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!
— Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack description

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

This weapon can fire up to five blasts of team-colored energy that, compared to the default Rocket Launcher, deliver 10% less damage to players and 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 only with the Righteous Bison.

When the Mangler bar is full, pressing the secondary fire button 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-crit 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.

Although this weapon is unable to be crit-boosted during an Übercharge of the Kritzkrieg or Humiliation, it is able to perform mini-crits from the Buff Banner, even though it does not glow while the banner is active.

Enemies killed by the Mangler 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.

Damage and function times

See also: Damage
Damage and function times
Shot type Projectile
Damage
Maximum ramp-up 125% 101
Base damage 100%
Players:
81
16
Maximum fall-off 53% 43
Point blank 96-101
Medium range 45-81
Long range 41-43
Mini-crit 109
Afterburn 3 / tick
36 total
Afterburn (mini-crit) 4 / tick
48 total
Splash damage
Minimum splash 50% 9 ft
Self-damage 24-80
Self damage (rocket jump) 24-41
Function times
Attack interval 0.8s
Reload (first) 1.3s
Reload (consecutive) 0.85s
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

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

Update history

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

July 22, 2011 Patch

  • 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.
  • 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.

Bugs

  • Once the Soldier begins charging a shot, 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.
  • Upon destroying an Engineer's building, the kill icon will still include a stick figure's body and skeleton.
  • Afterburn kills will be credited to whichever weapon slot the user is currently holding; holding an item that is not a weapon (such as the Buff Banner) shows the generic skull-and-crossbones icon.
  • Several Pyro achievements, such as "Controlled Burn", 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.
  • 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.
  • There is no kill icon for a deflected kill with this weapon.
  • Pyros who deflect the laser will deal full critical damage instead of mini-crits.
    • In addition, charged shots do 292 damage on direct hits when deflected, how this number is calculated is unknown.
  • It is still possible to taunt and quickly press alt-fire to charge a shot. The result is a laser fired from the Soldier's chest as he taunts.
    • It is possible to taunt during an alt-fire 'reload'; the reload sound will play, but the Soldier will execute his taunt animation instead.
  • If the Soldier is killed by his own laser, his gibs will glow with the opposing team's colors.
  • 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 killing a player going to destroy the cart in Hightower, the Soldier will be awarded with a Kamikaze kill.
  • While switching weapons between the Cow Mangler 5000 and a different slot weapon, sometimes, an ammo count will appear stating that the Cow Mangler 5000 has 100 loaded ammo and 20 carried ammo although it is a weapon with infinite ammo.
  • The laser can go through thin walls such as setup gates when fired at a correct angle.
  • Due to the weapon's reload time being slowed by 5%, the cranking sound effect of the reload will play slightly out of time with the actual turn of the handle.
  • After a moment of not firing, the Soldier will automatically reload the weapon's clip, regardless of the player's auto-reload setting.

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 VMTs for team colors, the Mangler, instead, uses the same method used to paint hats to give the weapon team colors. The projectile is colored using the same method as well.
  • This weapon's design seems to be inspired from the "Pearce 75 Atom Ray Gun", a model which can be bought here at Weta's online store.

Gallery

See also