Team Fortress 2 – Engineer How to Play?

• Teamwork
• Prediction
• Gamesense
• Awareness

The reason why I am mentioning these skillsets from the start is that if you want to understand them all, you must take a look at common engineering mistakes players often do and see the difference between understanding the class or failing the class.

There are a few mistakes that you, as an Engineer should never make. This section will go trough the common ones and teach you how to avoid them.

• Don’t pick an Engineer if your team already has 2 Engineers.
• If you have multiple Engineers around you, switch to something else yourself.

To put more simply, be aware and prepare your gear based on the situation.

• Adapt on the current situations and change your loadout when you have time.
• Know which weapons are good and which are less worth using.

Probably the most common mistake among pub players is placing Sentries, Dispensers and Teleporters close to another buildings just because it looks stronger –it’s not.
Single Demoman can destroy the entire defense by just one smartly put stickies because of splash damage. However, if you move your Sentry away from your fella, it can cover another flank or route + enemies will have harder work pushing trough.

• Spread out your building so they won’t die so easily.
• Covering more area will prevent enemy flanking or capturing the objective.
• Be smarter and choose a better spot.

Turtle Engineer is a nickname for Engineers who likes to sit behind their Sentry gun, with Dispenser up their back and willing to die with his buildings.
You’d be more efficient if you move around your nest and check for Spies.
Also spread your buildings to a needed spots, Sentry should watch the objective, Dispenser should be put near your team, Teleporter should be active at any circumstances.

• Be active around your nest and check for any danger.
• Use your tools to help your team and your buildings. Spread them out to your team.

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. Remember, your life if much more important than life of your buildings. Getting your buildings destroyed is a part of playing Engineer, don’t mourn too long, grab your wrench and get in fight!

• Stop repairing yoru Sentry when it has been attacked by the Über push and run away.
• Use your Gamesense to decide whether it’s a good idea to stay or setup on another point.

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.

* DPS= Damage per second
**Rockets fires 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).

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.

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

An Engineer, who has a decent map knowledge can surprise his enemies with a cheeky Sentry spots. But don’t forget that the ideal spots should not prevent buildings from doing their job correctly.

Sentry gun

• Area denial
• Defending an objective
• Providing a safe zone
• Reducing the pressure on your team

Dispenser

• Dispensing health and ammo
• Backup at front lines
• Holding team’s sustainablility

Teleporter

• Delivering teammates to the front safely
• Quickly transporting allies from point A to point B
• Allowing slower classes to get to the front lines much faster

Alright let’s take a look at few maps and discuss it’s most common and functional Sentry, Dispenser and Teleporters exit spots. Here are some examples:

Dustbowl

Gamesense

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.

Writer by: Lyra