Prank

FOOLED YOU

HA! Fooled you! You thought this would be an article about little practical jokes! about jibs and japes! Nope!!! Instead you're getting a breakdown of TF2's best melee weapon, the Back Scratcher.

All of these people are laughing because they just saw you get totally pranked.

The Back Scratcher

The Back Scratcher is a Pyro-exclusive melee weapon that resembles a blood-splattered gardening rake. It deals 81 melee damage on hit and 244 damage on a critical, compared to 65 and 195 damage for the Pyro's default fire axe. As a downside, the wielder is healed 75% less by medics, dispensers, and other sources of healing, but 50% more from health kits found in levels.

Analysis

Only a Heavy can survive a Back Scratcher critical from full health. This, combined with melee weapons' naturally higher crit chance, make a close Pyro with a Back Scratcher a very intimidating prospect. The holy grail for any Back Scratcher user is landing a string of critical hits on an unsuspecting enemy team.

Class	Hits to Kill	Crits to Kill	Hits to Kill (Overhealed)	Crits to Kill (Overhealed)
Scout	2	1	3	1
Soldier	3	1	4	2
Pyro	3	1	4	2
Demoman	3	1	4	2
Heavy	4	2	6	2
Engineer	2	1	3	1
Medic	2	1	3	1
Sniper	2	1	3	1
Spy	2	1	3	1

The Pyro's base speed means it's possible to close distance with every other class than the Scout, though charging a revved-up Heavy with your melee is not recommended. Therefore, the most optimal use of The Back Scratcher is in ambushing unaware enemies with the aim of getting a lucky crit to quickly end the fight. Even lacking a critical hit, the weapon's high base damage is enough to kill most classes before they have a chance to kill you first.

As the Back Scratcher deals melee damage, it is one of the most useful options with which to bypass a Vaccinator's damage resistance bubble. A single crit can easily kill an otherwise untouchable Vaccinator medic, allowing the rest of your team to focus on their now-defenseless patient.

The Back Scratcher's overall usefulness also varies based on map, as some maps have fewer health pickups than others, which could leave you few healing options other than running all the way back to spawn!

Trivia

The Back Scratcher's malus to Medic healing doesn't apply to Crusader's Crossbow bolts, allowing a canny Medic to easily keep Back Scratcher users topped off.

The Back Scratcher's slower healing does not confer a malus to a medic's Ubercharge build rate, allowing a Medic to quickly farm charge off a Back Scratcher user. (if there's no one else to heal, at least.)