@@HurricaneBadyThe direct hit also deals mini-crits to players how where thrown in the air. So you can just shoot peoples with another rocket to deal more damage. Though to be fair to Fish in some of his clips he was out of rockets.
@dextra_24703 it would in casual servers, since random bullet spread is on and that makes guns way less accurate than they otherwise would be. But with fixed bullet spread it's fine.
I thought random bullet spread was still within the boundaries of the gun's spread... Does it actually just. Completely rabdomize everything but the center? Because the way people discuss it has me wondering if pellets like, go backwards 1% of the time or something.
I remember years ago when SoundSmith first made his hat stereotypes series, and not particularly relating to any of the examples he showcased in his videos outside of the super widespread stuff like the gibus. Then he got to pyro and mentioned the ":3" spamming reserve shooter pyros and I had never had a stronger PTSD flashback in my entire life.
7:06 I think the funniest thing imaginable has to be FSOAS getting three random crits nullified in a fight with a Batallion's Backup soldier, followed immediately by a segment about how the Reserve Shooter can randomly crit
I find the reserve shooter to be a nice, safe option for Pyro. It doesn't really excel at any aspect for him but it covers his bases pretty well. Whilst I do wish it had more of an identity like the combo shotgun it was meant to be, I also agree with reluctancy to give this thing proper combo potential with Pyro that isn't situational.
@@pyroman4554 Especially since pretty much every Demo and Soldier sticky/rocket jumps nowadays near constantly. I see so many people doing crazy rollouts now, its wild. It's way more common now that the game's pretty old.
Some people like the shotguns because of the reliable back up damage for the soldier, a way to deal with pyros(airblast for soilder and fire resist for pyro mirror match). some like the finishing damage and combo damage. For me I like the sounds of the firing, the pump and reloading.
I use it HEAVILY for ammo management. Running out of rockets before you run out of enemies is functionally a death sentence for the second slowest class in the game on foot. Not to mention the first rocket being a slower reload on top of that. One rocket, one or two shotgun shells and most things die and I still have 300~ damage in my pocket to use in case of more targets. It makes sustainability in a direct confrontation much much more reliable with the extra 360 damage you have on the side. You go from 360 in rockets to 720 with shells on the side. Making things like fighting combos or multiple enemies much easier on the math side. Not to mention making jumpy scouts easier to swat, Pyro GamersTM easier to engage and giving yourself much better options in very close quarters fights where you very well blow yourself up as much as the enemy. In summary; I can’t even use gunboats anymore, I feel so damage choked.
On soldier and pyro it's also an anti-vaccinator tool. Yeah, it doesn't do anything magical but if you're stuck fighting against a vaccinated enemy combo you can at least wipe the smug grin off their faces and make them either take big damage or force them to pop a bullet bubble in addition to the blast or fire bubble that they assumed would be enough to kill you.
I use the reserve shooter as simply that. A reserve to fall back on. The switch speed is useful when it comes to using the degreaser. The minicrits when someone rocket jumps is just an added bonus in my eyes.
Honestly, the dopamine rush you get when you manage to juggle some poor guy up straight with a rocket only to follow it with a Reserve Shooter minicrit makes it worth equipping from time to time. It's arguably as nutty as a Pyro Flare crit, not as much as the Axtinguisher though...
I hope you keep making more TF2 weapon content in the future. I want to ask, do you plan on making a remake of the old Bad Weapon Acadamy videos when TF2 updates and changes the weapons discussed? I would like to see that as potential future content
14:32 Fish, surely you can't be telling me that 12s and 6s are significantly different from each other, and that weapons balanced in one mode may not be as balanced in another. You're crazy, dude.
One of the most satisfying things you can pull off with this gun is when you pair it with the cowmangler’s charge shot. Combing a minicrit burning charge shot into a minicrit shotgun blast is so unbelievably satisfying. Although it is super difficult to pull off, it’s amazing to just melt a full health heavy in seconds with this combo
If you can defend the Reserve Shooter on Pyro, I wonder if it's possible to defend the Half Zatoichi on Soldier. Everybody knows it's one of the best swords for Demoknight, but nobody uses it on Soldier.
It's because the honourbound mechanic is so punishing on soldier and so negligible on demo. If a demoknight doesn't get a kill with it he'll probably die anyway but on balance demo is far more likely to get a kill with it if he commits, whereas poor soldier can be cucked out of healing by a teammate and then be stuck running to a health pack or spawn with only his melee and become an even easier target. Why even fish probably can't defend it is because they serve different purposes for each class, sustain for demoknight, and last resort heal for soldier, but the stats make it antithetical for soldier's purposes. Honestly I think it needs an escape plan/equalizer scenario where the weapons are split, use the bloodied version for soldier and give it more useful stats and keep the original for demo, but also preserve the duelling mechanic. If it were to be kept the same weapon I think change the healing to 75% of missing health to make it a good sustain weapon but not OP, and remove the honourbound mechanic in favour of a short speed boost on deploying (capped so it doesn't benefit demo) and a speed reduction after the speed boost ends (again capped so it doesn't punish soldier) unless you get a kill. That way it doesn't benefit demo with insane kill-chains, but still punishes him if he messes up, it provides a benefit to soldier but he isn't punished as hard for missing or getting cucked. Whilst it may seem like a straight upgrade for soldier I'd argue it'd still play second fiddle to the escape plan and market gardener. If that's too complicated then I'd say replace the take 50 damage for being marked for death for 5 seconds, but that's less interesting imo.
@@captainweekend5276 honorbound only goes into effect if you don't get a kill, it'd make sense to treat the HZ as a finisher to give you the health buff on a weakened opponent like a 3x shot heavy or a 2x shot demo, or just 3x HZ melee any light.
It got a semi revival with VSH mode. As long as you can keep landing swings, you will overheal and become very tanky. And with bat's backup, you can facetank hale and continue swinging at him. I know this barely counts but hey, at least it's viable in one game mode.
I do use it on Soldier, but it's mostly because I have a weeb loadout to be fair... It gets some sort of redemption with the concheror's charge though. It's absolutely brainless and does require the element of surprise. But every now and then it works... and hilarity ensues.
Zatoichi + conch is actually super fun if you can get it to work. You can blow the conch then bomb in on a lower health class, softening them up and bringing them closer to you with a rocket shot behind them, then use the zatoichi to heal back the health you lost in the rocket jump. If you are overhealed from it you can then continue the chain until the conch buff wears off. It’s all in all a fun unique strategy
Used to use reserve shooter as a more accurate panic attack substitute. A little tip: as long as enemy gamer is in the air and damaged by explosives it counts as launched in the air by the game. So if someone was jumping up or jumping of a ledge or jumping while trying to surf the explosion while even being lightly splashed you can get the damage boost)
There was a Pyro main actually defending this gun, a He/him furry I believe. And he actually tested this weapon, just like you. Okay, so the one that I was describing was Fluffals, but the one that I was thinking of was Unusual Sandwich. I don't either of them are it. Actually, I just tried to look up the furry TF2uber and I found TheWhat defending this weapon. Funke also defended it. Also, when you were at the satisfying part of 12:35, I giggled like Lupin the 3rd.
I'm glad you thought of the combo that I thought of, degreaser + reserve shooter + enemy explosive projectile. I love the idea of that. "You dare use my own spells against me?" plus "Nerf? Never met 'em"
Mini-crits on airblast can never really be balanced for how easy it is to spam and launch people with it. For Pyro to have any mini-crit condition he can activate himself on the Reserve Shooter, it would need something else.
or you could change the upside to when a target is in the air, for any reason, putting some pressure on the enemy to make sure they stay with their two feet on the ground, but of course for such a versatile upside, a general downside should go with it, such as -66% clip size instead of -33%, making it extremely detrimental for longer combats
@@ShakerSilverIn the video, airblasting a rocket into a Reserve Shooter combo works, but it needs an explosive class on the enemy's side. I think an airblast from the Dragon's Fury specifically can work, though. It has a 1.5s cooldown, yeah?
@@SyRose901 on the dragons fury specifically it would be more viable to just shoot again instead of airblasting, since it deals such high burst damage (for pyro standards lmao)
The Reserve Shooter Pyro: Wow, I just managed to coordinate well enough with my friendly Pyro to land a sick shotgun critical kill on that Soldier he launched into the air with a reflected rocket. I hope my teammate feels the same way about our combined accomplishment! The Other Pyro, holding a Flaregun: fucker stole my kill
actually i have found the reserve shooter to me amazing with the dragons fury, since with the dragons fury you tend to be further away from people because of the extra range, which makes the panic attack useless, and on top of that airblasting rockets into peoples feet while using the flamethrower that nobody airblasts with is amazing
I always liked this thing on pyro, even without the airblast bonus. I did kind of use it as a side version of the panic attack without the constant switching. I also just use it to counter other pyros by blasting them away and taking some potshots before they can be in range while their flares or thrower can't do as much.
Pyro: "Armph ram mrph rm ramh phr mrhmph." Soldier: "Remember what we used to say?" Airborne enemy: "Don't do it!" Soldier & Pyro: "Jackpot."/"Mrphpmmh."
Liberty launcher + reserve shooter is truly an underrated combo. I used to play with this combo a lot and its really really fun when you perfectly launch enemy in air with liberty launcher and finish them with reserve shooter its like a mortal kombat fatality
When I was a sweat at TF2, this was my favorite combo weapon. At close-medium range, it instantly kills most light to medium health classes. Even faster than another rocket would. Pyros can't panic reflect, less likely to miss (hitscan > projectile), murders Demoknights since they have no bullet res. It could be use as an airshot crutch, but imo it's a lot better. 4 juggles = 4 mini crit shots. It's just a lot more DPS overall.
Fish on a Stick, i thank you for flashing the light on these unlocks. Each "In the Defense" series was a weapon i used long before and it's been a treat to see you find niches in them that make them useful or fun. I hope you give liberty launcher and syringe guns justice after Bad weapon academy. Liberty is great with shotguns. Syringe gun can be used when everyone is already overhealed and spray the enemies to weaken them, and you can flash uber your pocket while switching to your gun. I'm mad how Crossbow outright overshadows needleguns in every way without suffering any downsides and is braindead easy to use.
5:23. Honestly, the amount of times I have ran out of rockets and tried to pull out a shogun to find it not exist, or be a bugle, horn, or shell is insane and will always annoy me.
I remember when it was first patched to be equipped by pyro. Always thought it was weird they gave him an item from another class' weapon set, even if it had no set effect. Were it soldier-only, we may have also seen the set as a whole be rebalanced for better synergy. There is an afterthought with the reduced jump damage and market gardener, but otherwise it is disjointed. It's possible we'd have a more useful liberty launcher (not as good as the initial one) had the reserve not been given to pyro.
Fishstickonastick: if a weapon requires someone else to play the game in a specific way it’s bad Also FSOAS: The Reserve shooter is good on pyro but only if there’s a soldier on the other team
The reserve shooter is so good on Soldier, i use it all the time! I love its faster switch speed and how it doesn't have that wide bullet spread like the panic attack
Fish: "Alright, that's it. With the Bonk: Atomic Punch video done, I think I'm done with the 'In Defense of" series. TIme to get to work on other things!" The Reserve Shooter: Fish: "Um"
shotguns on Soldier are also good for avoiding self damage at point blank that rockets deal. Combine that with the Reserve Shooter's faster deploy speed and being able to mini-crit targets after you launch an opponent with a rocket, and it's pretty much an S Tier weapon for Soldier, could even be considered Soldier's best weapon.
I really don't understand why more people don't use it. I rarely see it used by others meanwhile i don't even bother touching the other shotguns, that combo damage is too lethal and basically uncounterable if you have good rocket placement.
Videos on tf2 in 2099 : In defense of pompson, Guide to rocket jumper, Meet the spy but every time spy in scene you feel baguette in your ass [VR super]
As a Shotgun Soldier, I agree with all the reasons for using a Shotgun, except for one; I don't fear Pyros, I fear MGE Scout Mains. Also the reason people don't think much of the Reserve Shooter is because the current Panic Attack exists.
IIRC in 2011 when it was first introduced, someone uploaded a video showing how fast a hypothetical Degreaser + Reserve Shooter loadout could switch. Must have amused someone at Valve enough for them to add it.
Liberty does well with all shotguns, like giving them a 1>2 punch while still having splash damage (looking at you Direct Hit), having more rockets in a clip sustains your fights longer, faster rockets mess with pyro's airblast pattern alot on top of having to deal with bullet damage from panic attack or reserve shooter, and as a bonus, you can actually rocket jump without fucking over your health. Fr, it's underrated and skillful
I always hoped that the Reserve Shooter would have its class restriction loosened to allow Engineer to use it. While Engineers probably wouldn't be pulling off any sick frag montage combos anytime soon, I could see it being used in a slightly defensive role from Demos sticky jumping to the backlines to camp spawn, Pyros launching themselves into a crowd of teammates or the handful of B.A.S.E. Jumping Demos and Soldiers spamming sentries from miles away. It's reduced clip size would still make the Engineers using it more vulnerable to up close attacks with two less shots should their enemies manage to close the distance.
*Reserve Shooter on Soldier:* "I instantly delete most classes by 1 or 2 tapping them after a single left click with my primary, and it takes almost no skill to do." *FishStickOnAStick:* "Aww, you're so sweet. :)" *(Old) Reserve Shooter on Pyro:* "I instantly delete most classes by 1 or 2 tapping them after a single RIGHT click with my primary, and it takes almost no skill to do." *FishStickOnAStick:* "Hello?! Human Resources?!"
I bought a strange Reserve Shooter about a year ago to exclusively use as Pyro, so it's called the "Festivized Flare G-" with a description of "wait". I've got an actual strange flare gun (that isn't festivized), but honestly I love scaring the shit out of Soldiers with it when they think they're safe by not shooting at me while doing a rocket jumping fly-by. Helps that my loadout has a strange Third Degree too so it probably just looks like I have no idea what I am doing regardless of which weapon comes up in the info box.
Before getting to the wrong pairings, I just want to mention how excellent it is when paired with Beggars. Because of how precise air shots are, and how imprecise the Beggar’s is, having a weapon designed to make you not have to air shot comes in handy a lot
Side argument If a Pyro manages to back you into a corner, you probably should be be dead. Because you've been locked into close range against the class specialized in close range damage. Unless you're heavy, then it shouldn't matter because you can shred even harder.
If I were to buff the Reserve Shooter I'd give it a tighter spread but a slight damage penalty, making it a decent long range option for Pyros and making it more efficient at landing airshots from afar.
One interesting rework that i have had in the back of my mind for the reserve shooter is to make it long ranged, less pellets per shot, a fixed and much tighter spread, and allow heavy to equip it. My main idea for making it long ranged is to invert it’s damage fall off so you would do less damage the closer your target is from you, this would actually improve its main mechanic, and make it an anti-sniper weapon. Heavy being able to equip it would also be good because it would allow heavy to be better at handling airborne targets, as well as allowing heavy to actually fight back against sniper
Reserve Shooter + Black Box is a loadout I've been greatly enjoying lately, truth be told. The ability to save rockets and shut down cocky bombers is very satisfying.
As a Direct Hit user, all those clips of you hitting someone with the Reserve Shooter instead of just popping them with another rocket made me depressed.
i personally love to watch people use the reserve shooter on 2fort or other silly maps, i like using the reserve shooter, even tho the air-born mini-crits basically never comes to play, i like to pretend its the panic attack since ive yet to get a random drop for it
![[TF2] The Huntsman VS The Sniper Rifle - A Balance Discussion](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vQdbmPC-jbE/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TF2] The Huntsman VS The Sniper Rifle - A Balance Discussion](/img/tr.png)
![[TF2] In Defense Of The Ambassador](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/odd5NY6UCR4/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TF2] In Defense of the Loch-N-Load](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GvGIamFcX2I/mqdefault.jpg)
💥 Unleash chaos in Wanted: Dead with 40% off NOW: bit.ly/wanteddead-fish
lets go fish getting that bag
No
Nahhh ive seen the gameplay bruh i aint buyin dat shit 💀 do not compare it to yakuza
There's no battle pass or micro transactions so I'm not buying it
Unironically a pretty good game, ad approved
Fish: *uses Reserve Shooter with Direct Hit*
Elmaxo: "Time to die"
Elmaxo "Ok, now you die."
I like Elmaxo, but wow does he have bad opinions about that gun.
@@HurricaneBadyno
@@HurricaneBady Nah, his video on the Direct Hit was mostly joking about the Reserve Shooter
@@HurricaneBadyThe direct hit also deals mini-crits to players how where thrown in the air. So you can just shoot peoples with another rocket to deal more damage. Though to be fair to Fish in some of his clips he was out of rockets.
doing an unorthodox play/strat and then seeing someone on the other team doing it to you fills you with pride and honour.
bison moment
and bullets.
Melee.
my biggest request for this gun was always a tighter spread as jumping classes are always so far away that the damage is really low
They should give it the Shortstop's spread
@@efftee as a point that was made in the video, that would overall, over longer ranges decrease the damage, due to the wider spread over stock
@dextra_24703 it would in casual servers, since random bullet spread is on and that makes guns way less accurate than they otherwise would be. But with fixed bullet spread it's fine.
My idea would be tighter spread and it reloads passively when stowed but reduce its ammo carried.
I thought random bullet spread was still within the boundaries of the gun's spread...
Does it actually just. Completely rabdomize everything but the center? Because the way people discuss it has me wondering if pellets like, go backwards 1% of the time or something.
i love the guy at 14:04 in the chat just struggling to spell selbyen
I remember years ago when SoundSmith first made his hat stereotypes series, and not particularly relating to any of the examples he showcased in his videos outside of the super widespread stuff like the gibus. Then he got to pyro and mentioned the ":3" spamming reserve shooter pyros and I had never had a stronger PTSD flashback in my entire life.
Shotguns are consistently my favorite weapon type in any game they appear in.
Especially pump action shotguns
@@SatherianI’m actually a bigger fan of multibarrels, but whatever the type, a shotgun’s a shotgun.
Quake 2, F.E.A.R. and Blood are the peak of shotguns in FPSes.
@purplehaze2358 Fair, multibarrel are classic and weird variations on it (quad barrel) are cool
I love shotguns in lots of games, specially in H3VR but I despire them in Hunt Showdown
7:06 I think the funniest thing imaginable has to be FSOAS getting three random crits nullified in a fight with a Batallion's Backup soldier, followed immediately by a segment about how the Reserve Shooter can randomly crit
The Backup putting in the fucking *work* lmao
All this weapon needs is an accuracy bonus and it would fit into both classes' loadouts so well.
I almost feel like Stock needs a spread buff in general and all the others should follow from that, but that's just me
Suwako
@@FamilyTeamGaming So true.
a small 10% accuracy buff would do wonders.
@@hawkticus_history_corner Scout too since I can't hit meat shots at all.
I find the reserve shooter to be a nice, safe option for Pyro. It doesn't really excel at any aspect for him but it covers his bases pretty well. Whilst I do wish it had more of an identity like the combo shotgun it was meant to be, I also agree with reluctancy to give this thing proper combo potential with Pyro that isn't situational.
Panic Attack is now just better than it. They need to give it a niche for Pyro to atleast give it a use.
These days I feel like it’s a good counter to rocket jumping soldiers for pyro
@@pyroman4554 Especially since pretty much every Demo and Soldier sticky/rocket jumps nowadays near constantly. I see so many people doing crazy rollouts now, its wild.
It's way more common now that the game's pretty old.
👍
If you just want a nice, safe option, isn't that what the stock shotgun is for?
One day Fish will combine all his BWAs, In Defense Ofs, Class' Strongest, and other assorted videos into the ultimate series: Weapon Academy
Armament Academy
Some people like the shotguns because of the reliable back up damage for the soldier, a way to deal with pyros(airblast for soilder and fire resist for pyro mirror match). some like the finishing damage and combo damage. For me I like the sounds of the firing, the pump and reloading.
I use it HEAVILY for ammo management. Running out of rockets before you run out of enemies is functionally a death sentence for the second slowest class in the game on foot. Not to mention the first rocket being a slower reload on top of that.
One rocket, one or two shotgun shells and most things die and I still have 300~ damage in my pocket to use in case of more targets. It makes sustainability in a direct confrontation much much more reliable with the extra 360 damage you have on the side. You go from 360 in rockets to 720 with shells on the side. Making things like fighting combos or multiple enemies much easier on the math side. Not to mention making jumpy scouts easier to swat, Pyro GamersTM easier to engage and giving yourself much better options in very close quarters fights where you very well blow yourself up as much as the enemy.
In summary; I can’t even use gunboats anymore, I feel so damage choked.
I like the switch speed
On soldier and pyro it's also an anti-vaccinator tool. Yeah, it doesn't do anything magical but if you're stuck fighting against a vaccinated enemy combo you can at least wipe the smug grin off their faces and make them either take big damage or force them to pop a bullet bubble in addition to the blast or fire bubble that they assumed would be enough to kill you.
7:06 That buff banner soldier just got *the most* value I've ever seen in my life out of that thing. There were 2 crockets and a crit shotgun blast.
YES
the battalion backup?
9:27, hey fish, you forgot to censor that
Promotion Skip Button: 1:45
I hate brainrot ads
Looked like an interesting game
@@Dubious_guyit’s not. Very generic, boring game.
Its also important to remember that mini crit has no fall off, making it surprisingly dangerous at long range for soldiers
I use the reserve shooter as simply that. A reserve to fall back on. The switch speed is useful when it comes to using the degreaser. The minicrits when someone rocket jumps is just an added bonus in my eyes.
Weapon names that are indicative of their intended function?
Is that even legal?
Honestly, the dopamine rush you get when you manage to juggle some poor guy up straight with a rocket only to follow it with a Reserve Shooter minicrit makes it worth equipping from time to time.
It's arguably as nutty as a Pyro Flare crit, not as much as the Axtinguisher though...
Worth noting that the higher damage mini-crit shots do more knockback, so they stuff the momentum of bombing enemies harder.
9:28 lmao you might have missed something in the chat there
Oh dang, you weren't kidding when you said "soon".
Nice Adachi pfp
I thought you already left 🗿
@@atomnum9True!
I hope you keep making more TF2 weapon content in the future. I want to ask, do you plan on making a remake of the old Bad Weapon Acadamy videos when TF2 updates and changes the weapons discussed? I would like to see that as potential future content
14:32 Fish, surely you can't be telling me that 12s and 6s are significantly different from each other, and that weapons balanced in one mode may not be as balanced in another. You're crazy, dude.
“You don’t even understand how much black women love racists”-Tyrone at 10:02
One of the most satisfying things you can pull off with this gun is when you pair it with the cowmangler’s charge shot. Combing a minicrit burning charge shot into a minicrit shotgun blast is so unbelievably satisfying. Although it is super difficult to pull off, it’s amazing to just melt a full health heavy in seconds with this combo
3:31 Your next line will be!
Heads up, there's some chat messages around 9:35 clip that may get flagged by youtube.
any idea what's it about?
Chat at 9:35 is crazy, how the fuck did that get in the video 😭
14:15
THE WHAT REFERENCE!?!?!?!
12:02 but you don’t always have an enemy rocket at your disposal
9:28 Diequitopro69 dies to a huntsman and salts chat
I always use the reserve shooter PURELY for that sick firing sound
Oh yeah, that sound is close to the garand ping, it just releases oxytocin
This is litterally me when [TF2] In Defense Of The Reserve Shooter
If you can defend the Reserve Shooter on Pyro, I wonder if it's possible to defend the Half Zatoichi on Soldier. Everybody knows it's one of the best swords for Demoknight, but nobody uses it on Soldier.
It's because the honourbound mechanic is so punishing on soldier and so negligible on demo. If a demoknight doesn't get a kill with it he'll probably die anyway but on balance demo is far more likely to get a kill with it if he commits, whereas poor soldier can be cucked out of healing by a teammate and then be stuck running to a health pack or spawn with only his melee and become an even easier target. Why even fish probably can't defend it is because they serve different purposes for each class, sustain for demoknight, and last resort heal for soldier, but the stats make it antithetical for soldier's purposes. Honestly I think it needs an escape plan/equalizer scenario where the weapons are split, use the bloodied version for soldier and give it more useful stats and keep the original for demo, but also preserve the duelling mechanic. If it were to be kept the same weapon I think change the healing to 75% of missing health to make it a good sustain weapon but not OP, and remove the honourbound mechanic in favour of a short speed boost on deploying (capped so it doesn't benefit demo) and a speed reduction after the speed boost ends (again capped so it doesn't punish soldier) unless you get a kill. That way it doesn't benefit demo with insane kill-chains, but still punishes him if he messes up, it provides a benefit to soldier but he isn't punished as hard for missing or getting cucked. Whilst it may seem like a straight upgrade for soldier I'd argue it'd still play second fiddle to the escape plan and market gardener. If that's too complicated then I'd say replace the take 50 damage for being marked for death for 5 seconds, but that's less interesting imo.
@@captainweekend5276 honorbound only goes into effect if you don't get a kill, it'd make sense to treat the HZ as a finisher to give you the health buff on a weakened opponent like a 3x shot heavy or a 2x shot demo, or just 3x HZ melee any light.
It got a semi revival with VSH mode. As long as you can keep landing swings, you will overheal and become very tanky. And with bat's backup, you can facetank hale and continue swinging at him. I know this barely counts but hey, at least it's viable in one game mode.
I do use it on Soldier, but it's mostly because I have a weeb loadout to be fair...
It gets some sort of redemption with the concheror's charge though. It's absolutely brainless and does require the element of surprise. But every now and then it works... and hilarity ensues.
Zatoichi + conch is actually super fun if you can get it to work. You can blow the conch then bomb in on a lower health class, softening them up and bringing them closer to you with a rocket shot behind them, then use the zatoichi to heal back the health you lost in the rocket jump. If you are overhealed from it you can then continue the chain until the conch buff wears off. It’s all in all a fun unique strategy
Congratulations Fish, I have now seen a reserve shooter soldier in every casual server I have been in since you uploaded this.
Used to use reserve shooter as a more accurate panic attack substitute. A little tip: as long as enemy gamer is in the air and damaged by explosives it counts as launched in the air by the game. So if someone was jumping up or jumping of a ledge or jumping while trying to surf the explosion while even being lightly splashed you can get the damage boost)
There was a Pyro main actually defending this gun, a He/him furry I believe. And he actually tested this weapon, just like you. Okay, so the one that I was describing was Fluffals, but the one that I was thinking of was Unusual Sandwich. I don't either of them are it.
Actually, I just tried to look up the furry TF2uber and I found TheWhat defending this weapon. Funke also defended it.
Also, when you were at the satisfying part of 12:35, I giggled like Lupin the 3rd.
i just use it to randomly troll people jumping and pepper them for like 3 damage minicrits and mess up their jump trajectories
9:30 the one time I look at chat and there's the n word. Stay classy TF2 playerbase
Edit: good on ya for censoring it, FIshstick
Might want to censor the chat around the 9:27 mark 💀
Was wondering if anyone else noticed that. Some big OOF energy.
I use the reserve shooter as a mid-range panic attack
9:35
Big oof on that chat
I'm glad you thought of the combo that I thought of, degreaser + reserve shooter + enemy explosive projectile.
I love the idea of that. "You dare use my own spells against me?" plus "Nerf? Never met 'em"
The way you said "HE DID IT TO ME!" really was perfect
I call it the 'High Tower Kill Streaker' for obvious reasons.
4:25 That Demo accidentally bunny-hopped and set himself up for the mini-crit.
Typical tf2 ingame chat at 9:30...
1:47 is what you came for.
Wow, I feel exactly 20% more confident about the strange reserve shooter I unboxed now
I believe your total confidence comes to 20%.
fuck yeah the reserve shooter has been my favorite soldier secondary for a long time, i never understood how people think it’s bad
Another banger vid, made my day.
Also congrats on getting another sponsorship, love to see it.
7:06 the fact that he got 3 random crits while the banner was up is hilarious
Mini-crits on airblast can never really be balanced for how easy it is to spam and launch people with it. For Pyro to have any mini-crit condition he can activate himself on the Reserve Shooter, it would need something else.
or you could change the upside to when a target is in the air, for any reason, putting some pressure on the enemy to make sure they stay with their two feet on the ground, but of course for such a versatile upside, a general downside should go with it, such as -66% clip size instead of -33%, making it extremely detrimental for longer combats
@@Bnvnu God no, when it used to be mini-crit on any airborne target it was stupidly busted.
@@ShakerSilverIn the video, airblasting a rocket into a Reserve Shooter combo works, but it needs an explosive class on the enemy's side.
I think an airblast from the Dragon's Fury specifically can work, though. It has a 1.5s cooldown, yeah?
@@SyRose901 on the dragons fury specifically it would be more viable to just shoot again instead of airblasting, since it deals such high burst damage (for pyro standards lmao)
@@SyRose901 I know about airblasting a rocket, however it's not reliably in the pyro's control.
The Reserve Shooter Pyro: Wow, I just managed to coordinate well enough with my friendly Pyro to land a sick shotgun critical kill on that Soldier he launched into the air with a reflected rocket. I hope my teammate feels the same way about our combined accomplishment!
The Other Pyro, holding a Flaregun: fucker stole my kill
actually i have found the reserve shooter to me amazing with the dragons fury, since with the dragons fury you tend to be further away from people because of the extra range, which makes the panic attack useless, and on top of that airblasting rockets into peoples feet while using the flamethrower that nobody airblasts with is amazing
Hey fish, I think you forgot to censor something at 9:31
I always liked this thing on pyro, even without the airblast bonus. I did kind of use it as a side version of the panic attack without the constant switching. I also just use it to counter other pyros by blasting them away and taking some potshots before they can be in range while their flares or thrower can't do as much.
Ngl that "He did it to me!" at the end took me off guard. That was great.
You know, the more indie the game, the more influenced I am by random YT ads for it
Yes tf2 maker valve is known for its small and lower budget compared to other AAA like call of duty 4: modern warfare
@@Internet-Resident Did....did you not watch the video?
@@Satherian Most people just skip sponsorship parts in youtube videos ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Pyro: "Armph ram mrph rm ramh phr mrhmph."
Soldier: "Remember what we used to say?"
Airborne enemy: "Don't do it!"
Soldier & Pyro: "Jackpot."/"Mrphpmmh."
Oh I do love it when some pyro just coocks me. Nice vis
Liberty launcher + reserve shooter is truly an underrated combo. I used to play with this combo a lot and its really really fun when you perfectly launch enemy in air with liberty launcher and finish them with reserve shooter its like a mortal kombat fatality
You know what he didn't mention? The SOUND of the Reserve Shooter. It's. So. Satisfying to shoot.
When I was a sweat at TF2, this was my favorite combo weapon. At close-medium range, it instantly kills most light to medium health classes. Even faster than another rocket would. Pyros can't panic reflect, less likely to miss (hitscan > projectile), murders Demoknights since they have no bullet res. It could be use as an airshot crutch, but imo it's a lot better. 4 juggles = 4 mini crit shots. It's just a lot more DPS overall.
6:18 its funny that the reserve shooter helps you keep rockets in reserve
Fish on a Stick, i thank you for flashing the light on these unlocks.
Each "In the Defense" series was a weapon i used long before and it's been a treat to see you find niches in them that make them useful or fun.
I hope you give liberty launcher and syringe guns justice after Bad weapon academy.
Liberty is great with shotguns.
Syringe gun can be used when everyone is already overhealed and spray the enemies to weaken them, and you can flash uber your pocket while switching to your gun. I'm mad how Crossbow outright overshadows needleguns in every way without suffering any downsides and is braindead easy to use.
5:23. Honestly, the amount of times I have ran out of rockets and tried to pull out a shogun to find it not exist, or be a bugle, horn, or shell is insane and will always annoy me.
I remember when it was first patched to be equipped by pyro. Always thought it was weird they gave him an item from another class' weapon set, even if it had no set effect.
Were it soldier-only, we may have also seen the set as a whole be rebalanced for better synergy. There is an afterthought with the reduced jump damage and market gardener, but otherwise it is disjointed. It's possible we'd have a more useful liberty launcher (not as good as the initial one) had the reserve not been given to pyro.
I don't get it on pyro, maybe if it were engie or heavy, but pyro has the mind of a child and is too innocent for war
Fishstickonastick: if a weapon requires someone else to play the game in a specific way it’s bad
Also FSOAS: The Reserve shooter is good on pyro but only if there’s a soldier on the other team
Soldiers are extremely common, soo yeah
It's not like the Manmelter
Damn
Bon Jovi gonna come at you HARD for those 2 seconds.
I mean, for Soldier, it’s a schwiffty sidegrade to stock, but useless, situational item on Pyro
You forgot about the Soldiers who use Shotguns and be "Flying Scout" with Jumper.
But who do I know, I ain’t a FSoaS. There can be only one.
The reserve shooter is so good on Soldier, i use it all the time! I love its faster switch speed and how it doesn't have that wide bullet spread like the panic attack
7:07 getting 3 crits in a fight against a backup soldier is so harsh
You may have brushed over the "black box soldier who broke from the hivemind of black box conch" but that would make an interesting sfm
Fish: "Alright, that's it. With the Bonk: Atomic Punch video done, I think I'm done with the 'In Defense of" series. TIme to get to work on other things!"
The Reserve Shooter:
Fish: "Um"
shotguns on Soldier are also good for avoiding self damage at point blank that rockets deal. Combine that with the Reserve Shooter's faster deploy speed and being able to mini-crit targets after you launch an opponent with a rocket, and it's pretty much an S Tier weapon for Soldier, could even be considered Soldier's best weapon.
I keep saying this!!! And it doesint have that awful wide bullet spread like the Panic attack! I use the reserve shooter all the time on Soldier
Panik attack supremecy
panic attack fans when 7 of their 14 pellets miss and they deal 30 damage (fixed spread doe!!!) @@trashmand
I really don't understand why more people don't use it. I rarely see it used by others meanwhile i don't even bother touching the other shotguns, that combo damage is too lethal and basically uncounterable if you have good rocket placement.
@@sneshi657890 dmg from the shotgun vs 110 dmg + random self damage from the rocket launcher
That's why
The Reserve Shooter is also a great way to annoy pesky Trolldiers on maps like Hightower/Highertower
Videos on tf2 in 2099 :
In defense of pompson,
Guide to rocket jumper,
Meet the spy but every time spy in scene you feel baguette in your ass [VR super]
As a Shotgun Soldier, I agree with all the reasons for using a Shotgun, except for one; I don't fear Pyros, I fear MGE Scout Mains.
Also the reason people don't think much of the Reserve Shooter is because the current Panic Attack exists.
IIRC in 2011 when it was first introduced, someone uploaded a video showing how fast a hypothetical Degreaser + Reserve Shooter loadout could switch. Must have amused someone at Valve enough for them to add it.
3:30 I actually do play mannpower quite a lot!
The liberty laucher combo is a refreshing way to play soldier 😂
Liberty does well with all shotguns, like giving them a 1>2 punch while still having splash damage (looking at you Direct Hit), having more rockets in a clip sustains your fights longer, faster rockets mess with pyro's airblast pattern alot on top of having to deal with bullet damage from panic attack or reserve shooter, and as a bonus, you can actually rocket jump without fucking over your health.
Fr, it's underrated and skillful
I always hoped that the Reserve Shooter would have its class restriction loosened to allow Engineer to use it. While Engineers probably wouldn't be pulling off any sick frag montage combos anytime soon, I could see it being used in a slightly defensive role from Demos sticky jumping to the backlines to camp spawn, Pyros launching themselves into a crowd of teammates or the handful of B.A.S.E. Jumping Demos and Soldiers spamming sentries from miles away. It's reduced clip size would still make the Engineers using it more vulnerable to up close attacks with two less shots should their enemies manage to close the distance.
*Reserve Shooter on Soldier:* "I instantly delete most classes by 1 or 2 tapping them after a single left click with my primary, and it takes almost no skill to do."
*FishStickOnAStick:* "Aww, you're so sweet. :)"
*(Old) Reserve Shooter on Pyro:* "I instantly delete most classes by 1 or 2 tapping them after a single RIGHT click with my primary, and it takes almost no skill to do."
*FishStickOnAStick:* "Hello?! Human Resources?!"
I bought a strange Reserve Shooter about a year ago to exclusively use as Pyro, so it's called the "Festivized Flare G-" with a description of "wait". I've got an actual strange flare gun (that isn't festivized), but honestly I love scaring the shit out of Soldiers with it when they think they're safe by not shooting at me while doing a rocket jumping fly-by. Helps that my loadout has a strange Third Degree too so it probably just looks like I have no idea what I am doing regardless of which weapon comes up in the info box.
At first I thought this was an old video, good to see you again.
Meanwhile, Panic Attack Soldiers: *I AM HAVING A HEART ATTACK AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME*
I guess that goes for Equalizer Soldiers too
Reserve Shooter excels at Hightower Servers ive found. There are always rocket jumping soldiers around and it shits all over them
Before getting to the wrong pairings, I just want to mention how excellent it is when paired with Beggars. Because of how precise air shots are, and how imprecise the Beggar’s is, having a weapon designed to make you not have to air shot comes in handy a lot
Imagine it on a wrangler engine, popping you in the air with sentry rockets and piping you while the sentry’s down
The reserve shooter is the best shotgun for solider UNLESS you have a competent medic. Then stock or panic is better.
Side argument
If a Pyro manages to back you into a corner, you probably should be be dead. Because you've been locked into close range against the class specialized in close range damage.
Unless you're heavy, then it shouldn't matter because you can shred even harder.
If I were to buff the Reserve Shooter I'd give it a tighter spread but a slight damage penalty, making it a decent long range option for Pyros and making it more efficient at landing airshots from afar.
One interesting rework that i have had in the back of my mind for the reserve shooter is to make it long ranged, less pellets per shot, a fixed and much tighter spread, and allow heavy to equip it. My main idea for making it long ranged is to invert it’s damage fall off so you would do less damage the closer your target is from you, this would actually improve its main mechanic, and make it an anti-sniper weapon. Heavy being able to equip it would also be good because it would allow heavy to be better at handling airborne targets, as well as allowing heavy to actually fight back against sniper
I cannot believe Wanted Dead is still actively advertising almost a full year after launch. Wild.
Reserve Shooter + Black Box is a loadout I've been greatly enjoying lately, truth be told. The ability to save rockets and shut down cocky bombers is very satisfying.
As a Direct Hit user, all those clips of you hitting someone with the Reserve Shooter instead of just popping them with another rocket made me depressed.
i personally love to watch people use the reserve shooter on 2fort or other silly maps, i like using the reserve shooter, even tho the air-born mini-crits basically never comes to play, i like to pretend its the panic attack since ive yet to get a random drop for it
Fighting Trolldiers as Trolldier with one of them using that is hell.