Recall canteens are the most underrated thing in MvM

[Ezekiel 23:20]

Just call this a little bit of venting on my part because I recently played a game where a person more or less implied I was an idiot for using recall canteens. For those of you not in the know, they're those yellow canteens that take you back to spawn. You'd be forgiven for forgetting they exist because it seems like hardly anyone uses them. The person I mentioned previously even thought I was someone else on the basis that we both used recall canteens, because no more than one person could possibly think they were worth using.

I often use recall canteens when I'm not using the other types of canteens, which is to say, most of the time, because they're far more helpful than people give them credit for.

• Preemptive buyback. In a situation where death seems likely or inevitable, using a recall canteen is significantly faster and cheaper than actually dying and buying back in.
  
• Be able to play toward the front of the map and still be able to get to the hatch quickly if something slips by with the bomb.
  
• In general be able to play a bit riskier since you have an easy way to bail at the first sign of trouble.
  
• Help get around the map quickly as a class that may need to be in multiple places at the same time.
  
• Upgrade midwave. Recall canteens are a convenient way to get back to the upgrade station without two-ways (or exploits).
  
• If you're already pushed back to the hatch, recall canteens are useful as an improvised health and ammo canteen (but you do lose rage, revenge crits, heads, etc.).
  
• And maybe most importantly, recall canteens cost virtually nothing. I could use recall canteens pretty liberally over the course of a mission and I'd probably still not spend more than 100 credits on them. They cost almost nothing while still being helpful, so why not use them if I wasn't going to use uber/kritz canteens in the first place?

[Ezekiel 23:20]

引用自 Radioactive Panda：

nope but there have been situations where I thought I was going to die but I lived and I learned from that.

Sometimes you get in a dicey situation and make it out okay. Sometimes you don't. Whether to use a recall canteen is a judgment call that does introduce the possibility of making that call wrong, I admit. That doesn't mean it lacks the potential to be useful.

And more often than not, using a recall canteen where you didn't need it hurts less than not using one where it could have kept you from dying. Between the instantaneous respawn, the speed boost, and teleporters, it doesn't take too long to get back in the action.

引用自 Testing 1 2 3：

Situation where you have time to realize you're going to die but not time to escape, there's no Medic on the team to revive you faster, you're not already AT spawn, etc? I don't know...

Remember: the canteen isn't a "get out of jail free" card, except maybe in the face of really long respawn times. You're still getting sent back to spawn. It's like a "soft death." It only costs 10 credits because that's what Valve thought it was worth when they where balancing the game mode.

There are other ways in which the recall canteen can be useful. It's just that cheating death is one of the most obvious and regularly occurring. And yeah, there are times when death is easy to see coming, but it's already too late to get out of. Like if a giant heavy aggros on you and you can't duck around a corner immediately. Tends to happen when you're playing heavy because you don't have the same mobility as other classes and need short range and a direct line of sight. Or maybe a piss sniper Jarates you as a spy and you're surrounded by robots.

The speedy class with a large clip size and the one that can just stand on an ammo pack and do a couple thousand damage with each shot? Not classes like Pyro, Soldier, and Heavy that chew through ammo while they spew death? Seems legit.

I usually upgrade ammo capacity as pyro, soldier, and heavy and don't have too much of a problem managing my ammo, especially with a half-competent engy who can keep his dispenser up where it needs to be. If you have a bad engy, you're probably going to get pushed back to spawn and then you can just use the recall canteen as an ammo canteen anyway.

I don't tend to upgrade ammo capacity as scout or sniper until late in the mission.

Oh, wait you mean for "emergency" lunchbox recharges, don't you?

Partly, yes. But an upgraded Soda Popper chews through its ammo supply pretty fast, especially since reloads waste any rounds remaining in the clip.

Ammo canteens to refill Jarate is sort of useful, but I tend to use Cozy Camper most of the time as a sniper. It's just that some sniper spots don't have a conveniently accessible ammo crate. I don't use ammo canteens as sniper all the time; it's just kind of nice to have on some maps.

[Radioactive Panda]

引用自 Ezekiel 23:20：

引用自 Radioactive Panda：

nope but there have been situations where I thought I was going to die but I lived and I learned from that.

Sometimes you get in a dicey situation and make it out okay. Sometimes you don't. Whether to use a recall canteen is a judgment call that does introduce the possibility of making that call wrong, I admit. That doesn't mean it lacks the potential to be useful.

And more often than not, using a recall canteen where you didn't need it hurts less than not using one where it could have kept you from dying. Between the instantaneous respawn, the speed boost, and teleporters, it doesn't take too long to get back in the action.

I never said the potential of usefulness isn't there. I'm saying you will not learn some things because you will start to rely on it.

[Tesla Coil]

I sometimes use recall canteens on Spy as an extra Dead Ringer, but I'm not sure I'd use them on any other class.

Canteens to me are what you buy with the 100-or-less credits that you have left over if you didn't A+ a wave. I'd rather have an ammo refill canteen than a credit score ending in 25. There's a difference between relying on something and using something every now and then.

[Soldier Claus]

引用自 kafkaesque pariah：

引用自 Testing 1 2 3：

The speedy class with a large clip size and the one that can just stand on an ammo pack and do a couple thousand damage with each shot? Not classes like Pyro, Soldier, and Heavy that chew through ammo while they spew death? Seems legit.

Oh, wait you mean for "emergency" lunchbox recharges, don't you?

I think you aren't seeing the whole picture. Yeah ammo canteens are great for milk recharge if you don't have that upgraded but also for stock scatter when you doing tanks.

And as a sniper sometimes ppl take your ammo or you don't want to jump down during spy rush or during crucial moments.

Instant ammo will always be helpful, but Scout isn't particularly known for running into ammo trouble.

On the subject of Recall Canteens, yeah, they can be helpful, but they're not that straightforward to use. I guess I can admit they're "underrated," but that probably won't make me use them more.

[kafkaesquePariah]

引用自 Testing 1 2 3：

Instant ammo will always be helpful, but Scout isn't particularly known for running into ammo trouble.

It's not so much for lack of ammo but if you use stock scattergun and upgrade the clip size it's so you don't need to reload in the middle of you shooting. a bit niche I admit myself.

[AhHHHh]

i assume you are talking about scout here. Scout has a 2 second respawn... if you are an offense class you should be with the bomb anyway+ you have to walk out of spawn. If you are dead how does recall canteens help....you know death in mvm happens....but if you have one, thats when the medical man clicks on your dead body thingy. i get where you are coming from but still

[sheetcrab]

引用自 TryHard：

i assume you are talking about scout here. Scout has a 2 second respawn... if you are an offense class you should be with the bomb anyway+ you have to walk out of spawn. If you are dead how does recall canteens help....you know death in mvm happens....but if you have one, thats when the medical man clicks on your dead body thingy. i get where you are coming from but still

That's like saying every single team has a medic.

[itsgalf]

Recall canteens are legit. I just don't use them because I'm normally carrying an ammo/building upgrade canteen instead.

[AhHHHh]

引用自 Lvl. 100 Spycrab：

引用自 TryHard：

i assume you are talking about scout here. Scout has a 2 second respawn... if you are an offense class you should be with the bomb anyway+ you have to walk out of spawn. If you are dead how does recall canteens help....you know death in mvm happens....but if you have one, thats when the medical man clicks on your dead body thingy. i get where you are coming from but still

That's like saying every single team has a medic.

most teams have a medic in two cities.....i know you don't need a medic at all, but you know, meta n stuff.

[76561198199727671]

Wait, how come it's 2015 and people still use canteens?