Pub Guide - The Way of the Gunslinger Engie

[babyshawn2 0]

Note: So I tried writing an article for ubercharged.net but got rejected a year ago. So I re-edited it and put it up here.

 

PS: Hope I won't get much hate for putting a pub guide in a comp forum :/

 

The Way of the Gunslinger Engie.

Ever since I started playing Team Fortress 2 here, I always marveled at the team-based aspect of the game and I would always chip in being a medic or an engie whenever possible. Anyways, when the Engineer update came out , as an experienced engie, I was especially unhappy with the items they released seeing that two of the items are practically useless or un-appealing to me (Frontier Justice and Wrangler) as an offensive engie. Taking a look at the Gunslinger left me a little hesitant, the first few days of the engineer update shows incompetent engies running around placing mini-sentries like no tomorrow. Those made me feel so mad that I crafted away my Gunslinger without hesitation. Until about a few days later when the item dropped yet again during one of my random playtimes, I decided to give it a go with it and it succeeded past my expectations. Using my skills of the knowledge of the map, surprise and speed is the way to go with this weapon giving your teammates a chance to group together to achieve the objective and win the game.

Specs

 

The Gunslinger

 

+25 max health

+Third combo attack is always a crit

-No random critical hits

-Drops mini sentries.

 

The Mini-Sentry

+Only costs 100 metal to place

+Builds 4x faster than normal sentry

+Fires 50% faster

-Cannot be repaired or upgraded

-Deals half of a normal sentry’s damage.

 

By comparing the Gunslinger to the normal wrench, the 25 max health increase is going to help the engie a lot as he’s expected to going around the map with shotguns blazing about and planting sentries. But the fact that the third combo hit using the Gunslinger is kind of useless as a Gunslinger engie’s job using the Gunslinger is to maneuver around the map trying to attack the enemy using stealth and speed. Unless you are trying to look our for an enemy spy while building your sentries, or catching an unsuspecting sniper off-guard. It is highly unlikely that Gunslinger engies are going to end up head-on against an enemy with a melee weapon with the mind-set of attacking him at least 3 times.

 

Do you really want to attempt a melee in this situation?

 

 

When to use the Gunslinger?

Of course, there is no point using a low-powered sentry gun to fight against the opposing team if the opposing team has 4 Wrangler-equipped engies sitting in their snug sentry nests covering every single portion of the map. Remember to take note than Gunslinger engies are NOT useful in area denial. So take note that if you are on red team, you MUST have at least another fellow engineer to help the team in area denial so you can act as a roaming engie. And if you are on blue, take note that if the red team is aggressive and constantly attacks outside the area it’s defending, you may have to switch back to the normal sentry loadout as your job is to also build dispensers and teleports for your team. Engies can’t risk the possibility of their precious Level 3 buildings being destroyed as the red team attacks out of their zone.

 

It is easier for a friendly nesting engineer to help look after your dispensers and teleporters for you, that way you are free to roam as a Gunslinger engineer.

 

Mindset change!

Now the previous job as the typical offensive ninja engineer which involves putting your sentry in surprise spots and praying that the enemy team doesn’t find your sentry before you deploy it, the tactic of the offensive Gunslinger engineer is more or less the same. Except for the fact that your sentries are now disposable thanks to the cheap metal cost and the speed of deployment, your sentries can now attack immediately after about 3 seconds of deployment. Keep your shotgun handy, you’ll need to use it a lot in battle as a Gunslinger engie as you should be jumping into the battle shotguns blazing in order to get those sweet spots to deploy your mini-sentry. Remember that you and your mini-sentry are one, a singular fighting force not to be messed with, one to provide distraction and one to make the finishing kill!

 

Distraction!

As you know, the mini-sentry could be a growing threat to the entire team, it could be used to aid a distracting team or be a distraction in itself. The right sentry in the right place could make a difference to the entire game. For example, when your team rushes in with a pyro-medic uber pair, take advantage of the situation by running in and deploying the mini-sentry at a place with a good cover from enemies as well as a good range of the area. So as the enemy team recovers from the attacking uber, they run back out to their initial defense, not knowing that a mini-sentry has already been deployed in the area.

Also to take note to use your teammates as a distraction to the enemies while your mini-sentry is up. After all, enemies can’t pop in and out to kill a sentry while they are being shot at.

 

Or... it could be the other way around.

 

 

Also the mini-sentry could be used as a great distraction if you’re fleeing or trying to sneak around the enemy team. For example, a W+M1 pyro is charging towards you, deploy a mini-sentry immediately no matter where the placement is. Assuming that the pyro goes after the mini-sentry, you could:

 

1. Retreat away

2. Sneak around the pyro and go further into the enemy defenses.

3. Shotgun the pyro while he’s distracted to death and decide on the appropriate action after that.

 

Option Number 1 is appropriate if the pyro is unfortunately backed up by other allies.

Option Number 2 is appropriate if you happen to be an engie who wants to build a teleporter behind the enemy lines and don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.

Option Number 3 is appropriate if you want to move along and get rid of the enemy as soon as possible, moving your team forward towards the objective.

 

Analysing the situation, since the pyro and his allies are distracted, this is a good time to sneak behind them and hide behind their defenses.

 

Keep Moving Forward!

As a Gunslinger engie, as your sentries are disposable, ALWAYS make sure they are doing something! Either out in the battlefield fighting a losing battle against a Heavy-Medic pair, or going on a 5 kill-streak by hiding out in a corner unsuspectingly. Even as you draw the enemy’s focus on to the mini-sentry, you’re stalling the time of the enemy away from your teammates trying to achieve the objective. As soon as the enemy destroys your sentry, build another one in a different spot. Keep repeating this cycle and you can be sure that the constant appearance of the mini-sentry will be frustrating for the enemy! Don’t feel depressed that the enemy is getting a point or two by destroying your sentry, simply troll them later when you get MVP for winning the round.

 

Even if the sentry spot is just downright ridiculous, it is better to have tried than not to try at all.

 

Sentry placements are just as important as placing the sentries themselves. When placing the sentries, always try to put the mini-sentry in the best spot where it has a good vantage point of the surrounding area and the best cover so that it is less likely to be in the sight of the enemy.

For example, let us look at the last stage of Dustbowl at the final point:

A rough diagram of common enemy routes and best sentry placements. Horrible drawing. But deal with it.

 

Red: Common Enemy Routes

Blue: Best sentry placements.

 

The sentry placements are being put there as their placements falls in two or more of the three factors.

 

1. They are surprising

2. The placement is doesn't conflict with the common enemy route

3. They provide a good vantage point of the area

 

These sentry spots will take good two or three enemies down with ease before being destroyed, but by then, a good Gunslinger Engie would probably find another sentry spot and surprise the enemy once more!

 

Wrangler Jumping

Yes, its possible to use the wrangler with the gunslinger in order to get to heights you can't reach as a normal engie. Sure, you're not as manuevarable as you are using the wrangler with the normal level 3 sentry gun to rocket jump. Primitive, but it does its job.

Simply stand on top of your mini-sentry, look directly upwards, jump, crouch and shoot. Take note that you have a limited movement with this form of jumping and should only be used if the place where you aim to go is almost right above.

One example on the last stage of goldrush

 

Loadouts Galore!

There are 4 different loadouts that are effective for the use of the Gunslinger. Depending on your play-style, the loadouts affect the way you play the Gunslinger Engie.

 

Classic Loadout

Primary: Shotgun

Secondary: Pistol

This is favorite set-up for the Gunslinger engineer. This Loadout utilizes the Engineer for combat, giving the Engineer full use of his weapons in a combat situation. The shotgun-pistol loadout is a great combination as most enemies which you may face are from short to mid range. Just in case if you used up all the bullets in your shotgun clip, the pistol could be used to finish the enemy off.

 

Fun fact: The engineer's shotgun, along with the heavy's shotgun, has a faster reloading rate of the 4 classes which wields the shotgun.

 

Sniper Loadout

Primary: Shotgun

Secondary: Wrangler

This loadout gives the Gunslinger engineer the ability to provide support fire from long to mid range distance getting rid of snipers. In the case of a combat situation, the Gunslinger engineer is significantly less effective than the classic loadout gunslinger engineer due to the loss of the pistol. But nevertheless, the engie has the option of controlling the mini-sentry depending on the situation at hand. Just take note not to get killed by the sniper as he aims for your head.

Take note that if an enemy sniper notices your presence while you're using the wrangler, retreat away. Srsly.

 

Frontier Combat Loadout

Primary: Frontier Justice

Secondary: Pistol

This loadout is best preferred for players who doesn't mind the limited clip count set by the Frontier Justice and also want to be in effective in combat as well. Once the 3 shots have been fired into an enemy, the pistol could be used to finish him off in a successive fashion just like the Combat Loadout. Also, having dependent crits when handy seems pretty useful.

When your primary weapon runs out of bullets in its clip, take note that you also have a pistol

 

Unlockables Loadout

Primary: Frontier Justice

Secondary: Wrangler

This particular loadout is more sentry dependent due to the Frontier Justice getting crits from the mini-sentry’s kills. This process of getting crits would be more effective when the wrangler is used in order to get kills to get crits for the Frontier Justice. Unlike the combat loadout, this loadout ensures the Gunslinger engie with dependent crits when the engie needs them. Unfortunately, this certain loadout is inefficient in combat as its weapons consist of a shotgun with 3 bullets in its clip and one melee weapon. So you can see how practically helpless the engineer is without his sentry.

Dependent crits come in handy in certain situations.

 

All good things come to an end.

On a final note, make sure that the job of a Gunslinger engie is the same as any other engie, so remember to build teleporters and dispensers when your team needs them.

Remember, once you mastered the way of the Gunslinger engie, you’ll be like a ninja to many. And all shall recognize you as a god!

 

Deploy fast, deploy quick.

Annoy the enemies, make them sick.

 

Also remember to have fun!

 

Kudos to Novolé for the awesome last picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LToro 2]

awesome guide! i'd definitely show this to our vietnamese pubbers back there.

 

btw, can i have your hud?

[ceemie 0]

btw' date=' can i have your hud?

[/quote']

 

you now know that that is the default hud on minimal mode.

[babyshawn2 0]

lol wat. That's the default minimalised hud.

 

Unless you are referring the one I'm using now which is oxidehud :/

[LToro 2]

i think that looked quite different.

 

maybe im just too used to custom huds.

 

ah well tks anyways

[kushhh 22]

thx4guide

[hcaz 33]

[sam 1]

that is funny zach.

[kushhh 22]

don't do that dance in mexico

[Xanczor 0]

cool nice guide!