Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2

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MvM Engineer: The Vigilante Santa Claus
By Upsilon
If you were to metaphorically refer to your team as a body, the Engineer would be the back-bone, bringing gifts for everyone...and lead instead of coal for the naughty robots. MvM Engi is an art that, if not mastered, will get you kicked. Let's get you some metal buns that are kick-PROOF! Nobody kicks Santa!
   
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Important Notice
I think it's just about official that I am discontinuing updating/writing guides for MvM. MvM Solly most likely won't see the light of day. Thanks again to everyone who viewed and I hope the guides helped you. They were great practice for me and I had a lot of fun, but now, I'm moving on. I hope the information will still be relevant at the time you are reading, and good luck on those Aussies or whatever is the next big thing on TF2 at the moment.

- Upsilon Force
Intro
Hi, my name is Upsilon (Force, sometimes). I am the successful author of several MvM guides here in the Steam Community Guides for Teamfortress 2. It's common that, when I upload a guide, it reaches number 1! I play too much MvM, but that means I can walk you right through it. I'm getting tired of all these Engineers that do just about EVERYTHING wrong that they can do wrong: bad gear, bad builds, can't beat sentry busters correctly, and use the worst canteens (or none). So far, I have changed the community's minds on Spy in MvM, offered a new perspective on Pyro, proved that Medic is AWESOME, eliminated bad Scouts, and made the biggest ever MvM Heavy guide. My target today is bad Engineers. There's just too many! If you think this guide has done its job, please rate, comment, and share it with your friends. Help me not have to kick so many Engineers! If you enjoy the guide, check out my others too!

http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=153553501
http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=152626791
http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=148119190
http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=150296100
http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=150849187
http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=152068821

From the man who brought you MvM Heavy: The Bot Bully, MvM Engineer has arrived!
Engineer Overview
The Engineer is a core member of any serious MvM team. His jobs are absolutely crucial for victory. The team needs a good Engineer so badly, that if you aren't ready for the more advanced difficulties, you WILL get yourself kicked and/or be trapped on wave 3 FOREVER. Let's get you prepared by first getting to know your role.

His most important, no doubt, is smart use of his dispenser building. It provides infinite ammo and moderate health regen. Your damage classes (and sometimes Scout) need your dispenser very, very badly!

It happens more often than it should, but a rush of Scout bots can easily snag the bomb and slip by your team. The Engineer's Sentry Gun (Sentry for short) has rapid auto-aim and high damage. It's almost designed to beat these bots (or vice versa). It's also not shabby for bringing down giants and tanks too!

Admit it: we all screw up sometimes. That can be remedied by the Engineer's Teleporter. With right placement, you can drastically reduce the penalty for your team dying. They can quickly jump right back into the action without missing much of it!

Perhaps his second most important job is properly beating a Sentry Buster. Yeah, it's fun as it sounds; designed to bust your sentry. If you don't beat it properly, it will wipe our your nest and half of your team, very possibly causing a loss.

He's just like Santa Claus: he's got gifts for the nice (dispenser, teleporter), and coal (lead?) for the naughty. Hm? "There's no such thing as redneck Santa Claus"? Well then, perhaps
"he" should write the guide then....
Meet the Vigilante Santa Claus
Howdy, ya'll! Now, I'm willin' to bet that your first thought is: why in the devil is Santa here in MvM? Oh, I'll tell ya: 'cuz I've seen some naughty kids in mah life, but these here robots have taken it too far this time! Hell, it's obvious that Mann Co. has done some bad, but they also sell guns that let mercs like you do their doggone jobs! Plantin' a bomb to blow up Mann Co. shops?! Heck no! It's time for Santa to take things into his own hands! "Makin' a list"? Makin' a hit-list, is more like it! Santa's mad as heck, and it's time to dish out some coal (lead...?)!

Know what else i don't like? Now, I don't mind bein' imitated, but these imitators are just plain awful! I'm here to teach you a lesso-....wait a sec, ain't chu one-a-them reign deer that took me to the wrong house last Christmas?

[Click here for picture][www.defunkd.com]


Ooooh, boy. This is gonna be tougher than I thought....
Coal Flavors: Primary Weapons
(Note that a recent update has bugged the ability to add pictures, so they will be more rare. I will provide links to the pictures if I can.) First thing you imitators got all wrong is ya'lls gear. Leme show you "justice" Santa style!


One fine piece of work is called Fronteir Justice (FJ for short. Click the white text to go to the wiki for more info). It's got a shallow clip; 3 shells to be exact, but it stores critical hits based on your sentry kills. These special crits are called "Revenge Crits". I'll explain these in a sec.




Now what ya'll got here is one underrated weapon in MvM: The Widowmaker. See, on hit, this thing restores metal equal to the damage done! But it costs metal to fire it, too. If it costs 30 metal to shoot it and if you do 60 damage, you just plum got yerself a refund! Problem, though: you gotta be accurate. If you couldn't hit water if you fell out of a boat, go back to FJ or stock. This things damage is almost as good as the FJ with crits, because you don't reload, and you don't run outta ammo. You can even give it max firin' speed for a measly $400. If you play right, you can go from 30 metal to 400 in just a few seconds! You can get the metal you need by shootin' bots! ('nother problem: the gain-metal-back thingy don't work on tanks. Tough luck, bud!)

If you got stock shotgun, don't feel bad, now. You don't depend on your gun too much, but if you wana take Santa's justice to a higher difficulty, ya'll gotta be ready for it. Don't upgrade your stock shotgun either unless yer goofin' around.

Oh, my sweet Pompson 6000...R.I.P., darlin'. This thing used to be a mighty fine weapon, but it was beaten with the nerf stick, thrown through the nerf grinder, stomped on by nerf shoes, hit by the nerf truck, and practically smashed by Mr. Newell's Ban Hammer. We miss you bein' good....It's Uber drain don't help much 'cuz robots build uber darn quick and no penetration means you only hit one bot. It's just no good.

Lotsa folks will stand by The Rescue Ranger 'til their dyin' breath, but I'm not much a fan. Low damage, weak healin', and the building "range snag" that I never found much use for. You can dodge Busters without it just fine. Not sure why folks love it so much. (Update: For the 2 cities maps, this weapon has proven its use by giving wide mobility over the large gaps of the spacious cities. It's been bumped up to "recommended". Except for the 2 cities maps, RR's just kinda meh. Not bad, just meh.)
Frontier Justice Facts
If you look at the top of ya screen, yer gon' see the status of the buildings. Up there, you can see how many naughty bots have been dealt coal (Um...it's lead...). If you look at the sentry tab, you'll see 2 numbers. The number on the left is kills; the one to the right in ( ) is your assists. You store 2 crits per sentry kill, and 1 crit per sentry assist; but you only get the crits when the sentry is destroyed. Gotta do a bit a math, here. You multiply the left number by 2, then add the right number that's in parenthesis, so: X(2) + Y = your crits when the sentry explodes. Let's say you got yerself 5 kills and 3 assists on the sentry; 5(2) + 3 = 10 + 3 = 13. Don't get too excited! The max you can have is 36 crits, but give this darlin' some reload speed, firin' speed, and clip size, and you better watch out, naughty robots. You'd BETTER cry....
Coal Flavors: Secondary Weapons
I built this thing mahself with an Atari joystick and a megaphone....that I stole. What? He stole the items first! It was just Santa's justice! Anyway, 'round here, we call this dangerous, do-hecky The Wrangler. Might look silly, but some even consider this baby over powered! You take manual control of the sentry and it gains a shield knockin' down damage by 66%. It also doubles the firin' speed while wrangled. You can cause a lot of damage from way far away, or shield the sentry to hold its ground! They ain't takin' me alive!

Stock pistol ain't too bad, but folks on Advanced/Expert won't be fond. Might even get yerself kicked! Yeah, I know: upgraded, its damage ain't shabby, but it ain't holdin' a candle to Wrangler.

Short Circuit.....I've just got one word for this weapon...








.....ok fine. It destroys explosives in the air. Sounds great, don't it? Well, it costs metal to use it, too.Stuff'll be flyin' at you so fast, you won't have the time/metal to fight it all off yer sentry. Other, non-explosive stuff will hit yer sentry, too; so you'll have to switch back to the wrench just to repair it. Might as well just equip yer wrench with swing speed and repair normally. Not one of my better experiments. You'll lose damage from not havin' the Wrangler anyway. Booooo!
Coal Flavors: Wrenches
I'd say stock wrench is the way to go! It's the one you get at first and have all the time. No weakness, and doesn't lose anything you'll need from other wrenches. Not much else to say, so let's compare 'em with the other wrenches (I didn't steal these, by the way. Serious!)


I love The Jag! It builds your contraptions faster by a good bit, but when you whack-a-feller, it don't do as much. When you're whackin' a tank, you get a little less damage. I found it kinda nice to go swingin' at a tank in a pinch, so I take stock. Tough decision, though, 'cuz these two wrenches are almost identical! I don't need build time 'cuz Ima use build canteens anyway. We'll get to those soon enough.



Souther Hospitality is a pretty darn deadly weapon in PvP, but it ain't as good here. It's almost the same as other wrenches, but the bleed effect don't work on tanks, and you shouldn't be smackin' around robots with melee. The elephant in this room is the fire vulnerability. If ya'll get yerself burned, it's gona hurt a whole lot more.

Eureka Effect Don't EVEN try it, you coward! The only thing this's good for is poofin' back to spawn. Ya'll shouldn't cower out of the fight like that. And that ability overrides your ability to pick up yer sentry! Uh oh, here comes the buster! *Poofs to spawn* Da*** it!! (UPDATE: It had a major rework, but imo, now EE is even worse. Stick to the classics.)

Gunslinger. Gunslinger? Let me get this straight: you are about to face thousands of angry robots, armed with super-powerful weapons (mostly crit charged), and heavily armored tanks.....

Upgrade Build
Here's wuna them times where you imitators embarress me. Ya'll screw up yer upgrades so bad, FOLKS OFTEN KICK YA! Ima keep it short, and sweet. First of all....


• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE
• UPGRADE YER DISPENSER RANGE

Have I made that clear yet!?

If ya got $400, you max out dispenser range then go for 2 Upgrade Buildings canteens, then 2 Melee Speed, 2 Metal Capacity. Max out melee and metal cap when you can. Now, you put at least 1 point in Building Health. As you get an excess in cash, go for Sentry Firing Speed. If yer havin' trouble with Giant Scouts: 1) Upgrading Two-Way Teleport won't hurt or mah favorite 2) It's time to kick somebody.

Same build for Mecha Engie, 'cept it's all at once. Don't bother with resistances on me. I don't see much fightin' directly. It might be a nice money-dump.

But before you do that, you wana git yerself some Movement Speed, too. Then you can upgrade one of yer shotguns. If you got Widomaker, only max out its firin' speed. If ya got FJ, go fer reload speed first, then firin' speed, and projectile penetration. Jus' don't die, OR YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR CRITS!
Santa's Basics: Sentry Buster Bustin'
I bet you're familiar with this little booger. He looks like a Navy Contact Mine with legs. The Administrater gal will shout it out when one shows up. Here's another time where my imitators just plain embarress me. When ya build up yer nest, everythin's kinda close together, right? Ya got a Heavy on yer dispenser (or Pyro if you follow that guide too), the dispenser itself, a Solly/Medic/Second Heavy, then yer sentry. The sentry buster's gonna run right up to your sentry, squat down, then kablooy. So how do dummies you fix it? You wait until the buster stops next to the sentry, pick it up, and run away. Mighty fine work...NOW IT BLEW UP, KILLIN' YER HEAVY, YER OTHER DAMAGE CLASS, AND DISPENSER! People like you couldn't pass a blood test. No, no, now here's how you beat a sentry buster. As soon as it gets about 20ft away, pick up the sentry and run BACKWARDS, facing the buster. Not too far, now! Just far enough to know that the explosion won't kill ya'll's buddies. When you know it's safe, RUN RIGHT THROUGH THE SENTRY BUSTER AND PASS IT Another general tip on how it's done is to take yer sentry to a safe place, then just "bump" into the buster and GET OUTTA THAR! Well there you go. That's how it's done.

Somethin' you'll wana bear in mind: if you don't know how to deal with a sentry buster, YOU'D BETTER SPEAK UP, OR YOU JUST GOT YERSELF KICKED! (yah, I say that a lot, but if you want to go Advanced or Expert, folks expect a whoooole lot outta their engie. Be ready, or go home.) Practice on the easier modes until you got the technique of sentry buster bustin' mastered.
Santa's Basics: Spy Bots
You can compare Spy bots a lot like fightin' a menace of rabbits off of yer carrot patch. First how to get rid of 'em, you gotta spot 'em first. If you see an out-of-place teammate spinnin' around like he's stuck in a washin' machine, it's a Spy. One trick (but not rec'mended) is to run rite into the Spy. The Spy will try to melee you and will drop is disguise, then POW! Sentry enforces Santa's Justice! Ain't much you can do when Spies show up. Gotta rely (shudder) on yer team for that one. Jus' make sure none of 'em get behind ya to stab, and keep tryin' to smack them sappers off yer buildin's. Just use what you got to keep 'em away: wrangle yer sentry, beat 'em with the wrench, shoot 'em, whatever it takes. Most important, if you see a buncha Spies show up, SHOUT TO YER TEAM FOR HELP!
Santa's Basics: Where to Build
The basic idea is to take advantage of corners. Ima let the shots do most of the talkin'.












The Decoy mission is almost identical to Coal Town as far as buildin' stuff. The only exception is buildin' the teleporter exit on the top of the center building. (IMPORTANT UPDATE!! The Dispenser on the rock was PATCHED and is no longer possible. Simply set it down on the ground, close as you can to where it used to be on the rock. Look at the other pictures for reference.)
Where to build: Rottenburg
SSSHHHH! Keep yer voices down! Blitzen managed to smuggle my iPhone in this here prison so I can update this. I'll show ya'll where other vigilantes have thar stuff set 'cuz I've been cooped up in the slammer since the last update. First: Rottenburg.





and now, Mannhattan! Good luc- ....oh doggonit, Margret Claus! Don't send me duck faces now!







Where to Build: Mannhattan
Big Rock Dispenser (No longer possible. I'll keep this section for nostalgia)
See where the dispenser is? If ya'll are on the Mecha Engie map "Bigrock" and you can't put this here, YER GONNA GET KICKED FOR THAT TOO, so I'll learn ya.









There's two ways you can do this. My way is to put a sentry here, jump up on top of it (crouch down at the peak of your jump to make it), and place the dispenser. The other option is in the first picture where I stand on the wood fence. Either way, this here placement AIN'T EASY. I highly advise that you create a LAN server to practice. Only queue up fer Mecha Engie when you're ready to toss this dispenser up in the twinkle of an eye.
Ticked Santa: Wrangler
Ya gotta shoot the right things or....well duh, yer gonna lose! These are a few times where its 'portant.
  • If yer team is spakin' them robots bad, it can get a might bit borin'. In these times, move yer sentry so it's got a clear shot of the robots, now use yer wrangler to shoot down the way.
  • When the Scout marks a giant Medic bot with a Fan o War, YOU BETTER DROP THAT THANG QUICK! If you don't he's pop that Uber and beat ya'll like you stole somethin'! If you hit the Heavy bot too much, the Medic will uber then, too! (Sometimes it's bad luck, but he'll pop just 'cuz he feels like it. It seems like he only does it if 'e lives too long. Not sure, but it's a good suggestion!) Axually, you should be wranglin' any giant that yer Scout marks! Gotta drop them mother hubbards quick!
  • The tank is freakin' freaky, but it's bark is worse than its bite. Wrangle it from a distance and when its up close. Use Right click (aka M2) to fire the rockets, but careful! YOU CAN KILL YERSELF WITH YOUR OWN ROCKETS! If ya maxed out your melee swing speed, stick with that instead when the tank gets close, but still look out fer yer own rockets!
  • See a Spy in the distance? Wear 'im down with the wrangler and when he shows up all beat-up, WHACK HIM! If you see a Sniper, wrangle him. 'Nuff said.
Ticked Santa: Clutch Building
For whatever reason, sometimes ya' join the action a bit late, or ya' gotta fall back to re-setup. We gotta be preppin' for all situations. When you deliver presents to 4 billion kids, ya'll gots to have a plan and adapt! Firstly, I'd suggest goofin around on a private server and practice buildin' yer stuff real quick-like. Eventually, ya' get so good at it, you can purchase your upgrades and be good-to-go in about 15 seconds. Fine piece-a-work!

I joined one game a bit on the late side. I had about 20 seconds to upgrade and build mah stuff. Once I bought 3 Dispenser Range and 2 Upgrade Canteens. I raced outta spawn like a kid that heard the ice-cream truck jingle. Only had about 5 seconds, and I still got it all set up ON TIME! Wanna know mah secret?

See, when ya'll build b'fore the wave starts, YER BUILDIN'S BUILD AND UPGRADE INSTANTLY WITH NO METAL COSTS! So the ideer here, is to build EVERYTHING fast as you can, then right click it to move it in a sec. 'Cuz if you build DURING the wave, you gotta build up the old fasioned way and that just sucks.

Later, we weren't doin' s' hot, so I improvised. When mah gear blew up, I ran back to a half-way point and found an ammo packet. Ya' build all yer stuff (except teleporter "entrance"; if you can't afford the "exit", jus' build a Sentry and a Dispenser) and hit your Canteen button. That'll make 'em all level 3 instantly! Ready to rock and roll again!
Ticked Santa: Tanks
The best way to deal with a tank is to snag that dispenser and chase your teammates. You'll be contributing more damage by keeping their ammo full than anything else you can do combined! Mostly, you carry it to yer Heavy and drop it on him, then start shootin' the tank yerself or fightin' off bots with your wrangled sentry. Everybody else should be fast enough to help themselves to the dispenser.

Try to stay away from the corners of it's treds, else it'll smoosh you like rollin' out a pancake batter. If you want to melee it, stay out of yer sentry's firin' line, or it'll kill ya'!

Finally, if a bot has the bomb and he's next to a tank, kill the bomb guy first. That's 'bout it. Prioritize then shoot the daylights outta it!
Santa's Justice is served!
Yeeehaw! We beat them robots! We saved Mann Co.! I taught ya'll how Engi is done!
We....uh oh....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH5rv3pYum8







....While Santa does 6 months, thank you for reading! Please press the Thumbs up button at the top of the page, leave a comment (I don't mind critique, just be polite), and tell everyone you know about the guide!

If you enjoy my guides, try joining my fanclub! You can get updates on the status of them and annoucnements on changes! I'm not looking for worship, just think of it as subscribing to my channel. http://steamoss.com/groups/upsilonfanclub


Don't forget to read the comments! Your question might be answered!

In closing, I'd like to thank FroggerLogger for your inspiration to write!

...By the way, it's "lead" not co....nevermind.
Works Cited
COP's Theme
Santa's Mug Shot[rlv.zcache.com]
NOPE Image[fc06.deviantart.net]
and the Schmidt House T-Shirt

All accessed July 14, 2013.
No. (Yes...?!)
I have changed my mind about Sniper and a guide of it is in the making!
83 Comments
DAHunter 6 Aug, 2015 @ 8:15am 
resue ranger is good
Rock270 18 Dec, 2014 @ 9:52am 
Friendly heads-up, the Frontier Justice stores 35 cries, not 36.
devious goon 27 Jul, 2014 @ 1:47pm 
Great guide! Thanks :csdsmile:
Upsilon  [author] 15 Jul, 2014 @ 6:29am 
Thank you very much for trying to keep me informed if I missed anything. I still find EE nearly useless. I was going to update that but my computer crashed a while ago and now my internet barely functions. Been one s*** storm after another non-stop.
S. Agent Gadriel 15 Jul, 2014 @ 4:46am 
Heads up! The Eurika Effect got reshuffled at some point! Now, it allows you to reload to teleport to either spawn or your exit teleporter, in exchange for, and I quote, "50% repair/upgrade rate." And I think you can pick up buildings.
Alchemist Endrew 11 Jun, 2014 @ 11:43am 
One of the biggest falicies I've seen engies commit is placing their dispenser right next to their sentry. What engineers need to learn is to invest in metal reserves and metal regen so you can have your sentry where choking is needed and the dispenser where your team needs it. The Rescue Ranger lets you keep your dispenser funcioning.
nujim 27 May, 2014 @ 6:40pm 
'far range'
nujim 27 May, 2014 @ 6:40pm 
plus why hating the rescue ranger its give nice heath to building from range
nujim 27 May, 2014 @ 6:37pm 
sniper guide: machina or sydeny sleeper/ jarate or cozy camper/ the shahanshah or the tribalman's shiv (stock weapons for all slot can work)
K'mar 22 Feb, 2014 @ 10:08am 
I desagree with you on the Southern Hospitality.
It really helps when a Spy just keeps W+M1 Sapping the Sentry. The bleeding will kill them slowly(that redundancy...), it also allows my teammates to see which "teammate" is the Spy and nullifies their cloak. The increased Flame damage is negligeable since a Pyro will leave you bellow 50% health anyways(unless he kills you) or you'll have your dispencer nearby to keep you alive.