Sapper
| Sapper | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Kill Icon | |
| Basic Information | |
| Used by: | Spy |
| Slot: | Secondary |
| Availability: | Stock |
| Tradable: | No |
| Craftable: | Yes |
| Nameable: | No |
| Craft No.?: | No |
| Medieval: | No |
| Reload type: | No Reload |
| Available Qualities | |
| “ | Spy's sappin' mah sentry!
Click to listen
— The Engineer
|
” |
The Electro Sapper, mentioned in the Sentry Gun Operational Guide as the FM/AM Ultra-Electro Sapper, is the default secondary weapon of the Spy. It is a small box inscribed 'Electro-Sapper' and sports a dial and switches. It also features two clamps that are deployed when used.
The sole function of the Electro Sapper is to destroy an Engineer's buildings. Should the player select the weapon and stand near an enemy structure, they will be able to see a white outline of the Electro Sapper on the building, indicating that it is in range and can be sapped. Pressing the primary fire key, default left-click, will attach the weapon, and the building will slowly be damaged until it is destroyed. A sapped building will cease to function; Sentry Guns will not fire, Dispensers will not heal or dispense ammo and Teleporters will not teleport. When applied to buildings, the Electro Sapper will produce electrical sparks and a loud hissing noise. When an Electro Sapper is attached to one end of a Teleporter, another Electro Sapper is automatically placed on the other end of the Teleporter, if it exists. If the Spy is disguised, the disguise class will play a distinct, unique animation of placing the device on the building.
For each building the Spy player places an Electro Sapper upon, a small window in their HUD will appear showing both the remaining health of the building sapped and the health of the Electro Sapper on that building.
Once the building is being sapped, the Engineer owner will be alerted to it in his HUD, and will automatically play a voice clip alerting nearby players of the building's predicament. Engineers can remove an Electro Sapper with two hits from their melee weapon. When an Electro Sapper is attacked, the Spy player will be notified by a similar alert in their HUD. If an Engineer removes an Electro Sapper from a Teleporter, the Electro Sapper at the other end is also removed. If another Engineer strikes the Electro Sapper first, he can get an assist for the Electro Sapper kill, and a Medic healing an Engineer can also score an assist in this way. Pyros equipped with the Homewrecker can also destroy Sappers in one hit if they happen upon them. Enemies focused on removing Electro Sappers may leave themselves open to a backstab or headshot, allowing the Spy or a teammate to distract and dispose of enemies in addition to the building in question.
A small gauge is visible on the Electro Sapper when it is being carried; it serves no purpose other than aesthetics. The Electro Sapper has infinite ammunition and no discernible "cooldown" time; Sappers can be placed on a building faster than an Engineer can repair the damage each one causes, which guarantees the building will be destroyed if the Spy is not dealt with. This tactic seldom works if there are multiple players around.
The Electro Sapper breaks into metal fragments upon removal. The fragments can only be picked up for metal after being destroyed on a Dispenser, each gib giving 3 metal.
Contents
Damage and function times
| Damage and function times | ||
|---|---|---|
| Damage | ||
| Base damage | 100% | 25 / s |
| Function times | ||
| Building destroy time | Level 1: 6.00 sLevel 2: 7.20 sLevel 3: 8.64 sMini-Sentry: 4.00 s
| |
| Values are approximate and determined by community testing. | ||
Demonstration
Related achievements
Pyro
|
Demoman
|
Engineer
|
|
Spy
|
|
Update history
- Fixed server crash related to Spy Sappers.
- Fixed Spies being able to attach Sappers through thin walls.
- Sapped buildings now take slightly less damage from the Spy who sapped them.
- Fixed Spy backstab exploit.
- Fixed Spies not being able to sap a building if an enemy player was colliding with the building.
- Fixed Electro Sapper viewmodel animation popping.
August 13, 2009 Patch (Classless Update)
- Sappers attached to a teleporter automatically place another Electro Sapper on the other end of the teleporter, if it exists.
- Fixed Spies being able to destroy Sappers by using the "destroy 3 0" command.
Bugs
- A Spy with multiple Sappers active at once will only see the HUD display of the oldest one.
- The Electro Sapper clips through the top part of a level 3 Dispenser. Additionally, the clamps do not attach to the sides of the Sentry Gun.
- An issue can occur when the Electro Sapper is placed on a building that upgrades to the next level at the same time; the Electro Sapper will be unremovable by both Engineers or Pyros equipped with the Homewrecker. Additionally, the sapped building will function as normal, albeit with draining health.
- The Electro Sapper never enters its
idleanimation, thus the needle never moves. As a result, the needle never moves to the right when near a building, which is the intended behavior. - Occasionally, the Electro Sapper will play an alternate drawn animation in which the Spy flips a switch on the Electro Sapper's interface. The animation is rushed and does not play correctly, however, the sound of the switch being flicked can still be heard.
Unused content
- The game files have referenced a taunt for the Electro Sapper since the game's launch, however, the animation is not present in the Spy's animation set.
- The Electro Sapper has an unused backpack icon in the game files.
Trivia
- Electro Sappers are considered by the game to be buildings. As such, they are immune to critical hits (they are not destroyed in one hit by a single critical Wrench swing) and can be created with the
buildconsole command.- Based on visual inspection of its health bar when attacked, an Electro Sapper's health is estimated to be somewhere between 90 and 110. As the Jag can destroy one in two swings totaling 97.5 damage, it is likely close to 90 or 95. The exact value does not really matter, as any Wrench can break it in two swings.
- If a Spy's current disguise is wearing the Hotrod, switching to the Electro Sapper will cause the Hotrod to flip over his face, as if the Engineer disguise were holding a toolbox.
- The full name of the Electro Sapper, the "FM/AM Ultra-Electro Sapper," implies that the Electro Sapper may use radio signals to disable the Engineer's electronics.
- The Spy holds the device with two hands in third person, yet with only one hand in first person.
- A Template:W is a combat engineer who typically builds or demolishes structures in warfare.
Gallery
RED first-person view.
BLU first-person view.
Electro Sapper with its attachment wires.
Broken Electro Sapper (Gib)
The HUD image displayed when using the Electro Sapper on a building. Displays Electro Sapper health and building health.
