CommunityFortress

Well my friends, the Engineer update is upon us. The Engi has a whole slew of new toys. But what purposes do these new weapons serve? And will they be useful in the competitive scene? This article is here to help.

Note: Keep in mind that these weapons have only just been released, and future nerfs/buffs may be incoming, as well as additional information not available at the time of this writing.

Frontier Justice

The Frontier Justice is the Engineer's new shotgun. It only loads three shells at once and doesn't roll for random critical hits. However, whenever his sentry is destroyed, it gets a certain number of guaranteed crits depending on how many kills his sentry racked up before destruction.

Sounds overpowered, right? Guaranteed crits, without a charge-up time (Kritzkrieg) or a minicrit vulnerability (Crit-a-Cola)? Blasphemous!

The success of this weapon depends on your Engineer playstyle. If you turtle, it probably won't be of much use to you, since crits are not carried over between lives (think "heads" from the Eyelander). This is of course assuming you die along with your sentry, since you're within a well-fortified base that just got destroyed by an uber demoman or pyro. If you throw down sneaky sentries (see the Gunslinger later in this article!) and get an assist or two, or a few kills, then this weapon will work wonders.

Okay, so that covers tactics in pub play. But what about the competitive scene?

Engineers are used on Gravel Pit and occasionally to defend the fifth point on CP maps. The purpose of the Sentries they build is not specifically to kill mans but to block access to an area. While sentry kills certainly happen, generally the Engineer involved is dead before or as his sentry is destroyed. The "no random crits" certainly doesn't apply in competitive play... but the smaller clip size means that any self-defense the Engi may attempt is now twice as hard.

This weapon in its present condition is underpowered for competitive play.

Wrangler

The Wrangler replaces the Engineer's secondary slot. When the weapon is activated, it allows the Engineer to control his sentry manually, and projects a shield (absorbing 66% of incoming damage) around the sentry. When you switch to a different weapon, the sentry deactivates for three seconds, then resumes normal functions (minus the shield).

Well gosh. People have been crying for a laser pointer update since sentries were invented. And now it's finally here, and it even has a shield attached to it!

In public play, it's approximately balanced, from what I've seen. Engineers actively using the Wrangler are a bit easier to pick off. They are also human, and don't have the ability to automatically aim wherever the nearest enemy is, allowing players the possibility of sneaking by.

In competitive play, all I can do is make guesses. But I can guess that this weapon is certainly more powerful than the pistol in any comp match. Pistols aren't used much, considering a Shotgun will cover anything close up and the enemy Medic will pick up the meager damage you can deal with a pistol.

The limiting factor of sentries (and again, I am referring to the situations in which sentries are normally used - CP maps and Gravel Pit) is their range, which means that one sentry cannot cover the whole of Granary's last point or all the exits on Gravel Pit, just to name two examples. This weapon essentially removes that restriction. While it's true, manual aiming is required... the ability to harass Blu as they pour out of the B/C connector in Gravel Pit is an excellent boost in Engineer firepower. Hell, with creative Sentry placement, you could conceivably cover four of the five entrances into point B with a single sentry.

Teams that split up could overcome this ability... however there are five other players on the defense, ready to protect the point.

The Wrangler currently is more powerful than the default Pistol no matter which way you swing it, and is conceivably overpowered in the competitive scene.

(Also: the Wrangler currently provides for Engineer rocket-jumping and even bullet-jumping, for which I can only direct you to the official wiki page on it: http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Sentry_jump . Whether or not this proves to be overpowered or on the verge of patching out remains to be seen, and I do not have enough information at this time to determine if it's a valid competitive tactic.)

Gunslinger

A replacement for the Engineer's melee slot, the Gunslinger is a metal hand that adds 25 health to the Engineer, as well as removing the default sentry and replacing it with a quick-building mini-sentry. It also does not get random crits, but guarantees a crit on every third punch that lands on the enemy.

The Gunslinger is, at its core, fun. Laying down sentries and getting sneaky kills is something that people have been doing since beta, but now that playstyle is encouraged. With a cost of only 100 metal, it's also the only way to build two buildings essentially simultaneously.

However, that 100 metal and 2.5 second normal build time come with a price: the sentry's power suffers. It deals half the damage of a normal level 1 sentry and has less health than the level 1 (though this second fact appears to be in some doubt; the TF2wiki isn't consistent on the health values of the mini-sentry). It also can't be upgraded. A level 3 sentry is the biggest reason to run an Engineer in competitive play, and with a half-damage Sentry to replace it, it's hovering close to useless. The moveable buildings (see below) also allow level 1 sentries to fulfill nearly the same purpose without any damage decrease.

An extra 25 health? It's a nice bonus, but doesn't provide enough of a benefit to justify the lack of a stronger sentry. (I'd also like to inject a little bit of opinion into the article and say that the melee combo was overthought: I've yet to see a combo hit in the kill log, nor have I ever come across a situation where I could have used one. It seems like random crits would be just fine and perfectly balanced.)

Conclusion? The Gunslinger is underpowered in the competitive scene.

Other Notes

The Engineer's been given another new ability: he is now able to move any building, at the cost of a slower move speed while carrying a building, as well as vulnerability during the rebuilding of a structure. Buildings reconstruct at a much faster rate than the default, however, so moving level 3 sentries around is very much a valid tactic. This makes it much much easier to get increased firepower on the front lines, as well as moving dispensers and teleporters without losing their upgraded forms. The moveable sentries are perhaps a tad overpowered as compared to previous gameplay, since they pop up on the front lines much more quickly.  Moving dispensers and teleporters can only be good for the teamwork coming from an Engineer, and merit zero complaints from this author. (As discussed above, this also means that portable level 1 sentries are an alternative to the Gunslinger's mini-sentries.)

Apparently the Engineer can also wrench more efficiently now. He can (apparently) add ammo, upgrade, and repair his buildings all within the same wrench hit, instead of one task per swing. I have yet to see an in-game effect, but it certainly sounds like it will take some of the headache out of repairing buildings under fire.

He's also been given a new community wrench, the Southern Hospitality. On every hit, it adds the bleed effect (which has been retooled in the update to be more visible) for 5 seconds, however it does not deal random crits and adds a 20% fire vulnerability on the wearer. In competitive play, this can only be an upgrade over the default Wrench, as it adds the bleed effect without dealing any less damage, and random crits and enemy pyros aren't a problem in comp. But in public play, it's nearly a downgrade, as pyros and crits are much more commonplace.

The Sandvich can no longer be eaten continuously. It now functions on a 30 second recharge mechanic. This means that thrown Sandviches now can be regenerated without finding a health pack, but you can no longer recharge both yourself and a nearby teammate in roughly five seconds. Its impact on the competitive scene is likely minimal, simply a slight buff to thrown Sandviches and a nerf to eaten ones.

The Gunboats now absorb even less damage from rocket jumps. While the Gunboats were useful in divebombing competitive Medics and pushing forward with less Medic reliance, they are now less effective. This ultimately doesn't affect the nature of this item very much, but is definitely a nerf and doesn't help the roaming soldiers who were previously using them.

The Tribalman's Shiv has suffered a reduction in bleed duration and damage, decreasing to half of the Kukri's damage and a 6 second timer on the bleed duration instead of 8. This unfortunately means that the Kukri can only deal 32 direct points of damage and can deal a total of 51 points in bleeding, adding to 83 HP. When it takes the Shiv four seconds to deal out the default Kukri's 65 damage, you know you've got a useless item on your hands. No longer viable.

Plus a few other tweaks, including sound changes for Pyro flamethrowers, the aforementioned bleed effect being more visible, new kill icons, and the payload/Scottish Resistance stickies glowing when out of sight.

Conclusions

The Frontier Justice and the Gunslinger, while great fun in pubs, are seen by this author as underpowered in competitive play. The Wrangler has the potential to be overpowered, depending on whether sentry-jumping emerges as valid, or if the ability of Engineers to cover exits is proven.

Moving buildings is a plus, efficient wrenching is a plus, the Southern Hospitality is a comp-play plus. The Sandvich has been changed to benefit Sandvich-throwing Hevaies, while the Gunboats and the Shiv have been flat-out nerfed.

Comments are very much welcome on all facets of the Engineer Update.