Team Fortress 2 has a ton of unique weapons, each with its own stats, attributes, and effective situational use. Because of the huge collection of usable weapons, a lot of subclasses and new play styles can be made by pairing different weapons with each other. Take, for example, the popular Jarate plus Bushwacka combo of the Sniper.

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Jarate coats the enemies in mini-crit debuff substance, and the Bushwacka deals an automatic critical hit on enemies coated in Jarate. Besides this very useful weapon pairing, there are other useful weapon combinations that are used by different classes.

Updated 05/10/2021 by Erik Petrovich: The immense number of possible builds for each class in Team Fortress 2 is staggering. However, some kits simply work better than others. The Jarate Sniper is a classic go-to, while the Boston Basher Scout build is a new favorite. When it comes to mixing long and short-range damage effectively, these two TF2 loadouts take the cake, along with the rest of the loadouts in this list.

12 Jarate Sniper

Jarate Sniper
  • Default Sniper Rifle OR Awp: The default sniper is the most balanced sniper rifle, and the AWP is just a re-skin
  • Jarate: Jar of... something... that turns subsequent damage into mini-crits
  • The Bushwacka: High crit chance melee weapon, pairs very well with Jarate

The Jarate Sniper build is focused on dealing increased damage to enemies coated in Jarate. While it's best not to get into exactly what Jarate is, in Team Fortress 2, the sniper can throw this jar of liquid at enemies to obscure their sight briefly and increase damage dealt to them for a short amount of time.

The default sniper rifle is the way to go with most ranged sniper builds – it's just the most reliable. But paired with the Bushwacka, a sniper who uses Jarate effectively will be able to keep the pressure up at both long and short distances.

11 Boston Basher Scout

Boston Basher scout loadout
  • Default Shotgun: Perfectly balanced short to mid-range damage
  • Default Pistol OR Bonk!: Choose pistol for more damage, or Bonk! to get the most out of bleeding damage
  • Boston Basher: Makes enemies bleed, dealing damage over time

The Boston Basher Scout build is an effective one for whittling down enemies with quick melee hits and shots from the scout's scattergun. In terms of TF2 weapon loadouts, The Boston Basher is a fantastic item on its own, but pairs best with either the default scattergun and pistol or with the Bonk! Atomic Punch to inflict damage-over-time on enemies without fear of retaliation.

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The Boston Basher is not one to be used over and over again on an enemy. Instead, try to get a hit in, then switch to other weapons for a few seconds while the bleed effect takes its toll. Finally, come back in again to re-bleed the foe.

10 Mann VS Machine Scout

Team-Fortress-2-mvm-Scout-Loadout
  • The Force-a-Nature: Short-range, fast-firing shotgun with knockback
  • Mutated Milk: Leeches enemies with ally damage dealt after thrown
  • Fan O'War: Marks enemies for death, allowing teammates to get mini-crits

The Scout is one of the fastest, yet most squishy classes in TF2. Though a bruiser in the Badlands, he excels as a support in TF2's PvE mode: Mann Versus Machine (MVM). In collecting the fallen money from robots, he helps his team get much-needed upgrades. But the Scout can help with much more than that. With the Force-A-Nature, the Scout can knock back key targets and possibly drive the bomb carrier back to the start.

The Mad Milk can douse groups of robots in "non-milk" and allow his teammates to restore health. When upgraded, enemies coated by this substance move slower. And lastly, the Fan o'War tags key enemies and amplifies the damage they receive allowing for quicker key target elimination. With this loadout, the Scout helps his MvM team immensely.

9 Combo Pyro

Team-Fortress-2-Degreaser-Pyro-Loadout
  • The Degreaser: Fast-switching combo-oriented flamethrower, with less overall damage, with the compression ability
  • Flare Gun: Engulfs enemies in fire, when hit, and deals crits to already-burning foes
  • The Powerjack: Health regeneration on enemy kills, and extra speed

The Pyro is known to belch flames to groups of enemies and turn them to ashes. With this loadout, however, the Pyro can utilize a quicker approach in finishing off enemies at a time. The Degreaser is a flamethrower that doesn't do much afterburn damage, yet it allows the Pyro to switch weapons significantly faster.

This could be paired with the Flare Gun, since the flare gun does 90 damage to burning enemies. This combo can finish off low health classes like the Scout immediately. Alternatively, the Pyro can incorporate the Powerjack into this TF2 loadout to restore some health lost in the engagement.

8 Undying Soldier

Team-Fortress-2-Soldier-Blackbox-Loadout
  • The Black Box: Small clip size, but damage heals the soldier
  • The Concheror: Causes the Soldier to regenerate health slowly over time
  • The Escape Plan: Increases speed as health is lowered, making the Soldier incredibly fast when close to death

This loadout is a solid choice for all of TF2's game modes. Though the Black Box has a smaller clip size, it returns damage done to the user as health for a maximum of +20 HP on hit. To add to this weapon's sustaining attributes, the Concheror is a banner that gives the Soldier +4 health per second. The Concheror has a meter that fills up when the Soldier deals damage.

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When the meter is filled, it gives the Soldier's nearby allies health by dealing damage, as well as a huge speed buff. Lastly, should the Soldier find himself in sticky situations, the Escape Plan allows him to move faster on lower health making for some quick escapes. This loadout overall makes the Soldier a self-sustaining, hard-to-kill mercenary.

7 Hybrid Demoknight

Team-Fortress-2-Hybrid-Demoknight-Loadout
  • The Iron Bomber: Short fuse time, small blast radius grenade launcher with short-range potential
  • Chargin' Targe: Allows the Demoman to charge at enemies
  • Eyelander: Heals the Demoman, increases health and speed, and increases the bonus with more kills

The Demoman's default loadout has him use an explosive primary and secondary weapon. Utilizing this loadout, the Demoman can diversify his approach. At the cost of a 15% blast radius, the Iron Bomber is a quicker-fuse grenade launcher that allows for faster damage output.

Pair this with the foundational weapons of the Demoknight subclass, the Demoman would be made lethal in both close-quarter combat and mid-range area denial. Additionally, the Chargin' Targe's added damage resistances allows him to better engage with combat classes.

6 Rushin' Heavy

Team-Fortress-2-Tomislav-Heavy-Loadout
  • Tomislav: Spins up faster and is more accurate than the default minigun
  • Sandvich: Significantly heals the Heavy (or an ally) when consumed
  • Gloves of Running Urgently: Increases movement speed for the Heavy by 30 percent, but decays health

Heavy is a slow, tanky class. To compensate for his lack of speed, this is a loadout that speeds up the Heavy up a bit. Though slower in firing, the Tomislav spins up faster than the minigun. Additionally, the Tomislav is more accurate, allowing the Heavy to deal consistent damage from long-range. This means that he can get to his position on the battlefield quicker given this range.

Adding to this, the gloves of running urgently give the Heavy a 30% speed boost while deployed. The Sandvich is a solid secondary choice for the Heavy as this can be used to replenish health for both him and his team.

5 Fortified Engineer

Team-Fortress-2-Rescue-Ranger-Engineer-Loadout
  • The Rescue Ranger: Pick up and move any visible building and shots heal buildings
  • The Wrangler: Allows the Engineer to directly control his Sentry, with a shield
  • Default Wrench: Best go-to wrench for building-focused Engineers

The Engineer's buildings are already hard enough to deal with as they are. With the rescue ranger, however, this is made even harder. This weapon fires repairing bolts to fix friendly buildings. That means damage done to a Sentry can be quickly undone by a Rescue Ranger Engineer from a safe distance. The Engineer can also recall the Sentry back to him should it take too much damage, and repair it at a secluded location.

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Adding to this, the Wrangler protects the sentry with a shield that absorbs 66% of incoming damage. When used in conjunction with the Rescue Ranger, taking out the sentry becomes a pain for the enemy team.

4 Combat Engineer

Team-Fortress-2-Engineer-Loadout
  • The Widowmaker: Uses metal for ammo, and gives metal back when hitting enemies
  • Default Pistol: Best combat-oriented secondary engineer weapon for a quick in-combat swap
  • The Gunslinger: Changes the engineer's sentry to a mini-sentry that constructs quickly

Another approach to playing Engineer is to be on the offense. The Widowmaker needs no reload. It uses metal for ammo. However, damage done to an enemy is also returned as metal. In the hands of an accurate Engineer, this weapon will never run out of ammo, allowing for a sustained offense.

The Gunslinger deploys a fast building mini-sentry that uses only 100 metal. In addition to this, the Engineer is given an additional 25 health allowing for an offensive build.  When used in conjunction with a viable shotgun like the Widowmaker, the Engineer takes a whole new aggressive approach to the battlefield.

3 Battle-Ready Medic

Team-Fortress-2-Medic-Loadout
  • Crusader's Crossbow: Heals allies when shot with its bolts, also damages enemies, scaling with distance
  • The Quick-Fix: Faster healing, at the cost of less overhealing
  • The Ubersaw: Adds charge to Uber meter when striking enemies

Arguably, the Crusader's Crossbow and the Ubersaw are two of the best Medic weapons. They are often paired together because of the added offense and support they give the Medic. The crossbow heals up to 150 health in an instant, and deals damaging blows to enemies from a distance.

When used in conjunction with the Quick Fix, a rapidly healing medi-gun, the Medic can keep his team's HP filled faster than normal. The Ubersaw on the other hand gives 25% UberCharge per hit. Just one hit can jump the Medic's Uber up by a respectable amount. This loadout turns the Medic into a fast-paced healer that sustains his team's push.

2 Frontlines Sniper

Team-Fortress-2-Sniper-Proper-Loadout
  • The Huntsman: Short to mid-range high-damage bow, with no long-range sight
  • Darwin's Danger Shield: Protects the Sniper from one backstab, adds slight flame resistance
  • The Tribalman's Shiv: Causes enemies to bleed at the cost of lower damage

This loadout pulls the Sniper down from the watchtower and immerses him in the heat of battle. The Sniper can quickly charge his shots by drawing his bow, allowing him to instantly chamber highly damaging projectiles. This sends arrows penetrating through Heavies' skulls. The Darwin's Danger Shield protects from fire and afterburn, making him resistant to close-quarters Pyros.

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Due to the Sniper's low HP, he'll definitely be a target for Pyros. The Tribalman's Shiv is a melee that deals six seconds of continuous bleeding for the target. This is especially useful in Spy checking. Alternatively, the Jarate and Bushwacka combo can be used in place of the danger shield and the shiv.

1 Unkillable Spy

Team-Fortress-2-Spy-Loadout
  • L'Etranger: Fills cloak meter with hits, and extends the duration of cloaking by 40%
  • Conniver's Kunai: Takes health from enemies, which depletes slowly
  • The Dead Ringer: Makes the Spy appear to die, when in fact they turn invisible instead for a few seconds

The Spy is a sneaky pain in the butt for the enemy team. This loadout makes him harder to eliminate, thus keeping pressure on the infiltrated team. The Dead Ringer alone already makes it a chore to eliminate him. But, with the L'etranger, he's given cloak when hitting enemies with it; allowing him to pull the dead ringer more often.

In addition to this, the Conniver's Kunai steals HP from backstabbed victims allowing the Spy to overheal up to 200 HP. Each backstab heals the Spy up, and upon pulling the dead ringer, he makes an escape with his health in good shape.

NEXT: Team Fortress 2: 10 Best Weapon Reskins