Wrangler

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This thing ain't on auto-pilot, son!
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 radar dish.

When selected, the Engineer manually takes control of his Sentry Gun's aim. During this period, the Sentry Gun stops aiming and firing automatically, and is instead directed to fire with the weapon's bound keys. The Wrangler produces a semi-transparent shield around the Sentry Gun that absorbs 66% of all incoming damage. Additionally, the gun's firing rate is doubled and its missile launch rate is increased if it is level 3. A laser sight is emitted from the Sentry Gun which auto-aims the Sentry Gun and its rockets towards the center of uncloaked and undisguised enemies targeted by the Wrangler. Other players can see this laser and use it to quickly ascertain the location of the Sentry Gun.

When switching to another weapon or upon the Engineer's death, the Sentry Gun is rendered inoperative for three seconds with its shield, after which time it will resume normal operation. 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.


Demonstration

Bugs

  • 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 it like this.
  • 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.

Trivia

Radigan Conagher holding the Wrangler.
  • The Wrangler, as with the Frontier Justice, the Gunslinger, and the Southern Hospitality, appears to have been designed by Radigan Conagher, the Engineer's ancestor. 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.
  • A Wrangled level 2 or 3 Sentry Gun can survive Taunt attacks that would normally destroy any building instantly (such as the Pyro's Hadouken or Soldier's Kamikaze). Conversely, however, a wrangled sentry and an inattentive Engineer make taunt attacks on a sentry more feasible.
  • Being stunned by the Sandman leaves the Engineer unable to fire, but keeps the Sentry Gun in the Wrangled state, effectively disabling it.

Gallery

Related Achievements

Breaking Morant
Breaking Morant
Kill 10 Snipers with a sentry gun under the control of your Wrangler.


Building Block
Building Block
Have a sentry shielded by the Wrangler absorb 500 damage without being destroyed.


Patent Protection
Patent Protection
Destroy an enemy Engineer's sentry gun with a sentry under control of your Wrangler.
Pownd on the Range
Pownd on the Range
Kill 10 enemies outside the normal sentry gun range using the Wrangler.


Rio Grind
Rio Grind
Perform 50 repairs and/or reloads on a Sentry gun being Wrangled by another Engineer.


Search Engine
Search Engine
Kill 3 cloaked Spies with a sentry gun under control of your Wrangler.

See also