Anti-Sentry Buster strategy

This article is about the strategy for dealing with Sentry Busters. For the robot itself, see Sentry Buster.

“

I will send every damn one of you back to robot hell! Click to listen — The Engineer avenging his Sentry.

”

This article is about Community Anti-Sentry Buster strategy.

General

• Sentry Busters are not a high priority target; they shouldn't be your priority over giant robots and occasionally regular robots, unless you're an Engineer.
  • Focused fire on the Sentry Buster can give the bomb carrier a chance to slip past your defenses. If you detonate a Sentry Buster right in the middle of a bunch of teammates, you force them to stop what they're doing and get out of its blast radius. In the worst case scenario, more than half of your team can be instantly wiped out by a single Buster.
• You can attack the robot from afar as well as with a melee weapon. It is only dangerous once it arms itself, either through loss of health or upon reaching its target Sentry Gun.
  • An exception can be found in Mannhattan; the Sentry Buster sometimes interacts strangely with the security system that stuns the robots when a gate is captured, allowing it to actually use its "weapon" and kill any player it passes through. It's quite rare, but it is a risk.
• Never let your guard down. Sentry Busters will use detours to reach its destination faster if allowed to do so.
• If a Sentry Buster begins to detonate, get as far away as possible. Note that at this point it cannot be affected by knockback, except for Pyro's airblast.
• Blast resistance reduces the damage taken from the explosion, possibly allowing you to survive the blast. Blast resistances should not be your key priority if you find yourself in a wave with little to no explosive damage dealing robots, however. There are better things you can spend your money on.
• Always listen for the sound of it arming itself. If you hear it, stop what you're doing, find the Sentry Buster, and if in its range, get away from it.
• The explosion of a Sentry Buster also kills its allies. Use this to your advantage if your team is having a hard time dealing with a horde of robots.
• Unlike giants and many other robots, Sentry Busters cannot pick up the bomb. However, they run faster than most robots and cannot be body-blocked (which is the act of stopping a robot from progressing forward by standing in its path); Sentry Busters simply walk through a player as if they were a teammate.
• There's a long lasting bug where Sentry Busters simply vanish instead of exploding. It plays the sound cue when arming itself as well as the explosion, but neither arming animation nor explosion are triggered. This mostly happens if the Sentry Buster is being hit by weaponry with slowdown effects, such as Natascha or a Rocket Specialist Soldier.

 Scout

• Sentry Busters shouldn't be a big threat to Scouts. You can safely escape the Buster's explosion radius with speed alone. The Scout should only be dealing with the Buster when there's no cash to collect and no robots to kill.
  • However, keep an eye on where the Sentry Buster is, otherwise you may accidentally run into a self-destructing Buster, right when you're turning around a corner. If it doesn't flat-out kill you, it will result in you losing most, if not all of your overheal buff.
• Using the Force-A-Nature will knock back the Sentry Buster at close range and also knock you back, if you are airborne.
  • Be aware of where you knock the Sentry Buster to. You don't want to knock it straight into your Engineer's buildings, or your teammates.
• Sentry Busters are not affected by stuns from the Sandman, since they're considered a giant robot. You can however still upgrade it with the "Ball Marks Target" upgrade, so players will do mini-crit damage to it.
• Mad Milk will still affect the movement speed of a Sentry Buster if upgraded. A Sentry Buster coated in Mad Milk gives a maximum of 1500 health points to you and your teammates before dying. If there's no presence of another giant robot yet, you can consider milking the Sentry Buster.
• The Fan O'War will allow you to tag the Sentry Buster for mini-crits. Use this to allow the rest of your team to focus on and mow down the Sentry Buster, but remember - only one target can be marked for death at any time and the mark will disappear faster for giants.
• Sentry Busters can give you boost for the Baby Face's Blaster. Shooting them can build your boost back up quickly. Don't over-commit to getting boost, however, as it could arm itself without a moment's notice or leave you distracted from more important Scout jobs.

 Soldier

• If the Sentry Buster is too close to you and primed to detonate, you can rocket jump in order to escape to safety.
• If you have 160 HP or less, use the Escape Plan to escape faster from the explosion. Although you may take 35% more damage because of the marked-for-death penalty, it's better to take extra damage than to lose all of your health.
• If you have a lot of teammates, consider equipping one of the banners, since Sentry Busters provide a good source of damage to build up your rage meter easily.
• Your Rocket Specialist upgrade is very useful against Sentry Busters. The upgrade allows you to stun and deal maximum damage to it. Keep firing until it is dead, but stay away from its blast.

 Pyro

• Your airblast is invaluable, so make sure to face the robot with full ammunition.
• An easy way to alert your teammates of a Sentry Buster’s presence is to light it on fire and make it more noticeable, as well as to damage it.
• Hitting a Sentry Buster with the Scorch Shot forces the Sentry Buster to stop for a second. This can be good in a situation where you cannot airblast.
• Max out the airblast force upgrade to push Sentry Busters back. If you can, you can knock them into an environmental hazard, such as a pitfall.
• Although airblasting can save your teammates' lives and time, using it carelessly is more harmful than helpful.
  • Sometimes when Sentry Busters have decided to self-destruct in mid-air, it only plays the sound but doesn't play the self-destructing animation. This can be very confusing especially for new players and thus can lead to an unexpected death.
  • Your team's Engineer should be ready to deal with the Buster. Airblasting just to buy him time can end up making him waste more time, waiting for the Buster to reach him.
  • A bouncing robot is almost always harder to hit than a robot traveling in a predictable path. Overusing your airblast can make it harder for teammates to deal with the Buster and a living Buster can accidentally block incoming fire for other robots, as well as distract teammates from dealing with other threats.
• Due to the Sentry Buster's large health pool, you can get a considerable amount of Mmmph with the Phlogistinator. Chase them down to get as much Mmmph from them as you can when there's no other way of building Mmmph faster or engaging other robots to build Mmmph is too risky.

 Demoman

• Demoman doesn't profit too much from the presence of the Sentry Buster, and thus they should avoid shooting the Buster when there's other robots to take down.
• With the Scottish Resistance, you can plant extra stickies near an Engineer’s nest. If the Sentry Buster gets near, detonate them to weaken and hopefully kill it right away. Just make sure not to put them too close that the robot will still be in range of the buildings.
  • However, if the Engineer is prepared for any incoming Busters, it may be a better idea to invest your stickies in other areas to halt robot advances.
• Use the Chargin' Targe, Splendid Screen, or Tide Turner to escape the explosion if you're caught right next to a Buster during detonation.

 Heavy

• Stand near the Engineer's Dispenser and help defend him with your Minigun.
• Natascha slows down Sentry Busters immensely. Use it if you have enough time to keep the Sentry Buster pinned down.
  • However, the damage penalty can make killing other robots harder.
• Sentry Busters have a large health pool; you can build a considerable amount of rage from each one.
• The Gloves of Running Urgently can be used to avoid the Sentry Buster if it detonates near you.
• The Fists of Steel may provide damage resistance against explosions, but even combining it with maxed-out blast resistance barely gives you much chance of surviving the blast.

 Engineer

• Sentry Busters are there just because of you, and it's mostly your job to deal with them, not your team's.
• Do not pick your Sentry up and run around the map just to buy your team some time to destroy it. Most of the time, they have more important things to do and you not being at your post could be their undoing.
• Put your other buildings far away from your main Sentry Gun. This will allow them to stay intact even if your Sentry is destroyed.
• Like Giant Robots, Sentry Busters can trample and instantly destroy your non-Sentry buildings. If you're familiar with the Sentry Buster's path, position your Dispenser out of the way so that the Sentry Buster doesn't run it over.
• As soon as the Sentry Buster comes to your Sentry and prepares to detonate, grab your Sentry and run as fast as you can. Note that grabbing a Sentry too late will cause you and your Sentry to be destroyed. The Rescue Ranger reduces this risk, by allowing you to wait until the Sentry Buster approaches your Sentry Gun, then grabbing it from afar as it arms itself.
  • If you have a bit of free time, you can simply grab your Sentry Gun, run to the Sentry Buster and touch it, then move away from the explosion. This saves you more time because you don't have to wait for the Sentry Buster to detonate to put the sentry down in your regular spot. This also eliminates the time your Sentry exclusively shoots the Sentry Buster as it walks up to your Sentry Gun.
  • If you are standing near an edge, try to fall off it with your Sentry Gun. Note that a horde of other robots may be under the cliff, so plan your retreat. Also be aware of any fall damage you may take.
  • If your Sentry is placed near a corner, pick up your Sentry and run around the corner once the Sentry Buster starts to detonate. The wall will protect you and your Sentry from the Sentry Buster’s explosion.
  • You can run toward a group of robots and detonate the Sentry Buster on top of them. The resulting explosion will kill robots and knock back giants. This is best accomplished with resistance upgrades so you don't die from either the Buster's explosion or the other robots' attacks.
• There are locations on some maps where Sentry Busters will take a while to reach, as they cannot jump. Know those locations so you can stall the Sentry Buster and time your escape.
• If there is more than one Engineer on the map, you should refrain from Sentry Stacking (placing your main Sentry Guns next to each other) to prevent a single Sentry Buster from destroying all of them.
• Having only 1 Engineer is advised because the appearance of multiple busters at once may confuse which Buster targets which Sentry Gun.
• Wrangling your Sentry will not shield it from the explosion.
• Use your ÜberCharge Canteen to protect you and your Sentry from the explosion as a very last resort. Note that it will not protect your other buildings, and you may still take knockback.
  • However, you can "surf" the knockback if you are out of position or the bomb has moved.
• Make sure your buildings are not in the way of the path of the Sentry Buster, otherwise they will get destroyed since the Sentry Buster can simply walk through them and trample them, no matter how much health they may have.
• When dealing with Sentry Busters, make sure you detonate them behind the team's defense and not in the middle of a bunch of teammates. Pick up your Sentry and let the Buster self-destruct away from the front line.
• If you have some downtime in the wave, try letting the Sentry Buster destroy your Sentry Gun. Saving your gun will result in Sentry Busters being spawned more frequently until the Sentry is destroyed, if ever.

 Medic

• Because the Ubersaw gives Medic 25% of his ÜberCharge when he scores a successful hit against a Sentry Buster, Medics can gain a large amount of charge with a single Buster and ÜberCharge his teammates with Über/Crit/mega-heal/resistance more often. Thus, if dealt with correctly, the Sentry Buster can benefit the Medic way more than harming him.
  • However, do not chase the Buster if you or your team has to risk dying due to your moving away from your section. Remember, dead teammates will weaken your defensive line, and dying yourself destroys all your charge unless using the Vita-Saw, which will salvage up to 60% of it.
  • It is advised not to attempt this when you already have a shield deployed. Switching away from your Medi Gun disables the shield and it cannot be reactivated until the Medi Gun is redeployed. Balance out the cost to decide whether to build your ÜberCharge or keep your shield running. Remember, keeping the shield running can save many of your teammates' lives and thus benefits your team more when there's a huge amount of incoming projectiles.
• If you're using the Vaccinator, don’t hesitate to use your resistance in dangerous situations on the Engineer or yourself.
• If you're caught with the Sentry Buster right next to you and it's about to explode, popping your ÜberCharge (Or Über canteen, if you're using the Quick-Fix, Kritzkrieg, or Vaccinator) can save you from dying and losing all your charge. Remember the catchphrase: pop it, don't drop it.

 Sniper

The hitboxes of a Sentry Buster.

• While it doesn't look like it, Sentry Busters do have head hitboxes that are vulnerable to headshots. Hitting the very topmost pin of the Sentry Buster will do headshot damage.
  • Upgrading explosive headshot slows the Buster if you score a successful headshot. It will also damage robots around the Buster. More points in the upgrade means the Buster will be slowed down more, the slow effect will last longer, and robots will be hurt in a wider radius around it.
  • Busters are one of the hardest robots to score headshots on due to their incredible speed and their "invisible" head. Focus your shots carefully or target other threats, if you have no time to work on it.
• The best and most effective means of helping your team would be to throw Jarate on a Sentry Buster. With the slowdown upgrade, you can reduce the Buster's speed to a crawl and make scoring headshots on them far more easier.
  • In particular, the Bushwacka can wreak havoc on a Sentry Buster coated with Jarate. Then again, it may be more productive to worry about other threats, if they're present.

 Spy

• Sapping the Sentry Buster kills most of its speed for a short period of time. Make sure to sap it as soon as your teammates can attack it effectively. Otherwise, save it to sap higher priority targets such as Über Medics or giants.
  • Working with a Medic, you can sap the Sentry Buster and then signal the Medic to use his Ubersaw on it to gain ÜberCharge, if he lacks a full charge.
  • Sapping a Sentry Buster can buy the Engineer more time to either pick off more robots before dealing with the Sentry Buster, or to reach his Sentry Gun to pick it up, if he is not close enough or respawning.
• Sentry Busters cannot be backstabbed, as made obvious by the lack of a back to stab. They can still be headshot with the Ambassador if you hit the top pin, like a Sniper.
• Remember, the Sentry Buster will explode when its health runs out or reaches its target, so give yourself time to get clear of the blast. If that isn't possible, the Dead Ringer can save you from death by the Sentry Buster's explosion, though this should only be used as a last resort, as it means you will have to get it recharged before going back to work on the robots.