Highlights
- Mann Vs. Machine in Team Fortress 2 is a popular co-operative mode that involves fending off waves of robots armed with various weapons.
- Players should avoid bringing and upgrading useless weapons, such as those that have no effect on robots or do no damage.
- New players should prioritize healing as a Medic and communicate with teammates to ensure better teamwork and strategy.
Mann Vs. Machine was first introduced to Team Fortress 2 in 2012 and has remained an immensely popular co-operative mode for well over a decade. Fending off incoming waves of robots armed with oodles of different guns is a challenging but immensely gratifying and rewarding experience for many.
New Team Fortress 2 players may find themselves a bit lost when trying it out and are prone to making mistakes. After all, a lot of strategies are not explained and are best learned through experience. So, before joining another boot camp, players should be sure to brush up on common mistakes and try to avoid making them themselves.
10 Bringing And Upgrading Useless Weapons
Some effects have no beneficial uses in Mann Versus Machine. Since there are no payloads or capture points, the Pain Train only grants a 10% vulnerability to bullets. Meanwhile, the Holiday Punch’s ability to make enemies laugh (thereby leaving them temporarily defenseless and immobile) with zero-damage critical hits has no effect on robots.
Since the Sticky Jumper and Rocket Jumper deal no damage, slapping damage upgrades on them is a waste of money, because 25% multiplied by 0 is… well, nothing. Sure, the Sticky Jumper is good for helping a Demoman get around, but the Rocket Jumper robs the Soldier of his main source of delivering pain.
9 Afterburn And Bleed Effects
The Scout has a cleaver, a spiked bat, and Christmas baubles that can inflict bleeding on targets, while Snipers can slap bleed upgrades on a bow. Meanwhile, Pyros are able to beef up their flamethrowers with longer afterburn damage and time. It all sounds appealing, but these are some of the worst upgrades to get.
Bleeding and afterburn deliver a pitiful amount of damage to robots, and they can be mitigated by an enemy Medic healing them. Worse still, when a bomb-carrying robot lasts longer, it can give itself and its mechanical brethren a resistance buff and constant health regeneration. It's best to stick to more useful upgrades for increased damage and ammo.
8 Purchasing Irrelevant Damage Resistances
300 credits can be spent on a 25% damage resistance (up to 75% maximum) against fire, explosions, and bullets. Same with crits, too, albeit at half the price. These can be essential for survival, though new players often fall into the trap of buying the wrong upgrades for the wrong waves.
The option to refund upgrades is especially useful here. After all, there are no penalties for doing so, and there’s no benefit from splashing cash on explosion protection upgrades if there are no Soldiers or Demos to fight in a wave, so it’s best to get the money back and choose accordingly.
7 Placing Sentries In Awkward Locations
Engineers are very useful in Mann Vs. Machine, as their sentries can mow down much of the enemy fodder with little fuss. Nevertheless, it's best to avoid placing a sentry too close to where the robots are spawning from, as they are invincible until they finally enter the map.
Tanks can crumple buildings, while Sentry Busters will blow themselves up when nearby. Leaving an unguarded sentry near a teleporter is very unwise, as an ally could teleport in right next to a Buster ready to blow! When a Buster is coming, players can run towards it while carrying a building to prepare for its detonation and then quickly get away from the impending blast.
6 Not Healing As A Medic
It may sound like a no-brainer, but some new players don’t prioritize healing as a Medic and may simply focus on fighting the robots directly. The problem is, this class is very weak against the robots alone. Upgrading healing equipment will help the Medic become a force to be reckoned with, however.
Since healing a target who is receiving damage increases a healing weapon’s UberCharge meter (different variants have a variety of powerful effects when activated), it’s wise to stick to classes like a Heavy or Soldier, as they can soak up and dish out a lot of damage. Sharing upgrade canteens and activating force fields are simply invaluable tactics that newbies don’t seem to do at first.
5 Not Using The Dead Ringer As A Spy
The Spy is the weakest class to play as in Mann Vs. Machine, and is not very beginner-friendly, though it does have its uses. Backstabbing giant robots with damage multipliers and sapping crowds of fodder enemies can be helpful.
Alas, due to some peculiar coding on Valve’s part, most of the Spy's invisibility watches don’t work nearly as well as they should. The only gadget that should be used when trying out the Spy is the Dead Ringer, as it allows players to cheat death when equipped. Invisibility activates along with a few seconds of increased speed and invincibility for a speedy and safe getaway. It’s immensely powerful and useful for such a fragile class.
4 Ignoring The Bomb Carriers
If the robots plant the bomb in the hole near the spawn point, the round is over and must be retried. Novices in MvM may get too hyper-focused on fighting giants and Tanks that a lone robot may slip through their defenses and ruin the round.
On the HUD is an arrow pointing to where the bomb is, along with three bars. If the bars are filling up, it means a bomb-carrying bot is upgrading. If it’s full, then either a giant has it, or a robot has fully upgraded with 100% crits, damage resistance, and regenerating health because it carried the bomb for far too long. Robots who are upgrading will briefly taunt, so this is an excellent time to rush in and kill them before they buff themselves and nearby enemies.
3 Avoiding Using Canteens
Canteen abilities are tide-turners when used correctly. Invincibility, crits, replenishing ammo, instantly upgrading buildings and immediately respawning on demand is immensely helpful when used correctly. Shockingly, some new players don’t use them at all! While using all one’s credits on upgrades is tempting, it’s best to have some cash handy for a canteen boost.
For example, Crit and Ammo Refills are excellent against Tanks, while Uber canteens are handy when fighting giants. Building Upgrades will help Engineers save time when deploying buildings during a wave, and Teleport to Spawn is really useful when the robots are too close to the bomb drop-off zone.
2 Letting Everyone Else Collect The Money
Defeated robots will often drop cash, which will disappear after a short while. So, if one player collects $25, then everyone gets $25, too. If most or all of the money is collected when a round ends, a cash bonus is awarded to everyone. Unfortunately, inexperienced teammates sometimes ignore the money outright, which is frowned upon by fellow players.
Money should always be nabbed by whoever is nearby unless it’s too dangerous to do so. Thankfully, the Scout excels at this, as he gains large boosts of temporary heath after collecting them. Plus, they take longer to disappear for them and can be collected from further away. Still, even if a Scout misses a bundle, helping them collect a missed bundle benefits everyone in the long run.
1 Zero Communication With Other Players
The most important thing to do in a co-op game mode like MvM is to communicate. Newbies may not even consider chatting to other players. However, the in-game chat is a godsend.
It’s always okay to ask players what might be the most ideal tactic, class, or weapon to use in a wave. If more time is required to prepare, making it clear with a simple message or two will help reduce the frustration. By being transparent with others, this can severely reduce the chances of getting vote-kicked by other disgruntled players, thus giving everyone in a match more synergy to work together to topple the enemies.
Team Fortress 2 is available for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
