From Team Fortress Wiki

“ — Eyelander publicity blurb You don’t kill a man by mucking about with rifles, arrows, rocks, or other long-distance rubbish. You kill him by grabbing the biggest bloody sword you can find, running up nice and close to him, and chopping the dumb bastard’s head off. ”

The Eyelander is an unlockable melee weapon for the Demoman. It is a large bloodstained and battle-worn claymore reputed to be haunted by a bloodthirsty, malevolent spirit. As such, the blade will occasionally mutter the word "heads" when held.

Along with having a longer range than most melee weapons, the Eyelander reduces the wielder's health by 25, resulting in a total of 150 base health points. It also cannot deal random critical hits, forcing players to rely on the Chargin' Targe, Splendid Screen, or Tide Turner's special ability or a crit boost to deliver any (mini-)critical hits.

The main benefit of the weapon is that it will decapitate enemies upon a kill, and doing so will increase the Demoman's base speed by 8% and base health by 15, as well as healing the Demoman for 15 health. This bonus will continue with each beheading until the player has collected a maximum of 4 heads, at which point the Demoman's speed will be capped at 370 Hammer units per second, slightly slower than a Scout, and health will be capped at 210. At this point, collecting another head will only provide the healing. If this healing puts the Demoman over his maximum health, it will be gained as overheal.

Collecting up to 5 heads will also increase the damage a Demoman deals when using the Chargin' Targe, Splendid Screen or Tide Turner's charge attack; an additional 10% is added to the base damage of the charge for each head. The number of heads taken is shown in the HUD. Collected heads are retained as long as the Demoman is alive, and do not carry over to his next life. Cutting off an opponent's head also has a cosmetic effect; the Demoman's eyepatch will glow unremarkably after taking only one head, but as he takes up to four heads, the eye becomes brighter and brighter.

As an added advantage, if the player decapitates an enemy Demoman wielding the Eyelander, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker or Nessie's Nine Iron, in addition to the enemy Demoman's own head, the player receives any heads previously taken by that Demoman. This also applies to a Soldier wielding the Air Strike, a Sniper wielding the Bazaar Bargain, or a Medic wielding the Vita-Saw.

Taunting with the Eyelander equipped will perform the Decapitation kill taunt.

The Eyelander is automatically given to any player who obtains 11 Demoman achievements.

Damage and function times

Damage and function times Damage type Melee Ranged or Melee damage? Melee Damage Base damage 100% 65 Critical 195 Mini-crit 88 Function times Attack interval 0.8 s Values are approximate and determined by community testing.

Speed

Speed values are based on the number of heads taken. For reference, the standard movement speed is 100%, which is 300 hammer units per second—the speed of the Sniper, Engineer, and Pyro—whilst the Scout moves at 400 units per second, 33% above the standard movement speed.

Condition Normal Backward Crouched Swimming Demoman 93 % 84 % 31 % 75 % With weapon slot boots and a shield equipped 103 % 92 % 34 % 82 % With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 0 heads 93 % 84 % 31 % 75 % With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 1 head 101 % 91 % 34 % 81 % With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 2 heads 108 % 97 % 36 % 87 % With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 3 heads 116 % 104 % 39 % 93 % With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 4 or more heads 123 % 111 % 41 % 99 % With weapon slot boots, a shield, and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 0 heads 103 % 92 % 34 % 82 % With weapon slot boots, a shield, and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 1 head 111 % 100 % 37 % 89 % With weapon slot boots, a shield, and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 2 heads 119 % 107 % 40 % 95 % With weapon slot boots, a shield, and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 3 heads 127 % 115 % 42 % 102 % With weapon slot boots, a shield, and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 4 or more heads 136 % 122 % 45 % 108 % Wielding the Scotsman's Skullcutter 79 % 71 % 26 % 63 % Wielding the Scotsman's Skullcutter with weapon slot boots and a shield equipped 87 % 79 % 29 % 70 % Charging with a shield 250 % N/A N/A 200 % Charging with a shield and wielding the Scotsman's Skullcutter 213 % N/A N/A 170 % Charging with a shield and wielding the Scotsman's Skullcutter with weapon slot boots equipped 234 % N/A N/A 187 %

Health

Class Health Overheal Quick-Fix Overheal Demoman 175 260 220 With weapon slot boots equipped 200 300 251 With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 0 heads 150 225 189 With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 1 head 165 245 208 With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 2 heads 180 270 226 With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 3 heads 195 290 245 With a head-taking melee weapon with 4 or more heads 210 315 264 With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 0 heads 175 260 220 With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 1 head 190 285 239 With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 2 heads 205 305 258 With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 3 heads 220 330 276 With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 4 or more heads 235 350 295





Demonstration

Crafting

Blueprint

As a crafting ingredient

Strange variant





Related achievements

Beat Me Up, Scotty

Use a critical swing with the Eyelander to kill 5 enemy players.

Brainspotting

Decapitate 50 enemy players.

Left 4 Heads

Decapitate 4 players with only 10 seconds between each kill.

Scotch Tap

Glory in the slaughter of your enemies using the Eyelander. Shorn Connery

Decapitate a cloaked Spy.

Slammy Slayvis Woundya

Decapitate an enemy Soldier who is brandishing the Equalizer.

The Scottish Play

Get a melee kill while sticky jumping.

There Can Be Only One

Decapitate your nemesis.

Bugs

Killing someone and then switching to another melee weapon with a Resupply Locker will retain the eye effect on the Demoman.

Trivia

The Eyelander was originally issued to American monkeynaut Poopy Joe in order to fight off his Soviet rival Vladimir Bananas before it was acquired by Mann Co. in entirely innocent circumstances.

The name "Eyelander" is a portmanteau on the word "Highlander", the name given to inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands, where the Demoman's hometown of Ullapool is located, and "eye", referencing his eye being lost. Additionally, the name and function of The Eyelander bears a similarity to the movie Highlander , where immortal humans could gain another immortal's power by decapitating them in a sword fight.

, where immortal humans could gain another immortal's power by decapitating them in a sword fight. The decapitation animation of the Eyelander's victims does not actually separate the head from the model of the victim, instead shrinking the head so small it cannot be easily seen and spawning a head gib where their head once was to create the illusion of decapitation. This explains why decapitated ragdolls have a 'pinched' looking neck. A severed neck model for the Soldier is in the game files but neither it nor any other models have been implemented as of yet. This severed neck model was intended to be used for the WAR! Update for Soldiers who were decapitated by Demomen, but the implementation of the model and its needed code failed to meet the deadline of the updates shipping. This applies to all weapons that decapitate enemies.

In the comic Ring of Fired, the ghost that haunts the Eyelander is shown to be fully sentient, and capable of speaking fluent English.

The Eyelander is similar to William Wallace's sword in the movie "Braveheart".

Gallery