"KA-BOOM!!" -Demoman
Kamikaze is a unique ability exclusive to the Soldier and Demoman that allows them to sacrifice themselves in exchange for inflicting massive damage on surrounding enemies. Kamikaze is activated by pressing the Special Attack key (default Mouse3.)
When Kamikaze is activated, the user taunts, and then dies in a huge explosion.
Damage dealt at center is [ kamikaze player health remaining (overhealth works too) ] * [ Kamikaze attack damage bonus ] * 2.5[base dmg]
The damage is blast type.
The Kamikaze upgrade is not available on all-class melee items.
Upgrades
The Kamikaze upgrade is number 3 in the Melee upgrade list.
Available upgrades:
- 1. Kamikaze Attack (600): Enables Kamikaze attack. Max upgrade of 1.
- 2. Kamikaze attack damage (100, +8 per upgrade level) +25% : Increases power of Kamikaze.
- 3. Kamikaze attack range (200, +80 per upgrade level) +25% : Increases radius of Kamikaze blast. Maximum 750%.
Strategy
Upgrades:
- The best plan is to max out attack range and also put a great deal into attack damage first.
- Afterwards, focus on putting everything into HP and resistances so you can survive long enough to reach the destination.
- It's a very good idea to upgrade Gesture Speed Increase so you can quickly go through the taunt and still have enough time to maneuver into position.
Tactics:
- Seek out groups of enemies so you can maximize damage done.
- Using Kamikaze on a control point can quickly clear it of either defenders or attackers to either save the day or clear opposition.
- Kamikaze is an efficient way of destroying buildings, as they cannot have upgraded resistance, only HP.
Anti-Kamikaze strategy:
- Stay as far away from the Kamikaze as possible.
- Using high-powered Airblast to fling away the Kamikaze is a good idea. Just be careful to not airblast him/her into your allies...
- If avoiding the Kamikaze is not possible, upgrade blast resists / HP / advanced armors as high as possible. It'll sting, but it beats getting insta-killed any day.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Kamikaze inflicts a lot of damage for little effort.
- Kamikaze can bypass all but the heaviest of resistances with ease.
- You can still use Kamikaze during Humiliation. Give those invaders a nasty surprise!
Cons:
- You have one shot per life to make an impact.
- Relying on suicide attacks to deal damage means you'll be spending a lot of time respawning and not contributing to the team effort.
- Some people feel this strategy is cheap, and will rage at you for doing it constantly.