2Fort (strategy)

Initial rush

This will generally only work for your first grab of the Intelligence from the enemy base. Split your team up into two teams of Scouts. All of them jump onto the roof of the bridge and after half the team have gained the battlements the other team drop down and head for the ramp room, while the battlement team use the spiral stairs, everyone heads for the Intel and when its grabbed provided enough players are alive you protect the carrier by leading him back through the ramp room (to draw Sentry Gun fire) and thus back to your base. By having a stream of players lined up the Intel if dropped is quickly regained and moved on. The whole point of this coordinated Scout rush is to overwhelm the defense on two fronts at start up as generally only one can be adequately defended. If you get to the enemy Intel and find it unguarded and have spare Scouts leave one or even two behind for an immediate second capture.

Engineer stack the Intel room

This strategy is rather simple to execute and enforce to high efficiency. It comprises of an Engineer building a Sentry Gun on top of or directly next to the Intelligence briefcase, and putting a Dispenser directly behind him. A Teleporter exit is usually placed in the room as well, for speedy access by teammates. The Engineer will sit on the table behind his Sentry Gun and simply wait for someone to enter the room.

The ideal placement for this strategy is with a Dispenser to the side of the desk nearest the window but with space behind for the Engineer to stand. The Sentry Gun can then be positioned to cover both entrances and as much of the room as possible. The Engineer can then sit in the hole with his back covered.

As an Engineer, you could also consider placing Teleporters near the Intelligence room. Many Spies will be unable to resist Sapping these on their way into the room giving you an advance warning of their approach, even if the Spy has activated their cloak.

The most common methods for fighting against this form of defense are:

• An ÜberCharged Soldier, Pyro, Heavy or Demoman.
• Two Spies; one to sap the Sentry Gun and the other to take the Intelligence.
• A Demoman firing Sticky bombs or Grenades from a safe position.
• A Soldier firing rockets at the Engineer (and not his Sentry) from a safe position.

If you are using this method, one good idea is to fire at enemies at a distance with either your Shotgun or Pistol, then run back to the Intelligence room. By doing this, you may lure an unsuspecting player into following you, and ultimately meeting their demise in the form of your Sentry Gun.

We Control your Sewer

After clearing out the enemy's sewer, Engineers can build a Dispenser and Sentry at the inner corner of the enemy's sewer. Then they can build a Teleporter exit near the Dispenser and an entrance at the spawn to help teammates get to the enemy base quicker. Just be sure that the Sentry is in a good spot for firing and not in a spot to get fired at.

Booby-Trap the Pool

If the opposing team is abusing the sewers, placing a Sentry Gun in the water under the bridge or in one of the corners near the enemy base can be quite useful, both for scoring easy kills and mind games. This works especially well for the blue team as their buildings blend in with the water. Just don't get caught erecting the guns, as you are an especially easy target for Demomen. Engineers will often abstain from upgrading their sentry to level 3 as long as possible in the water, as the rocket module has just enough height to poke above the surface of the pool, grabbing the attention of Soldiers, Snipers, and Demomen.

Invade the enemy base

If your enemies are foolish enough to leave the sewer entrance to their base unguarded, punish them for it by using the area to establish a foothold in their territory. After ascending the stairs from the sewers, immediately place a Dispenser on the wall to the right of the stairway. Then place a Sentry Gun just outside the door, opposite the corridor leading to the Ramp Room. An upgraded Sentry Gun in this position can effectively cut off the enemies access to the entire first floor of their base. A Teleporter exit placed behind the stairway can be used as a safe entry point for your team. The only weakness of this system is that it is possible for a Demoman to lob grenades at the turret from the stairway, however this is easily negated by having a Pyro nearby. This setup is nearly impenetrable without an ÜberCharge.

Invade Their Intelligence Room

One strategy is to set up defenses and a Teleporter in the enemy's intelligence room. This is difficult to achieve; a single Engineer can potentially sneak into the room and set up defenses, but he is extremely vulnerable and can be easily taken down. Use a coordinated rush and have your teammates guard you while you build. Save a solo trip for instances when the enemy has almost totally gone on the offensive, but has neglected their defense. If the enemy team has sentries set up at your entrance, you can perform a suicide run to try and count the sentries assembled, or change to the Spy, and cloak to do the same with a reduced risk of dying. If the server has maximum number of engineers, take note if that number of sentries are set up. Once you have an idea of how well defended their base is, switch back to engineer, set up a teleport entrance, and take to the sewers to gain entrance. Beware enemies coming through your sewers, although theirs should be empty. When you reach the courtyard, make sure to take the stairs closest to the straight staircase, which is the stairwell you should use. Generally, spawning enemies will leap off the battlements, and will be less likely to enter the courtyard. Do not use the spiral, as spawning enemies can spot you. When in the intel room, set up a sentry first. It is your best defense, which you will need when setting up alone. Build a Dispenser next, using the ammo cache outside the room to stock up on metal as it builds. Once the sentry is fully upgraded, place the teleport exit. Alternatively, build the teleport exit first, and tell your teammates to take it and cover you while you build your Dispenser and sentry. If successful, you now have an excellent foothold in the enemy base. You can easily reach their intelligence, and the enemy will be almost unable to capture yours, being cut down by the sentries at the home stretch. Things to especially look out for are spies and Übercharged opponents.

Grate Room Jump

A skilled Soldier, Scout, or Demoman can use their arsenal to launch themselves up through the grate in the main entrance hallway, bypassing the Ramp Room entirely. This will give them direct access to the main upstairs room, and the spiral ramp leading down to the Intelligence. If opposing Engineers have their Sentries directed toward the Ramp Room entrance, they will take time to turn around and target you. Accessing this area can be difficult as a Scout,as you must utilize a Force Jump from a Force of Nature. However, rocket/pipe bomb jumping comes with the obvious downside of reduced health once you have made it up. If you are infiltrating the Grate Room with explosives, have a Medic heal you while you jump so that your health is still full when you reach the top. There is also of course the possibility of missing the jump and hitting the ceiling, costing you valuable ammo, health, and time. Some Engineers may take notice to this strategy after one or two successful captures, and then trap it with a Sentry. At this point, the main entrance to the base is now defended, and can usually only be cleared out by an Übercharged Heavy, Soldier, or Demoman.

Demoman - Put a Mine Field on the Grate

A Demoman on defense can essentially cut off enemy advances into his team’s fort by placing sticky bombs on the top of his team's grate. Sticky bombs placed atop the grate are able to splash damage enemies passing underneath the grate. It is difficult for enemies to destroy or move the bombs from this position, and if enemies attempt to do so, they will often leave themselves open to attack from your pipe bombs. Typically, 4-6 well placed stickies (you'll want an even spread, leaving you a somewhat predictable kill zone) can take out most enemies passing under the grate, but why not use all 8? Just be sure to reload so you can keep that sticky launcher loaded. If you only use 4-6 stickies on the grate, that will leave you a couple stickies that you can place at the doorway at the top of the spiral stairs, essentially cutting off that path for Scouts, Demomen, or Soldiers trying to enter from the sniper deck. You can monitor all of these stickies by standing in the corner just behind the grate (protecting your back from Spies). You can also lob grenades through the grate opening out the two front doors of your base from the grate.

If your opponents wise up to your strategy, then try standing on the front side (water side) of the grate. This makes it practically impossible for you to monitor the stickies around the doorway at the top of the spiral stairs, but it allows you to put stickies at the corner of the grate nearest the sewer stairs, cutting off that path. Camping the grate allows you to defend several enemy attacks. For example, if enemy engineers try building on the bridge, you can go to the sniper deck and spam the bridge with grenades (be careful to stay out of enemy sniper scopes). Say some opponents entered your base and start attacking the engineers who have setup sentries in the courtyard; you're only a few feet away, so you can easily help them (remember that stickies are very useful for defending Übercharges by 'bouncing' the Übered players around, possibly breaking the Über connection). If opponents are pouring out of the sewer, just drop through the grate and spam the sewer stairs with grenades for a few easy kills.

While camping the grate, it is important to take out the high priority targets like medics (who may have a charged Über). If the medics eventually learn that they can't get past you without using their Über, then they are forced to use it early, negating their ability to destroy engineer defenses in the courtyard. Other high priority targets are Demomen and Soldiers, because they pose the most threat to you. Either one of these classes can fire bombs/rockets through the grate, making your life difficult. If you do need to retreat, you can still fire pipe bombs or stickies onto the grate to splash damage players passing under the grate (probably the same players who just chased you off).

Sniper Deck Harassment

As a Scout, if the upstairs room is defended by a sentry, you can still do something for your team on the Sniper deck at least. The trick is simple, jump up to their Sniper deck, kill a Sniper and retreat on the small ledge right in front of their deck's bunker (if the deathcam is activated, they will know where you are if you retreat there too soon, so wait a short time first). Most players will assume you simply jumped down and retreated. When the Sniper comes back, simply jump back to the deck and kill him again. Be mindful of enemy Spies who can block your way back as well as other classes who will help defend their teammate.

A new, advanced method to reach the sniper battlements with a much higher chance of success is to equip the Force-A-Nature and double jump from the tires and boxes (or the slightly heightened wooden structure in front of the fort entrances) that are infront of the enemy's base and use the Force-A-Nature's recoil to execute an additional jump. The extra height boost allows you to jump on the bridge roof and from there you can then jump onto the enemy Sniper deck. The Force-A-Nature is also an effective weapon to kill Snipers as it fires faster than the Scattergun, allowing your enemies less time to fight back.

As a Soldier, you can harass enemy Snipers temporarily by rocket jumping from the ground level to the either the far left, or far right side of the Sniper deck. By staying to the sides of the deck, you will stay out of the field of view of Snipers who are scoped, and thus, they will be oblivious to your presence at first. As a Soldier, you can handle an encounter or two with most classes, which can free the bridge of enemies temporarily.

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This ledge might save your life.

Demomen can do this too. They can jump using two sticky bombs from their Sniper deck to land on the enemy's, or simply one from the ground level, though the low health doesn't make it possible to last as long. It's possible for them to land on other ledges though, such as the lamp attached on the deck's bunker, the edge of the roof near the left wall and also on a small invisible ledge over their bunker's front roof (requires you to crouch).

It's definitely easier to do this when you have the support of a decent Sniper. He can take out dangerous threats (an incoming Pyro crossing the battlements to get you) you don't see coming while you focus on your primary targets.

Forward base in the Water

As an Engineer, build a Teleporter exit in the small room that connects the sewers to the stairway leading up into the enemy base. This area can then be controlled by building a Dispenser (usually at the bottom of the stairs) and a Sentry Gun. This forward Teleporter allows newly-spawned players to quickly proceed deep into the enemy base without having to fight their way over the bridge or through the sewers.

The largest downside of this strategy is that all of your buildings may be taken down with ease by a skillful Soldier, Demoman, or a small group of enemies who are working together. One way to help prevent your base from being destroyed with ease is to have an Engineer place a Sentry Gun in the water under the bridge. As it is underwater, enemies will not notice it at first and will therefore be harder to attack. If you have some teammates in the sewers with you helping defend your buildings and hold the territory, then your base will be very hard to take down short of an enemy ÜberCharge.

Forward outpost in the front porch

Build in that doorway

Engineer builds a Dispenser and a Sentry Gun in the right-side entrance of the enemy base. For maximum effect, there should be two Engineers there to keep the Sentry Gun intact, and one or two Pyros to root out Spies who come to sabotage the operation. This surprisingly defensible position makes it difficult for enemies to enter and exit their base. The common configuration is to place the Dispenser in the corner of the room, sandwiching the Engineers between it and the Sentry Gun. However, this plan is rather quickly defeated by a single Demoman laying eight Sticky bombs into the area via the grate room. From there, he can lay the Sticky bombs with impunity, and detonate them, possible destroying the entire base and getting a few kills in a single blow.

Engineer flanking

Most Engineers do not use this tactic as they generally sit back and try to repair their Sentry Gun and would rather not use their Shotgun for anything other than Spy checking. Place your Sentry Gun against the Intelligence, either on top of it, or in the corner against the glass. This way, when enemy Soldiers, Heavies, and Demomen come around the corner, they immediately get shot and back away. After the enemy has retreated and cannot see you, immediately go into the alternative corridor and flank the opponent. This also works well with a Medic and Medic buddy pair; flank the pair while they are concentrating on trying to take down your Sentry, kill the Medic and retreat back to your Sentry to repair it. The short corridors in the basement are perfect for trapping your opponents between your Sentry and your weapons fire, and as such this can be a very deadly form of attack for an Engineer.

Demoman basement defense

This is a setup that allows a lone Demoman to efficiently defend his basement against enemies.

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The first Sticky bomb trap location

First, place three Sticky bombs on the first left wall of the left Intelligence room corridor, near the entrance, as shown. These three bombs should not be seen by enemies coming from the spiral, but should be able to kill anyone that enters the corridor.

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The second Sticky bomb trap location

Next, place another three Sticky bombs on the left wall of the right Intelligence room corridor, near the corner, as shown. As with the first bomb spot, they should be placed so they are not visible to enemy attackers until they turn the corner.

Finally, place the remaining 2 Sticky bombs near the Intelligence, in the middle of the basement, or around the corner of the L-shaft left exit. You are unlikely to actually use these, but their mere presence can make attackers hesitate before making their move, giving you more time to react. Since three Sticky bombs is enough to trap each corridor, these two remaining bombs are basically free-form, but remember that placing them too far forward may alarm enemies and make them wary of other traps.

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From here, the basement defender can see enemies coming from both entrances

When the Sticky bombs have been placed, position yourself with your back to the basement resupply room, so you can see enemies coming from either of the basement entrances, and keep your Grenade Launcher ready to use.

• If an enemy comes from the spiral to your right, he will see you far away in the back of the basement, and will probably try to run straight to the Intelligence room via the left corridor, without fighting you directly. This is exactly what you want: as soon as you see the enemy turn the corner, detonate the bombs and the enemy will die. If he wises up and doesn't charge the Intelligence room, just keep him at bay with your Grenade Launcher, but be sure to stay close to the resupply room and heal as needed. Stay defensive and you will wear him out.

• If an enemy comes from the L-shaft or straight staircase to your left, he will come face to face with you. Fight him off with your Grenade Launcher, and if you are wounded, simply take a few steps backwards to heal in the resupply room. If the enemy tries to run straight for the Intel room, detonate your Sticky bombs as soon as he turns the relevant corner.

• If the basement is clean, and you hear a battle near you, prepare yourself for attackers coming from the left straight staircase. You are very close to the straight staircase, so consider surprising any left-attackers by intercepting them in that staircase with your Grenade Launcher. Be careful, however, not to leave the right spiral entrance unattended for long.

• If two attackers rush the Intelligence room, you kill one of them with your Sticky bombs and the other gets in the Intel room, hurry up and immediately trap the two corridor exits with new sticky bombs. Intel carriers will likely be very brash and try to run through them directly - that's your chance to detonate the trap and kill the enemy carrier before he gets away.

How to defeat the Demoman basement defense

There are three ways for attackers to defeat this setup:

• Brute-force: Multiple attackers. One attacker sacrifices himself and walks near the Sticky bombs so the Demoman detonates them, and the remaining attackers can then proceed to the Intel room. This is a risky move, since the Demoman can trap the exits if he's fast enough.
• Siege the Demoman: Kill the Demoman. Once the defending Demoman dies, all his Sticky bomb traps disappear harmlessly, giving you complete freedom to capture the Intelligence. Resist the temptation to run to the Intel room blindly if the enemy Demoman is still alive. The Demoman is most vulnerable from the "L-Shaft" straight staircase, since he will not see attackers as fast. A quick, decisive strike is needed to kill him before he retreats into the resupply room to heal.
• Sneaky Sneaky Spy: A cloaked Spy can walk right past the Sticky bombs without being seen. Simply walk into the base, uncloak to the side that the Demoman isn't facing, and either Backstab him or shoot him repeatedly. Two well placed headshots with the Ambassador will down the Demoman and his stickies, an easy task if you're at point blank range and out of sight. However it can be dangerous to get into melee range with the Demoman, because point blank grenades from his primary gun will do high damage to the Spy, as does his melee weapon. Choose your spot, strike fast, and strike hard. Any mistakes can be quickly fatal.

Alternate Demoman Basement Defense

Another method of defense is to go down into the intelligence room as a Demoman, then plaster the floor with all eight of your pipe bombs. Then, proceed back up to your grate room and fire down grenades at passing enemies. You will be nearly unkillable, and the moment you hear "The enemy has taken our intelligence", simply detonate the stickies. Then head back to your intelligence room and reset the trap.

Blindingly obvious hiding spot

The Top of the spiral has a small alcove to your immediate left from the door. A small stack of crates creates a snug area to sit and watch the spawn gate open. As a Pyro, Demoman, Spy or creative Sniper hiding here is an excellent way to ambush the opposing team. Keep in mind that they will catch on eventually and you should use this strategy with more than a little caution. Useful for taking down early-stage sentry nests and getting the drop on enemy Spies. Snipers should avoid getting anything more than an easy kill this way, however. It is also a good place for a Teleporter, since a good deal of your opposition will just assume you came from the sewers.