Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2

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Engineering Guide
By nedoplatek
Hello and Welcome to Engineering, a guide how to successfully play as our smart Texan, the Engineer. You will learn here a simple tips, loadouts and other usefull things like where to build your nest, metal management and other very useful things.
   
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Introduction
The Engineer specializes in constructing and maintaining Buildings that provide support to his team, rather than fighting at the front lines. The Engineer's various gadgets include the Sentry Gun, an automated turret that fires at any enemy in range, the Dispenser, a device that restores the health and ammunition of nearby teammates, and Teleporters that quickly transport players from point A to point B.
Beacuse of his buildings, Engineer is the class which plays the supportive role, and that support only gets stronger and more effective the longer he's left with his own devices.

Basic Info
Engineer is, belive or not, pretty weak class without his buildings. His low health pool doesn't allow him to be a combat class. Only when using the Gunslinger, which expands a maximum health by 25HP (from 125 to 150). On a paper, this seems like no diffrence but in reality +25HP is a huge improvement for the subclass called The Battle Engie.

Class
Health
Overheal
Engineer
125
185
Gunslinger
150
225

Condition
Normal
Backwards
Crouched
Underwater
Engineer
100%
90%
33%
80%
Hauling
90%
81%
30%
72%

These are the things that you can read on the TF2 wiki but I felt like I can add them here.
Engineer's role
In the section menu, Engineer is assigned to the defense section but when you consider that Engie can build Dispensers which can grant heals and ammo to your team, Teleporters which can get your teammates to the front much faster and he also can control an area with his reliable Sentry Gun, I would take the Engineer more like a Support than defensive class.

Playing Engie properly requires a completly diffrent skill mindset compared to Demoman or Scout for example. You should be always aware of incoming push.
Try to use all of your buildings at maximum. Just beacuse Sentry has a bigger icon on HUD, it doesn't mean that it's more important compared to the other two.
Metal Management
As you all know, Engineer's maximum Metal capacity is 200 Metal. Good to know that Metal is diffrent from Ammo. Even you get both of these things from the same source.

Here's a quick list of all sources of metal:
  • Small / Medium / Full Ammo packs
  • Ressuply Lockers
  • Dispensers
  • Payload Carts
  • Broken Building Parts

It is important to know, when you want to spend your metal or get another one. For example if you have 70 metal, you should take a medium ammo pack rather than the full one to prevent wasting a bunch of metal.

Also if you see a friendly Dispenser, it's okay to take a metal from it IN CASE your fellow Engineer won't need it any time soon. That being said, don't steal metal from your Engies. If you would accidently take a metal from a Dispenser, it is polite to give it back in form of upgrading their Dispenser.
Primary Weapons
Shotgun





Solid mid-range weapon. You can't be wrong with this one. It can be loaded up to 6 shells and you can do pretty big amout of damage. Great for self-defense. I really recommend this one.


Frontier Justice





  • Stores 2 guaranteed critical shots for every Sentry Gun kill.
  • Stores 1 guaranteed critical shot for every Sentry Gun kill assist.
  • Stored critical shots (up to 35) are granted only upon Sentry Gun destruction/demolition.
  • Has half the normal clip size.
  • Revenge crits are lost on death.

This is a very interesting sidegrade to the stock. It gains 2 revenge crits per sentry kill and 1 revenge crit for sentry assisst when destroyed. You can fire those juicy crits at your enemies once your Sentry is destroyed. But the downside is that this gun can hold only 3 shells in a clip. Keep your Frontier Justice loaded at all time and also carry a secondary Pistol in case you'll run out of ammo!


Widowmaker





  • On hit: damage dealt is returned as ammo.
  • No reload necessary.
  • Uses metal as ammo (per shot -30 ammo).

This toy is for more experienced players who have a good aim. If you have a good aim, this shotgun is for you. Widowmaker doesn't have it's own ammo capacity but it uses metal as it's ammo. With every successfull shot, you'll get your spent metal back. Perfect for players who can land a successfull meatshots. But also struggles when the metal is difficult to obtain.


Pompson 6000




  • Shoots an electric projectile instead of shotgun pellets.
  • On hit: Drains Übercharge and Cloak.
  • Projectile cannot be deflected.
  • Does not require ammo (replaced with an ammo meter).
  • Deals only 20% damage to buildings.
  • Has a 33% smaller clip size.

This laser gun shoots an electric projectiles that cannot be reflected. Those projectiles can light up arrows. It does not require an ammo and if you hit a Medic, he loses 10% of his Übercharge. If you hit a Spy, he loses 20% of his cloak.
However pompson's major downsides are only 4 shots in a clip and it's extremly slow projectiles which makes it so much harder to hit anything with the Pompson.
And I'm not even talking about the low damage against enemy buildings.


Rescue Ranger




  • Fires a special bolt that can repair friendly buildings.
  • Alt-Fire: Use 100 metal to pick up buildings from long range.
  • -34% clip size and -50% max primary ammo on wearer.
  • Self mark for death when hauling a building, and a few seconds after redeployment.

Rescue Ranger is really good now, you can heal your buildings for a little bit of metal. Like teleporting buildings on it's own is pretty good. The major upside is that the Rescue Ranger encourages to play smarter and doesn't support sitting behind Sentry Guns. Great defensive tool but It's downside is that you're in complete disadvantage against Spies with the lack of
self-defense.


Panic Attack




  • +50% more pellets per shot.
  • Deploys 50% faster.
  • Has a fixed pattern (no random bullet spread).
  • -20% damage penalty.
  • Successive shots become less accurate.

The Panic Attack is kinda viable on every class but Engineer. Everything Panic Attack does is useless when playing Engineer since other classes uses it as a seconday, while Engie uses it as his own primary weapon. You'd be better just using the stock Shotgun.
Secondary Weapons
Pistol






This stock secondary is pretty common beacuse it can take enemies from a long range when your Shotgun shots would be a waste of ammo. Generally good on offense.
You can always rely on Pistol due to it's huge ammo capacity.


Wrangler




  • Enables manual control of own Sentry Gun.
  • The Sentry Gun gains double firing rate and a laser pointer to assist in aiming.
  • The Sentry Gun gains a shield which blocks 66% of incoming damage.
  • Ammo and repair given to the Sentry Gun is reduced by 66% while shield is active.
  • Upon switching to another weapon or death, the Sentry Gun remains shielded but deactivated for 3 seconds.

You can take a control of your Sentry Gun, granting it 66% resistance shield and double it's firing speed makes the Wrangler best secondary defensive tool. But be aware of slower repairing when shield is active. And also if you switch off the Wrangler, your Sentry will turn itself off for 3 seconds.


Short Circuit




  • Uses metal as ammo.
  • Alt-fire: Launches a projectile-consuming energy ball.
  • Energy ball costs 65 metal.

Blue Moon Update: Short Circuit was pretty much defensive weapon but now I can see it more offenisve weapon rather than defensive. It fires a special consuming-projectile ball for 65 metal. This makes 1v1 fights with Soldiers and Demomans much easier. It is also worth mentioning that the ball deals about 15 damage and can penetrate players.
Melee Weapons
Wrench





Basically, you can't be wrong with this melee. The primary function of this weapon is the upgrade and repair Dispensers, Teleporters, and Sentry Guns. In addition, while placed buildings will construct themselves, striking them with the Wrench will cause them to build 2.5 times as fast!

Jag




  • Construction hit speed boost increased by 30%.
  • +15% faster firing speed.
  • -20% slower repair rate.
  • -25% damage penalty.
  • Takes three hit to take off the sapper.

Great situational melee. If you're playing offensively or you want to get your stuff up faster, use Jag. If you're playing more defensivly, use stock Wrench. Jag allows you to swing faster which is pretty much everything you will be doing with your melee. That means faster upgrading or healing.
Also don't forget that this melee does smaller damage and it take three swings to remove a sapper from your building.

Southern Hospitality




  • On hit: causes opponent to bleed for 5 seconds.
  • +20% fire vulnerability.
  • No random Critical hits.

It's not bad though, but the Jag or Stock Wrench seems like a lot more viable option. Southern Hospitality has 1 pretty upside: Bleed on hit. If you manage to hit a Spy in the close combat, you just took his option to escape as your Sentry will notice bleeding invisible targets and can easily assist you. But other than that, this upside isn't that great against other classes.
The Southern Hospitality also doesn't grant you a random crit a you instantly die to Pyros. Overall I think this wrench needs to be a little bit more interesting...

Eureka Effect




  • Press reload key to either teleport to your spawn area or teleporter.
  • Teleporters cost 50% less metal.
  • Construction hit speed boost decreased by 50%.
  • 20% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups.

Not the greatest in action but when it truly shines is during setup time while making a Rollout.
Oh and don't forget on the sneaky way to play: Ninjaneer. Eureka Effect can be pretty useful while sneakin' behind enemy lines.
When putting down a teleporter, you'd be better doing it with the Eureka Effect equipped and then switch back to desired melee. Reason for this is that the teleporter will now cost 100 metal per level to upgrade no matter which wrench you've chosen.

Gunslinger




  • Replaces standard Sentry Gun with Combat Mini-Sentry Gun:
    • Build speed increased by 150%.
    • Metal cost is reduced by 23% (total cost of 100 metal).
    • +35% faster rotation.
    • -50% damage.
    • Has only 100 health and can't be upgraded.
  • Increases maximum health by 25 points.
  • Guarantees a Critical hit on a third consecutive punch.
  • No random Critical hits.

Previously mentioned upside: +25 HP is really good for playing on pure offense. It can help you survive more damage and allows you to take more risks.
But the main thing is that it obviously replaces your Sentry to a Mini Sentry which costs 100 metal and deploys in about 3 seconds. They shouldn't be the main source of damage but they can work as a great distraction. It's smaller than regular so be creative with your sentry spots!
Buildings
Sentry Gun

The difference between excellent Sentry Gun placement and average Sentry Gun placement can sometimes be very little; a matter of inches, or an angle that is off by a few degrees, can determine whether a Sentry Gun can effectively cover a certain approach, whether it will give away its location to enemies too easily, whether it will take too long to rotate into firing positions, and so on.
This does not mean that you should take a long time to adjust the Sentry Gun blueprint before placing it – doing so is a hallmark of inexperienced Engineer play.
However, observe how certain placements perform, and if the Sentry Gun demonstrates any weaknesses in that position, try to place the Sentry Gun so it will be more effective in the future.

That being said: The longer it takes enemy to notice your Sentry, the better.

Type
Health
Cost
Damage
Level 1
150 (450 Wrangler)
130 metal
64 DPS*
Level 2
180 (540 Wrangler)
330 metal
128 DPS
Level 3
216 (648 Wrangler)
530 metal
128 DPS + rockets**
Mini Sentry
100 (300 Wrangler)
100 metal
48 DPS

* DPS= Damage per second
**Rockets fire every 3 seconds, dealing 53 to 150 damage on direct hit (falloff is calculated from the distance of the Engineer to the target, not from the Sentry to the target).



Dispenser

Build your Dispenser in a convenient location for your teammates to reach.
Do not place your Dispenser in areas with lots of enemies nearby. They will be destroyed quickly. Try to locate the Dispenser behind an obstacle, such as a crate or a low wall, which will shield it from a fair amount of incoming damage.
But that's not all what Dispenser can do, you can place it like a barrier against Cloaked Spies or you can jump on it to get on better places, where you'll have an advantage.

Type
Health
Cost
Healing
Ammo
Metal
Level 1
150
100 metal
10/sec
20%/sec
40/5 sec
Level 2
180
300 metal
15/sec
30%/sec
50/5 sec
Level 3
216
500 metal
20/sec
40%/sec
60/5 sec

Keep in mind that the Dispenser has 25 metal inside from start so you'll spend 100 metal + you'll get 25 back.


Teleporter

Make sure which direction to head is obvious to your teammates. When the Teleporter is being carried, pressing Alt-Fire rotates it 90 degrees. Use this to face your Teleporter away from walls, corners, etc...
Avoid standing right on top of your Teleporter Exit, so as to avoid being telefragged.

Type
Health
Cost
Recharge time
Level 1
150
50 metal
10 seconds
Level 2
180
250 metal
5 seconds
Level 3
216
450 metal
3 seconds
Cooperative Engineering
This chapter will be about how to successfully work with your team, how to help your fellow Engineers and so on...

Pick

Sometimes (another) Engineer isn't just a good option. If you want to select Engineer, you should always ask yourself: Do my team really needs an (another) Engie?

Having more than 3 Engineers on Offense is just trash. On Defense however, stacking Engineers really slows the game and it can lead to stalemates and that's always bad.

Spread out

A lot of Engineers, especially in pubs, tend to build their buildings and especially Sentry guns close to each other just beacuse it looks stronger; it's not. So you should always build your buildings separated from the other buildings and themselves.
Keeping a Sentries close together makes it easier for explosive classes to destroy them.
Instead place your own Sentry somewhere else, where it can cover more area.

Stay away from your buildings. If you have a Rescue ranger, this will be an easier part for you but if you haven't, lisen. Sitting behind your Sentry is not good for you for a few reasons.

Spy can murder you from behind and sap your Sentry before it can even turn around. However if you are a few meters next to your Sentry, Spy now have a two targets to care about. If he decide to sap your gun, you can easily kill him and remove sapper with your wrench. If he decide to murder you, Sentry will finish the job for you (unless the Spy is using Your Eternal Rewad).

Position around your team

Maybe most important thing is position not only around your team, but in a match as a whole. While playing as Engie, you should have an idea where the front line is. This magical line can actually help you when moving that gear up / back. For instance, when your team manage to push a little bit to claim a certain area, you want to move your gun there and secure that area, punish enemy players who wants to claim it back. I'm not talking only about moving your Sentry.

Moving a Dispenser could be more viable. Make sure you'll keep that Dispenser behind a cover. It should be near a chokepoint or an area, where are things getting a little bit more dangerous so your team can easily retreat to refill ammo and health.

Teleporter should be built slightly more back than previous buildings but also pay attention to it's effectiveness. Having a Teleporter way behind your team,where an action is happening isn't always good. It's understandable to not building your shiny plate too aggressive (close to enemy team) beacuse previously mentioned front line is constantly moving so your Teleporter have small change to survive and your just teleported teammates too.

Abandon just in time

Don't be afraid to run away from your nest, let it destroy and then build another one in passive lines behind your team. Trying to save it from Über push and die simply isn't worth it. However, while running to the next point to setup again, you can often use the ability to pick up a buildings from a far with Rescue Ranger. I recommend doing it so with the Dispenser as you will have disposable metal for constructing other buildings.

More Cooperative Engineering
Sentry Spots
Too often, I see Engineers who use build spots that are run into the ground from overuse. Try to be creative. Remember, the longer it takes to an enemy to spot your gun, the better.

An Engineer is not about impenetrable defense, an Engineer is about delays. Stalling for time. A good Engineer will stall with a sentry until the enemy team has uber to take in on a conventional spot and take it out. A great Engineer will use a spot of his own creation and try to delay enemy push.

In short, good sentry spot usually is the one with a little bit of cover, ammo conditions. Remember, Sentry shouldn't be the main source of Defensive force.
Having a height advantage, good sightline on an objective; -those are all ingredience for a great Sentry spot.
Tips
Move when building
This is simple one. When you're building, you're pretty vulnerable so be aware of incoming damage, keep moving while constructing your buildings. Always check out for Spies.

Adapt
When you lose your Sentry spot, do not hesitate and build another one. Simply adapt on every situation. It's always good to have multiple Sentry spots in mind on every map.

Pressure
Just beacuse you're support class, it doesn't mean you can't go to the fight. Do not underrestimate the power of the Shotgun! You can go for the low-health classes. But your greatest weapon on offense is your Dispenser and Teleporter. Having those two provides you with the defense of your teammates.

Bait
You can also bait someone to the range of your Sentry. If you're successful, you can collect ammo packs from dead bodies.

Be usefull
This is obvious one. Keep an eye on your Sentry, always watch an objective. Use your Tele, Dispenser and Sentry much as you can!
End
See? Playing as Engie requires an entire diffrent skill set. It's not about aiming or dodging bullets, It's about positioning in your team.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you learnt something new here. Don't forget to rate this guide and write a comment, I read all of them and they really cheer me up.

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45 Comments
Alto en calorias 26 May, 2021 @ 10:54am 
there is one imprecision being that the sentry shoots at any range because the sentry does have a range but apart form that this was a very complete and good guide of engineer
Jesus is King 20 May, 2021 @ 1:28pm 
engineer gaming
BASELBOY1 20 Aug, 2018 @ 11:50am 
Thanks
nedoplatek  [author] 19 Aug, 2018 @ 11:24pm 
It's in the next guide called advanced engineering
BASELBOY1 19 Aug, 2018 @ 9:43pm 
Remember that if you stand on your dispencer, you get double metal
Unpatchable Luigi 16 Jul, 2018 @ 7:31pm 
like the guide! pretty much what its all about :) i hope to see some people benefit from this
neru 2 Jul, 2018 @ 11:14am 
Great guide! As an engineer main myself this was pretty basic and really well explained. Recommended :47_thumb_up:
m3d 7 Jun, 2018 @ 1:19am 
gay
angry frenchman 6 Jun, 2018 @ 12:22pm 
Now i am going to be the best engi
bossKKK69 6 Jun, 2018 @ 5:11am 
great guide! :steamhappy: