The Weapons of FOF

There are a lot of guns in FOF and taking them all on at once can be a bit daunting. With this guide, hopefully it will make your choice of weapon easier! Unlike other guides, I won't confuse you with what-is-assumed-to-be-common-knowledge jargon and get straight to the good stuff. I've also included a TL;DR for those whose attention spans rival mine: it's at the bottom of the guide.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Close range weapons are great for those who want to catch the enemy off guard. You can easily overwhelm the enemy with high damage or cover your mistakes when you miss your smith or bow shot. You should try to avoid using your close range weapons too obviously or else you might be kicked back out of range, unable to attack. You can also use melee weapons to get a little bit of a speed bonus, which is really helpful for getting around the map.

Your Bear Hands: (Fists, Knuckles, and Kick)

Your fists should usually be used as a last resort. Even though they give a lot of notoriety, you will almost never get a kill without careful planning. You'll find that the most kills you will get with fists are either from overwhelming your enemy by sneaking up and disarming them, or by comboing with another weapon. If you are stuck in a situation where fists are your only option, give them a right punch, a left hook, and a kick. Not only does this combo deal considerable damage but it can throw your enemy off long enough to mess up their retaliation shot. If you are in a situation where a kick is suicide, just run around them to minimize damage instead.

Das Boot: (Boots)

I have a kick but das boring, das boot ooh yeah that's more like it keep going. I got ze gaming keyboard so of course I like shooters but how much can das boot do? 10, 15, 20. 10, 15, 20, 30.

That's right, the infamous boot: the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ metagame. Dealing a surprising of damage and knocking your enemy way off their course. With the right combos you can kill almost anybody quickly with a boot to the face. This weapon is almost mandatory in shootout but also has some surprising uses in the other game modes as well. Not only that, but you can kick players into nearby objects to deal even more damage.

Since the kick will connect if it hits the enemy on your end, a jump kick with a bad connection will allow you to attack an opponent from what seems to them to be a very far distance to them; giving them very little chance to retaliate! If you pin them against a wall and spam the kick they won't be able to kick you back since the hitstun is longer than the kick's cooldown, though they can still shoot inaccurately. Recently there was a change to reduce the buy price in shootout but also reduced the damage from the attack itself. It's still incredibly meta but at least it's nowhere near as braindead as it used to be. For those who miss the damage, extend the combos with weapon toss.

Quick-draw Knifes: (3x Knives)

The knife is very much like the fist only it has a high damage output, more range, and switches very quickly. Mastering the knife will earn you a lot of notoriety from finishing weakened enemies or rushing down ranged units. You can also toss the knives but you should almost never do this more than twice because then you won't have your quick-switch at your disposal. The knives also give a slight increase in your movement speed which can be useful for mobility or chasing down weakened opponents. If your opponent is kick-happy try tossing one at their head. Most players will panic and kick again, which will allow you more than enough time to toss another.

Hitchhikers' Helper: (Hatchet)

A pretty annoying weapon which is fairly inexpensive to get, and not only do you get a stupidly high damage output at close range but you even get a large bonus speed while equipped. This allows you to reach the front lines quicker to flank and take out half of their team. You can even toss it too, and unlike the knives' toss, it deals a significant amount of damage. Only do this when you're certain it will kill them as losing your axe can prove deadly if you are ill prepared. They might even steal your axe and use it against you! Ha!

Jason Voorhees' Wet Dream: (Machete)

Essentially a more powerful version of the axe. You think that would make it even more annoying, but it's actually a lot of more fun, powerful, and expensive. It can kill players in two shots or sometimes one if you hit the head, but because how much more expensive than the axe it is, more than makes up for it. Just make sure not to lose it, because it's not easy to get back.

Abraham Lincoln's Allergy: (Derringers)

This gun used to be really effective, dealing 50 damage per shot at close range. Now in order to kill an enemy in two shots you need to headshot both of your bullets. You have to be very careful not to waste your shots as reloading takes quite a bit of time that you don't have in close quarters. You'll find these are most effective when you sneak up on the enemy and get the first shot in. Whatever you do, don't try to hit an enemy at mid range with these. You will miss every single time. Most of the time the best strategy with the Derringer is to carefully line up your shots and aim for the head. Missing will prove fatal otherwise. Reloading can be quite the pain.

Candle: (3x Dynamite)

The candle is the most powerful candle you will ever use in any video game. Unlike most candles which only provide light, these candles deal a heavy amount of damage as well as a satisfying hissing sound. Must be Italian... There are two ways to play the candle; the psychological role or the surprise game. If you right click and drop the candle at your feet, you can use it to alter the mind of the enemy to AVOID THE CANDLE! OH GOD RUN FROM THE CANDLE! This is great for getting others away from you when you're feeling extra claustrophobic. (ho ho ho lol) You can also left click to slowly light the candle and toss it. All you have to do is hold it for 6 seconds and then toss it at a random door hoping you get a kill. If you are certain there is nobody there you can cancel the fuse by swapping weapons and try again, but not if 3 seconds have already passed. You can even shoot the candle to boom it early. The hitbox on the candle is so small that by the time you get a shot in, the enemy will already be out of its range unless you have really good aim, so make sure you don't rely on this too too much unless you're REALLY proud of yourself.

Don't even think of spamming. You need to kill an enemy with your candle in order to earn another one on your next spawn, though if you are consistent you can spawn with more than the 2 you normally do. If you accidentally kill yourself though (we all do it) you'll lose all those and only spawn with one; recovering from this can be difficult without careful planning. So don't spam!

Candle Belt: (Bomb Belt)

The chaos-stirrer's choice. Only available from gold chests, this bastardy weapon can be used to take out large rooms of enemies. Run in and yeet an infinite supply of candles at chokepoints and hope for a kill. Weapons will fly out of the hands of anyone unfortunate enough to be in your warpath, so if you're fast you can use their own weapon against them. Ha!

Your mid range weapons are all purpose and reliable for the most part. Some guns are more suited for close range while others can get away with longer ranges. The important thing is all of these guns are reasonably effective in the mid range.

In The Navy: (Colt Navy 1851)

The Navy is a gun that has good reload, good range, good accuracy, and good damage. This gun used to be terrible but it has been buffed considerably to the point that it's actually worth using now. It still retains its stats as "ok" but at least now you can get lots of kills with it. Not to mention that it has a very nice damage/notoriety ratio. Professionals will often be seen stomping entire servers with this thing. Don't underestimate it.

Colt Rekmaker: (Colt Peacemaker)

Want a more powerful navy? Well guess what, the Rekmaker improves it in every way. It keeps all of it's OK stats but gains high damage (50 at mid range!) high accuracy, great range, and it looks magnificent. If you thought playing a professional with the navy was bad, this gun will teach you whole new levels of pain. Did I mention it will instantly kill on close range headshot? The only downside is this weapon is Red-Tier so you might have difficulty getting one.

Volcanic Tickler: (Volcanic Pistol)

If you can deal with INSANE damage output, the Volcanic is for you. It deals a whopping 20 damage at mid range and takes a bit of time to reload. Because of its pathetic(ly awesome) DPS there's no way in hell you can win lose a firefight with this. You absolutely won't even NEED to headshot or get close range to get any kills. If When you do, however, you will be rewarded with a high notoriety score. This gun is mostly useful for comboing kills with high damage weapons for a cheap kill. There are a few things about the Volcanic that bring it over the other guns, though, that won't stop some from being dominated by it. It has a large clip and you don't lose much accuracy from walking or running. Notoriety seems to come extremely quickly for those who pair this gun or can headshot on command. Despite its really low damage output, it's an extremely consistent gun which allows for chip damage against enemies who are not targeting you. As a result, it pairs really well with the porta-whisky.

Mare's Luck: (Mare's Leg)

Despite the name, this gun really has come a long way from it's luck-based origins. One used to be able to fan hundreds of shots to have a reasonable chance to headshot even targets far away. Now, it's been rebranded as a powerful close-range gun with extremely reliable damage but slow firing speed. Due to its high damage and low speed, comboing with another weapons is highly suggested. For those using left/right handedness, consider pairing it with Weapon Toss since the thrown damage is enough to kill from a single bodyshot. It also shares the benefit of dealing over 100 damage at a close range headshot, so I suppose you could always walk into people hoping for a kill. I would rather the luck's leg name stay a relic of the past, however.

SW Profield: (SW Schofield)

If you are looking for a high skill-ceiling gun, this weapon's got SUPER tight spread, even more so in left hand mode. It deals mid-high damage and you can easily get a headshot with some aiming. If you can aim well, you will almost never miss; practice enough and you can be that one tryhard spy in TF2 who clearly uses nothing but the ambassador and taunts after every kill. Just don't move around too much while shooting as it gets a very high accuracy penalty from movement. While it may be tempting to try to pistol snipe: Don't. Bullets from this gun will lose a lot of their damage over distance so you'll find yourself pulling 5 damage at most. Mid range is where this gun shines.

Memington Arm-y: (Remington Army)

For those who have tried the profield but are hungry for more damage but don't want to give up the tight spread, give this gun a try. Even with a close range headshot, this gun can't quite deal a one shot kill, but at mid range it can still deal considerable damage on bodyshots. Consider pairing this with a Navy offhand or switch and your score will passionately thank you. Because of the reduced necessity of headshots, this weapon acts sort of like a more relaxed version of the profield. Just watch the really really long reload, it can get you killed if you're not ready.

Oneshot Pistol: (Colt Walker)

The god of the guns. The oneshot pistol does insane damage with a reasonable rate of fire and spread. If you are at mid range and you hit an enemy you are going to get a kill. Hands down. This gun is amazing for taking out the other Gold-tier weapons since you have a high rate of fire to counter the oneshot rifle and a longer effective range to counter the pump. Just watch that reload time. By the time you reload one shot, a nearby axe murderer has already kicked you and sent their axe flying through your skull.

Sawnoff Easygun: (Sawnoff Shotgun)

If you're relatively new to the game or don't mind a low skill ceiling the Sawnoff is for you. It has tight spread and is effective at short to long ranges. You can even get an easy cleanup kill at long range if the enemy is weakened. It's only downside is that you only get two shots, but that hardly matters because with good aim it takes no more than 2 shots to kill somebody and the reload is super fast. If you're close to a kill because a few pellets missed, just switch to your melee, throw your gun, or give them a nice boot to the face to finish them off. You can also dual wield which covers any hint of downside the Easygun provides. You might find that your aim is covertly improved as you use this weapon. This isn't a trick! Since each pellet needs to hit to maximize damage it secretly teaches you how to aim properly. Once you get the hang of how bullet spread works, switch to a more effective gun and you'll find yourself doing a lot better than you expect.

Crutchgun: (Coachgun)

If you want a shotgun with more consistency, this upgraded shotgun is for you. It deals a lot more damage but also shoots slower, has wider spread, and you can't dual wield with it. Nothing's more satisfying than stuffing that guy who made the mistake of turning the same corner you were at in the head with a million little pellets. Some may even argue this is one of the best weapons in the game. Just make sure you connect enough pellets because missing your second shot WILL get you killed. I've lost too many legendary killstreaks to choking my second shot.

The 'Win'chester: (Pump Shotgun W1893)

This gun's a monster. It's an amazing balance between one-shot-killness, shooting speed, and reload speed. It won't kill as easily as the other T3 weapons, but it's so good in so many little ways that you're certain to be successful if you pick this one up. Just try not to rage too hard if somebody else uses it against you.

Hammerless:

It good.

Weapon Toss:

Are you out of ammo? Reloading and somebody rudely interrupts you? Want to finish somebody off when you used your last shot? Just throw the gun at them. This hilarious perk will allow you to throw your handguns at the enemy to deal 30-50 damage, based on the gun. You can use this perk at any time after a little charging so it's great for catching your enemy off guard. Just be careful because an alert enemy can actually catch your handgun as it flies towards their face and use it against you. One of the biggest downsides to using the Weapon Toss is that you lose your gun. If you throw your gun too often, you'll find you have nothing but your melee to rely on.

For those wanting serve justice from across the map, these are for you. Long range weapons tend to be very poor at close range but can deal high amounts of damage at a distance. Most long range weapons suffer less damage reduction from distance making them ideal for sniping. The bow even gets more damage the farther you are from the target!

Smith Combine: (Smith Carbine)

The Smith is one of those guns that is actually just as effective at close range as it is a long range. If you shoot an enemy you will deal between 50-80 damage, depending on where you shoot. If you get them square in the head it will instantly kill them. If an enemy pushes you into close range, don't panic. Just shoot them once without your scope and switch to a melee weapon to quickly finish them off. No matter how you use this weapon you're going to want to combo it with another to clean up its kills. Don't worry about being bad at the scope, it's pretty awful but you'll get the hang of it eventually.

YellaBelly Gun: (Yellowboy Rifle)

Take every downside about the Smith and remove it. This is the Rekmaker of snipers. The scope is way better, and you deal 50 damage per shot. It often only takes two well placed shots to kill somebody or three if you're a fair distance away. It has a good rate of fire, monstrous clip, and you can stay scoped while firing. Being effective with the YellaBelly boils down to how well you can aim. If your aim is bad you will miss every shot and die quickly. If you can aim really well you can lead the front lines and take out whole teams. Wait a minute, that's strange... I could have sworn this thing was called the Oh Henry... Huh, must have crossed over to the Berenstain universe. Someone check for me?

Pootis Spencer: (Spencer Rifle)

This new gun rocks. It deals instant kills on headshot at mid-long range, 50-75 damage on bodyshot. Not only that, but you can move around a lot while scoped, it reloads fairly quickly and has a good rate of fire. Don't you think all these great things would make this weapon annoying and broken? Not at all. It's got a few flaws keeping it balanced. It's only effective a little after handgun range, it takes a lot of skill to use, and each shot flails the gun around making it hard to line up multiple shots. You'll find that trying to use this at close range will get you killed pretty often, so give it some distance. If you're amazing at aiming with it, expect equally amazing results.

Oneshot Rifle: (Sharps Rifle)

If you're tired of your snipers not doing enough damage, the Oneshot Rifle is for you. Unlike other rifles that require headshots to get instant kills, the Oneshot will, you guessed it, kill in one shot to the body. It has a downside of having a mid-long reload and quite a lot of recoil. Furthermore a shot to a limb will not kill an enemy at full health. Aim for the body. If you aim your shot well and plan carefully you might even get a double or oh baby a triple. If you just want to kill everybody without thinking, just run around and shoot everything you see. Just watch that lengthy reload.

Cowboys and Indians: (Bow and Arrow)

Now there's not much in FOF that is unbalanced. The bow used to be one of them. Thankfully it's been tweaked to be just not good enough to warrant its high notoriety on kill. It deals 43 damage, which increases the further away you are, and that's only on a bodyshot. While it reloads fairly quickly, you need to pull the string all the way to be able to headshot and shoot straight. If you want to actually get kills with this you have to aim for the head, and that's no easy feat considering the arrow's arcs, but is very rewarding when you do get the hang of it. The best use of the bow is to stay hidden and try to snipe enemies from afar, just be careful of the whizz noise that will notify enemies of your presence if you shoot the air besides them. If someone tries bugging you at close range, give them a kick and use the hitstun to line up an easy shot.

There are a few weapons which aren't really weapons but are rather perks. These perks are very important in maximizing your game, so pay attention. Since you can now pick multiple perks similar to how you pick weapons, these will not be categorized.

Brass Kuckles - These increase your fisting damage and cause your enemy to go butterfingers with whatever gun they're holding on to when you hit em in the face. Stealing their gun and killing them with it makes for good disrespect.

Porta-whisky - Disregard the rules of the game by carrying a healing item on you at all times. This useful item can heal your teammates by clicking on them. It recharges rather quickly too, though only when held out. You can't drink it yourself; that would be just a little bit broken, don't you think? At least you get a little bit of healing for every point of health you heal though! If you're feeling really altruistic, try dual wielding these; you'll be able to keep an entire team in tip-top shape as your color of choice surges to the top of the scoreboard due to the monstrous killstreaks your team will accumulate under your care. You can even use the weapon toss to deal 20 damage using these, which is hilarious if it kills but might actually save you when you're out of bullets and all you have is your whisky jug. Pass the whisky. Forcefully.

Fast Draw - Picking this will cause you to become a true Quick Draw McGraw and increase your draw speed by 30%. This perk allows handguns to have combo potential rivaled only by the knives. For how cheap it is, try to include it into your loadout. R.I.P

Handedness - If you want a little bit more accuracy with your weapons, you can pick an alternative handedness. If you choose right handed, you get a little more accuracy on handguns held in the right hand, a small loss for the other. Selecting left handed works on the other hand, and is MUCH more noticeable. Thanks to an awesome update fanning is no longer affected if you're in right hand mode, and is actually helped if you use left hand mode.

Insatiable - This perk turns you Ukrainian, allowing you to carry many weapon and drink whisky as if it were water. You'll still ask for whisky in English, though, so disregard that last statement. You still lose a little speed from carrying lots of weapons, but it will take a lot longer for overencumber to slow your character to a crawl. Wait, does this perk even exist any more?

Candles Barrel - This isn't a perk at all; it's not a weapon either. It's actually an object you can find around the map. When shot twice, it will explode. When shot once it will ignite and explode after a few seconds. You can pick it up, hold in front of you, and then kick it to launch it at an unsuspecting enemy. The impact does a fair bit of damage but its true potential comes from tossing an ignited barrel into a crowd. Time it right and you can frag the entire group, causing said group to curse you under their breath; don't worry though, at 15 notoriety per kill it's worth it. Just try to stay away from the explosion since you will lose 20 notoriety if you get caught in the explosion.

If you're playing a special Ghost Town map, you can get Spooky Scaries. These guns are the exact same as their normal counterparts only they have pitiful damage output and launch both you and your enemy flying.

• Shoot the ground to launch yourself straight up, causing you to take fall damage and making you easy pray for ghosties. This is great for if you want to join the ghost team right away and don't care about winning.

• Shoot the ground at an angle to *sometimes go careening forwards, and away from danger. Or into danger or off a cliff, more than likely.

  (*Most the time you just go straight up because you "didn't go at enough of an angle" or just completely miss the ground. Again, another great way to join the ghost team quickly.)

• Shoot the enemy or ghostie to knock them back and deal small damage. Sometimes.

• Shoot the air and nothing happens. So don't do that.

• Shoot yourself because you realize that you can't air strafe and are about to hit the ground with only 10 health left.

Unsurprisingly the developer of the game has removed ghost maps because of how much they sucked. Even though I disagree with his decision and would have preferred to see the massive flaws with it ironed out, it was his choice and not mine. Hopefully we will be treated to an actually-functioning version of this gamemode this year. Finger's crossed but breath isn't being held.

It's been a few years, I don't think it's coming out.

Well that wraps up this guide. I hope you learned something from it. Remember, everybody has a different playstyle. Finding yours is the fastest way to get good at the game. Don't be afraid try something new and ridiculous, you never know what's effective.

And remember, it's as game. Don't forget to have fun every now and then.

If you're the kind of person whose eyes glaze over the instant you read anything longer than a paragraph (DW, i'm one of those people) I've put together a little list which will cover the main point of the entire guide but not really go much into details.

• Fists: Weak, use in case of emergency
  
• Boot: Broken, deals over 9000 damage and awards equal notoriety
  
• Knife: Broken, but not as broken as the boot
  
• Hatchet: You can throw it; makes people rage
  
• Machete: Upgraded axe yet somehow less effective
  
• Derringer: Sleeper gun, though not worth using
  
• Candle: Misleading name. Actually explodes
  
• Candle Belt: Infinite candles
  
• Navy: Meh stats yet one of the best guns
  
• Peacemaker: Navy but good, really good
  
• Volcanic: Stats worse than navy yet somehow even better
  
• Mares' Leg: Headshots at close range
  
• Schofield: Ultimate test of skill
  
• Army: Slightly less of a test of skill
  
• Walker: One shot one kill s*** gotta reload
  
• Sawnoff: Easy yet somehow not effective
  
• Coachgun: Consistent shotgun
  
• Winchester: Best gun in the game IMO
  
• Thrown Gun: Clutch incarnate
  
• Carbine: Combo with knives to make people rage
  
• Yellowboy: Good rifle fallen victim of the Berenstain effect
  
• Spencer: Skill-based rifle which wrecks worlds
  
• Sharps: Instantly kill anybody, yet miss anyway
  
• Bow: The most overpowered weapon when other use it against you
  
• Brass Knuckles: Troll your enemy, steal their guns
  
• Porta-whisky: Help your team win and get no notoriety for doing so
  
• Fast Draw: Respectable perk, makes combos easy
  
• Handedness: Pick left hand or lose
  
• Insatiable: Didn't this get removed in an update?
  
• Candle Barrel: Kick it at your enemy or blow it up
  
• Ghostgun: Dead as the gamemode it came from