One day the bored teuforters decided to create even more useless weaponry, and thought maybe lugging around a heavy wooden stick with spikes that when swung hard enough with nobody to hit, you would shank yourself. And it would be painful. Very painful.

This is just a couple of things I've learned as a scout, from my experiences only. This may be extremely obvious, or you may learn a thing or two.

The boston basher isn't quite as good for offence as it is defence, but it still is very satisfactory when you hit that one engineer and watch him bleed to his doom.

For starts, i wouldn't suggest using your bat in the middle of a flat area. This weapon is perfect when used near walls, which we'll go over later.

You must remeber, this bat isn't something to be taken lightly. You have to know when and where to strike. A click timed wrong could mean you not being able to grab that intel. I usually don't click until I'm 100% sure that the enemy can't fake off and turn away while I'm in-swing. Again: Walls are nice. Corners are better.

Let's say he does turn while you already clicked. Your first instinct should be either to crouch and look down and hope you hit the floor*, or turn left/right to the wall that I told you to stay near and hit that. If you are quick enough, you can hit a surface and not cut yourself like the emo inside you tells you to do. (If you are fast enough, you can just press Q to switch to last weapon.)

When facing another scout, unless he's running directly at you, I have something to tell you: Don't. There is no way you are going to catch up to him to bleed him out, that's why the cleaver was invented. And then there's always your scattergun.

*When aiming at the floor, and not crouching, your range of the floor is quite small.



Whereas, if you crouch, you can hit the floor virtually anywhere on screen (while standing 90 degrees to the ground)



Here's a comparison:

This weapon is great for waiting around a corner or behind a door, and your victim will be walking into a door... OF HIS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM



There is a great risk, however, that you are going to miss and hit yourself. But we've already gone over this.

Before we continue, refer to this table I made using steam's nifty formatting tool.



*Hp listed is all basic health, without any hp added or removed due to weapon buffs or debuffs.

**I count a hit like this: the hit, and the entire bleed time. One hit is about 70-80 damage, (Not with crit.)

Using all this knowledge, you should be able to know if you will be able to destroy someone who will be attacking you or not.

Your engie is your friend. His dispenser can heal you if you stabbed yourself, and in return you should protect his sentry from any incoming heavies. I recommend going for his medic first, if there is one.

If there are multiple attackers, go for the one with the most hp (see table above) first. Getting them out of the way will make it easier for your team to finish them off.

• Never hold click. If you think that it could work, and just hold click and you would stab someone over and over, do so with caution. It's highly unlikely that said enemy will remain still through your "procedure."
  
• The scattergun I recommend would be the Soda Popper. Charge that baby up, and your hits with the BB will be deadly. Damn weapon changes.
  
• For long-range shanking, check out the Flying Guillotine. If you know how to use it, it is a very nifty weapon. And no "accidental" cuts.
  
• Yes, the Three Rune Blade works with this guide.
  
• Remember: Science is the future! And the future starts with YOU.