Engineer (competitive)

This article is for competitive play, based on the standard community competitive format. For the generic article on this topic, see: Engineer.
The community competitive scene changes frequently. Some or all info may be outdated.

The Engineer (oftentimes shortened to "engy", "engie", "engi", or misspelled to "engine") is a situational utility class sometimes used in the standard competitive lineup, valued for his defensive support and area denial capabilities as-well as being able to keep the maximum amount of pressure on the enemy team with his teleporters.

Information

Health

Class	Health	Overheal	Quick-Fix Overheal
Scout	125	185	158
With the Sandman equipped	110	165	139
Soldier	200	300	251
With the Battalion's Backup equipped	220	330	276
Pyro	175	260	220
Demoman	175	260	220
With weapon slot boots equipped	200	300	251
With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 0 heads	150	225	189
With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 1 head	165	245	208
With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 2 heads	180	270	226
With a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 3 heads	195	290	245
With a head-taking melee weapon with 4 or more heads	210	315	264
With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 0 heads	175	260	220
With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 1 head	190	285	239
With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 2 heads	205	305	258
With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 3 heads	220	330	276
With weapon slot boots and a head-taking melee weapon equipped with 4 or more heads	235	350	295
Heavy	300	450	376
Under the effects of the Dalokohs Bar or Fishcake	350	500†	426
With the Fists of Steel equipped	300	390	346
With the Fists of Steel equipped and while under the effects of the Dalokohs Bar or Fishcake	350	440	396
Engineer	125	185	158
With the Gunslinger equipped	150	225	189
Medic	150	225	189
With the Vita-Saw equipped	140	210	176
Sniper	125	185	158
Spy	125	185	158
With the Big Earner equipped	100	150	126
With Conniver's Kunai equipped	70	105	89
Maximum overheal from Conniver's Kunai backstabs	N/A	210	N/A

^†Theoretical value. Overheal does not exceed 150% of the classes' maximum health.

Speed

Condition	Normal	Backward	Crouched	Swimming
Engineer	100 %	90 %	33 %	80 %
Hauling a building	90 %	81 %	30 %	72 %

Weapons

Main article: Engineer weapons (competitive)

The Engineer uses his PDA Build and Destroy tools to construct buildings to help his team. He uses his melee Wrenches to upgrade, repair, and re-stock them.

Weapon	Notes / Special abilities
Standard Primary PDA Construction PDA	Allows the player to place the Sentry Gun, Dispenser, and both Teleporters in the world.
Standard Secondary PDA Destruction PDA	Allows the player to destroy his Sentry Gun, Dispenser, and both Teleporters.

Melee

Note that all the Engineer's melee weapons are capable of building, repairing and upgrading buildings, as well as removing Sappers.

Weapon	Kill icon	Ammo Loaded	Ammo Carried	Damage Range	Notes / Special Abilities
Stock Wrench		N/A	N/A	Base: 65 Crit: 195
Unlock Necro Smasher
Promotional Prinny Machete
Distributed Golden Wrench					Limited item from the Engineer Update.  Killed enemies freeze into solid Australium statues (purely cosmetic feature).
Distributed Saxxy					Limited item from the Replay Update.  Killed enemies freeze into solid Australium statues (purely cosmetic feature).
Distributed Golden Frying Pan					Limited item from the Two Cities Update.  Killed enemies freeze into solid Australium statues (purely cosmetic feature).
Unlock Gunslinger		N/A	N/A	Base: 65 Crit: 195	Replaces standard Sentry Gun with Combat Mini-Sentry Gun. Compared to a level one Sentry:  Build speed increased by 150%.  Metal cost is reduced by 23% (total cost of 100 metal).  +35% faster rotation.  +50% faster firing speed.  -33% health.  -50% damage.  For more information, go here.  Increases maximum health by 25 points.  Guarantees a Critical hit on a third consecutive punch.  No random Critical hits.
Craft Southern Hospitality		N/A	N/A	Base: 65 Crit: 195 Bleeding: 8 / sec. × 5 secs.	On hit: causes opponent to bleed for 5 seconds.  +20% fire vulnerability.  No random Critical hits.
Craft Jag		N/A	N/A	Base: 49 Crit: 146	Construction hit speed boost increased by 30%.  +15% faster firing speed.  -20% slower repair rate.  –25% damage penalty.  –33% damage penalty vs buildings.
Craft Eureka Effect		N/A	N/A	Base: 65 Crit: 195	Press reload key to either teleport to your spawn area or teleporter exit.  -50% metal cost when constructing or upgrading teleporters.  Construction hit speed boost decreased by 50%.  20% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups.

Buildings

Main article: Buildings (competitive)

Building	Stats	Functions	Special
Sentry Gun	Build Time: 10s Metal Cost: 130 Scrap Return: 60	Fires bullets at 4|8|8 per second for 16 damage each (Mini-Crit 22). Rocket packs fire once per 5 sec for ~100 damage (Mini-Crit ~135). Holds 100|120|145 bullets and 0|0|20 rocket packs.	Can Mini-Crit if target is Jarate'd or Engineer is Banner Buffed. Can hit its owner if he gets in line of fire.
Combat Mini-Sentry	Build Time: 2.5s Metal Cost: 100 Scrap Return: 28	Fires bullets at 4 per second for 8 damage each (Mini-Crit 11).	Can Mini-Crit if target is Jarate'd or Engineer is Banner Buffed. Can hit its owner if he gets in line of fire. Cannot be repaired or upgraded, but can be reloaded.
Dispenser	Build Time: 20s Metal Cost: 100 Scrap Return: 50	Heals for 10|15|20 health per second. Dispenses 20|30|40 ammo per second. Stocks 40|50|60 Metal every 5s, holding up to 400 Metal.	Dispenses to disguised enemy Spies (even cloaked ones).
Teleporter	Build Time: 20s Metal Cost: 125 Scrap Return: 60	Provides one teleport every 10|5|3 seconds.	Can be upgraded from either side, but destroying either side resets level to 1. Sappers are placed and applied to both simultaneously. Can be taken by enemy Spies (which can telefrag).

Damages and times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Usage

The dynamic gameplay of competitive Team Fortress 2 on 5-CP maps makes the Engineer, with his need for time to set up his buildings and slow move speed less than useful. On the flip side of things, Engineers' usefulness increases dramatically on Attack/Defend maps such as Gravel Pit, due to his Sentry Gun's ability to counter the opposing team's Scouts. Because the enemy team's two Soldiers and single Demoman are very capable of destroying an Engineer's buildings, Sentry Guns are usually considered temporary measures to stall an enemy team. Using a Sentry Gun to aid a defense is very useful for buying time, which is essential for defenders on maps played in the Stopwatch format.

Common Tactics

When building their Sentry Guns, Engineers must keep in mind the fact that they are mainly building it to ward off jumping Soldiers or Demomen and to take the brunt of the enemy ÜberCharge. An aware Soldier or Demoman will have little trouble destroying buildings. Sentry Guns should be placed in a location relatively safe from pipes and rockets spammed from afar, but useful against any enemies who try to flank or try to capture the point.

Engineers need to keep a look out for Spies who can easily destroy their buildings. The Teleporter is an important building, it negates part of the defending teams longer respawn time by allowing them to quickly get to the point and defend it, without it, each loss that the defending team takes is harder to replace and weakens their grip on the point.

The Dispenser is also important, not only does it allow players to quickly and easily replenish used ammo, the Medic can also hide within the Dispenser if a Scout attacks. Though this might not get rid of the damage completely, it will reduce it and give the Medic's team mates longer to kill the intruder.

Standard Control Point Push Strategies

When Engineers are used in Control Point matches, they are usually used to defend the final point within the teams' base, preventing back-capping by Scouts, as well as stalling the enemy Soldiers and Demoman. The main idea behind using a Sentry Gun is that the enemy team will have to focus on killing it before they can attack anything else, this can give the Medic time to build up an ÜberCharge and push forward.

An aware enemy Demoman, however, will easily dispatch the Engineer's Sentry Gun with relative ease using either the Grenade Launcher or Stickybomb Launcher. Outside of the last point, Engineers rarely see play, due to his Buildings' slow haul speed and the need to keep up with the rest of the team.

Attack/Defend Strategies

One of the most significant uses of the Engineer in competitive play is on Attack/Defend maps. Setup time allows the Engineer to build his base up without being harassed by the enemy team. This makes starting off the map with one Engineer a popular choice for defending teams. Because competitive Attack/Defend maps are played with the Stopwatch format, Engineers will want their Sentry Guns to stall the enemy team for as long as possible. While it is important to actively participate in the defense of control points, a level 3 Sentry Gun is not as disposable as it is in other game-types, due to its effectiveness against enemy Scouts. Thus, it is important to keep a Sentry up for as long as possible, providing a safe zone where teammates need not fear attack from enemy Scouts.

Capture the Flag Strategies

In a Capture-the-flag game, Scouts are valuable, as they are able to pick up the intelligence and run off unharmed. They are fast and agile enough to avoid prolonged combat with their enemies, and for this reason, a team will generally need to be able to counter any attack on the Intelligence by Scouts. The Engineer is thus used at the beginning of most Capture-the-flag games, and sent to their teams' Intelligence room to build. The large distance between the Intelligence room and the enemy's spawn room gives the Engineer time to set up a base and stall an enemy attack on the intelligence with a level 3 Sentry Gun. The Sentry is effective against incoming Scouts, and, with enough support, can become the cornerstone of a successful defense of the Intelligence room.

6 vs 6 strategies

When playing Engineer in 6 vs 6 play it is best to play when contesting your team's last point. In this format, it is common that a Scout switches to a class that is good at defending points such as the Engineer. A good strategy to do is use the Gunslinger for a quick building, disposable Sentry. When using a level 3 Sentry Gun, it is best to hide it in a position out of your enemies' line of sight.

Anti-Engineer Classes

The Engineer is a very stationary class as his buildings are also stationary and normally require the Engineer's attention whether it would be repairing and upgrading, this leaves him very vulnerable as he has his wrench out and he is next to his buildings which are normally under fire.

The Demoman

The Demoman is probably the biggest threat to an Engineer in nearly every game mode whether it would be 6v6 or Highlander, due to this the Engineers will try to make it as hard as possible for the Demoman to destroy their buildings such as being in elevated plat-forms or open areas where the Demoman cannot shoot his sticky-bombs or grenade pipes without being harmed. The reason why the Demoman is such a large threat is due to his ability to deal massive damage and that he can fight in-directly keeping him safe from the Sentry Gun's range, an un-wrangled level 3 Sentry Gun can be destroyed with 3 sticky bombs or less. However, if the Engineer has The Wrangler and a Rescue Ranger equipped he can make a Demoman's job much more harder as the sentry gains a 66% damage resistance from the sheild and the rescue ranger allows the engineer to safely repair his buildings without being killed by the Demoman's sticky bombs.

The Sniper

The Sniper excels against still enemies, Engineer's tend to stay still a lot of the time as they are mostly repairing or upgrading their buildings, this leaves the Engineer vulnerable to headshots, aswell the Engineer's hitbox on his head is quite large. The Sniper is also capable of dealing large amounts of damage at long distances, allowing the Sniper to evade the Sentry Gun's range and attack the Engineer, the Sniper Rifle's bullets are also very capable of destroying the Sentry Gun as two fully charged shots on a level 3 Sentry Gun (Without the wrangler buff) is enough to destroy it. However, an Engineer can hide behind the Sentry Gun and using the Wrangler he can kill the Sniper that would originally be out of range of the Sentry Gun on auto-mode.

The Soldier

The Soldier similarly to the Sniper, can shoot the Sentry out of it's range and still deal high amounts of damage to it, especially if the Direct Hit is equipped allowing two shots at any range to destroy a level 3 Sentry Gun that isn't wrangled. Additionally the Soldier can inflict splash damage to other buildings and the Engineer creating multiple problems for the Engineer. The Soldier can also Rocket Jump to surprise attack the Engineer and kill him leaving his buildings vulnerable.

The Spy

The Spy can disguise as enemies and cloak; both prevent the Sentry Gun from targeting the Spy, allowing the Spy to breach the enemies defenses and attack the Engineer when he is alone or vulnerable, skilled Spies can easily kill the Engineer and sap his Sentry Gun with the Sapper before it turns around and kills the Spy. Sapped buildings are vulnerable as they slowly take damage until they are destroyed and cannot function. However, the Pyro can be an excellent Engineer buddy as his ability to deflect projectiles, find cloaked and disguised Spies and if equipped with either the Homewrecker or the Neon Annihilator the Pyro can remove the sappers from buildings.

See also

• Engineer weapons (competitive)
• Buildings (competitive)
• Defense (competitive)
• Engineer
• Buildings
• Classes (competitive)
• Standard competitive lineup