From Team Fortress Wiki

“

Why don't you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can't, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death. — Huntsman publicity blurb "Now, hold on," you keep saying. "Aren't bows and arrows primitive and harmless?"Why don't you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can't, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death. ”

The Huntsman is an unlockable primary weapon for the Sniper. It is a hardwood recurve bow held together with black tape. When equipped, the Sniper will carry arrows in the quiver strapped to his back.

In exchange for decreased damage at longer ranges compared to the Sniper Rifle, as well as a smaller ammo count, the Huntsman requires less time to achieve a fully-charged, maximum damage shot and allows the Sniper to move at a faster speed while charging; 45% compared to other rifles 27%. The weapon can be charged whilst the Sniper is falling or jumping, and can be fired in midair. Since the Huntsman is not fitted with a scope, the Sniper must have skilled arcing Projectile aiming or get closer to his target to use it effectively.

Pressing primary fire button draws the bow and begins quickly charging the shot. Releasing primary fires the arrow. The longer the primary fire is pressed the greater the charge and the more damage the arrow does on hit when released. Full charge occurs in about 2 seconds, and the player can hold that charge by keeping the primary charge pressed. However, if the bow is drawn too long (about 5 seconds of draw) the bow begins to slightly shake with the tension and the arrow flies wide of the crosshair if then fired. Pressing and holding the alternate fire button and then releasing the primary fire releases the draw and lowers the weapon (and cancels the charge) without shooting the arrow.

Arrows, being projectiles, have a tendency to arc over long distances, yet this effect is reduced based on the strength of the charge behind the shot. Arrows travel around 1875 Hammer units per second (about 80 miles an hour, 128 km per hour) in a snap-shot; fully charging the Huntsman for 1 second therefore increases speed by around 25%. They also have a tendency to headshot enemies more, as projectiles have a larger hitbox than bullets, making headshots much easier.

The Huntsman has an added cosmetic effect; enemies killed with an arrow, if near a map object, will be pinned to it via the arrow. Arrows embedded in objects or enemies cannot be retrieved for additional ammunition. The Huntsman's arrows can clash with hostile projectiles or throwable items.

In addition, headshot kills scored with the Huntsman will net a total of 2 points, as compared to the 1.5 points obtained from a headshot kill using the Sniper Rifle.

Like other projectiles, arrows can be deflected by a Pyro using the Compression blast. In addition, a friendly Pyro can set fire to the Huntsman's arrows with any of their flame throwers. If the arrow hits an enemy, or even barely misses, the enemy is set on fire. However, Pyros do not get kill assists for lighting a Sniper's arrow. The arrow can be lowered without losing the lit arrow, ready for a later shot; switching weapons, however, douses the arrow. The torches on DeGroot Keep also light Sniper's arrows on fire. Water does not extinguish the lit arrow.

Taunting with the Huntsman equipped performs the Skewer kill taunt.

The Huntsman is automatically given to any player who obtains 5 Sniper achievements.

Damage and function times

Damage and function times Shot type Projectile Damage type Bullet Ranged or Melee damage? Ranged Damage Base damage 100% 0% : 50

100%: 120 Critical 0%: 150

100%: 360 Mini-crit 0%: 68

100%: 162 Function times Attack interval 1.94 s Maximum charge time 1.0 s Aim fatigue 5.0 s Values are approximate and determined by community testing.

Note: Distance from the target affects damage values, except for critical hits.

Item set

Note: The attributes are hidden until both items are equipped. This set does not affect gameplay, as its description is meant to be a joke.

Demonstration

Crafting

Blueprint

As a crafting ingredient

Strange variant





Related achievements

Beaux and Arrows

Kill a Heavy & Medic pair with the bow.

Dead Reckoning

Kill an enemy with an arrow while you're dead.

Dropped Dead

Kill a Scout in midair with your Sniper Rifle or the Huntsman.

Jumper Stumper

Kill a rocket or grenade-jumping enemy in midair with your Sniper Rifle or the Huntsman. Pincushion

Hit an enemy with 3 arrows, without killing them.

Robbin’ Hood

Take down an intelligence carrier with a single arrow.

Shafted

Stab an enemy with an arrow.

William Tell Overkill

Pin an enemy Heavy to the wall via his head.

Bugs

Although going underwater with a lit arrow will visibly extinguish it, it is still considered lit and capable of setting enemies on fire.

Lighting a Huntsman arrow will change its damage type from bullet to fire; this is notable on DeGroot Keep where lit arrows do significantly lesser damage to enemies with fire resistances such as the Chargin' Targe and the Darwin's Danger Shield.

Switching the Huntsman to another fallen weapon with a charged bow causes the Sniper still having the speed penalty, independent of having the Sniper Rifle zoom-in or not. It's possible to fix by zoom in and out or simply by switching the equipped weapons. This also applies to getting a new Huntsman or a Fortified Compound from the ground. Players with this bug active causes the third-person animation to be in his zoom-pose, and the charging time function on the Sniper Rifles works even if the Sniper does not zoom-in with the Weapon. On the first time, the charging beep plays, but after one shot, it doesn't play it anymore when fully charged, though, it's still possible to deliver more damage, as the charging is technically working in background. When using with the Sydney Sleeper, the Jarate effect is not applied, but the damage bonus of the charge is still delivered, when used with the Classic, nothing happens, since the weapon has a different scoping mechanic than the other Sniper primaries. Jumping while having the bug active does also work, but it causes the charge to reset in background. Finally, when doing this with a Fortified Compound or a Huntsman which was found on the ground, the charging bow third-person animation will be used, along with the speed-penalty.

The Skewer taunt can actually be aimed at any direction, despite the animation showing the Sniper stabbing foward. This means that the user can stun and kill players that are right below or even over the player's head.

Trivia

The Huntsman's view model was originally left-handed.

When first revealed, the Huntsman was to have eighteen arrows. Five were removed, however, it is unknown why. [1]

The concept of lighting the Huntsman's arrows on fire was not in the original design. The ability was added after the item was shown to the public based on community feedback. [2]

In the files, the Huntsman is referred to as tf_weapon_compound_bow . This is incorrect, as the Huntsman is not a compound bow, but rather a recurve bow.

Gallery

First-person view.

First-person view with arrow drawn.

RED Festive variant.

RED Festive variant with arrow drawn.

BLU Festive variant.

BLU Festive variant with arrow drawn.

Projectile.

Festive variant projectile.

Tag on the arrow of the Festive variant.

References

See also



