Engineer (competitive)

This article is for competitive play, based on the standard community competitive format.
The community competitive scene changes frequently. Some or all info may be outdated.

The Engineer (oftentimes shortened to "engy", "engie", or "engee") is a situational utility class sometimes used in the standard competitive lineup, valued for his defensive support and area denial capabilities.

Information

Health

Health State	Max Health	Overheal Max	Pill Bottle	First Aid Tin
Normal	125 hit points	185 hit points	+26 hit points	+63 hit points
Gunslinger-equipped	150 hit points	225 hit points	+31 hit points	+75 hit points

Speed

Movement State	Running	Backpedaling	Swimming	Crouching
Normal	100% (300 u/s)	90% (270 u/s)	80% (240 u/s)	33.33% (100 u/s)
Building-carrying	75% (225 u/s)	67.5% (202.5 u/s)	60% (180 u/s)	25% (75 u/s)

Speeds written in "u/s" refer to in-game units per second. When running in a certain direction causes slowness, rapidly switching between diagonals usually improves speed.

Weapons

Main article: Engineer weapons (competitive)

#	Weapon	Damage	Critical Damage	Function Times	Special
1	Shotgun	Point-Blank: 90 512u: 6/hit, avg 6 hits 1024u+: 3/hit	Critical: 18/hit (max 180) Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 121 512u+ Mini-Crit: 8/hit	Attack: 0.625s Reload Start: 1.0s Reload More: 0.5s	Affected by fixed weapon spread (1 extra pellet at center).
	Frontier Justice	Point-Blank: 90 512u: 6/hit, avg 6 hits 1024u+: 3/hit	Critical: 18/hit (max 180) Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 121 512u+ Mini-Crit: 8/hit	Attack: 0.625s Reload Start: 1.0s Reload More: 0.5s	Affected by fixed weapon spread (1 extra pellet at center). Has half the clip size of the Shotgun. Can fire Revenge Crits upon a Sentry Gun's destruction
2	Pistol	Point-Blank: 22 512u: 15 1024u+: 8	Critical: 45 Point-Blank Mini-Crit: 30 512u+ Mini-Crit: 20	Attack: 0.125s Reload: 1.36s	If unfired in the past 1.25 seconds, shot has perfect accuracy.
	Wrangler	N/A	N/A	Sentry Down Time: 3s	Banned or restricted in most leagues. Allows Engineers to directly control their Sentry Guns. Doubles Sentry Gun rate of fire and improves missile launch rate at Level 3. Shield provides Sentry 66% damage reduction and remains during down time.
3	Wrench	Melee: 65	Critical: 195 Mini-Crit: 88	Attack: 0.8s	Hitting friendly buildings increases build speed by 100%. Damages Sappers, upgrades buildings, and resupplies Sentry Guns.
	Gunslinger	Melee: 65	Critical: 195 Mini-Crit: 88	Attack: 0.8s	Hitting friendly buildings increases build speed by 100%. Damages Sappers, upgrades buildings, and resupplies Sentry Guns. Grants the Engineer an additional 25 Max health. Allows the Engineer to build Mini-Sentry Guns instead of normal Sentry Guns. Three consecutive hits results in a guaranteed Critical hit on the third strike.
	Southern Hospitality	Melee: 65 Bleed Hit: 4	Critical Melee: 195 Mini-Crit Melee: 88 Mini-Crit Bleed: 5	Attack: 0.8s Bleed Hit: 0.5s Bleed Duration: 6.0s	Hitting friendly buildings increases build speed by 100%. Damages Sappers, upgrades buildings, and resupplies Sentry Guns. Inflicts Bleeding on hit; total bleed damage 48 (Mini-Crit 60). Increases fire vulnerability by 20% while equipped.
-	Buildings	See below.	See below.	See below.	All buildings have 150|180|216 health (levels 1|2|3). Hits from and against buildings are unaffected by damage ramp-up and fall-off. Buildings are immune to Crits and Mini-Crits.

"u" stands for "units of distance." "+" stands for "or more." "s" stands for "seconds." "Reload Start" refers to how long it takes for 1 ammo to be reloaded after beginning to reload, and "Reload More" refers to how long it takes for each additional ammo to reload after the first. Damages and times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Buildings

Main article: Buildings (competitive)

Building	Stats	Functions	Special
Sentry Gun	Build Time: 10s Metal Cost: 120M Scrap Return: 60M	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: 100M Scrap Return: 28M	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.
Dispenser	Build Time: 20s Metal Cost: 100M Scrap Return: 50M	Heals for 10|15|20 health/s. Dispenses 20|30|40% ammo/s. 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: 130M Scrap Return: 60M	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).

"s" stands for "seconds." "M" stands for "Metal." 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 Demomen are very capable of destroying an Engineer's buildings, Sentry Guns are usually considered temporary measures to stall an enemy team. Using a Sentry 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 Ubercharge. 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. Whilst 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.

5-CP Push Strategies

When Engineers are used in 5-CP matches, they are usually used to defend the final point of 5-CP maps, preventing back-capping by Scouts, as well as stalling the enemy Soldiers. 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 you the time to build up an Ubercharge and push against the enemy now that they have used their Ubercharge.

An aware enemy Demoman, however, will easily dispatch the Engineer's Sentry Gun with sticky bombs on most maps, meaning that the Engineer will need a great deal of support from his team simply to keep his Sentry up. 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.

See Also

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