Class DescriptionThe engineer is the king of defense and the chief support role all rolled into one class. If given some time to set up and build his machinery, an engineer can create a blockade that the enemy will have trouble getting past. From this blockade, the engineer's team can move forwards without fear of being pushed far backwards. He can build sentry guns, which are automatic gun units that will lock onto enemy targets if they come into their sight and firing range. These guns start off as a weak gun turret, then upgrade into a more powerful gun turret with more HP’s, and then they finally upgrade into a gun turret with a mounted rocket launcher that has even more HP’s.
The engineer can also make a dispenser anywhere on the battlefield, allowing his teammates to slowly heal when standing next to it and also supply them with infinite amounts of ammo at a fast pace. Dispensers will also slowly create more “metal” over time, which is the resource that engineers can collect from broken scrap metal, respawn medical cabinets, small/medium/large ammo boxes, and ammo that is dropped by dead players. Finally, the engineer can make a teleporter entrance and a teleporter exit, which when both completed, can teleport the engineer or one of his teammates one way every 10 seconds or so. By making these buildings, the engineer can help create a rock-hard defense. On offense, he can help teleport his teammates up to the front line, resupply those at the front line, and also help reinforce the front line.
The Engineer is...
-Considered by most to be the best defensive class in the game.
-Able to build automatic sentry guns and upgrade them to become more powerful.
-Able to build dispensers that provides infinite ammo to teammates, generates metal for engineers and also heals nearby teammates.
-Able to build teleporter entrances and exit to allow reinforcements to teleport to the front line.
-A class that can create a foothold next to important objectives or out on the front line, if given enough time.
Class Purpose
The engineer’s purpose is to create a defense anywhere the engineer prefers to place it. The engineer class is a class where his playstyle is defined by the player’s preferences and personality. He can choose to either play strictly on defense, or create and develop a deployable mini base anywhere on the map, or elect to help reinforce the front line directly. If playing strictly on defense, he must think of ways to help defend the objective in any way possible.
If he is deploying a portable base, he must sneak to an area that’s somewhat off to the side of the action and quickly develop a mini-stronghold to either support his team, curtail an enemy ambush or plan an attack from an unexpected angle. If playing strictly on offense, the engineer must play aggressively and become a nomad that builds then constantly rebuilds, for the sole purpose of having his SG provide direct cover fire for his teammates.
Offense and Defense
Offense-
An offensive engineer may sound like an oxymoron to most, but the fact of the matter is that an engineer on offense can always be a great contribution to the team’s success. Since most of the maps in TF2 are either capture point or push maps, an engineer charging forwards can provide a number of benefits to his offense. Once settled, an engineer can make a teleporter behind the front line and allow for an offensive teammate that just died to instantly teleport back into the action and reinforce the push. By throwing down a dispenser behind a wall or corner, your teammates can back off to heal or start firing their weapons at the chokepoint to their heart's content. By throwing down an SG, he can provide a network of security at the front line. He can also protect his other buildings without worrying about them getting trampled over by the advancing enemy.
An offensive engineer must play aggressively and see their buildings as expendable. If you start becoming stubborn about your building placement and continue to build the same buildings in the same spots, you might not end up contributing to your team as much, as opposed to improvising by falling back or building in a new unexpected location. As your team moves forward a considerable distance, detonate your buildings and collect their scrap metal. Continue by creating new buildings further up the path and quickly reinforce the new position.
By collecting nearby respawnable ammo crates, ammo from fallen players and collecting scrap from previous buildings, you will be able to recycle and rebuild at a new location. Learning how to conserve your metal and not waste it by picking up more than you need, can be a crucial at any point in the game. Also, learning how to build your buildings as fast as possible and with confidence is important as well. You need to always keep moving and not be picky about placing your buildings in the perfect location. Just throw it down and continue your work.
Defense-
Defense is what an engineer is all about, and by staying behind the action and giving yourself some time and peace, you can create a powerful defense. This defense will be important for when the enemy either pushes your team backwards or for when the enemy tries to ambush your objective. Your defense is not about killing your enemies when they are careless, it’s about buying your team some time to cover and reinforce your position. Teamwork is an important concept that every engineer should understand and respect. Your team should protect you while you do your job and you should provide your utilities in return. This is more productive than being the lone engineer who tries to solo the enemy from an awkward location, just to get a few points on his own.
Helping your team by building your buildings is one thing, but helping fellow engineers is another. Assisting your fellow engineers is more important than building and tending to your own buildings. If your fellow engineer dies, repair his buildings as if they are your own. If your fellow engineer is building something new, get over there and help him build it faster. If your fellow engineer is in need of resources, don’t jack his dispenser or take nearby ammo boxes from him. Don’t waste nearby resources just for the sake of having them if they can be better used elsewhere. Teamwork, companionship and communication are what engineers should embrace in order to build their defense as fast as possible and make it work the most effective manner.
Class Weapons
Shotgun-
The engineer uses the standard TF2 shotgun, yet it almost feels this weapon was designed only for him in the first place. Even though the engineer isn’t an offensive class by a long shot, he can still defend himself by using the shotgun exclusively and making his shots count. A shotgun crit can do some serious damage, and it’s still very possible for an engineer to frag an enemy up close and even more possible to finish off the more powerful classes with his shotgun. When it really comes down to it, all an engineer needs in this world is his trusty shotgun and his good ole’ wrench. Learn how to use this weapon and don’t aim to clip. Shoot to kill instead!
The Engineer Pistol-
The engineer’s pistol is different than the scout’s version, and it has one drawback and one advantage. The scout reloads his pistol in a blink of an eye, while the engineer has a longer, yet still relatively quick reload time. In order to somewhat make up for this, the engineer has an INCREDIBLE amount of pistol ammo on him at all times. There’s probably NO CHANCE of you running out of your 200 extra pistol rounds, so don’t be afraid to unload that sucker on your enemy anytime you want to. You can use the pistol after running out of loaded shotgun shells to continue firing at the enemy. You can also use your pistol to fire at escaping targets or targets out at far range. It's easy to forget that you have an engineer pistol in the back of your mind, so make an effort to remember that you can fire pistol rounds to your heart's content.
Wrench-
This thing is more than a weapon. It does a hell of a lot for you. It’s really surprising that this thing can’t feed your fish or find you a girlfriend (or a sexy boyfriend, ladies!) that likes to play TF2 with you, because it can do pretty much anything else.*
In the damage department, I think it’s safe to say that this is the hardest hitting melee weapon in the game, because of your movement speed and its attack speed. Whenever you see an enemy nearby that doesn’t see you, the wrench will actually take him out pretty quick. There’s nothing quite like jumping on top of an incoming enemy by surprise and wrenching them to death. If you love your shotgun, by all means, use that at close range, but the wrench owns something fierce at close range as well.
Also, in my opinion, your best way of dealing with spies is with your wrench. When you spot the disguised spy that’s trying to sap your buildings, you should immediately hit him first with your wrench once or twice to kill him at close range. Some engineers prefer using their shotgun, but you can waste no time hesitating by nailing him with your wrench if he’s next to you. If he’s on the opposite side of one of your buildings, then you should always use the shotgun.
Now for the good stuff. The wrench has five other uses…
1. Not many players know about the first thing a wrench can do, and they feel a little stupid when they find out about it. When you set up your blueprints and put down a building, it begins to build on its own automatically and you can let it assemble itself until it’s completed and functional. What most people don’t know is that if you wack your building during its construction with your wrench, it builds twice as fast! I believe that people don’t realize this off the bat, because the building system was different in the old TFC. Engineer would build a building in front of them and pause for a couple of seconds while it was built. They could then rotate their sentries after construction. People automatically assumed that all buildings just now build on their own in TF2 and that it took longer this time around for balance purposes.
Now don't forget, you can also do this to another engineer’s building while it’s in construction. If you let an SG build on its own, it builds in 10 seconds. If you wack it with your wrench, it builds in 5 seconds. If two engineers wack an SG with their wrenches, it builds in only 2.5 seconds! The same goes for all other buildings that build in 20 seconds on their own (10 seconds if you keep hitting it, 5 if two engineers hit it, and so on.)
2. Sentry guns have their own supply of ammunition inside of them. When a SG finds a target and locks onto it, it will start firing and gradually drain its ammo supply while firing its bullets and rockets at the enemy. By wacking your sentry gun with your wrench, you will use some of your metal and load more ammunition into your sentry gun. Just as you can help engineers build their buildings faster, you can also reload the ammunition in their SG’s by wacking them with your wrench.
3. At level 1, a SG is rather fragile and usually any class can destroy it if the engineer isn’t around and the enemy is careful. After upgrades, an SG will have some more HP's to take more of a beating from enemy fire. In order to keep this stationary gun from getting destroyed by hit and run tactics so easily, an engineer can repair his SG and his other buildings with a wack of his wrench. Each wack consumes some of the engineer’s metal and repairs a good portion of the building’s health. You can also repair your friend’s buildings with whacks of your wrench. If you see damaged equipment, be helpful and whack it on the way to wherever you're going. Also, if your fellow engineer dies, make sure to position yourself next to or behind his equipment and keep it operational until he returns.
4. Once an SG is completed, and once it has full ammo and full health, an engineer can whack it once to insert up to 25 extra metal into it. If the sentry gun has 200 extra metal inserted into it, it will upgrade to level 2. After another 200 extra metal is inserted into it, it will upgrade to level 3 which is the max level. As always, you can insert your metal into other sentry guns as well. So if two engineers come up to one of their level 1 sentries with full metal on their hands (200 metal each), they can start wacking the SG to upgrade it. By the time they are done. The SG will be fully upgraded to level 3 at a rather fast pace.
5. Engineers can also remove spy sappers from their SG's by hitting the building with their wrench two times. You can also remove sappers from your fellow engineer's buildings with two whacks of your wrench as well. Remove them as soon as possible, because the sapper not only disables the building, it also does gradual damage to it until it finally explodes. Keeping it the building afterwards to repair the damage that the sapper did.
*(Disclaimer- Hitting female players in TF2 with your wrench will not make them fall in love with you, so stop hitting on them while you play!!!)
Sentry Gun [Push 4-1] (135 metal building cost/200 metal per upgrade) -
While this technically isn’t a weapon, I’m going to talk about each of the extra features of the support classes within their weapons section. The sentry gun is the best weapon in an engineer’s arsenal though, when you think about it. A level 1 sentry can take down any class at a good pace as long as they don’t counter-attack it. A level 2 sentry is dangerous to every class and must be dispatched fast or it will murder its target. A level 3 will completely trash any class if they don’t use cover to their advantage or use an uber to become invisible to destroy it head on. It’s worth mentioning that the ability to create a sentry gun is the main reason you’re playing the engineer class. Without it, an engineer is rather weak and doesn’t provide enough for his team to be useful.
When placing a sentry gun, the blueprints will show you the immediate radius of the sentry gun’s shooting range before you even put it down (might only be visible with high video settings on.) This radius is the area in which a sentry will instantly lock onto its target within a fraction of a second and start shooting at it until it is dead or no longer visible. The sentry gun itself is extremely accurate and deals very focused and efficient damage to its target and it's not to be taken lightly. The red wall in the distance shows the outer perimeter of a SG’s firing range.
If an enemy is outside of this range, the SG will not even lock onto him and will also stop firing if the target escapes beyond that range. Because of this, sentry gun’s are not as effective in wide open areas. Without some sort of cover, any enemy can shoot at an SG in a wide open area outside of its range without much trouble at all. Also, SG’s will sense enemies that appear within its entire diameter and will also turn in any direction to face the nearby enemy target and start shooting at them. When the target dies, goes out of sight, or goes out of range, the sentry gun turn back around to face its original angle.
I mention all of this so you can understand the importance of proper SG placement. Common sense will tell you that sentry guns are best placed within areas littered with walls, corners, or cover. They are also well-placed within enclosed areas or rooms, where the SG will be able to fire anywhere within the room once an enemy enters it. It’s always best to place an SG’s back to a wall, so that when an enemy appears, he will most likely be within the preset area in front of the SG and it will INSTANTLY lock on and do damage. Facing the SG towards entrances and choke points will optimize its damage. By having cover and walls around and behind the SG, it will be better protected from incoming enemies.
With this being said, it’s best to build SG's against the corners of a room, or with at least a wall or boundary behind it. It’s best to build the SG at an angle that covers popular entranceways into the area. When building on the higher ground or ledges, it’s best to build it close enough to the edge so they it can aim downwards and clear the edge, being able to fire directly down at enemys below it. You should also know that a sentry gun’s “height” is elevated after being upgraded, so that will be more able to aim downwards because it will be able to clear the edge more easily since its turret is higher.
At the top of rampways or on a roof’s edge, you should account for both of these factors. You should build it close enough to the edge for it to fire at more targets below, but you should also edge it backwards a tad, just so the bottom half of the SG is protected by the ledge, and that its turret will still fire at the incoming enemy with no problems at all. As for building SG’s on lower ground, there’s no real disadvantage to doing it. It may be easier for soldiers to fire rockets directly down at it and yourself as well, but when a SG fires upwards, it will literally push the enemy away and up into the air, allowing the gun to continue firing at its target and it will most likely die in the sky!
The final thing you should consider when placing your SG is accounting for giving yourself some space to wedge yourself either next to it or behind it. By crouching behind it, while giving the SG its best shooting angle, you will be able to use the SG itself as a shield, allowing you to repair it from behind while being mostly protected. Snipers will not be able to headshot you in most instances if you are directly behind the SG’s hitbox, and soldiers will have more trouble hitting you with their rocket’s splash damage if you are directly behind your SG.
When the enemy is breathing down your neck, it’s always a good rule of thumb to keep around 100 metal on your person for when the enemy tries to attack. This way, if the enemy hits your SG, you can wack it when needed to repair and resupply it. If you go over 100 metal, then you can wack your wrench on the SG and put the excess ammo towards upgrading it to the next level. By playing it the safe way, you will be able to safe your SG from an attack as oppose to shoving all your metal in there and end up with none left to repair it during a random assault.
It’s better to keep the SG up and slowly upgrade it then waste your metal and have it get destroyed because you can't repair it. A weak and well protected SG is always better than no SG! Also, remember that your SG will do nothing for a full second while it upgrades to the next level, so make sure the coast is clear before hitting it one last time when the battle is raging all around you. Nothing is worse than having an enemy jump in right when it’s upgrading and having it destroyed because it didn’t fight back!
There are two more things about SG's that I want to mention. When it comes to building SG's next to other engineer SG's, consider putting them across (or on the opposite side of the area) from each other. Picture an entrance into a room that's in the middle of a wall. If your fellow engineer places an SG right up against one of the nearest corners of the wall where the entrance is, try placing your SG in the opposite corner. This way, both SG's will fire at the intruder from both sides and sandwich them. This tactic is known as trying to create a crossfire between both of your SG's. If the enemy pops out and fires at one SG, the other will nail him from behind. With this being said, sometimes building SG's directly next to each other can be a bad idea. If you're in a time of crisis on a defense map, then consider quickly clumping SG's together and back them both up with dispensers. If not, then try to spread them out. You do this so it won't be as easy to attack both SG's at once and allow the enemy to hit two birds with one stone.
The other thing that a poster below mentioned is to avoid building SG's on catwalks. By building SG's behind a rail fence, it might have difficulty shooting through the rails down at your enemies, while they will be able to shoot rockets upwards or lob stickies at you.
Dispenser [Push 4-2] (100 Metal) -
Dispensers can either be built directly on the front line, somewhere hidden off to the side, or directly next to you or behind you (while you are behind your SG.) As a side note, you should always use other sources of metal that are available to you nearby before you use your dispenser’s cache. If a medical cabinet is nearby in a respawn, run to it and grab full ammo. If there are fallen weapons or respawnable ammo crates around, run out to grab them for some more metal.
Also, if there are destroyed buildings around, or if there are some obsolete buildings of your own nearby, detonate them and collect all of the scrap metal. Scrap metal and fallen weapons will perish if they sit there for too long, and the faster you pick up a respawnable box of ammo, the faster it will reappear later on. You do all of this first instead of using your dispenser, only because it’s smart to keep your dispenser as your final reserve for when you must sit by your SG and make sure it doesn’t get destroyed.
By placing your dispenser around a corner where your teammates are facing, they will be able to stand next to it while being healed and also while receiving infinite ammo at a fast pace. Placing a dispenser next to a positioned Heavy is amazing. It will slowly heal him and the Heavy himself will be able to fire his gun for forever without interruption or running out of ammo. Always remember this, because sometimes a Heavy with regeneration and infinite amount can be far more worth that 100 metal than building a weak level one sentry for 135 metal directly on the front line. In fact, that Heavy will gladly use it and defend you, giving you time to collect nearby metal or retrieve it over time from your dispenser to build either your SG or teleporter in the area. Remember, a dispenser’s metal production has nothing to do with its ability to heal or give ammo. The moment it’s operational, it will dispense infinite ammo and heal, and it will begin to produce metal very slowly in little spurts until it reaches its maximum.
By building dispensers in hidden locations, you can build it first early on and let it accumulate a larger supply of metal. If you decide to build your teleporter exit nearby or even an SG somewhere, you can collect some metal, run out, build it, and immediately rush to your secret location to stock up on more, then return to start upgrading it. Your teammates can also fall back if they know it’s location, without worrying about the enemy finding it and knowing about it.
By building your dispenser behind you or beside you while you are next to your SG, you will be able to sit there and regain health, ammo, AND metal, all while tending to your SG. The dispenser will allow you to sit there. Remember what was said before about upgrading your SG too fast. Always keep around 100 metal on your person in case you need to repair it. Let your dispenser slowly generate metal for you and you will always be prepared at all times. Also, consider where you dispenser will be built when you first set up your SG. Give yourself some extra room for the dispenser, and also consider if building the dispenser first is worth the risk. Building your dispenser first means it will be built faster. A dispenser that’s built faster will also start producing metal for you faster as well.
Teleporter Entrance [Push 4-3] (125 metal)-
This isn’t a weapon, but I have to say a few things about it. At the beginning of a round, you should always run out of the respawn and build a fast entrance where your teammates will be able to see it. After placing it, rush back into the respawn, pick up full ammo at the cabinet, and then start running out to the front line or to where you want to put your defense. By doing this at the beginning of the round, you will give yourself the option of building a fast exit whenever you want, and your teammates will be immediately able to use them both the moment it finishes. Also, if a spy goes by your respawn and destroys your entrance, either rush back or wait till you die to rebuild it. Whack it with your wrench to build it fast then teleport yourself back towards the action.
Teleporter Exit [Push 4-4] (125 Metal)-
In most situations, when you arrive at an area of interest, most professional engineers will always tell you to build the teleporter exit first, even before your dispenser or SG! Smart engineers will say that the teleporter is very important to your team as a whole, so building it first means it will be up sooner, allowing for your teammates to return from death and get back on offense (or to a defense location) a hell of a lot faster.
This is not an option without risk, because it WILL take you more time to get around to building your SG and dispenser. Still, it is considered the most efficient thing to do in most situations. Learn the maps well and know where the ammo boxes are and also plan to fastest route to where you want to build your defense. By becoming more experienced, knowing the map better, and be managing your resources, you can plan your building routine and try to complete all of it in record time during the first minute of the match (or during the setup phase.) With all things considered, sometimes the best routine ends up being the following sequence…
Run out / Build Entrance / Run in respawn for full ammo / Run out to your selected area as fast as possible / Build Exit / Get some ammo / Build Dispenser / Get some more ammo / Build SG / Speed build both the SG and dispenser / Start upgrading, collecting dispenser metal, or additional metal from ammo boxes / Prepare yourself for the enemy offensive and keep some metal on you at all times.
This may be a lot to take in at once, but with time and practice, you will understand the basics and begin to have your own preferences and playstyles with the engineer class. Every engineer is unique and they all have something to bring to the table. Will you be a cautious engineer and build early behind the enemy lines, just in case? Or will you build on the front line while the fighting is going on all around you and risk it? Being a good engineer is about knowing the rules and guidelines, while doing what your instinct and your personality tells you to do.
Learn from yourself and learn from others, but always work together with fellow engineers to build and maintain the perfect defense. It’s not all about getting the damn points. If it comes down to your friend building a fast SG and you building your dispenser right behind his, you better damn well build that dispenser or else!
Class Concepts & Tactics
-Move Fast, Build Fast, and Learn your Hotkeys! (Learn how to push your buttons and operate your menus to keep moving and build fast on the run! Push 3 for your wrench, 4 for your build menu, and 5 for your detonate menu. Get used to button combos to build and also learn how right click works for rotating buildings before construction. Right clicking will rotate the building counter-clockwise 90 degrees. Don’t be picky with perfecting your building location and always keep moving!)
-Use that Wrench! (You can speed build, repair, resupply, upgrade your SG, remove spy sappers and even beat the crap out of your enemies with that wrench. Use it for all of those reasons and swing it often!)
-Your Buildings are Expendable! (Don’t cry if your buildings get smashed to pieces. Either build them up again or fall back to set up a more dependable defense.)
-Learn a Routine and Master it! (Learn build orders that work for you and always practice to speed up the process and shave off those seconds.)
-Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork! (If you’re not swinging your wrench constantly and being productive, then you’re probably not helping your fellow engineers. Help speed build buildings in construction and also help upgrade, repair, and resupply others’ buildings before you build your own. One level 2 sentry is more of a threat than two weak SG’s and it’s probably more worth the resources that are between you and him both combined.)
-Don’t forget your Heavies! (If you have the option to either build a dispenser next to a heavy, or building an SG, you’d be stupid to build the SG. Build that dispenser and let the Heavy do the dirty work for you!)
-Master Your Weapons! (The shotgun is a solid weapon and the pistol with its enormous amount of ammo is a decent secondary/far range weapon. The wrench hits hard as hell as well. Equip them all when the time is right and learn how to use them.)
-Sit Behind Your SG and Protect Your Dispenser! (Always try to crouch behind your SG so your SG takes the damage instead of you. Also try to build a dispenser next to you to heal some of the damage you take and also to general metal and stay prepared for an enemy assault.)
-Conserve Your Metal, Grease Monkey! (Always keep around 100 metal on you just in case things get hairy. Learn the map to know where the ammo is. Be sure to use your metal wisely. Blow up useless teleporters if you need some extra metal, or blow up a building after using your metal if you are just going to push forwards or fall back anyways for the extra metal. If you have 150 metal, and a large box of ammo just spawned right next to you (200 metal), you might as well cram your 150 into your SG towards an upgrade and THEN pick up the ammo crate. If you just pick up the ammo crate, you just wasted 150 ammo, because you can only carry 200! Just remember what ammo boxes and fallen weapons are worth…
Small Ammo box = ~40 metal.
Medium Ammo Box = 100 metal.
Large Ammo Box = 200 metal.
Non-Engineer Weapons = 100 Metal.
Engineer Weapons = 200 metal.
Dispenser- 25 Metal when built, 40 Metal per generation cycle.)
VS. Other Classes
VS. Scout-
You are the scout’s worst nightmare! On your own, he has the advantage unless you shotgun him down hard and fast. If you’re next to your SG, he’s pretty much worthless. Just sit there next to your SG and make his life miserable.
VS. Soldier-
Stay at far or mid range if you have to shotgun one of these guys down and dodge his rockets. Be extra careful when a solider attacks your SG. A level 3 SG that’s being repaired by a persistent engineer cannot usually be killed by a single soldier, UNLESS the soldier can find a way to keep damaging the engineer before the dispenser can heal the damage. Keep whacking your SG at all times and take as much cover as possible to avoid that rocket splash damage.
VS. Pyro-
You are a strong counter to the pyro. Never get caught with your pants down and allow this guy to get close to you when you’re on your own. Try not to build your SG on low ledges or directly around corners either, because a good pyro might be able to flamethrow it or attempt to rush in and circle strafe around it. Your SG turns slow and will not hit him if he actually pulls it off. Even with you repairing it, you won’t be able to survive the flamethrower and he will kill both you and your SG if he gets close enough. Make an effort to build at a distance and get your SG to at least level 2 to keep pyros at a distance. If you are able to do that, then they won’t be able to do a damn thing unless they get ubered by a medic.
VS. Demoman-
These guys can be your worst nightmare. Dodge their stickies and grenades and shotgun them down. If a demoman is able to start lobbing stickies right next to your SG, your best option is to jump ship and start running. It’s possible to shoot stickies away with your shotgun if there’s enough time to do it, but if he gets his second sticky by you right after the first lands, you should just get away and let the SG get blown up. It’s better that you survive instead of going down with it.
A poster below reminded me of something pretty obvious, so I'll add it in here. You always have the option of trying to shotgun him down fast before he can get those stickies in there. Risk it and try to kill him fast if you think it's possible.
VS. Heavy-
If you can’t ambush them with your wrench or shotgun, don’t bother fighting them. Heavy’s will be able to take out level 1 SG’s rather easily unless they are very slow to react. Level 2 SG will put up much more of a fight, but make sure its level 3 to make sure the Heavy will go down a lot faster.
VS. Other Engineers-
If you’re a good engineer, you will never really fight other engineers. In case you do happen to stroll by one, out-shotgun him or nail him with the pistol at far ranges.
VS. Medic-
If it’s just you versus the medic, then it can be a very even fight. His needle gun is nothing to sneeze at, but your shotgun isn’t a girly gun either. Both of your melee weapons are considered to be the best in the game, and you have a slight advantage at far range with your pistol, but he also slowly regenerates. Trust in your shotgun and take him out fast. Also take note that medics will heal their teammates while they try to deal with your SG’s. If you can afford the time in between wrench whacks to pull out your shotgun, do it. Help out your own SG by shooting at the attacker and his damn medic. If you can sneak up and shotgun or wrench the medic, more power to you!
VS. Sniper-
Similar to what the scout would do, unload your pistol at him at far ranges to screw with his aim. To kill snipers, beat his autogun with your shotgun, or get one or two good wrench hits in. The only time a sniper will attack your SG is when he’s on the offensive or when your SG is in a wide open area. Two good sniper bullets will destroy your sentry, behind it or not. Also, he might try to frag you with a headshot then have his way with your buildings by picking them off at far range. To avoid this, position yourself directly behind your SG and crouch. Most of the time, he won’t have a clear shot at your head, and you can keep whacking your SG to make sure he doesn’t pull a fast one on your SG or help his other teammates by weakening it for them.
VS. Spy-
You will deal with spies often. It takes two wrench hits to remove a sapper device which will slowly destroy your buildings and disable them as well. An annoying spy will keep placing sappers on your buildings and reapply them before you can get the 3rd wrench hit in to repair the damage. This means a spy can “Chain-sap” to make sure your team’s SG’s and other buildings end up exploding no matter what. Unless you have a fellow engineer nearby, or a teammate that’s able to kill the spy fast, the BEST thing you can do is move in to start wrenching him the moment a sapper touches one of your buildings.
Spies will tend to disguise as either engineers or pyros while by your SG’s. No matter what the disguise is, you need to identify the spy (usually the one guy strolling around and not using his weapon) and wrench him fast. In the event you can’t reach him (usually when he’s on the opposite side of your sapped building,) quickly whip out your shotgun and gun him down. After he’s dead, quickly use your wrench to try and save your dispenser first, and your SG second. Level 3 SG’s have a good amount of HP’s, so it’s usually a smarter move to rescue your dispenser first, even if it means losing your SG by luck. Rebuilding one with a dispenser full of metal is a lot better than losing all that metal from a lost dispenser, most of the time.
As always, try to be aware of your surrondings and turn around to look for any suspicious activity going on behind you. If you see an teammate that's moving around in a weird fashion or someone uncloaking, shoot at him. Sometimes it's helpful just to leave your teleporter entrance up by your respawn, even if it doesn't have an exit, only because spies ussually have a strong urge to sap it for the hell of it. This will serve as an early warning sign for incoming spies.
Closing Thoughts
The engineer is a fun class that’s played usually by a player’s preferences, allowing for a variety of different and unique playstyles. No matter what anyone tells you, the engineer is balanced. Always remember that an engineer needs to have some time and a good amount of speed to build what he does in a short period of time, and that an uber (or multiple uber) coupled with offensive classes can and will always beat out those nasty SG’s. If there are just too many SG’s, yell at your demomen to do a better job, change your offensive make-up, or send in a good spy (or a bunch of good spies!) to wreck havoc on their defense.
If there are an abundance of engineers on the enemy team, and you allowed them the time to fully build up and do it by harvesting their limited resources, then you probably did something wrong to deserve it. This also means that if there’s more engineers on their team, there WILL be less medics (if any) and a lack of real offensive classes. Once you end up destroying their SG defense, their entire front will come crumbling down and they will lose a TON of ground really fast!
Also, I find it humorous when professional players complain about the standing power of the engineers and how they are able to build SG’s and do what they can do to their fullest potential. If you’re a good scout player, I sympathize with you. If you’re not a good scout player, and if you’re just another soldier scrub, grow some balls! It’s only an SG for crying out loud! If you’re so damn good, uber up and trash those SG’s and stop crying about it. It really makes you look like a goober if you cry about balancing SG's, just because you say they are overpowered, so just quit it already!
Other Thoughts From Other Players
Lcpuche Wrote:
well i have done this since a long time, but you can block stairs with the teleporters in 2fort, also putting your dispenser, or teleporters on the side of your sentry gun sometimes will protect it against rockets, or other things that are shot at it.
PAN Bishamon;7156797 Wrote:
You CAN unsap other Engies stuff. Don't think you put that in there, but it is 7 am and I haven't slept yet, so I might've missed it.
also, try and Include Kitsune's point of other Engies on your turf. If you see an Engy in your base, immediately sweep the area for enemy buildings. Likely they'll be weak (level 1 gun) or still building (with the 20 second build time) and without the enemy Engy there, even alone you can clear it out.
On the other hand, if you see a level 3 gun, dispenser, and teleporter, IMMEDIATELY let your team know, and try and take out the weak buildings (dispenser and teleporter) without drawing sentry fire.
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