no
soda popper is only a crutch if you're one of those people that don't go close up, it does the same damage as the scattergun so those minicrits are basically just a more powerful scattergun shot, though scatter is still better when engaging multiple targets which is why i and most people prefer scattergun but soda is great for 1v1 and underused imo (heavy killing with this thing is great)
force-a-nature isn't a crutch, it just sucks (well... it's o-k-a-y sometimes but not many)
sandman/guillotine is hard to aim man AND you lose 15hp
Keep in mind the Scattergun has 6 shots and is pretty much guaranteed to be better for any situation that isn't a 1v1 where you will kill them with those 2 shots. Even then if it's the same strength without crits they can kill you just as easily, and they'll have more ammo if they miss a shot, unlike you.
The mini-crits are what make the Soda-Popper the crutch it is, because without them it's a Scattergun that might let you kill the weaker classes with a one clip combo. Plus the fact that you can store the charge almost full, just to pull it out and receive a free crit buff is pretty stuffty by itself and really takes the skill aspect away from it.
Poll