Have you ever been filling a sniper full of holes from across the map and the man just refuses to die? Have you ever been caught by a tiny baby scout who somehow manages to kill you before you can even turn around?

Unknown to a lot of players, and strangely absent from the tutorials, there is a hidden variable affecting your game! It is called the Damage Ramp, and knowing the way it works and how to take advantage of it will have a big impact on your performance.

The closer you are to your target, the more damage you will do.

Now, you may be thinking “that's obvious!”. After all, there are many weapons, such as the minigun and the shotgun, where the bullets spread out over distance- the closer you are to your opponent, the more bullets will connect before they spread, and therefore they will do more damage.

Lets look at the shotgun specifically. Each pellet does a base damage of 6, and there are ten pellets in each shot. From this, we can calculate that a point-blank shot will do 60 damage, assuming every pellet hits... but wait! If you've ever pulled off such a shot, you might have noticed that you dealt somewhere between 80 and 90 damage! How is this possible?

This is the effect of the damage ramp, and it affects a majority of weapons in the game- with a few notable exceptions I'll cover later.

The damage ramp is an algorithm deliberately programmed into the game to encourage close-quarters battles, and discourage teams taking potshots at each other from across the map. It rewards players who dare to get close to their enemies and punishes those trying to attack from too far away.

Another reason the damage ramp was implemented was to ensure close-quarters 1-on-1 battles resolve quickly; the increased damage output means the player who lands their shots first will emerge victorious and won't be stalled by a protracted firefight.


The damage ramp goes from 50% to 150% (the “modified ramp” comes into play in certain situations which will be covered later- for now, we only need to think about the main ramp).

Every weapon has a Base Damage- we saw above, for example, that the shotgun has a Base Damage of 6 per pellet. At the midpoint of the ramp, weapons deal 100% of their Base Damage. Since the ramp comes into play based on the distance between you and your opponent, this is usually described as a “mid-range” attack.

To get a feel for the kind of distance you should be from your opponent to land a mid-range attack, load up a game of 2fort, stand at the Intelligence desk, and face the opposite wall- this room is exactly as wide as the damage ramp's midpoint.

As you get closer to your enemy, the amount of damage you deal will Ramp Up, until it reaches full ramp-up at point-blank range. A point-blank shot deals 150% of the weapon's base damage- up to 9 per pellet in the case of the shotgun.

If your opponent is further away from you than the mid-range distance, you will deal less damage. This is called Fall Off and it works the same way- at maximum Fall Off, your attacks deal only 50% of their Base Damage. In the case of the shotgun, this means you'll only deal 3 damage per pellet- and at this range, most of those pellets will probably miss. The distance you need to be for maximum Fall Off is called long-range, and is roughly the distance between the 2Fort battlements.

You may be wondering why this is so important- after all, the benefit will apply to both you and your opponent, so surely it evens out?

First of all, closing the distance means your encounter will be resolved far more quickly. Five seconds of you and your opponent exchanging long-range attacks is five more seconds worth of uber their medic gets to build up, five more seconds of building time for their engie, five more seconds for their spy to sneak up on you, and five more seconds for the attacking team to cap the point. Resolving encounters quickly means you can move on to the next pressing matter more quickly and gives you momentum to achieve your goals- or stop your opponents achieving theirs.

Secondly, it's a vital consideration when performing an ambush. If you get the drop on an unsuspecting Heavy, attacking him from long range will hardly dent his health and will give him time to rev up the minigun ready for when you close the gap. If you wait until you're close enough to take full advantage of the damage ramp, Heavy won't have time to react before your 150% damage attacks leave him dead.

Knowing about the damage ramp will help you to choose your battles better. There are certain weapons such as sniper rifles which ignore the damage ramp completely- if you're taking potshots at a sniper who has his sights on you, you are very much at the disadvantage. Rather than spend time chipping him at maximum falloff, get to a safe place out of his sight.

When playing as faster classes, the damage ramp enables hit-and-run tactics which are incredibly effective. Get in close and land a shot, and then move back out of range before the enemy can retaliate. You'll have maximised the damage ramp for your initial shot giving you the advantage in the encounter when the enemy returns fire at only mid-range damage.

Criticals and mini-crits always ignore the damage ramp completely. Criticals do 300% of the weapon's base damage and mini-crits do 135% of the base damage*. This means, for example, that if you are receiving free mini-crits under the effect of a friendly soldier's Buff Banner, you'll deal nearly full ramp-up damage at any range. If your medic is rocking the Kritzkrieg, meanwhile, you will do double the full ramp-up damage- again at any range. Knowing about the damage ramp helps you put these mechanics into their true perspective- if you see an enemy medic pop a Kritz, distance will not save you!

*In the case of mini-crits, if you are close enough to deal ramp-up damage, the 135% modifier will be added after the ramp-up is calculated. This ensures you won't lose out on damage you would be receiving otherwise.

There are several weapons that respond differently to the damage ramp- a few of them even ignore it completely. For the most part, you don't need to worry too much about knowing these off by heart, but as you become more familiar with how the ramp works it is useful to know how individual weapons respond to it. Being able to calculate who has the advantage at what distance will really help you pick your battles.

Sniper Rifles, Bows
Sniper rifles are naturally designed to work at long range, and therefore ignore the damage ramp completely. Instead, they have the scope-charging system. An uncharged shot will always do the base damage of 50, and this scales up to 150 damage for a fully charged shot. Mechanically speaking, headshots are free critical hits, which will multiply the damage by 300%. A fully charged headshot will kill almost any opponent with only very rare exceptions.

Sentry Guns and other buildings
The Engineer's buildings do not react to the damage ramp at all. Any attack against a building will always do the base damage. Buildings are also immune to critical hits, and any critical hit against a building will only deal base damage. Remember, however, that while buildings are not affected by the damage ramp, the engie building them is- so if you're trying to kill him first, you'll need to get close to do any significant damage to him.

Scatterguns
The Scout's primary weapon is identical to the shotgun held by other classes in terms of damage output and firing rate. However, the scattergun benefits from an increased ramp-up, reaching 175% at point-blank range. Thanks to this increased ramp-up, a scout can kill every class in the game except Heavy with just two shots. A skilful scout will use his high speed and double-jump manoeuvrability to get in close, hit hard, and get away again before taking a ramped-up hit himself.

Flying Guillotine, Baseball (Sandman), Baubles (Wrap Assassin)
These three Scout projectiles all deal a fixed amount of damage without taking the damage ramp into consideration. However, the stun effect of the baseball is more effective the further away you hit the opponent from, and will not stun at all when used at close range. As the Flying Guillotine will score a guaranteed critical hit against stunned opponents, Scouts using this combo should try to attack from as far away as they are comfortable, in order to maximise their chances of a crit.

Rocket Launchers, Syringe Guns
Rockets and syringes use the “modified ramp” rather than the standard ramp. Their fall-off works the same as any other weapon, but their ramp-up is capped at 120% instead of the usual 150%. Rockets are still dangerous at any distance, but medics are at a significant disadvantage in close-quarters combat. Scouts are especially proficient medic-killers due to this; their high speed and increased ramp-up allow them to close in on a medic and escape without harm. Medic players need to be on high alert for any Scouts gunning for them.

Grenade Launchers
Grenades completely disregard the damage ramp. Because of this, the demoman is happiest at mid-range, and is disadvantaged at close range.

Flare Guns
Flare guns are unaffected by the damage ramp. They are particularly useful for combating enemy snipers- the flames cause the sniper to flinch, making aiming difficult. Don't stick around watching him burn though!

Sticky Bombs
Sticky bombs have a strange relationship with the damage ramp. The simplest advice would be to forget about the ramp entirely for sticky bombs until you're more familiar with the way it affects your normal gameplay.
For the first five seconds of their life, sticky bombs respond to the damage ramp based on where the demoman is at the time of their detonation. A sticky launched across the room will still have ramp-up if the demoman closes the distance before he detonates it.
After a sticky bomb has existed for five seconds, it will no longer be affected by the damage ramp. A demoman can place a stickybomb trap somewhere useful, and then go somewhere else without the bombs losing any potency to fall-off.

Crusader's Crossbow
The Crusader's Crossbow is unique- it uses a "reverse ramp" which deals more damage at longer distances. The healing effect when the weapon is used on teammates is also affected by this reverse ramp, healing up to 150 health at long-range and falling off to 75 health at point-blank range. As the crossbow fires a slow projectile, it can be especially difficult to land a long-range shot, and the fall-off combined with a slow rate of fire leaves the medic very vulnerable at close-range- medics need to weigh up the pros and cons of this added utility when choosing a syringe gun and pick the weapon they are most confident with.

Flame Throwers
Flamethrowers are short-range weapons by nature and would never experience fall-off under the normal rules. Instead, Flamethrowers have their own unique damage ramp- dealing 100% of their damage at point-blank range and falling off to 60% at distance. Afterburn is unaffected by distance.

Melee Weapons
Because they can only ever be used at point-blank range, melee weapons do a set amount of damage per hit, ignoring the ramp.

Now that you know about the damage ramp, it's time to take full advantage of the benefits it brings. You'll be better able to calculate your chances in match-ups, and work out how to make the best of your situation- or prevent your opponent making the best of his.