Eureka Effect

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It fixes, it dents craniums, it's the wonder tool of the century!
Eureka Effect publicity blurb

The Eureka Effect is a community-created melee weapon for the Engineer. It is a retro-futuristic pipe wrench with a team-colored handle and an atomic symbol etched into the top of it. A spiral antenna, not unlike a Tesla coil, is attached to the head. A switch near the top of the grip is connected to a red wire that is plugged into the bottom of the antenna.

By pressing the reload key (default key: R), a menu appears with options on where to teleport to. Choosing either destination causes the Engineer to perform a taunt for approximately 2 seconds with the weapon, during which he hoists his wrench into the air and is struck by a bolt of lightning, causing him to be teleported directly to his chosen destination. Choosing the respawn room option moves the Engineer to an active respawn point. Choosing the Teleporter exit option instantly moves the Engineer to his Teleporter's exit, provided one has been fully built. A Teleporter entrance is not required for this option, and it does not cause the Teleporter system to need to recharge afterwards. Unlike teleporting via the Entrance, teleporting using the Eureka Effect does not display any visual effect on the Exit. Any player too close to an enemy Teleporter exit as the owner teleports to it suffers a telefrag; if an enemy destroys the exit while the Engineer is teleporting to it, he is instead teleported to spawn. Neither destination leaves the usual team-colored particle trails at the player's feet. Like any other taunt, this taunt cannot be activated if the Engineer is in midair or in water.

Additionally, the Eureka Effect allows the Engineer to construct and upgrade Teleporters at half the cost (25 metal for building the teleporter and 100 metal for upgrade per level); however, the Eureka Effect is 50% less effective at speeding up construction when striking buildings. The wielder also receives 20% less metal from ammo pickups and Dispensers.

Using the Pip-Boy changes the GUI similar to that of the destroy and build GUI's.

Switching from this weapon to the Gunslinger destroys the Sentry Gun the player has built. Similarly, switching to this weapon from the Gunslinger causes the Gunslinger's Combat Mini-Sentry Gun to be destroyed.

The Eureka Effect was later contributed to the Steam Workshop, at Valve's request.

Damage and function times

See also: Damage
Damage and function times
Damage type Melee
Ranged or Melee damage? Melee
Damage
Base damage 100% 65
Critical 195
Mini-crit 88
Damage repaired per hit 102
Upgrade amount per hit 25
Metal cost per repairing hit ⌈damage / 3⌉
Metal cost for reloading ammo 1 / bullet
2 / rocket salvo
Function times
Attack interval 0.8 s
Values are approximate and determined by community testing.

Metal from pickups

Ammo pack size Metal returned
Smallammo.png Small 32
Mediumammo.png Medium 80
Largeammo.png Large 160

Demonstration

Item set

Main article: Item sets
Dr. Grordbort's Brainiac Pack
Item icon The Brainiac Pack Bundle.png
Effect

No effect

Crafting

See also: Crafting

Blueprint

Jag Reclaimed Metal Eureka Effect
Item icon Jag.pngx2 + Item icon Reclaimed Metal.png = Item icon Eureka Effect.png
Class Token - Engineer Slot Token - Melee Scrap Metal Possible Results
Item icon Class Token - Engineer.png + Item icon Slot Token - Melee.png + Item icon Scrap Metal.png =
Item icon Gunslinger.png Item icon Southern Hospitality.png Item icon Jag.png Item icon Eureka Effect.png

As a crafting ingredient

Refined Metal Brainiac Pack weapon Possible Results
Item icon Refined Metal.pngx4 + Item icon Pomson 6000.pngItem icon Eureka Effect.png =
Item icon Brainiac Hairpiece.png Item icon Brainiac Goggles.png
Eureka Effect Reclaimed Metal Rescue Ranger
Item icon Eureka Effect.pngx3 + Item icon Reclaimed Metal.png = Item icon Rescue Ranger.png

Related achievements

Leaderboard class soldier.png Soldier

Engineer to Eternity
Engineer to Eternity
Kill an Engineer as he repairs his sentry gun while it's under enemy fire.


Leaderboard class engineer.png Engineer

Built to Last
Built to Last
Help a single building tank over 2000 damage without being destroyed.


Circle the Wagons
Circle the Wagons
Repair 50,000 damage to friendly buildings constructed by other players.


Doc, Stock, and Barrel
Doc, Stock, and Barrel
Repair a sentry gun under fire while being healed by a Medic.


Fistful of Sappers
Fistful of Sappers
Destroy 25 sappers on buildings built by other team members.


Get Along!
Get Along!
Manage to get to, and then remove, a sapper placed on your building while you were several meters away.
Land Grab
Land Grab
Help a teammate construct a building.


Quick Draw
Quick Draw
Kill a Spy and two sappers within 10 seconds.


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


Silent Pardner
Silent Pardner
Upgrade 50 buildings built by other team members.


The Wrench Connection
The Wrench Connection
Kill a disguised spy with your Wrench.


Leaderboard class medic.png Medic

Midwife Crisis
Midwife Crisis
Heal an Engineer as he repairs his sentry gun while it's under enemy fire.

Update history

December 15, 2011 Patch (Australian Christmas 2011)
  • The Eureka Effect was added to the game.

December 16, 2011 Patch

  • Fixed an exploit with The Eureka Effect where the effects could activate without taunting in high-lag situations.

January 11, 2012 Patch

  • Added crafting blueprint for the Eureka Effect.

March 19, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed the death notice icon for the Eureka Effect.

November 12, 2013 Patch

June 11, 2014 Patch #1

  • Changed attributes:
    • Can now pickup buildings.
    • Repair and upgrade rates have been decreased (by 50%; now requires double the metal to complete either task).
    • Can teleport to your spawn room or your Teleporter Exit.

June 11, 2014 Patch #2

  • Updated the materials for The Eureka Effect HUD to support mat_picmip.

July 24, 2014 Patch

  • Fixed a bug related to cancelling the Eureka Effect taunt and teleporting immediately.

July 2, 2015 Patch #1 (Gun Mettle Update)

  • Changed attributes:
    • Previous penalties have been removed.
    • Construction hit speed boost decreased by 50%.
    • 50% less metal from pickups and Dispensers.

August 19, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed players being able to carry the jack while taunting. (fixes an exploit with the Eureka Effect)

August 27, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed the Engineer losing revenge Crits and picked-up weapons after using the Eureka Effect to teleport back to base.
  • PASS Time update
    • Fixed another case where players could teleport the jack with the Eureka Effect.
  • [Undocumented] As a result of the revenge Crits fix, the Eureka Effect no longer replenishes health and ammunition. Effects such as fire, Jarate, Mad Milk, etc. are no longer removed.

July 7, 2016 Patch (Meet Your Match Update)

  • Changed attributes:
    • Reduced "50% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups" to 20%
    • Added "Teleporters cost 50% less metal"

August 29, 2016 Patch

  • Fixed players being able to teleport out of the spawn room using the Eureka Effect at the beginning of a round.

September 27, 2016 Patch

  • Fixed an exploit related to the Eureka Effect and carrying buildings.

October 20, 2017 Patch #1 (Jungle Inferno Update)

  • Fixed Engineers using the Eureka Effect to teleport out of hell on Halloween maps.

July 18, 2024 Patch #1 (Summer 2024 Update)

  • Fixed console warning about unknown command 'eureka_teleport'

Unused content

  • There are two unused particles; one of which is an idle particle designed for the tip of the electrode, the other is an impact particle.

Bugs

  • If the player builds a teleporter with the Eureka Effect and then changes to another melee weapon, the Teleporter still has the reduced upgrade cost and vice versa. This also works if the Teleporter is still a blueprint.
  • The player can teleport to the Teleporter exit using the Eureka Effect, even if the Teleporter is being sapped by any of the Sappers, unless the exit is level 1 that is being downgraded by the Red-Tape Recorder.
  • Having the Eureka Effect equipped results in the Engineer only gaining 80% as much metal from successful Widowmaker shots.
  • If the player teleports to the Teleporter exit using the Eureka Effect, the teleport particles that normally appear after a teleport are absent.
  • If the player has the teleport menu open and then gets spooked by a Ghost, the teleport happens instantly.[1]
  • If the player picks up a Teleporter that was placed by a wrench other than the Eureka Effect while having the Eureka Effect equipped, the upgrade cost of the Teleporter will be decreased to 100. This will only affect the upgrade cost of the Teleporter that was picked up, not the other end.[2]

Trivia

  • The weapon's teleportation ability bears resemblance to the Instant Teleport, a scrapped secondary weapon which would teleport the Engineer to his Teleporter Exit.
  • "Eureka" comes from the Ancient Greek word εὕρηκα heúrēka, meaning "I have found (it)."
  • The word "Eureka" is a famous exclamation attributed to the famous Greek Philosopher Archimedes.
  • The name is derived from the term eureka effect - an unexpected discovery or the sudden realization of the solution to a problem.
  • This weapon is called the Wrenchmotron 600 on the Dr. Grordbort's website. The Eureka Effect is listed as an "electrifying taunt" there.[3]
  • Unused code suggests that this weapon would've originally been able to reveal disguised or cloaked Spies on hit.[4]

Gallery

References

  1. Video demonstrating instant teleport bug.
  2. Video demonstrating desynchronised upgrade
  3. Team Fortress 2 Brainiac Pack
  4. game/shared/tf/tf_weaponbase.cpp:L4664, 4692

See also