#tf2 tips

[tf2workbench]

Toss a Sandvich to your doctor

Working with a Medic buddy can be a powerful team-building experience and lead to some of the best fun TF2 has to offer. But if you're not experienced, it might be difficult to get the best results. This is a list of basic tips that I’ve put together for those who want to be good teammates for your Medic.

Above all, communication is important. If you’re not comfortable/not able to use voice communication, consider binding keys on your keyboard to say basic lines, like “Fall back!” or “We’re being flanked!” If you can’t do that, use the in-game voice commands as best you can. It’s always better than nothing! But here are the generalized tips:

Move predictably, so that your Medic can guess where you’re going even if you’re not communicating.

If you’re hurt, back out of the fight and wait to be healed; don’t stay in battle. Let your healthy teammates do the fighting.

Let the Medic stay close to the rest of your team as well; don’t overextend.

Avoid standing by Dispensers or the Payload cart while a Medic is healing you. This halves Ubercharge build rate.

If your Medic is looking one way, try to be looking the other way, watching for ambushes and especially Spies.

Do your best to run toward the Medic when you’re hurt; don’t make them break position to heal you.

Most of the time, your team needs the Medic more than they need you. Try to put yourself between the Medic and any incoming damage. Deal with threats to the Medic before you do anything else.

Call for Medic when you need it, but don’t spam the button. Encourage them to enable auto-call, which lets them see when you’re hurt even if you don’t call out.

You should lead the way, heading into dangerous spaces before your Medic. But as mentioned, don’t overextend!

If you can deal self-damage, consider doing this if you need an Ubercharge quickly, especially if your Medic asks you to. The charge builds slower when you’re near full overheal.

Heavies: Toss your lunchbox items during lulls in combat, making sure that they’re in a place where your team can grab them if needed.

If your Medic has the Crusader’s Crossbow and is far away, try sitting still in a safe spot. This helps them hit you with the healing bolt.

Always thank your Medic for playing Medic, even if - especially if - they’re having trouble. It can be a hard and thankless job, and a little positivity can really improve someone’s experience.

[threathenthemoon]

My biggest advice if you have pyro buddies or not is to set up a decoy teleporter just outside intel keep the other part wherever, if it breaks someone is comin and it gives you or your pyro buds a heads up that someone is comin in, mine are basically trained to head out of itel whenever they hear “Teleporter down!” and it has worked great for us :D Anyway meet my children, I met them in this match but i love them.

[zandergb]

PROTIP: BEING A PARTY MEANS AUTOMATIC CONTRACT POINT SHARING

PROTIP: IF YOU SAY YOU WANT TO BE IN MY PARTY YOU NEED TO FUCKING ACCEPT MY FRIEND REQUEST SO I CAN ADD YOU TO IT

[tf2workbench]

Engineering a good game

The Engineer can be the backbone of a team, but the class is designed to only work well when supported by teammates. It can be difficult to know how best to support your engineers, but I’ve assembled a list of helpful tips gleaned from my years of experience. Note that this isn’t comprehensive, nor does it go into the theory behind the class; but these easy-to-remember tips should help you out.

Above all, communication is important. If you’re not comfortable/not able to use voice communication, consider binding keys on your keyboard to say basic lines, like “Fall back!” or “We’re being flanked!” If you can’t do that, use the in-game voice commands as best you can. It’s always better than nothing! But here are the generalized tips:

If you see a Teleporter outside your spawn and you’re not playing a key class like Medic, briefly switch to Engineer to upgrade it. The same goes for other buildings if they’re right outside your spawn.

Play with the Engineer: try to stay near their buildings, both for your protection and theirs. Encourage them to place their buildings in useful spots.

Respect Teleporter priority. This usually goes Medic > Engineer > Heavy > Sniper > Pyro > Spy > Demoman > Soldier > Scout, though this isn’t set in stone. If you’re on the low end, remember that those on the high end are more important to the whole team and/or can’t move as fast as you.

If you see an Engineer moving their sentry up, be prepared to defend them - though if they seem determined to die horribly, you don’t have to follow their example.

If there’s setup time, provided you’re not playing a class like Medic, it may be useful if you kill your character before the game starts. Your Engineers can use the 100 metal you drop.

Avoid taking ammo boxes when you have an Engineer nearby, especially if their Dispenser is up. This is even more important during setup time.

If you’re standing by a Dispenser in combat, try to position yourself in front of it rather than to the side or inside it. This way, you’ll absorb most explosions without them also hitting the Dispenser.

If you have enough health or a deflecting ability like the airblast, consider actively standing in front of a sentry and absorbing/reflecting damage. Don’t die for the sentry, though!

For mobile classes, cover areas your Sentry can’t reach. Scouts and Soldiers in particular can jump out and pick off annoying foes who are shooting from far away.

Invulnerability Ubercharges are very dangerous for Engie nests. If you can, try to attack the Medic and kill them or force them to deploy their charge early. If a charge comes in, use knockback to disrupt the attack.

Try to stand near, but not on common building spots. This way, you encourage Engineers to set up there, but you don’t block their placement.

Try to pay attention to signs of Spies. Backstab screams and Sapper voice lines are key auditory signals, but these aren’t the only clues. Look at the team lineup (top of screen) to see if the enemy Spies are dead.

When calling out Spies, try to say not just who they are, but where they are. Disguises can change, but Spies can only cover so much ground.

When you’re upgrading a friendly Engineer’s sentry, don’t take it to level 3 unless it’s already at the battlefield. Level 2s deploy faster, so leave it near Level 3 rather than going all the way. (Of course, if the Engineer asks you to do it one way or the other, heed their wishes!)

If stickybombs land nearby, try to knock them out of the way with airblast/explosions, or destroy them by using bullets or the Quickiebomb Launcher/Scottish Resistance.

Thank your Engineers, no matter how you feel about their playing. It’s a tough job, and positive feedback can really help someone out.

[tf2workbench]

Basic building placement

When you’re playing Engineer, it can be hard to decide where to put your buildings. There’s a lot of space on the map, after all. Because it’s difficult to teach all the theory that goes into building placement in a text post, I’ve instead phrased this as a list of tips for choosing a spot. As you become more experienced, these will become instinctive, picking better and better spots!

Note also that I have a 30-60 minute class I teach on the fundamentals of building placement. If you’d be at all interested in doing that class, please reach out to me somehow, be it on Tumblr, Steam, or Discord. But anyway, here are the general tips:

Sentry

Place your sentry a ways back from corners. If it’s right around the corner, Demomen and Soldiers can hit them with splash damage, and Pyros can easily burn them.

Higher is not always better, but it does force explosive classes to fire upwards, minimizing their splash damage.

Where is your team hanging out? Make sure your sentry will be protecting them.

Try to have your sentry cover your dispenser, but not have them too close together. This way, players using the dispenser will be protected, but they won’t take damage meant for the sentry.

If your sentry is hard for Spies to reach, it’ll also be hard for you to reach should you be knocked away from it. The Rescue Ranger can help, but high positions are often vulnerable for this reason.

If you have more than one Engie, sentries should be kept far away from each other or they risk becoming redundant. A good guide is that their radii can intersect, but not overlap significantly.

Are enemies attacking your sentry from around corners, or otherwise acting like they know it’s there? Try moving it when the coast is clear, then catch them in a new location.

Dispenser

Your dispenser is for the whole team. Place it in a spot where they can easily access it.

At the same time, if you’re defending a point, it’s important that you have access to your dispenser. Make sure you can reach it, too.

The dispenser should be easy to reach, but not in the thick of combat. Try to place it away from corners, where it won’t take splash damage from explosives hitting your teammates.

If your dispenser is near (but not on top of) an ammo pack, it’ll (usually) encourage teammates to visit the dispenser rather than taking your much-needed metal.

Try to put your dispenser against a wall, both for shelter and to guarantee players can look for threats while healing up.

Remember that you may not hold in one place forever. Once the enemy team pushes in, be prepared to move your dispenser, full of metal as it is.

Teleporter

The closer a teleporter exit is to the front lines, the quicker you can get reinforcements. But keep it away from the thick of the fighting, so that it and your teleporting team won’t be ambushed.

Orient your teleporter exit by right-clicking while you’re deploying it. People exiting it will be facing the same way it is. Try to rotate it so their backs will be to a wall, giving backstab protection.

Try to put your teleporter in a place enemies won’t usually walk. If done well, they may miss it entirely!

For entrances, try to put them right in front of your main spawn door, or otherwise in a place where teammates will see them and not have to alter their course to step on them.

Avoid putting teleporters on ramps or stairs - they can actually block allies who are coming up the slope, forcing them to jump over or go around.

Keeping a teleporter right by your sentry is dangerous - not only can the teleporter take splash damage, it can lead a Spy right to you!

Even if you’re fighting very close to your spawn point, teleporters can still be useful. Rule of thumb: build a teleporter if it takes more than 8-10 seconds to walk to the battle.

Where your teleporter leads, your team will go. This will automatically make a place - especially a lesser-used flank route - more dangerous for the enemy.

Remember that you can stand on your other buildings by jumping and crouching (the sentry is marginally taller than the dispenser). Use this to place teleporters on roofs and in other sneaky areas.

[lady-imperatrix]

I’ve been randomly queueing for halloween maps in the valve servers

and the people who play on ghost fort turn insane due to merasmus

which is funny cuz i love when he spawns

but if you just want the round to end quickly here’s a tip

let the team with the least amount of time on the point win, so the round will end faster

none of the contracts say you have to win the map, just get kills or kill merasmus

[heavywantsandvichs]

ENGI TIP

Use the gunslinger in an offensive push, as it builds centuries more quickly, even though it only produces a level one mini sentry.

[heavywantsandvichs]

PYRO TIP

Use your Flare gun on long range targets like Snipers or defensive Medics, who can't be healed themselves.