What are Critical Hits?

Critical Hits, or more known as crits, are a mechanic within Team Fortress 2 that increases any attack damage by 300% or 3x its normal base value. Crits are split into three categories: random, situational/boosted, and mini-crits.

Image

Please note that this is a discussion explaining about how critical hits work, not a discussion about whether random crits are fair and balanced. Go somewhere else to complain.

All information is gathered from the TF2 Wiki and from basic game knowledge.

Random Critical Hits

Image

The base critical hit chance for any weapon that can randomly crit is 2%. This can be modified by how much damage a player does within the last 20 seconds. The scale goes from 0% at 0 damage and 10% at 800 damage. This means that the highest random crit chance a player can have with a ranged weapon is 12%.

Melee weapons have a higher crit chance than ranged weaponry in order to encourage more use. The base critical chance starts at 15% and scales from 0% to 45%, meaning a person that did 800 damage within the past 20 seconds with a melee weapon has a crit chance of 60%.

Critical Hit probability is determined differently for each type of weapon. Single-shot weapons, like the Shotgun, Rocket Launcher, and Revolver, determine the chance to critical hit with every shot. This means that with every shot of these weapons, there’s a 2% chance that it will be a critical hit. Rapid-fire weapons, like the SMG, Syringe Gun, and Minigun, check for critical hit every second. With weapons like these, a positive critical hit determination results in all shots for the next two seconds being critical. This only applies to the active weapon; getting two seconds of critical hits on one’s Pistol will not cause their Shotgun to fire critical hits during this time.

Situational/Boosted Critical Hits

Image

Situational Critical Hits are crits that given to a weapon after a certain requirement is met. These types of weapons are also capable of gaining critical hits along with their situational critical hit buff as well.

Example Weapons with Situational Crits along with Random Crits

Flare Gun

Fan O’ War

HolidayPunch

Example Weapons that have Situational Crits but no Random Crits

Market Gardener

Bushwacka

Sniper Rifle(s) and Huntsman (minus the Sydney Sleeper)

All of Spy’s knives

Example Weapons that deal no Situational Crits and no Random Crits (note these weapons can still deal crit damage if boosted by Kritzkreig, End of Round, etc.)

Demoman’s swords(minus the Scotsman Skullcutter)

Enforcer

Jumper Weapons

Southern Hospitality

Example weapons that cannot deal Crits in any way

Demoman’s shields (deals mini crit charge damage)

Sentry Guns

Bleed and Afterburn

Short Circuit

Taunt Kills

Exempted Weapons (these weapons do no damage at all since they cannot do damage in the first place)

Lunch Box items

Jarate

Mad Milk

PDA

Watches

Boosted Critical Hits

Crit boost is a state in which a player is guaranteed to deal critical hits with any weapon that is not specifically unable to score critical hits. A crit boost is indicated by the player’s weapon glowing in their team color, with sparks of electricity surging and crackling from it. This affects most weapons that do not normally deal random critical hits, such as the Knife, Sniper Rifle, Gunslinger, and Eyelander, causing them to deal critical attacks for the duration of the boost; however, weapons that don’t damage enemies (for example, Mad Milk, Jarate, Bonk! Atomic Punch, or Crit-a-Cola) won’t gain any benefits from crits. Only the Cow Mangler 5000 is exempt from this rule, as it does mini-crits instead of critical hits.

Attaining a Crit Boost

Winning team gets a crit boost during Humiliation.

The ÜberCharge from the Kritzkrieg grants the Medic’s heal target an 8 second crit boost.

Capturing the intelligence in a game of Capture the Flag gives the entire capturing team a 10 second crit boost.

On Halloween maps during Halloween, killed players randomly drop candy-filled Halloween pumpkins. When picked up, the player is awarded around 3–4 seconds of crit boost. Upon killing an enemy with the Killing Gloves of Boxing, the Heavy will be crit boosted for 5 seconds. The crit boost applies not only to the Killing Gloves of Boxing, but to all the Heavy’s currently equipped weapons.

The Phlogistinator allows a Pyro to crit boost itself for about 10 seconds upon activating “Mmmph”, but the crit boost only affects the Phlogistinator (or any flamethrower he picks up in that 10 second period).

Using a Critical Hit Boost Power Up Canteen in Mann vs. Machine.

Getting the first kill in Arena mode.

Mini-crits

Mini-crits add 35% damage to a weapon’s damage. Like normal critical hits, they ignore damage falloff, but unlike critical hits, they are still given ramp-up at close range and random spread. Full critical hits override mini-crits.

There are currently nine ways for a player to deal consistent mini-crits to all other players:

Attacking as a Scout under the effects of the Crit-a-Cola.

Attacking while under the effects of a friendly Soldier’s Buff Banner. Shooting enemies with the Cow Mangler 5000’s charged shot.

Firing the Cow Mangler 5000 while crit boosted.

Attacking as a Heavy under the effects of the Buffalo Steak Sandvich.

As a Pyro, hitting an enemy with a reflected projectile (other than stickybombs and projectiles that are already crits).

Melee hits midway through your Chargin’ Targe or Splendid Screen charge.

Activating “CRIKEY” charge with the Cleaner’s Carbine.

Attacking from behind as a Scout while using the Back Scatter from around 500 hammer units (31 feet +/- 1 feet).

There are also currently four effects that force a particular player to take mini-crits from all incoming damage:

Being marked by the Fan O’War.

Being an Engineer who is hauling a building with the Rescue Ranger equipped, or has done so in the last three seconds.

Being covered in Jarate.

Being a Soldier who has the Escape Plan active, or had it active in the last 3 seconds.

Finally, there are four ways of achieving mini-crits that require both the attacker and the target to be in a particular situation:

Hitting an airborne enemy who was propelled airborne by an explosion with the Direct Hit.

Shooting an airborne enemy who was propelled airborne by any source of knockback except Compression Blast with the Reserve Shooter.

Hitting a burning enemy with the Detonator or Scorch Shot.

Directly impacting an enemy within half a second before a cannonball explosion with the Loose Cannon.

Image