Wrangler
| Wrangler | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Kill Icon | |
| Basic Information | |
| Used by: | Engineer |
| Slot: | Secondary |
| Released: | Engineer Update |
| Availability: | Unlock, Drop, Craft, Purchase |
| Tradable: | Yes |
| Giftable: | Yes |
| Craftable: | Yes |
| Nameable: | Yes |
| Medieval: | No |
| Available Qualities | |
| Loadout Stats | |
 The Wrangler |
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| “ | This thing ain't on auto-pilot, son!
Click to listen
— The Engineer on real skill
|
” |
The Wrangler is an unlockable secondary weapon for the Engineer. It seems to be the remains of a wooden Pistol handle implemented with a joystick and a radar dish.
When in use, this weapon allows the Engineer to manually take control of his Sentry Gun. During this period, the Sentry Gun stops aiming and firing automatically, and will not take notice of enemy players. Instead, the Engineer can direct the building to fire with the primary fire key (for the machine gun) and the secondary fire key (for Level 3 Sentry Gun rockets).
The Wrangler produces a semi-transparent shield around the Sentry Gun that absorbs 66% of all incoming damage. This shield will last indefinitely for as long as the player is continually using the Wrangler. This shield, coupled with a level 2 or 3 Sentry Gun, can help it survive Taunt attacks that would normally destroy any building instantly (such as the Pyro's Hadouken or Soldier's Kamikaze).
In addition, the gun's firing rate is doubled, and its missile launch rate is increased. A laser sight is emitted from the Sentry Gun which follows the Engineer's HUD crosshair. The laser sight has a minor auto-aim ability; upon aiming at an uncloaked and undisguised enemy, it will automatically aim towards their center, provided the Engineer keeps his crosshair trained on them. Other players can see this laser and use it to quickly ascertain the location of the Sentry Gun.
Upon the player switching to another weapon or on their death, the Sentry Gun is rendered inoperative for three seconds within its shield, after which time it will resume normal operation and the shield will dissappear. If the Sentry Gun is sapped while it is in operation, all effects will be removed.
The Wrangler allows a clever Engineer to get to high places through the use of a Sentry Gun jump.
The Wrangler is automatically given to any player who obtains 17 Engineer achievements.
Contents
Demonstration
Related Achievements
Engineer
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Update history
- The Wrangler no longer shows the Shotgun's ammo count.
- Fixed a bug where Wrangled level 3 Sentry Guns would still fire rockets when they were out of ammo.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed team kills with wrangled Sentry Guns.
- Fixed Engineers being able to build level 3 Mini-Sentry Guns.
Bugs
- Various bugs exist with both the shield and laser effects, causing them to get stuck in position or behave oddly. This includes:
- The laser emitted from the Sentry Gun while using the Wrangler may travel through some walls and occasionally move back and forth very quickly.
- Picking up a Wrangled Sentry will leave the Wrangler shield visual effect in place for a short time. Also, upon deploying the sentry and Wrangling it, the laser will emit from strange points, such as enemy Sentry Guns. This can be fixed by switching to another weapon then back to the Wrangler.
- There is currently a glitch which causes the targeting laser of the Sentry to be emitted from the eyes of allies when you aim at them. This can make it somewhat harder to aim at enemies. The glitch is also only present on the player's screen; no other players will see the effect.
- Using the Wrangler to kill enemies with Sentry Gun rockets will produce the level 3 Sentry Gun kill icon instead of that of the Wrangler.
- The right half of the kill icon is cut off when displayed.
- Once a Level 3 Sentry Gun is directed to fire rockets, it will not play the normal rocket reloading animation.
Trivia
- The Wrangler, as with the Frontier Justice, the Gunslinger and the Southern Hospitality, appears to have been designed by Radigan Conagher, the Engineer's grandfather. This is shown by a hidden link in the Engineer Update.
- The main component of the Wrangler bears a striking resemblance to the control pad of the Atari 2600.
- Humorously, the Engineer's hand appears to get cramps after rotating the Wrangler's joystick for a period of time and letting go, and he shakes them off. However, this is purely cosmetic and the player may return to controlling the Sentry Gun at any time during it.
- Being stunned by the Sandman leaves the Engineer unable to fire, but keeps the Sentry Gun in the Wrangled state, effectively disabling it.
Gallery
RED first-person view.
BLU first-person view.
See also
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