first the stats

when compared to other sniper primaries this does the least amount of damage on body shot. a fully charged body shot from the huntsman does 120 damage, meanwhile a fully charged body shot from stock deals 150, a fully charged headshot deals 360 damage while a fully charged headshot deals 450, so a fully charged headshot from the huntsman is not enough to kill a fully overhealed heavy while the stock can.

the charge

now I've seen people claim that the huntsman doesn't have a charge and does max damage from the get go, this is false. normally the charge on a sniper rifle is in the scope view, however with the huntsman the charge is seen right below your ammo. speaking of which the huntsman has the fastest base charge of all the sniper primaries

the arrows

the huntsman is unique in the sense that instead of firing instant damage bullets like all the other snipers it fires arrows that don't deal instant damage. these arrows can be lit on fire by ally pyros (or torches if you're playing midevil mode) and they can be airblasted, although this requires a lot of skill. another thing to mention is that the arrows have a really wonky hitbox which has earned the huntsman the nickname of "the lucksman" or "the cuntsman" for particularly salty players

unique perks

the huntsman provides a different scoped in view that none of the other snipers (aside from maybe the classic) can provide. when scoped in on most snipers your view of the battlefield is made smaller, making it harder to see nearby opponents. however the huntsman still gives you full view of the battlefield allowing for better spatial awareness and reaction time.

how it fares as a sniper primary

compared to the other snipers, this weapon is pretty bad. this is due to the fact that it deals the least amount of damage at full charge, the damage isn't instant, it can be airblasted back at you, and this weapon has only 12 shots as opposed to the normal 25, and it is much more difficult to aim. when compared to the other snipers this is seen as the second worst, only in front of the classic. in fact this weapon is so poor that it is seen as balanced enough for midevil mode, a mode with all melee weapons.

even though this weapon isn't the best it's still fun as hell and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't like the normal sniper playstyle, I played a few rounds with the huntsman in various game modes for research and I must say the huntsman, while flawed, is still fun to use and rewarding to master.