Team Fortress 2 Tutorial

Mann vs Machine is the Co-op mode for Team Fortress 2, and is incredibly difficult for uncoordinated teams. Take a look at this quick guide on general strategies to be successful.

Gameplay

• Communication is very useful when completing a mission. If you are able, use voice or text chat to help your team.
  • At map start, if you are unsure about the class to play, ask your team about which class to pick.
• Try to make your team's class composition balanced. Know the strengths and weaknesses of every class.

Credits, Bonuses and Upgrades

• At the start of each wave, you will prompted to purchase upgrades from an Upgrade Station.
• Collect piles of credits (also known as "cash") to increase available credits to all teammates.
  • Green dollar signs ($) mean the cash must be collected by a player.
  • Red dollar signs ($) mean the cash that your team's Sniper has already collected, however Scouts can still get overheal from these.
• Bonuses are awarded at the end of each round for A+/A grade credit collection.
  • 100 credits are awarded for collecting all available credits.
  • 50 credits are awarded for missing no more than 5% credits of the wave's total money.
• At times, the team's Scout may be unable to get the credits, so you may need to get it yourself.

Spy Checking

• Spy robots (sometimes referred to as "spybots") will de-cloak from various areas around the map, disguised as either you yourself or one of your team members.
• When Spies are active, you can jump or rapidly switch weapons to show your teammates you are not a Spy robot as robots only jump to get to higher areas and the latter is never done by them.
• Spy robots often reveal their location by chuckling, even when disguised. Listen carefully for them when you can't afford to look around the field.
• If there is a Spy robot and a Tank on the field at the same time, you can evade the Spy by standing on the Tank.
• The Soldier is very good at spychecking due to his high damage output and splash damage.

Snipers

• Players playing as a Soldier, Medic, Engineer, or Heavy will announce "Sniper!" to alert you to Snipers appearing on the field.
  • A blue laser guide is emitted from their rifle, giving away their position.
• Jump and strafe constantly to make it difficult for robots to lock on to you.
• Snipers can be dealt with by a ranged class, such as Soldier or Sniper, to prevent them killing your team.
  • An effective team can be neutralised by Snipers due to their damage + other robot weaponry.
• Sniper Robots cannot headshot.

Tanks

• Tanks do not attack or directly harm players.
  • A turning tank can crush players against walls and kill them instantly.
• A common tactic to defeat a tank is having a single Pyro use a Phlogistinator to destroy it or have a Beggar's Bazooka Soldier focus it.
  • The Mmmph! of the Phlogistinator will charge with damage dealt.
  • You should upgrade the damage of this weapon to decrease Mmmph! recharge time.
  • Upgrading reload speed and upgrading damage will increase the damage done to the tank by the Soldier. Rapidly press the primary fire button for the most effective damage (Shooting one rocket at a time).
  • A critical hit boost (crit) canteen will also help destroying the tank.

Robot Spawning

• Robots cannot attack or be harmed until they touch the field.
• Shooting a robot before landing will show them as ÜberCharged.
  • This will also alert the robots to your location, causing their aggression to be taken out on you.
• Sentry Guns will shoot the robots before robots touch the field.
  • Place the Sentry Gun in a place where it will not target these robots and waste ammo.
  • Use the Wrangler to control when your Sentry Gun fires.
• Sticky-bombs planted at the base of where robots jump down will not damage robots until the robots have physically touched the ground.
  • If you blast robots too early, you'll waste your sticky bombs and could activate an ÜberCharge Medic's Medi Gun.

And those are the basics. Remember the best way to win is to get a team in the end - randoms can only get you so far.