Arena

Lumberyard

“

I say this to you with the unvarnished factualism of plain talk: I love Arena Mode. — Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 1865

”

Arena has teams RED and BLU pitted against each other, in a battle to the death. The goal for both teams is to kill all of the opposing team's players, with no respawning during rounds. If both teams survive one minute of fighting, a control point will unlock, allowing a team to win by capping the point.

Gameplay

See also: Arena tips

Arena maps are designed to keep the class diversity of Team Fortress 2 while focusing goals around combat between two teams. Whereas other game modes lean towards a broad, overall strategy for the team, Arena concentrates on the specific tactical choices the teams make in a single fight.

Arena features smaller maps that play out for shorter periods of time. The round ends once either team has no players left in the arena, or when the central capture point has unlocked and been captured. Rounds tend to be very fast and highly competitive, with an emphasis on your team's class makeup and your plan to counter the opposing team's class choices. Arena mode is suitable for smaller matches of three vs. three players, while still comfortably supporting huge knockdown twelve-on-twelve brawls. There are usually very few health kits available, often located far from the main action and/or near high-risk hazards. This forces teams to rely more on Dispensers and Medics.

Players may have to sit out to keep team numbers balanced if they were on the losing team, but players on the winning team never have to sit out the next round.

The First Blood Critical buff is unique to the Arena game mode, and can be used to give the player an advantage against the enemy team.

Related achievements

Scout

First Blood Get the first kill in an Arena or Competitive match.

First Blood, Part 2 Kill 5 enemies with the First Blood crit buff in an Arena match.

Arena maps

Arena maps carry the arena_ prefix.

	Map	File Name
	Badlands	arena_badlands
	Granary	arena_granary
	Lumberyard	arena_lumberyard
100px	Nucleus	arena_nucleus
	Offblast	arena_offblast_final
	Ravine	arena_ravine
	Sawmill	arena_sawmill
	Watchtower	arena_watchtower
	Well	arena_well