n00b's guide to: The Gunslinger, Combat/Battle Engie 101

This guide is all about the Gunslinger, an Engineer melee weapon that changes up how the engineer plays by giving him more HP and a Minisentry instead of a upgradable sentry gun. while it seems like it's not that much of a difference, it changes more of how one should play engie than most people know. i'm here to fix this.

About the Gunslinger

The gunslinger, as my description of the guide states, increases the Engineer's HP, specifically by 25 points, which puts him at 150 HP max compared to the normal 125 HP. in addition, it gives him a Taunt Kill and the Gunslinger's main 'game-changer', the Minisentry. it also removes random crits and gives him a triple punch combo and a taunt kill, but those are situational at best.

the intended usage (from what i can tell) of the Gunslinger is to allow the Engie to roam the battlefield as a competent force along the likes of the other mercs, like the Soldier, Demoman, and Scout, while still allowing Engie players to still help thier team in a way only the Engineer can deliver: with his buildings.

"So why do Engineers not use this weapon as much as all the other Wrenches?" you might be asking me.

The Playstyle

Yes, the weapon changes that much of how the engineer plays, mainly due to it's disposable Minisentry. it is more of a agressive tool than it's larger and more powerful cousin, the Sentry Gun.

unlike the Sentry, the Minisentry cannot be upgraded or even repaired. on top of this, it deals less damage than a Sentry, though at a slightly higher firing rate than a level 1 Sentry Gun. it is, though, cheap to deploy at 100 metal, and deploys at full HP, making it that much more suited for agressive deployment.

The added HP gives the Gunslinger Engie more survivability in fights, though you still should stick with your team at least.

Your dispenser and teleporter are unchanged, however, meaning tactics regarding them are unchanged other than one key thing:

DO NOT THINK A MINISENTRY CAN PROTECT THEM!

seriously fellow gunslinger engies: leave your dispensers and teleporters where they can be easily guarded by teammates or out of sight and out of mind of your enemies. a good tactic as a gunslinger engie with dispensers for example is to put them close to the battle, but out of harms way so the team can fall back to it, heal and resupply on ammo, and get back into the fight. Kudos to the Engineer Apostles for that idea BTW, i'd reccomend checking thier Engineer Bible.

so what about the tauntkill and the three hit combo?

Tauntkill is okay, but like other tauntkills, don't do them unless the foe isn't watching you

Three hit combo? i've only done it once. on a heavy who wasn't paying attention in the AFK sense. and even the Engineer Apostles say it isn't reliable, especially since you need to hold the M1 button down for all three hits.

The Minisentry

Due to how disposable the Minisentry is, it's not worth one's time hauling it from one place to another. you're better off demolishing it and placing a new one. in addition, if a spy saps it, let them have it. it is disposable, and it lacks the HP to last in prolonged fights.

speaking of fights, treat your minisentry like a deployable, redshirt battle buddy. deploy it fast, and deploy it as often as your metal reserves allow. don't be afriad to pick up fallen weapons or ammo packs or fall back to your (or another engie's) dispenser for more metal, the latter assuming you've lost anybody on your tail. if you see allies in a fight with somebody, drop the mini and fight with them.

the minisentry can also cover a retreat thanks to body blocking mechanics, and is perfect to do so with thanks to deploying with full HP. better to live to fight another day, than to wait for the respawn timer to hit 0.

in a nutshell, if you have 100 metal or more and are in a fight without a minisentry, DROP ONE ASAP. you'll want two guns firing at your foes (your own and the minisentry's). trust me.

Weapons to consider bringing as a Gunslinger Engineer

Due to the Gunslinger itself being worse as a melee weapon, you'll want to bring some weapons to compensate. While i usually run with a Pomson and a Pistol, many people have said what i will say now: "what works for one person might not work for you"

that said, onto the guns

Shotgun:
the standard Shotgun never falls out of favor for good reason: it's dependable and reliable in any close quarters situation, even with such a tight cone demanding a good aim. and with 6 shots loaded maximum, you can keep the pressure on where most Engineer primaries would need to reload... at least until you run out of ammo, but that's where Dispensers and more importantly dropped weapons and ammo pickups come in.

Frontier Justice:
Revenge Crits are an interesting concept, allowing you to punish foes once your Sentry or in this case Minisentry is destroyed. and while it has less ammo than the standard shotgun in it's clip, there's no denying how effective a Crit is. just make sure to pack a Pistol, as Revenge Crits are depleted with every shot. and you want those Crits to land. though if you're good enough, the only thing that will deplete you of your Revenge Crits is somebody killing you.

Widowmaker:
Tell me, do you want to always have metal for a Minisentry? do you have good aim with a shotgun and know enough about it's effective range to deal more than 30 damage per shot? if your answer to both is 'yes', this shotgun might be up your alley. otherwise, if you can't deal more than 30 damage, you're wasting metal.

Pomson 6000:
Controversial, yes, but it's ineffective for the purpose of it's controversial ability to drain Uber if the Medics are smart enough, especially now that it cannot pierce through targets. more often than not, you'll be using it to spycheck, it's long effective range (given you can lead your shots), and it's unlimited 'reserve ammo'. and while it does deal less damage than the shotgun in close quarters, it's still effective.

Rescue Ranger:
Clever weapon, Valve. this one is meant to offer strategic options to the engineer, such as long range repairing of friendly buildings and hauling buildings from one place to another even if the buildings are far away from you, though you obviously must own the buildings in the first place. problem is, this is a weapon better in the hands of a defensive engineer in my opinion. don't let this stop you from getting creative though. just be wary of it's side effect: when you haul buildings, even if you are doing it with a weapon that isn't the Rescue Ranger, it marks you for death until a few seconds after you redeploy.

Pistol:
another staple sidearm, the Pistol offers fighting in ranges the Shotgun doesn't allow. Engie's pistol has the upper hand on the Scout's as well, boasting 200 reserve ammo alongside the 12 bullet clip. it also reloads fast, and is fully auto like Sniper's SMG, making it the medium range spam weapon of choice.

Wrangler:
the wrangler's usage is twofold, a means to increase a sentry's range beyond normal while allowing you to make it fire at targets as needed, and as a mobility tool much like Rocket Jumping or Sticky Jumping.

Short Circuit:
while protecting your buildings and allies from projectiles sounds useful, a Pyro is far more effective at this. and since you're agressive, you don't really have time to use 35 metal on an EMP that might potentially fail it's job at frying incoming projectiles. there's also some other things to note, but i'd reccomend looking up the Engineer Bible as the Engineer Apostles cover them in better detail i ever could.

A final note on Engineer's weapons:
The reason why i didn't bother covering them in full is because the Engineer Apostles did a better job at decribing thier purpose than i ever could. same goes for the Dispenser and the Teleporter.

End of Guide

Thanks to:
official TF2 wiki:
Gunslinger Backpack icon

Engineer Apostles:
for making the guide to go to if you play engineer. the link is there, CLICK IT.