps. Also make the speed boost take effect if using the Sticky Jumper.

B.A.S.E Jumper

See the Soldier section

Ullapool Caber

The stats:

Splits normal melee damage into two segments: a swing and an explosion.

While head is intact, hitting an enemy will cause an explosion, damaging the Demoman and all nearby enemies. This explosion has a base damage of 75, and always originates at the feet of the Demoman.

-Head is destroyed upon hitting an ememy, and requires a resupply cabinet to regenerate.

-20% slower firing speed

-100% slower switch-to speed

-No random crits

-10 base damage (not even listed in description)

The Problem:

Again, not banned, it's underpowered. This thing used to be able to deal in excess of 125 damage if the head was intact, due to a 100 base damage explosion. This made in useful for terrorising enemy Snipers. However, it could also 1-shot Scouts, Engineers and Spies. Now it's only really useful for killing weakened enemies or for half-demoknighting, and even then the -100% switch-to speed kills it.

Suggested Fix:

Give it mini-crits while explosive jumping to allow for Sniper terrorising once more. Also reduce switch-to penalty to 50% longer. Also list the decreased base damage?

Heavy Weapons (teehee)

Natascha

The stats:

On hit, slows enemies movement. Supposed to scale by distance, but is currently broken.

20% damage resistance when spun up and below 50% max HP (effect actually takes place if damage would put Heavy below 50% HP).

-25% damage per bullet

30% longer spin-up time.

The Problem:

The slowdown effect currently gives maximum slow-down regardless of range. This is a bug introduced in Blue Moon.

Suggested Fix:

Patch the bug.

Fists of Steel

The stats:

-40% damage from ranged sources when active

100% damage from melee sources when active

100% holster time

-40% healing on wearer (only applies when active)

-40% overheal on wearer (only applies when active, slightly buggy)

The Problem:

Before Jungle Inferno, this was banned due to the extremely high tanking potential a FoS Heavy had. An Overhealed Heavy had an effective 750 HP, with an effective 40 HP/s healing. After Jungle Inferno, both new downsides were either buggy or simply non-functional. These new attributes have now been mostly fixed, there is only one minor case of error. The new FoS Heavy still has an effective HP of 650, with effective 24HP/s healing. This is still far too much potential for damage tanking.

Suggested Fix:

Increase both new downsides to -70%

The Heavy will still have an effective 575 HP when overhealed, which is much more manageable. The effective health regen will be reduced to 12HP/s.

Reduce the 100% slower holster speed to 50%.

Eviction Notice

The stats:

15% movement speed when active.

40% swing speed.

On hit, gain a 3 second, 35% speed boost (on top of 15% move speed boost).

-60% damage per hit.

-Maximum HP drains constantly at 5/s when active. (not in description)

-Instant 20HP reduction to max HP when switched to. (not in description)

-Regenerates max HP at roughly 1/3 of the rate of the Gloves of Running Urgently (seemingly not documented anywhere)

The problem:

Again, not banned, just bad. Before Jungle Inferno, this weapon was a utility that allowed Heavy to move slighly faster when wielded. Heavies using it would switch to it when out of combat, and switch away when they detected an enemy. Having to compete against the GRU did hurt this weapon somewhat, but it was still generally better in small maps, lacking the mark-for-death for 2 seconds that the GRU did.

The Jungle Inferno change to the GRU was generally seen as a positive one, and one that encourages Heavies to use other melees. However, the devs decided to implement the same changes on the EN, to keep it as a sort of GRU-lite. However, the change was objectively a failure and the weapon is now inferior to the GRU for mobility regardless of distance traveled/time saved.

The -5 max HP/s does hurt it a little, but the change isn't necessarily a death sentence for the EN. The immediate -20 max HP does sting a lot more, because it forces the old quick-switching mechanic into unusability. The real kicker, though, is the rate at which the Heavy regains max HP after switch. For some incomprehensible reason, the Eviction Notice recovers health at less than half the rate that the GRU does. So regardless of what distance you want to travel, whether it's 10m (previously the EN's stomping ground) or 50m (where the GRU was always better), the GRU will get you there faster and with more health.

Suggested Fix:

If the devs don't want to just revert the JI changes (which would arguably be the best way to change it), they could remove the -20 Max HP on switch-to, and make the max HP regen rate equal to that of the GRU. That way it'd have the short distance runs over the GRU.

Engineer Weapons

Pomson 6000

The stats:

Shoots a projectile instead of a shotgun blast. Projectile moves in a straight line, cannot be airblasted, and does not penetrate enemies.

The bolt has an unlisted -33% damage penalty at point-blank, dealing only 60 damage to the Shotgun's 90. However, because the Pomson does not have bullet spread, it can actually deal more damage at long range (31 vs 3).

Projectile does not require ammo.

Projectile cannot be reflected.

Projectile removes up to 20% cloak when hitting enemy Spies, scaling by distance.

Projectile removes up to 10% Uber when hitting enemy Medics, scaling by distance.

-33% Clip size (not mentioned in description).

-80% damage vs buildings.

The Problem:

Being able to remove enemy Ubercharge is a bad idea. It's just a massive screw-you to Medics, and doesn't even necessarily benefit the Engineer. Same goes for the Spy cloak removal. The weapon itself is also extremely underwhelming, being a low-damage, slow moving projectile that doesn't even penetrate enemies.

Suggested Fix:

Remove Cloak and Uber drain, increase base damage by 50%, re-implement the old enemy penetration.

Rescue Ranger

The stats:

Shoots a projectile instead of a shotgun blast. Projectile arcs, but is not slowed by air resistance. Can be airblasted, does not penetrate enemies.

The bolt has an unlisted -33% damage penalty at point-blank, dealing only 60 damage to the Shotgun's 90. However, because the Rescue Ranger does not have bullet spread, it can actually deal more damage at long range (21 vs 3).

The bolt can heal any ally building for up to 60 HP. This does not scale by range.

The healing bolt delivers more heal-per-metal than the Wrench (4-1 instead of 3-1)

With alt-fire, the Engineer can pick up any of his own buildings from any range. This requires (and consumes) 100 Metal.

-33% clip size

-50% reserve ammo on wearer

-Marked for death when hauling a building, even if the building was picked up by hand.

The Problem:

The Rescue Ranger lacks in self-defence, but it makes up for it in utility. Before Jungle Inferno, the weapon provided 5 distinct utilities:

• Healing buildings at range

• Healing buildings actively taking damage without putting yourself in the firing line

• Healing buildings for no metal

• Picking up buildings at range for added mobility

• Picking up buildings at range actively taking damage to rescue them from potential destruction

The problems with this weapon stemmed from 2 and 5.

Normally, if the enemy team pushes into your Sentry, generally with an Ubered Soldier/Demoman/Heavy, you have two choices. You can close the distance to your Sentry, and repair it with your Wrench. You can repair a whopping 102 damage per swing, for a constant 127.5 heal/s. However, doing this places you right next to your Sentry, which usually means that an intelligent enemy can just target you first, then destroy your Sentry.

Your other choice is to back away from your Sentry (Technically there's a third choice to help your Sentry with your Shotgun, but that isn't applicable to an Uber push). You will not be able to heal your Sentry, so you will rely solely on its own health to tank the Uber push. Your Sentry is far more likely to be destroyed in this case, but you yourself will not be in the firing line.

The Rescue Ranger adds a third (fourth) choice: back away and heal. That's right, you can heal your Sentry like the first option, but stay out of danger like the second. Your bolts heal 60 damage, resulting in 96 heal/s until your clip runs out (If emptying and then reloading entire clip, it's 60 heal/s). You can repair potentially more than 50% of the incoming damage, and the enemy can't even take you out.

There is also the problem of being able to pick up a building taking fire, but I'd say that's pretty reasonable and balanced. You're slowed, marked for death, unable to attack, and have to wait for your Sentry to redeploy.

The Jungle Inferno update removed utility #3 (healing for no metal), but didn't touch the real issue, utility #2 (healing at range).

Suggested Fix:

Re-implement the free healing. It wasn't problematic, it just made it easier to heal off chip damage while conserving metal. Make the healing bolt apply a modified version of the medic healing ramp-up that the Medi gun uses. If your Sentry has been damaged in the last 5 seconds, it receives -66% healing from RR bolts. The healing ramps up to 100% over the next 5 seconds.

Also, remove the marked for death when hauling a building picked up by hand.

Wrangler

The stats:

Replaces the Pistol with a radar dish with a joystick.

When active, your Sentry will aim where you are aiming. It will not shoot bullets or rockets unless you are pressing down the relevant buttons (M1 for bullets, M2 for rockets).

When active, your Sentry gains a shield around it that blocks 66% of all incoming damage.

When active, your Sentry fires bullets at twice the normal rate. Rockets are fired about 50% more frequently.

After switching away, your Sentry maintains the shield for 3 seconds.

-When shielded, your Sentry receives 66% less healing and ammo from all sources.

-Your sentry is unable to fire for 3 seconds after switching away (most likely at least 0.5 seconds more, due to the Sentry looking down when disabled and needing to lock onto an enemy to begin firing).

The Problem:

A level 3 Sentry Gun has 216 health, just 16 more than a Soldier. As such, it is not great at tanking damage, and dies fairly quickly to focus fire. The Wrangler allows the Engineer to increase its effective health to 648. This isn't enough to be a huge issue in 12v12 or even Highlander (9v9), where the Sentry still dies quickly to several enemies shooting at it. But in 6v6, it's difficult to get half your team to focus a Sentry when there's 6 enemy players trying to kill you. The tanking ability is just too much in small teams.

Suggested Fix:

The obvious solution would be to simply cut down the resistance to a more manageable amount, like 40%. However, I personally advocate for a 'ramp-down' mechanic, where the resist shield decays over time. The shield could start at 66%, or even higher, and after a second or two begin to decay down to 20%, or even completely disappear. It could still be used to defend against Sticky traps, but would be far less effective against continued spam.

Short Circuit

The stats:

Replaces the Pistol with a futuristic metal Probe.

The Primary fire of this weapon deals 10 damage, consumes 5 metal, and has a range of 1 picometre.

The Secondary fire launches a projectile that deals 35 damage, consumes 65 metal and deletes any projectile it hits.

The Probe-lem: The secondary fire looks cool, but it does pretty low damage for what it costs, and the primary fire is actually useless.

Suggested Fix:

Remove the primary fire, move secondary fire to M1.

New primary fire deals 50 damage instead of 35, and has an 80% damage reduction to buildings.

New primary fire consumes 55 metal instead of 65 (can still only fire 3 times).

New primary fire has doubled range over current secondary fire.

Primary fire disables enemy buildings for 4 seconds (because it's a short circuit, get it?)

Now the weapon can be used to delete enemy projectiles, but can also be used to flank behind the enemy, disabling any Sentries that might actually be smarter than their human teammates and shoot at you, and now synergises well with the Eureka Effect (Can get behind enemy lines easier, and will have 25 metal to build a tele even if you used the Short Circuit 3 times).

Medic Weapons

Crusader's Crossbow

The stats:

Replaces Syringe Gun with single-fire Crossbow. Bolts from the Crossbow travel much faster and further, have less drop, and can heal allies.

The projectile uses a reverse damage falloff, dealing more damage at range. At point-blank it deals 38 (Syringe Gun deals 12), and at long range it does 75 (Syringe Gun does 5). If the projectile hits an ally they will be healed by 75 at point-blank, and 150 at long range.

The projectile can build Uber on heal, and uses the same ramp as the Medi gun.

-75% reserve ammo on user.

-Projectile can be airblasted.

The Problem:

This weapon isn't banned in comp, but there's no denying that it's the best primary for Medic, hands down. It provides healing at ranges outside the Medi gun's range, and can allow you to heal at a higher HP/s thanks to its burst healing and passive reload. However, the CC can not only heal faster than the Medi gun by itself, but it can also build Uber faster.

Suggested Fix:

Removing the Uber build on heal entirely would at least make the Medic consider the other options before picking the Crossbow. Medics over-using the Crossbow would find themselves building Uber slower than their opposing Medic, due to not being able to heal as much damage with the Medi gun. Alternatively, the devs could even add a passive -10% Uber build rate to the Crossbow.

Vaccinator

The stats:

67% Uber build rate.

3 maximum Ubercharges stored.

-10% damage from a selected damage type when healing a patient, applies to patient and Medic, can be cycled by reloading.

Uber grants full crit resistance, and a 90% resistance to the selected damage type.

Resist shield can be cycled during Uber.

-33% Uber build on overhealed allies.

-66% overheal build rate.

-68.75% Uber duration (2.5s instead of 8s).

The Problem:

The Vaccinator builds Uber very quickly, and can store up to 4 charges. This means you can usually assume the enemy Medic has Uber. That's not necessarily the issue, however. The problem stems from the nature of the Uber. Being able to resist 1 damage type is powerful, but not game-breaking in 12v12/Highlander. There are more than enough people to focus down a heal target. But in 6v6, being attacked by multiple enemies is rare, and even rarer is the chance that one will use bullets and the other will use explosives. And even if that happens, the Medic can keep popping Ubers and toggling them between the resists as needed.

Suggested Fix:

Originally I suggested scrapping the existing resist shield mechanic completely, and turning the Vaccinator into an overhealing machine. I have since come up with new mechanics that keep the resist shield intact, whilst circumventing the issues that it causes in 6v6.

First of all: Uber now lasts 6 seconds instead of 2 and a half. The passive resist has now increased to 15% (this prevents a Machina bodyshot kill if using bullet resist).

The Medic cannot toggle resist shields during Uber. If the Medic attempts to, the resist will change as soon as the Uber wears off.

-2 max resist shields stored.

67% Uber build rate changed to 50%

There is a 2 second cooldown between Ubers.

Ubersaw

The stats:

On hit, gain 25% Uber

-20% swing speed

The Problem: The Ubersaw is often explained as a risk vs reward weapon. The Medic places himself in danger, but gains an Uber advantage for doing so. The problem is that the risk originates entirely from being within melee range of an enemy, and is not increased in any way by virtue of holding the Ubersaw. It offers an extremely powerful upside for an inconsequential downside.

Suggested Fix:

Add passive -5 max HP.

Sniper Weapons

Jarate

The stats:

Replaces SMG with throwable mason jar filled with urine

Splashes on contact with the world or a player, coating all enemies in the splash radius with urine for 10 seconds. Hitting a coated enemy will mark them for death for the 10 second duration, and will also distort and tint their vision. Takes 20 seconds to regenerate, but extinguishing a teammate reduces it by 4 seconds.

The Problem:

Like the Mad Milk, the radius for this thing is huge. It allows you to potentially coat an entire team for 10 seconds, which can easily win you the fight. It's also pretty powerful in 1v1s, especially with the Bushwacka.

Suggested Fix:

Reduce the radius by 50%, remove line-of-sight check. Jarate can be removed by airblast, Thermal Thruster blast, 1 second of healing instead of 5, and health packs. Extinguishing teammates reduces cooldown by 10 seconds instead of 4.

Cozy Camper

The stats:

4 HP on wearer per second. Decreases if Sniper has taken damage recently.

No flinching when scoped and fully charged.

Knockback reduced by 20% when scoped.

-No SMG, because of course having a backpack reduces your ability to carry things.

The Problem:

The Cozy Camper forces the user to permascope to get any significant advantage from it, and even when permascoped it's not that useful. In addition, the whole no-flinch thing makes Sniper even more powerful than he currently is. The suggested rework should make the Sniper more independent and self-sufficient.

Suggested Fix:

Remove flinch immunity altogether.

Increase knockback resistance when scoped to 40%

100% reserve ammo for primary weapon.

Spy Weapons

The Ambassador

The stats:

Critical hits on headshot

-15% damage

-20% slower firing speed

-No random crits

-Critical damage decays based on range

-No headshot bonus past 1200 HU

The Problem: I personally believe the JI nerf was completely justified. The weapon was a direct upgrade at all ranges in skilled hands, and could deal insane damage at range. However, I do concede that the nerf went too far.

Suggested Fix: Keep the falloff, clamp the minimum damage at mini-crit damage (46 damage).

Diamondback

The stats:

Grants one free critical hit for each successful sap or backstab, can store up to 35 crits.

-15% damage penalty.

-No random crits.

The Problem:

The weapon occupies no niche and is just a general-use primary. Getting free crits for doing what you should already be doing as Spy is a very powerful ability, and the -15% damage doesn't weigh well against it.

Suggested Fix:

Rather than adding a downside or toning down the upside, I'm suggesting a completely new design:

Shots disable buildings for up to 0.8 seconds, scaling by distance from the building.

50% faster cloaking and decloaking

-40% damage vs buildings

-15% damage penalty

Conclusion

Thanks for taking the time to read through my post. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.