Engineer Surviving Ubers

[THE Flying chihuahua]

you shouldnt be getting pistol kills...a sentry's job is area denial...not kills...should be maintaining your equipment

Gunslinger Engi.

Problem?

[One_Medic_Army]

I've been messing around with the Short Circuit (as I despise the wrangler), and I've come to the conclusion that due to equip time it's useless for defending your gear unless you get forewarning to have it out ahead of time (even then it's only good vs bad demos, roller pills, and long range rocketsniping)
It is, however, great for supporting the rest of your team, by clearing pills out of chokepoints, removing sticky traps and the like.

TL:DR don't use Short Circuit to defend your stuff, it's not as good as wrangler or wrench.

[Cpt._Keyes]

you shouldnt be getting pistol kills...a sentry's job is area denial...not kills...should be maintaining your equipment

Gunslinger Engi.

Problem?

you shouldnt be getting pistol kills...a sentry's job is area denial...not kills...should be maintaining your equipment

[Pine]

you shouldnt be getting pistol kills...a sentry's job is area denial...not kills...should be maintaining your equipment

Gunslinger Engi.

Problem?

you shouldnt be getting pistol kills...a sentry's job is area denial...not kills...should be maintaining your equipment

I don't think sheltering around your equipment the entire time, even when nothing is happening, is really getting the full efficiency of the engineer in play.

[Cpt._Keyes]

if there is nothing happening...u are probably in the wrong place...a sentries job is area denial..plain and simple...the day a round is won by superior kills then i will revise my statement. It's team fortress, not "I'm bored so i'm going to take some shots with my shotgun and not de-sap my equipment in time, thus allowing a push to come through and cap the point fortress" I would rather an engineer with no kills and an uncapped point, than an engineer with over 100 kills and us being pushed back

[One_Medic_Army]

That highly depends on the map type and your team-mates.
Sometimes I can get away with building just around the corner from the payload cart, sometimes I can't even get a gun up at the next point because my team folds too fast.
Engineers are so situational there are few hard and fast rules.

[crimsonshootingstar]

On double cross I will normally put my gun up at the front door and then cover sewers myself. Standing at my gun gives me a small chance of saving it from what have you but its more useful for me to be elsewhere doing other things while my gun covers. If it goes down I rebuild simple as that.

[bz]

It's team fortress, not "I'm bored so i'm going to take some shots with my shotgun and not de-sap my equipment in time, thus allowing a push to come through and cap the point fortress" I would rather an engineer with no kills and an uncapped point, than an engineer with over 100 kills and us being pushed back

^^Agreed. Your job is to keep your sentry alive and your teleports active. You won't be be able to hold a position otherwise.

Then again, you can't play engineer and not plan on having to rebuild everything. I've play engineer a lot, you have to realize that even on the maps that favor engineers, there is nothing your setup can do to prevent a competent team from blowing through your position with an uber (or two, or three). In the vast majority of games, that's what ubers are for. And there are a million things that can happen during each and every one of them: a lucky crit, a well timed backstab, your entire team may be dead, a headshot, you get caught out of position... whatever, chances are, you'll lose sentry. It will and should be the focus. Ideally your team will be able to counter, and if your dispenser survived, you'll be able to quickly rebuild your gun and await the next push.

I know everyone has their own opinion on how to defend their sentry when under attack from an uber, but personally, I will never stop using the wrangler. I have had the most success switching back and forth from the wrangler to the wrench. Assuming you stay alive, you can usually help your sentry survive long enough to keep the ubered pair focused on your sentry, absorbing 100% of it's attention and firepower, letting your team handle the rest of them. Knowing when NOT to use the wrangler is just as important however, it just takes experience to know when you're going to need it. You have to be cautious when zeroing it's firepower. And one thing I see new engineers do far too often is build up their sentry and then wrangle 100% of time. You're doing it wrong.

If you don't use the wrangler, you have to be much more particular about where you place your sentry. Deploying in areas where snipers, soldiers, and demos can take shots are your sentry without fear of retort is just asking for trouble. You'll never survive an uber, much less the spam. Your attention must be elsewhere, not simply focused on repairing damage from rocket/soldier spam. Finding good places to deploy your dispenser and teleport exit is important as well, they need to be close enough to defend if a spy goes after them, and still be able to get back to your sentry if it comes under attack. It's tricky, and all but impossible to pull off if they have a couple good spies/scouts.

Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do as a defensive engineer. You have to rely on your team, there is no other way around it. Sometimes you'll be able to hold a position an entire match, fending off spies and ubers, and never have to rebuild anything. Maybe you had some good pyros, helping out with spy checks and air blasting ubers. Next map, you probably won't have them. It's frustrating, but you just have to accept it, and rebuild, that's just the mentality you have to take on as an engineer.

It's a thankless job.

Engineers are so situational there are few hard and fast rules.

Couldn't agree more. And to clarify all of the above is slated towards defensive engineer on TV7s Attack/Defend and CP maps. Offensive engineer or TV2, for example, are entirely different ballgames.