Skirmisher

This scurvy dog is the fastest man in all the Seven Seas. After his keg blows everyone to kingdom come, he uses his speed to chase down wounded enemies.

The Skirmisher
Also known as: Skirmish Pirate, Jack Howitzer
General Info
Introduced in Beta 1.0
Health: 100
Armor: 90
Speed: 260
Damage required for special: 210

Overview

Because of their low health and armor, these guys are notorious for fighting dirty. Skirmishers rely on speed; the freedom to flee with ease is theirs alone, and with it, the chance to corner a foe at their weakest moment, or surprise them with a sneak attack!

If a situation becomes too hot to handle with the cutlass, give it a shot from a safe distance with your flintlock pistols. Skilled Skirmishers use their speed to their advantage, and cut their enemies down with finesse. For less graceful Skirmishers, there's always the keg: an explosive barrel of black powder that sends enemies flying, and if they survive the fall, leaves them limping.

Voiced by: Joseph "Bingo Bango" Bracken

Arsenal

Weapons

Cutlass		Flintlock Pistols		Powderkeg
Average pirate cutlass with an off-hand pistol. A must-have for any self-respecting Skirmisher. It swings and charges quickly, but not powerfully. This is your main weapon, and once you get the hang of its speed, you'll slice through unsuspecting enemies in no time! Take care though, this weapon is only a one-handed weapon and will be parried easily. Fire by using the alt-fire button while blocking.		The Skirmisher uses black powder flintlock pistols (six of them) but they are slow to reload. The shots may not be very accurate, but they are a quick and effective way to deal moderate damage from short-medium range. The Skirmisher carries no back up ammo initially, so be sure to grab some! Accuracy decreases significantly while moving, so briefly tap the movement key/s opposite your current heading to kill your momentum, and put a bullet in your opponent's head to kill them as well.		The infamous keg: full of gunpowder that explodes when the ignited wick reaches the barrel. When equipped, the Skirmisher takes it from his back and holds it with both hands, greatly reducing his movement speed. Pressing the attack button once ignites the wick, and pressing it a second time tosses the keg (which lightly damages enemies it collides with). Stuns nearby teammates and deals massive damage to enemies, though most of it can be blocked by a shield.
Damage	56 (charged), 42 (not charged)	Damage	40	Damage	250
Size	Medium	Ammo Count	4 (clip), 2 (reserve)	Ammo Count	Respawnable
Charge Speed	Quick	Spread	12.5 (unaimed), 7.25 (aimed)	Respawn Time	75 seconds*
Swing Speed	Very Fast	N/A		Blast Radius	400 units
Range	50	N/A		Damage Decrease	1/6 of the full damage per 100 units
Special attack: Lunge
This special only activates when the player is holding the Cutlass
When your special bar is full, press the special button to execute a powerful Lunge. This Lunge will propel you through the air in a straight line at high speed. You can use this to escape prickly situations where you may be unable to simply run away, such as when somebody blocks your escape route. If you're higher or lower than your target, you'll probably hit them less, or even miss them completely.

* On Last Team Standing maps the keg can only be used once per round.

Achievements

Achievements

"Skirmisher"

	"Play a full round lasting at least five minutes as a Skirmisher."

"Keg Whore"

	"Kill 500 enemies with the keg."	The Powder Monkey

"Sword At a Gunfight"

	"Kill 10 enemies with your pistol who have recently damaged you with a melee weapon."	The Gunslinger

"Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch"

	"Kill 4 enemies with a single keg."

"Keg Stand!"

	"Kill 2 enemies with a single keg."

"Did I Do That?"

	"Kill 2 enemies with a single cutlass lunge special."

"Premature Detonation"

	"Kill 2 enemies with a keg by shooting it with the flintlock."	The Impatient

"Early Bird"

	"Be the first one to capture a territory or booty on your team by yourself as a Skirmisher."	The Scout

"Ye Scurvy Dog"

	"Kill an enraged berserker with your pistol."	The Scurvy Infested

"Why Did I Bother Lighting That?"

	"Kill an enemy with a tossed keg."

"Dinah"

	"Failed to realize the usefulness of the cutlass."	The Coward

Trivia

• Skirmisher's signature cutlass juggling can only be seen in first person. The same thing happens with said class in Pirates, Vikings and Knights.

• On earlier versions of the mod, the Skirmisher would spawn holding the flintlock pistol. Sometime after Beta 2.0 it was switched by the class' primary weapon, the cutlass.

• The Skirmisher is notable for having the least amount of model and/or texture updates throughout the mod's history. While almost every character released prior to Beta 2.3 got its textures updated that matched the teams colors, Skirmisher remains almost intact ever since its first render, back in 2005. In 2025 with the release of Release 1.0, he also finally got his earring back from the original renders.

• Skirmisher's model is, out of the nine available classes, the one that resembles its GoldSrc counterpart the most. Despite the latter having a bulkier, comic look and always carrying a cutlass in his mouth.

• Skirmisher is notably the only class with no official concept art (at least outside the development team's archives).

• The Skirmisher's real name is Jack Howitzer, which makes him one of two Pirate classes to have a real name, and the second character in the mod to have a surname.

Gallery

• 

  Official Skirmisher avatar
• 

  Early model prototype from 2004.
• 

  The earliest known render of the class' model.

See also

Pirates

Skirmisher Strategy

How to get Skirmisher Achievements

Classes

Pirates		Vikings		Knights
Skirmisher	Captain	Berserker	Gestir	Assassin	Man-at-Arms
Sharpshooter	Buccaneer	Bondi	Huscarl	Archer	Heavy Knight