The Simplest Fix

Discussion

I was thinking about the Back Scatter recently, and I wondered how to actually fix it without it being too broken. The general problem seems to be that its damage is too low for its purpose of flanking, making it only good for killing Snipers in one shot, which the Scout doesn't need any help with that task. So looking at the stats on the wiki, it seems to fire ten pellets with each doing about 10.5 damage per pellet at point blank, resulting in 105 damage like the normal Scattergun, but it becomes a mini-crit when applied to the back of an opponent, resulting in 136-137 damage. So I figured the damage threshold it needs to pass to be considered viable would be 150, to take out Heavies in 2 shots instead of 3, and 1 shot Medics, and Gunslinger Engineers. So, working backwards from there, I found that the Back Scatter just needs 1 more pellet. I considered adding 2, but that would 1 shot light a class from the front, and that seems too much. The math seems to come out like this (10.5×11)1.3=150.15, just enough. I also don't think it will be overpowered compared to the regular Scattergun because of its shorter clip size making it bad for sustained fights, and its wider spread makes it worse for longer ranges.

Posted Mar 5, 2026, 11:47 AM UTC

21
Loading comments…