BWR - Changelog 15/2/25

Reserve Shooter
+ Reverted mini-crit behavior against jumpers
- Removed accuracy bonus
Reverting weapons behavior entirely, the direction didn't seem right to help differentiate it from stock.

Force-A-Nature
- Removed damage fall-off bonus
Reverting weapons behavior entirely, as most found it unnecessary to buff in this way.

Soda Popper
- Increased cost for HYPE jump to 30% (was 20%)
The cost of performing jumps seemed to require too little damage and allow too many repeat ones in combat.

Candy Cane
+ Removed primary ammo penalty
- Added 25% bullet damage vulnerability on wearer
The downside didn't seem the most effective at reining in the weapon. Instead a more consistent vulnerability like it's vanilla one was reintroduced, but one that isn't as punishing as the former blast weakness.

Sun-on-a-Stick
+ HEAT is now auto-triggered only against targets you ignite
+ Removed swing speed penalty
- Damage penalty is now a universal -20% (was -25% to non-burning targets)
- Removed fire damage resistance
The weapon is no longer punishing to use alongside your own team's pyros. Additionally several of its other traits were simplified to rein in its ability to combo, along with removing the mostly superfluous resistance.

Cow Mangler 3000
+ Removed projectile speed penalty
+ Removed damage penalty to buildings
  Cancelling charge only provides the projectile speed bonus
- Reverted movement speed penalty while charging
- Reduced projectile speed bonus on charged shots to +50% (was +75%)
The weapon's charging behavior was simplified, with consistent movement speed and benefits when cancelled early. Additionally it's downsides were made less harsh for it's upsides, given their more situational application.

The Equalizer
+ Removed holster speed penalty
  RUSH is now activated while hit below 50% HP with weapon active
- Removed push force resistance
The weapon's traits were simplified to be easier ot understand, particularly less punishing when you're unable to commit to using it.

Compression Blast
- Airblast is reworked to require manually charging pressure
  Hold M2 to charge airblast, scaling from 0% push force to 100% in 1 second
- Airblast backfires on being held 1 second over max
A prime complaint was how free the use airblasts are for mobility. To make it require more commitment from the pyro, the charging system now requires the user to leave themselves open without attacking. In addition to the backfire mechanic limiting how long a pyro can prematurely hold the charge, the damage dealt will provide a little added boost to jumps used for it too for the extra cost.

The Backburner
  Pressure recharge bonus applies to manual charge
The Degreaser
  Pressure recharge penalty applies to manual charge
Adapting the pressure attributes to fit with the new pressure behavior.

The Manmelter
+ Removed afterburn penalty (was -66%)
+ Deals up to +100% damage based on remaining afterburn
- Removed firing speed bonus (was +25%)
- Removed damage bonus (was +20%)
The weapon had too many bells and whistles that altered its effectiveness in combat. It has largely been reverted but was given a single upside to make gaining crits more enticing, as well as making crits when combo'd with afterburn especially powerful.

Thermal Thruster
+ Decreased mini-boost cost to 50% meter (was 66%)
+ Increased mini-boost vertical force by 33%
- Decreased mini-boost horizontal force by -50%
The mini-boost has altered to provide the user more height for quicker traversal or better throwing off aim, at the cost of much worse for closing the gaps on enemies. This should hopefully make it easier to fight against, while still providing useful utility.

Loch-n-Load
+ Added: Explosions detonate your stickybombs in range
- Removed clip reloaded on kill
The former upside seemed antithetical to the intended downside of being worse at sustained damage. Instead it was given an upside to better reward its precision. Taking a page from TF2C's Cyclops, you are now able to combo with your stickies in range, threatening massive combined damage at the cost of your self-defense and sustainability.

Scottish Resistance
- Removed clip size bonus (was +25)
Reverting weapons behavior entirely, as most found it unnecessary to buff in this way.

Natascha
+ Reverted damage penalty to -25% (was -33%)
- Removed firing speed bonus (was +15%)
  Changed healing penalty to "from Medics" (was "from healers")
It's traits were simplified to make it's damage easier to understand. Additionally the healing was replaced to make Medic's less able to easily sustain the Heavy with non-healing beams. While dispensers will give the Heavy full healing, it should hopefully be less potent at sustaining him.

Buffalo Steak Sandvich
+ Removed recharge time penalty (was +33%)
+ Reverted duration to 16 seconds (was 12)
+ Removed holster penalty on effect's end (was 100%)
- Removed ability to cancel effect early
- Removed health bonus on kill
- Removed recharge bonus on sharing item
The weapon's abilities were made much easier to understand, and being closer to it's vanilla incarnation. The Heavy is still able to snowball into a longer streak, but now requires more commitment as it cannot be cancelled.

The Overdose
+ Removed slower reload speed (was 40%)
- Removed faster deploy speed (was 25%)
The weapon was reverted, as the base Syringe changes and increased damage penalty were seen as enough to differentiate it from stock.

The Ubersaw
+ Removed slower firing speed (was -25%)
The weapon was seen as having too many downsides contradicting the intent of giving it better incentive to use opportunistically. The firing speed was seen as easiest to remove without skewing it to the side of being too rewarding.

The Vita-Saw
- Removed alt-fire ability to gain a guaranteed critical hit
The weapon's use as an emergency defense tool was seen as a bit too much on top of it's support capabilities, especially with the passive gain of organs. Now the weapon has a more distinctive downside in defending yourself.

Sniper Rifle
- Reduced base clip size to 4 (was 5)
  Reserve ammo increased to 16 (was 15) resulting in same total ammo count
The clip size change was seen unnecessary, improving Sniper's sustain to a point where it contradicted the point of the clip system in making Sniper more considerate with his shots.

The Machina
  Clip size penalty changed to -25% (was -40%), with same clip total
The Classic
  Clip size bonus changed to +50% (was +40%), net 1 less shot
- Headshots now minicrit below 100% charge (was below 50%)
The clips were reverted for the older clip size. Additionally the Classic seemed to get to a headshot threshold too quickly, contradictory to it's slower pace. The weapon now return to only fully critting below 100%, but should still provide decent damage with minicrits below that.

The Razorback
+ On taking a lethal damage at >50% HP your shield absorbs the damage, leaving you at 1 HP with a 3 second speed boost
- Absorbing lethal damage will cause the shield to shatter
- Removed critical damage resistance
- Backstabs count towards lethal damage threshold
The shield was reworked to provide a more consistent upside, providing Sniper with protection against burst damage sources universally. The speed boost was additionally added to provide the means to escape in your vulnerable state.

Tribalman's Shiv
- Added No Random Crits
The shiv's ability to chain hits with the speed boost was a bit too potent. This nerf should better reduce it's effectiveness when used aggressively.

Enforcer
- Reverted damage bonus while disguised to +20% (was +30%)
The bonuses for the weapon were a little too stacked, thus it's damage bonus was reverted to make it a little less potent when chaining kills from it's damage bonus with the instant re-disguise.

Conniver's Kunai
+ Increased Max HP gained per stab to +45 (was +30)
The snowballing for this weapon was a bit too slow, thus the amount healed per stab was boosted to better reward the Spy.

Dead Ringer
+ Removed 50% cloak consumed when activated above 50% HP
- Increased cloak consumed on decloak to 50% (was 20%)
The watch's cloaking was simplified to more simply discourage using it aggressively to reposition in a fight, while being better to use for escape when using the cloak entirely.