I consider myself as an esteemed demo; most of you have probably played with or against me or heard of my exploits as well as forums rants and such. To be quite honest, I was quite irked by how demos are looked down upon in Lockdown. I firmly believed that demos can be played in a way that they could just go ham on everyone, but pesky blast radii stood in the way. But then it hit me, as I was on the verge of quitting Lockdown as a whole, that I was playing demo THE WRONG WAY! It was quite a revelation, and I would like to share such a great epiphany to all of you guys.

So I would state this again: the demo is the most undervalued class in Lockdown. HOWEVER, they are the most powerful class! How did I come up with such a ludicrous conclusion? Simple! I realized that demos are the class that can effectively do all of the following better than all other classes: they can capture and hold points, support their team, and deal a lot of damage. These traits can all be expected from a very good demo. But that is not what really discerns a decent demo from a great demo. What makes them different is their play style, which I shall now relay to you as my epiphany.

So here is the great epiphany I got that made me want to play demo again: a demo should be played in a way to protect and support their teammates. Simple as that. I shall go into specifics later on so that you can too, if you are an aspiring demo, be a demo that can be respected by the Lockdown community. A demo should be a team player that focuses on giving his or her team an advantage by capturing and holding points, creating safe zones for combat, as well as peeling and protecting teammates. So now I shall give you a brief rundown on how to play the demo properly, what equipment you should use, as well as what mindset you must have to become the ultimate demo.

So first thing is first: having the proper gear to be a demo. Of course, there is not one specific type of demo but rather multiple kinds, which I will explain shortly. But for most part, the type of demo you will be is largely determined by the armor that you are using. So let me explain each demo subclass, their pros and cons, the lockdown class they would use as well as their play style.

1) Full Volcanic Demo: This demo is largely specialized, because of the abscence of any form of damage bonus, in utility bombs, mainly haze bombs. They do not require any unique variants on their weapons. They use full heart pendants for trinkets and they use the Guardian class for maximum survivability. They specialize in protecting teammates by creating safe zones with haze bombs or their guardian shield. This subclass is very reliable in capturing and holding points, but the abscence of damage in their build makes them incapable of high damage numbers.

2) Full Bombastic Demo: This demo is specialized in heavily dealing damage to the opponents by using powerful, high damage bombs. They mainly use the blast bomb line or even the Dark Briar Barrage as main sources of damage, but other damage bombs can be used. They may use haze bombs, however these are mainly used not in a supportive sense but rather an offensive sense by using crowd control effects to allow the successful landing of the bomb explosions. This subclass uses an Elite Boom Module for extra damage as well as a heart pendant for some health. They mainly use recon to mitigate te abscence of charge time reduction on their sets, but with sufficient unique variants, the guardian class would work as well. This subclass is great for damaging opponents, but most importantly, peeling off dangerous opponents from your allies.

3) Full Mad Bomber: Mad Bomber is a dangerous mix between both subclasses in which it has all the bonuses, but is largely offset by their status debuffs. They utilize a combination of damage bombs as well as other bombs to do a lot of stuff for their team. This class can do everything: capture, hold, deal damage, support, peel and more. Any Chaos Set bombers also fall an should fall into this category. They can go either full heart pendants or an Elite Boom Module and a heart pendant. You must always use the guardian class for maximum survivability with this class.

4) Full Mercurial Demo: Mercurial might seem weak at first, but it has the potential to become the strongest class of them all, provided that you can do the Shadow Lairs as well as invest a lot in UVs. Bu for most part, this class can deal a lot of damag if played correctly, as well as avoid damage and get to points fast because of the movement speed increase. This class can go full Elite Boom Modules, but may opt for heart pendants for surivability. Recon is a good choice if you can't afford unique variants, but guardian is what really creates a great demo.

5) Hybrid: This class is a mix between all these classes. They may combine demo with another class, or use another type of demo not stated here. Either way, no matter how weird their build is, they still are pretty good demos if played correctly.

Now I shall go over basic techniques as well as some bombs that should be noted. I'm not going over all the bombs, just the ins that I feel are really nice and helpful in playing this class successfully.

Techniques:
1) Safe zones: Safe zones are an area enclosed by a bomb's blast radius that has an effect in it that prevents opponents from harming allies within it, or even just hampering their movements and attacks. Safe zones are created largely with haze bombs as well as any bombs that linger in an area. Heck, even damage bombs can be use as instantaneous safe zones. How are safe zones used? They are used to capture or hold points by simply placing a bomb with a lingering effect inside the point. Another way is to use a guardians shield in conjunction with these safe zones to protect teammates from otherwise deadly attacks. Bombs that do not have lingering effects can also be used as instantaneous safe zones due to blast radii, which gives your opponent enough warnjg to either back off or feel you bomb. Safe zones are great in helping your allies figt since they can possibly put a crowd control debuff on your opponent, making them easier to take down, or even just to provide a means of escape or space between your allies and enemies. Knowing where, when and how to create safe zones is vital to being a great demo.

2) Peeling: Peeling is when you push away a dangerous opponent from your ally or even prevent them from coming close to your team or your point. This is largely achived by using bombs that cause knock back, mainly the blast bomb line. The technique is to place these bombs near in a way that your ally is withjng the blast radius. This makes it so that your opponent can either try to close the gap and feel your fury or just plain back away. Blast radii does you that favor this round.

3) Tanking: Tanking is when you take damage that another teammate would take instead. However, it doesn't completely mean that you just throw yourself in harms way just to get beat up; it is strategically blocking attacks with a guardian shield or even just absorbing the impact yourself. Tanking is a lot easier if uou have poisoned opponents, since they will deal significantly less damage. Use a Venom Veiler. Tanking is great because if your opponent tries to dispose of you, your allies will pick them off. If they focus your ally, then you can use safe zones and peeling to protect. Tanking works as well in capturing and holding a point.

4) Tagging: Tagging is when you follow or even get followed by a teammate in order to collaborate with them. Tagging is very important since demos are not that strong on their own, so tagging makes you and your partner definite threats. For most part, he demo will do most of the tagging. Simply follow your teammate and create safe zones and peel for the person.

5) Tip: Always a a bomb charged before you enter a fray! An unprepared demo is a bad demo. Come into te fight ready to protect or beat face!

6) Tip: When capturing a point, don't put the bomb at the dead center, but rather towards the point of entry of your opponents. This gives your opponent a rather nasty surprise when they go in there.

7) Tip: Know your positions! Make sure to note your allies movements now and then to see if they are capturing, holding or just fighting. If they are capturing, you should assist them only if you're not holding a point. If they are holding a point, assist them as well. If they are fighting, assist them. However, do not let all of this take you away from either capturing or holding your point! Holding points is a must unless your team is in dire need to acquire points.

8) Tip: Heal up when needed! When do you need to heal? When your HP drops below 30%. Immediately run to base, heal up, and get back into the fight.

That's it for now! This list is still growing, so feel free to tell me your thoughts as well as othe rat rarefied that could be employed. Thanks for reading!