Cow Mangler 5000

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A deadly device by any measure, the Cow Mangler will quantum disentangle Cows, Sheep, Humans and even Demomen!
Cow Mangler 5000 publicity blurb

The Cow Mangler 5000 is a primary weapon for the Soldier. It is a large, shoulder-fired, retro-futuristic ray gun. Several portions are team-colored, and arcs of electricity appear periodically on the frontal nodes.

This weapon can fire up to four blasts of team-colored energy that, compared to the default Rocket Launcher, deal 80% less damage to buildings. The blasts fired function similarly to rocket projectiles; as such, rocket jumping can be performed without hindrance, and the shots can be reflected by enemy Pyros. The Cow Mangler 5000 features a "Mangler" bar in the HUD which serves as an indication of its ammunition clip. After the bar is depleted, it can be recharged through a reloading process in which the lever on the side is cranked. It does not incorporate the traditional ammo reserve used by other weapons, a feature shared with Righteous Bison, Pomson 6000 and Manmelter.

When the Mangler bar is full, pressing the secondary fire button (default key: MOUSE2) will cause the weapon to begin charging up. During this process, the entire Mangler bar is consumed and the Soldier's movement speed is reduced to a third (from his standard 80% of normal speed to roughly 27%). This charging period lasts for two seconds, after which a single charged shot is fired with both the speed and blast radius of a typical blast. This shot deals Mini-crits damage to players and will cause them to suffer six seconds of afterburn damage at the same rate as the Flamethrower. This can affect the Soldier who fired it if he is near enough. The charged shot also disables any enemy buildings hit for four seconds.

The Cow Mangler 5000 is incapable of firing critical hits via any means; while it can deal mini-crits as with any other weapon, it does not get random crits, attempting to critboost it via the Kritzkrieg or a Power Up Canteen has no effect, and it cannot even fire crits during humiliation. Only by reflecting one of its shots with a crit-boosted flamethrower or hitting a stunned Merasmus can its shots be critical hits.

Enemies killed by the Cow Mangler 5000 suffer a distinctive death by vaporization: they turn black, hover in mid-air while performing a specific disintegration animation surrounded by team-colored particles, and then disappear into ashes. If killed by a charged shot, the victim is gibbed and the gibs vaporize individually whilst flying towards random directions.

Damage and function times

See also: Damage
Damage and function times
Shot type Projectile
Damage type Explosive
Ranged or Melee damage? Ranged
Damage
Maximum ramp-up 125% 112
Base damage 100%
Players:
90
18
Maximum fall-off 53% 48
Point blank 105-112
Medium range 50-90
Long range 45-60
Critical 270
Mini-crit 122-151
Afterburn 3 / tick
36 total
Afterburn (mini-crit) 4 / tick
48 total
Splash damage
Minimum splash 50% 9.1 ft
Self-damage 27-89
Self damage (rocket jump) 27-46
Function times
Attack interval 0.8 s
Reload (first) 1.24 s
Reload (consecutive) 0.8 s
Afterburn duration 6 s
Values are approximate and determined by community testing.

Item set

Main article: Item sets
Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack
Item icon Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack.png
Effect

No effect

Demonstration

Crafting

Main article: Crafting

Blueprint

Reclaimed Metal Black Box Cow Mangler 5000
Item icon Reclaimed Metal.png + Item icon Black Box.png = Item icon Cow Mangler 5000.png
Class Token - Soldier Slot Token - Primary Scrap Metal Possible Results
Item icon Class Token - Soldier.png + Item icon Slot Token - Primary.png + Item icon Scrap Metal.png =
Item icon Direct Hit.png Item icon Black Box.png Item icon Rocket Jumper.png Item icon Liberty Launcher.png
Item icon Cow Mangler 5000.png Item icon Original.png Item icon Beggar's Bazooka.png Item icon Air Strike.png
Item icon Panic Attack.png

As a crafting ingredient

Refined Metal Victory Pack weapon Possible Results
Item icon Refined Metal.pngx4 + Item icon Cow Mangler 5000.pngItem icon Righteous Bison.png =
Item icon Lord Cockswain's Pith Helmet.png Item icon Lord Cockswain's Novelty Mutton Chops and Pipe.png

Related achievements

Leaderboard class soldier.png Soldier

Backdraft Dodger
Backdraft Dodger
Kill a Pyro who has airblasted one of your rockets in the last 10 seconds.


Where Eagles Dare
Where Eagles Dare
Get the highest possible rocket jump using jump and crouch.


For Whom the Shell Trolls
For Whom the Shell Trolls
Bounce an opponent into the air with a rocket and then kill them with the shotgun before they land.
Mutually Assured Destruction
Mutually Assured Destruction
Kill an enemy sniper with a rocket after he kills you.


Death from Above
Death from Above
Rocket jump and kill 2 enemies before you land.


Mutually Air-Sured-Destruction
Mutually Air-Sured-Destruction
While rocket jumping, use a rocket to kill a rocket jumping enemy who also kills you with a rocket.

Leaderboard class pyro.png Pyro

Hot Potato
Hot Potato
Reflect 100 projectiles with your compressed air blast.


Pilot Light
Pilot Light
Ignite a rocket-jumping Soldier while he's in midair.

Leaderboard class sniper.png Sniper

Jumper Stumper
Jumper Stumper
Kill a rocket or grenade-jumping enemy in midair with your Sniper Rifle or the Huntsman.

Update history

July 20, 2011 Patch (Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack Update)
  • The Cow Mangler 5000 was added to the game.

July 22, 2011 Patch #1

  • Improved the impact sounds for the Cow Mangler 5000’s projectiles.
  • Optimized many particle effects related to the Cow Mangler 5000.
  • Updated the Cow Mangler 5000 to display the drawbacks in its attribute list.
  • Updated the gamehaptics file.
    • Added recoil/draw/crit/reload forces for the Cow Mangler 5000.
    • Added charge shot force for the Cow Mangler 5000.

July 22, 2011 Patch #2

  • Fixed the charged shot sometimes doing more damage than intended.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the projectiles to stay in the world after a team change.'
  • Changed attributes:
    • Slowed reload rate by 5%.
    • Decreased damage dealt by 10%.

July 26, 2011 Patch

  • Corrected the damage ramp for the Cow Mangler 5000.

August 18, 2011 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Updated the kill icon for Cow Mangler 5000.

September 15, 2011 Patch

  • Updated the particle effects for the Cow Mangler 5000 and the Righteous Bison.

October 14, 2011 [Item schema update]

  • The Cow Mangler 5000 can no longer be painted.

October 27, 2011 Patch (Very Scary Halloween Special)

  • Updated effects for The Cow Mangler 5000.

May 13, 2013 Patch

July 10, 2013 Patch

  • Changed attributes:
    • Reduced clip size (from 5 to 4).
    • Removed -10% damage attribute.
    • Removed 5% slower reload attribute.
    • Added missing "sets players on fire" description text.
    • Updated particles and sound.

July 11, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed missing Cow Mangler 5000 particles when running in DirectX8.

November 12, 2013 Patch

Unused content

  • In VPK files there is an unused alternate sound for charged shot resembling some of Quake sounds listed as cow_mangler_overcharged_shot. There is also an unused idle sound and some alternative explosions sounds.

Bugs

  • The laser can go through thin walls such as setup gates when fired at a correct angle.
  • The weapon will fire a charged shot even if the charging process is interrupted by getting stunned or the Soldier's team losing.
  • Deactivating an enemy Sentry Gun during humiliation will cause them to reactivate afterward and shoot the winning team.
  • The fire damage self-inflicted on the Soldier by the weapon is treated as an environmental hazard. As such, the last enemy to injure the player will be credited in the kill feed should the Soldier die from the afterburn damage.
  • If the player changes from the Cow Mangler 5000 to another Rocket Launcher using a Resupply locker while charging a shot, they will be stuck with the slower moving speed until they change classes or finish firing the charged shot.
  • When minimizing the game with this weapon equipped, the ammo portion of the HUD may disappear. Looking at the scoreboard may fix this.
  • When killing a player going to destroy the cart in Hightower, the Soldier will be awarded with a Kamikaze kill.
  • This weapon does not glow when Mini-crit boosted.
  • Rarely, after a moment of not firing, the Soldier will automatically reload the weapon's clip, regardless of the player's auto-reload setting.
  • Sometimes, the death animation is not played, and the disintegrating body floats to a single direction and then vaporizes.

Trivia

  • The name Cow Mangler is a reference to the association of alien contact coinciding with cattle mutilation. This originated from American science-fiction movies of the 1950s in which aliens would use laser and plasma weapons to cause mutilation to livestock.
  • Unlike other weapons that have two separate VTFs for team colors, the Cow Mangler 5000 is using the same method that is used to paint cosmetic items to give the weapon team colors.
    • A small number of Cow Manglers were painted due to a schema update that resulted in Cow Manglers being marked as paintable in team colors for a short period of time. As a result, there exist a few dozen Cow Manglers with differently-colored models.
      • Before the July 10, 2013 Patch, particles were affected by painting as well. This doesn't happen anymore since the particles were re-done and now only come in BLU and RED colors, instead of the white colors that the painted color had attributed to it.
  • This weapon's design seems to be inspired from the "Pearce 75 Atom Ray Gun," a model which can be bought at Weta Workshop's online store.
  • While playing MVM, reducing the reload time on the Cow Mangler greatly reduces the afterburn of a charged shot.
  • Several Pyro achievements can be earned using the afterburn of the charged shot.
    • Attempting to rocket jump with a charged shot will set the user on fire, awarding the Pilot Light achievement.

Gallery

See also