The Demoman … This class has three tools that no other class has: the Grenade Launcher, Pipebombs and the Detpack. All three do heavy damage over a radius *but* they are each suited for a different role.
The Grenade Launcher is an effective space control tool for when you don’t have time to seed an area with Pipebombs. You can’t instantly damage a hostile and deny them the ability to escape like you could with a Soldier’s RL, *but* the GL is excellent for pushing hostiles out of an area with the looming threat of splash damage. Smart* players don’t flee the splash area because they fear getting damaged *now*, they flee because they fear getting damaged when they’re too busy to avoid the splash area.
* That is to say, Players who don’t get hit by the splash.. 🙂
Pipebombs are effective for space control as well, but are meant for another role. While the Grenade Launcher is effective for pushing hostiles out of an area, Pipebombs are useful for preventing hostiles from entering that area in the first place. Even if a fast enough hostile can pass through it, a Pipe trap is enough of a threat to prevent hostiles from entering that area for a period of time.
However the Detpack is a more team oriented tool. Like a Grenade it threatens a large area and forces the other team to do something about it. Like a Pipe it purchases an area and prevents the other team from occupying it until the Detpack detonates or is defused. Unlike the GL and Pipe Launcher, the Detpack presents a personal risk to the Demoman. Because the Demoman must remain still to plant the Detpack and the Demoman must defend it until it can safely detonate (lest a hostile Scout defuse it), the Detpack requires a great deal of effort from the Demoman. Should the Demoman fail at any point in the process all effort is wasted. Should the process succeed and the Detpack detonates the entire team stands to benefit from the Demoman’s effort. To summarise the Detpack requires effort from a single player but has the potential to benefit that player’s entire team by denying a large area to the other team.
