- Joined
- Oct 2, 2008
- Messages
- 502
I've got all three, and they've got advantages and disadvantages.
FAN: FAN fires 50% faster, does 20% less damage, but fires 20% more bullets. That comes out to 96% total damage. Point blank, it'll do roughly 100 damage. You can fire off both shots in about a second. That's 200 damage in less than a second. You catch someone off guard, they're dead. On the other hand, the scattergun does about 220 damage in slightly more than a second. Still very deadly, but not quite as instant as raining death from behind.
The difficult part of the FAN is getting the second hit to...well, hit. The first shot blows them away, so only about 80% of your second hit is fully absorbed. Which still does about 185 total, but if they're overhealed, even a scout survives that, as I recall.
It's more of an ambush weapon, but even that has it's flaws. It pushes them away, which alerts anyone around them of your presence. However, it's especially fun on pyros, because the crits do a heck of a lot and it pushes them backwards. And pyros are imbeciles that just W+M1 until you die, which makes you killing them a lot easier.
It's useful if you're equipping the Sandman simultaneously. The Sandman removes the Scout's second jump. However, the knockback from the FAN provides a kick that propels you further than a second jump, while not shooting you quite as high. For reference, I was able to cross the entire spawn in Blackmesa with one FAN shot.
BONK! (Soda can): I haven't used this one quite as much, so I'm not sure how it works around sentry infested areas. It forces third person view, which is an impairment, especially in small spaces like the Blackmesa vents. The cooldown time is noticeable, but still rather short. You're vulnerable in that state, however. I'd suggest equipping FAN if you're planning on using this. The kick should push people away from you and propel you backwards, assuming someone comes to crush your tiny little skull after your sentry dodging.
All in all, it's useful, but I'm personally sticking with the pistol. If the need arises to use BONK!, then I will. But the delay time between using BONK! and the actual effects make it implausible for instantaneous use, and therefore a horrible choice for normal combat.
Sandman: I love this weapon. It stuns everyone, including ubers. You hit the medic, goodbye heavy. You hit the heavy, he has to re-rev his gun. Goodbye uber effectiveness. Also functions as normal bat when you don't have the ball, including full damage.
Not only an offensive weapon. If you're being chased, stun them and run away. Sometimes that's the best option.
Stun + Both FAN barrels = death. Even for heavies.
Overall use: Only effective uber denial weapon so far. I can't stress this enough. If you're being overrun by ubers, start stunning them. However, you'll probably have to run to spawn to switch, so unless you've always got this out, you're rather limited. Fun ambush weapon as well.
Overall, these are all alternatives that either need to all be used at once, or none at all. So get good with your FAN jumping, because it's useful, and the Sandman is awesome. Usually.
***EDIT***: I forgot to mention. This is my general opinion based on my testings on bots and on the opinions and testing done by the community. This is in no way the definitive results on which weapon is better. I'm sure in a month or two we'll have a more general agreement.
FAN: FAN fires 50% faster, does 20% less damage, but fires 20% more bullets. That comes out to 96% total damage. Point blank, it'll do roughly 100 damage. You can fire off both shots in about a second. That's 200 damage in less than a second. You catch someone off guard, they're dead. On the other hand, the scattergun does about 220 damage in slightly more than a second. Still very deadly, but not quite as instant as raining death from behind.
The difficult part of the FAN is getting the second hit to...well, hit. The first shot blows them away, so only about 80% of your second hit is fully absorbed. Which still does about 185 total, but if they're overhealed, even a scout survives that, as I recall.
It's more of an ambush weapon, but even that has it's flaws. It pushes them away, which alerts anyone around them of your presence. However, it's especially fun on pyros, because the crits do a heck of a lot and it pushes them backwards. And pyros are imbeciles that just W+M1 until you die, which makes you killing them a lot easier.
It's useful if you're equipping the Sandman simultaneously. The Sandman removes the Scout's second jump. However, the knockback from the FAN provides a kick that propels you further than a second jump, while not shooting you quite as high. For reference, I was able to cross the entire spawn in Blackmesa with one FAN shot.
BONK! (Soda can): I haven't used this one quite as much, so I'm not sure how it works around sentry infested areas. It forces third person view, which is an impairment, especially in small spaces like the Blackmesa vents. The cooldown time is noticeable, but still rather short. You're vulnerable in that state, however. I'd suggest equipping FAN if you're planning on using this. The kick should push people away from you and propel you backwards, assuming someone comes to crush your tiny little skull after your sentry dodging.
All in all, it's useful, but I'm personally sticking with the pistol. If the need arises to use BONK!, then I will. But the delay time between using BONK! and the actual effects make it implausible for instantaneous use, and therefore a horrible choice for normal combat.
Sandman: I love this weapon. It stuns everyone, including ubers. You hit the medic, goodbye heavy. You hit the heavy, he has to re-rev his gun. Goodbye uber effectiveness. Also functions as normal bat when you don't have the ball, including full damage.
Not only an offensive weapon. If you're being chased, stun them and run away. Sometimes that's the best option.
Stun + Both FAN barrels = death. Even for heavies.
Overall use: Only effective uber denial weapon so far. I can't stress this enough. If you're being overrun by ubers, start stunning them. However, you'll probably have to run to spawn to switch, so unless you've always got this out, you're rather limited. Fun ambush weapon as well.
Overall, these are all alternatives that either need to all be used at once, or none at all. So get good with your FAN jumping, because it's useful, and the Sandman is awesome. Usually.
***EDIT***: I forgot to mention. This is my general opinion based on my testings on bots and on the opinions and testing done by the community. This is in no way the definitive results on which weapon is better. I'm sure in a month or two we'll have a more general agreement.
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