TF2 MVM Recommended Loadouts Guide

In this guide, I will be guiding you through the world of Mann Vs Machine in Team Fortress 2. This game mode is about destroying metal robots that arrive in waves in order to deploy a bomb at a certain point. Mann Vs Machine is a game mode that definitely requires teamwork between everyone. But in order to win Mann Vs Machine, everyone on the team needs to have a loadout that is efficient as possible. As many would say, some 'certain' classes are 'crap' or 'useless' at MVM. There is no such thing. Team Fortress 2 is a game that has been praised for its balanced gameplay. The fact is every class is good in MVM in a particular way. As TF2 has a wide range of weapons, many possibilities are created. Only some are able to contribute to the team a lot. This guide will be covering the loadout that I recommend for all 9 classes from the Scout to the Spy. (NOTE: All the information is from my experience of playing TF2 so don't judge me hard)

Scout

Scout
The Scout is easily one of the important classes in Mann Vs Machine other than the Engineer and Medic. The Scout's main job is to collect all the money for the team. The Scout will basically be useless, if the loadout is no good as an inefficient loadout will cause the Scout to die numerous amount of times in a very short time.



Scattergun
The Scattergun is the stock primary weapon for the Scout. With the clip size of 6, it is sure to be enough for self-defense and support. The Scattergun is powerful enough that you don't have to upgrade it. The Force A Nature might be a good substitute, but to the clip size , constant reloading and yourself being pushed away is the downside. There's really no point of Soda Popper cause you would be on the ground most of the time marking targets and dousing robots with Mad Milk, so the 'Hype' mode for multiple air jumps is not necessary. I don't really have anything to say about the Shortstop. The Baby Face Blaster is a mediocre choice as you can build boost from shooting at enemies but the 34% less speed on default and losing boost on air jumps could cost you but overall, the Baby Face Blaster is not the worst choice out there. Lastly, we have the Back Scatter. This weapon can deal mini-crits behind enemy targets. The negative is that with 20% less accuracy and 34% smaller clip size, it might not be helpful equipping it, plus you can already get mini-crits from the Fan O' War. We can say that Back Scatter is not a good choice for MVM.

Mad Milk/Mutated Milk
This secondary weapon allows you to gain health back from 60% of the amount of damage you've done. In Mann Vs Machine, once it is upgraded, you will be able to reduce the sodden enemy's speed by 35%. An upgraded Mad Milk/Mutated Milk will put less pressure on the overall team as the enemy is slowed down and you would receive health back from just damaging the sodden enemy. The Mad Milk/Mutated Milk is a top choice for the secondary slot of the Scout.

Fan O' War
The Fan O' War is considered 'useless' by many in normal TF2 Multiplayer, but think again when it comes to MVM. As the Fan O' War marks target for death, any damage done to the marked target would be all mini-crits. In MVM, the Scout can mark robots, in particular the Giant Robots, to allow the team to eliminate them more quickly. When the Fan O' War combines with the Mad Milk, the Scout would become a lethal danger to the robots, as eliminating the robots will become much more easier, quicker and more efficient.

Overall Loadout
Overall, the loadout will work well in MVM as you are able to deal mini crits from the back, the team will be able to gain health back from the Mad Milk and the Scout will be able to mark more stronger targets for death with the Fan O' War.

Soldier

The Soldier is easy and simple to use in MVM. The Soldier's job is to be able to support the team while doing as much as damage as possible.


Rocket Launcher
This is the stock primary weapon that comes with the Soldier. In MVM, many people would rather use the Black Box than the Rocket Launcher, due to the fact that you can get health back every time you hit an enemy. The Black Box is not recommended comparing to the Rocket Launcher because you would have to reload constantly due to the reduced clip size and upgrading the clip size would be a waste for the Black Box. This says that the Black Box increases the chance of you dying. The Rocket Launcher is very balanced in clip size and damage. A clip size of 4 is not too much or too small. The explosion radius is also just the right amount. The Cow Mangler, Direct Hit, Air Strike, Liberty Launcher and Rocket Jumper all have a very big disadvantage in a way in MVM. The Original is a decent alternative for the Soldier. I also recommend Beggar's Bazooka due to its 3 rockets easily able to hit any robots and its craziness with upgrade, but its your choice. So overall for the Soldier's primary weapon section, I would go with Stock Launcher or Beggar's Bazooka.

Buff Banner
The Buff Banner is a secondary weapon for the Soldier that allows others around in a certain radius, to deliver mini-crits. This is possible by doing a certain amount of 'damage'. With Soldier in MVM, you would be using your primary weapon almost all the time. In this case, the Buff Banner's rage meter would be full very frequently. The Buff Banner will help the Soldier and the entire team to do more damage and increases the team's chance of survivability.

The Escape Plan
The Escape Plan allows you to run faster, depending how much you were damaged. As the Soldier would be using the primary weapon most of the time in MVM, you would have to face certain times when you are critically low on health. If you use other melee weapons, such as the Equalizer, there would no point as you are trying to destroy multiple robots at once. With the Escape Plan equipped, you will be to escape from danger much more quickly and allows you to go back into the battle in a short amount of time.

Overall Loadout
This loadout allows the Soldier to do tons of damage to the enemy robots and stay on the battle longer with the Stock Rocket Launcher. The Buff Banner will allow the Soldier to support the entire team in increasing damage and increasing pressure on the robots. The Escape Plan can let the Soldier to escape in time from danger.

Pyro

The main purpose of the Pyro in MVM is to reset the bomb and destroy incoming tanks in a short amount of time (Tanks are not on all MVM maps/missions).


Flame Thrower/Rainblower
This is the stock primary weapon that comes with the Pyro. Out of the Pyro's primary weapon, the Flame Thrower is the best option. In MVM, the Pyro will be airblasting a lot and burning many robots. You would want to have much ammo as possible conserved for airblasting and burning. The Degreaser would be pretty much useless as the overall damage of this weapon is very less. The Phlogistinator cannot airblast at all and the Backburner's compression blast is very restricted, due to the Backburner using 50 ammo for a compression blast. The Rainblower can be an alternate due to its same function as the Stock Flame Thrower.

Flare Gun
The Flare Gun is able to ignite enemies on hit, but better you can also do a critical hit on a burning target. The Scorch Shot can knock back enemies, but it would do little to no damage. What would be the point of the Shotgun and Reserve Shooter, when you are going to be playing with fire and airblasting. Even though the Detonator can mini-crit burning enemies, a critical hit would do more for the team. Don't get me started on the Manmelter. Even if you earn several crits from the Manmelter, it would not do much. Therefore, the Flare Gun prevails the choice for the secondary slot of the Pyro as it defeats the other secondary weapons in overall efficiency.

Axtinguisher
This melee weapon can deal a mini-crit to the front of the player and a critical hit to the back of the player. As you are playing with fire a lot, all of your weapons in your Pyro loadout all have to involve in fire damage greatly. The usage of the Homewrecker would be restricted, due to the Pyro's concentration of resetting of the bomb, but it can be used to remove sappers from friendly Engineer buildings. The Powerjack is an average choice as it gives a 15% increase in speed, but it gives the Pyro a higher chance of dying as you take 20% more damage from any source. The Back Scatcher makes the Medic heal you at a very slow rate, which could lead to big troubles. There's going to be no robots in water, so why would you even think about using the Neon Annihilator?

Overall Loadout
The Flame Thrower is a balanced primary weapon for the Pyro for usage in MVM. Along with the Flare Gun, you will be able to deal many critical hits and destroy robots quickly. The Axtinguisher can help eliminating burning enemies with less hits required.

Demoman

In Mann Vs Machine, the Demoman's job is to create traps that can destroy multiple robots and to also protect the bomb from being deployed.


Grenade Launcher
The Grenade Launcher is the default primary weapon for the Demoman. The clip size of 4 is just the right size, comparing to the Loch n Load's clip size of only 2. The Loose Cannon's damage is nothing compared to the damage of the Grenade Launcher. What would be the point of the B.A.S.E Jumper when you can't even go high in the air while you are busy putting sticky traps. This is not Degroot Keep and Demoknight we are talking about, so Ali Baba's Wee Booties are a No-No!

Scottish Resistance
Wouldn't it be better if you can pipe out more Stickybombs? That means more traps. Many people would criticise the Scottish Resistance as you would have to use selective detonation for the stickybombs. But who cares? this is MVM! The capability of piping out 14 stickybombs means that we can put separate traps at different parts of the map. More better is that we can see our laid stickybombs through walls, so we can easily detonate them at the correct time without wasting any of them.

Bottle (Frying Pan, Saxxy, Scottish Handshake, Conscientious Objector, Freedom Staff, Bat Outta Hell, Memory Maker, Ham Shank)
The Melee weapon choice for the Demoman in MVM would just be a simple one, such as the Stock Bottle. Keep in mind, TO NOT USE ANY of the other melees of the Demoman. I am talking about Eyelander (Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, Nessie's Nine Iron), Pain Train, Scotsman's Skullcutter, Ullapool Caber, Claidheamh Mòr, Half-Zatoichi, Persian Persuader. All of these will put you into a big disadvantage, such as maximum health reduction.

Overall Loadout
The Demoman will be using the Grenade and Scottish Resistance just about for the whole time. Just like the other stock weapons, the Grenade Launcher is pretty much well-balanced in every aspects. The Scottish Resistance allows more stickybombs out and allows you to see the stickybombs through walls.

Heavy

There's really nothing to say about the Heavy. The Heavy just basially has to do the most offense work in the team.


Minigun/Iron Curtain
The Minigun is the default primary weapon for the Heavy. As it is a stock weapon, it is very balanced in every aspects such as damage, ammo or speed as I said in the previous sections. Why would you want to use the Natascha to slow down enemy robots and have damage reduction? This just makes you take much longer to take down the robots. The Huo Duo Heater will get you into troubles as it consumes more ammo at a quick rate, because in MVM, you always need to have your minigun all revved up before the horde comes. The reason to not use the Tomislav is that you have slower firing speed and what's the point of having silent barrel spinning? This is not normal TF2 multiplayer. The Brass Beast can make you the perfect target to enemy robot Snipers and Giant Robots.

Sandvich
In the event of your Medic of being unable to reach you in time, a Sandvich would be a very helpful compassion. Due to having to use Minigun a lot, secondary weapons such as the Shotgun are useless.

Gloves of Running Urgently/Bread Bite
You won't be using your melee weapon much during MVM. This says you need a melee weapon that you would help you in your emergencies. THE G.R.U or Bread Bite is the solution to this. If you are critically low on health or ammo, you can use them to escape danger, gain back health and getting back into the battle quickly.

Overall Loadout
The Heavy's Loadout for Mann Vs Machine is pretty straightfoward and simple. The Minigun is to inflict tons and tons of damage. The Sandvich can be used for emergency to refill health and the G.R.U/Bread Bite lets you recovers more quickly for health and ammo due to 30% speed increase on the Heavy.

Engineer

We are now talking serious here. The Engineer is one of those classes that you definitely need on your MVM team. Without the Engineer, the entire team is screwed. In Mann Vs Machine, the Engineer is the most important class but just behind the importance of the Medic.


The Rescue Ranger
Just look at the name. It says 'rescue'. The Rescue Ranger is a primary weapon for the Engineer that is able to pick up buildings from very long range. Ever since this weapon came out, the problem of the Sentry Buster literally disappeared into thin air. The Rescue Ranger can save your Sentry Gun and even your other buildings in many dangerous situations, such as big hordes of Giant Heavies with Medics. Without this, your buildings would get destroyed frequently, which can make you overall, a 'useless' engineer. The Rescue Ranger is a weapon that you MUST EQUIP!

Wrangler
Bringing a Pistol into a major battle between mankind and robots? I DON'T THINK SO. What's the use of the Short Circuit when you are going to be fixing and protecting your buildings just about the whole time. The only option for secondary weapon for the Engineer is the Wrangler. The Wrangler allows you to manually control your Sentry Gun. It also makes a shield around your Sentry Gun that absorbs 66% of all incoming damages and increases the firing speed of your Sentry Gun. The Wrangler is a great choice if you want to destroy Giant Robots without the annoyance of your Sentry Gun going for the little robots.

The Southern Hospitality
The Southern Hospitality is a great choice out of all the Wrenches, because you are able to make enemies bleed. This means that you can find enemy Robot Spies more easily by hitting suspcious incoming players. The Jag is not recommended, , as the 20% faster construction rate would just be a waste because you can just buy 'Building Upgrade' canteens. This makes the Jag not recommended in construction. Remember: Spies are the biggest enemy of the Engineers. Eureka Effect is definitely a NO-NO because your construction and fixing rate is 50% slower which can cause your buildings to die much quicker. Don't even think about using Gunslinger in a Robot Battle. Mini Sentries are not powerful enough to defend back hundreds of robots. The Default Wrench is a alternative that could be used but the Southern Hospitality's bleeding prevails over.

Overall Loadout
This Engineer Loadout can benefit you in many ways and it will help you stay efficient in awareness and defending at the same time. The Rescue Ranger allow the Engineer to pick up his buildings from very far places without having the need to run. The Wrangler lets you manually control your Sentry Gun and increases the overall power of the Sentry Gun. The Southern Hospitality builds at the same rate as the Default Wrench but can make enemies bleed so enemy Robots Spies will become less of a problem.

Medic

Undoubtedly, the Medic is the MOST IMPORTANT class in Mann Vs Machine. Without the Medic, the entire team will always die in a blink. That's what a Medic is for: to heal teammates and help them survive longer in battle.


The Overdose
People would argue that the Crusader's Crossbow is a good alternative to the Overdose. This is true, but the Overdose prevails over just by a very tiny bit. The Overdose is a Syringe Gun that increases your movement speed up to 10% based on the amount of ÜberCharge. The increased movement speed can save you, when you have to make a quick escape. With a upgraded Overdose, you can soak enemy Robots with Mad Milk while damaging them at the same time. The Blutsauger is seriously a BIG NO-NO. We're not playing Battle Medic here but we are healing our teammates. Syringe Gun is a decent mediocre choice but it's not the best to use.

Kritzkrieg
The most important weapon of the Medic. The Kritzkrieg is a medigun that can give your healing target guaranteed critical hits for a certain period of time. The Kritzkrieg also has 25% faster Ubercharge rate on default, which means you can already build up Ubercharge fast without even having to upgrade it once. The Medi-Gun is a very bad choice for MVM. You can just buy a ÜberCharge canteen and use it with the Kritzkrieg and Ta-Dah... you can be Uberred while being crit boosted, plus the Uber Canteen more cheaper than the Crit Canteen. That is why we have to spend our upgrade money wisely as every dollar counts.The Vaccinator and Quick Fix are pretty much mediocre choices for mediguns in MVM, but I don't really recommend them for MVM. This is the case, because we should not forget the Projectile Shield for the Medic. This is bascially a shield that demolishes any incoming projectiles. If we use mediguns such as the Medigun or Vaccinator, what's the use of their function if we already have the Projectile Shield. That clearly demonstrates a huge waste of a secondary weapon slot.

Ubersaw
Why would you not equip this? The Ubersaw gives you 25% Ubercharge on each hit on an enemy. This is a great way to build up Ubercharge very quickly without having to heal your teammates. Keep in mind that Engineers will love you if you use the Ubersaw on Sentry Busters as it is very efficient against them.

Overall Loadout
The Medic Loadout is very complex but here is a overall summary of the loadout. The Overdose is helpful to escape from danger due to the increased movement speed, an upgraded Overdose can soak enemies with Mad Milk and the team is able to gain health back without the Medic having to heal. The Kritzkrieg can become the team's saviour due to the crit boost. Lastly, the Ubersaw can help build up your Ubercharge in no time and are great against killing Sentry Busters.

Sniper

From my experience of MVM, people would get 'votekicked', just because of playing as the Sniper. The Sniper is very criticised when it comes to MVM, but in fact, they are actually pretty useful like other classes.

The Hitman's Heatmaker[/u]
This is what makes the Sniper very powerful in Mann Vs Machine: the Primary Weapon. There is a wide range of primary weapons for the Sniper, but only some are able to help the team and some just make the Sniper 'useless'. Out of all of them, the Hitman's Heatmaker is the best one to choose. Many do not seem to know about the great power of the upgrades of the Sniper. An example of the upgrades that works well especially with the Hitman's Heatmaker is Explosive Headshot. Bascially for Explosive Headshot, when you headshot a robot, you can stun multiple robots and do 150 damage to each of them in a certain radius (on each explosive headshot you even get auto collecting money). This says you can kill multiple enemy Robot Medics healing Giants. An upgraded Hitman's Heatmaker would be a huge threat to the robots. The Hitman's Heatmaker gains focus from kills and assists. Once you activate 'Focus', you will be able to shoot very quickly without unscoping and your shot will all charge each time as you reload.

Jarate/Self Aware Beauty Mask
As your Primary Weapon is doing basically 100% of the damage, there is no use into equipping secondary weapons such as the SMG and Cleaner's Carbine. The other weapons like the Cozy Camper, Razorback and the Darwin's Danger Shield basically does nothing for the team and for yourself. The only best option is to use the Jarate/Self Aware Beauty Mask. Throwing it on enemy Robots will allow your teammates to deliver mini crits, An upgraded Jarate/Self Aware Beauty Mask can also slow down the sodden enemy's speed by 35%. This makes it just as useful as the Mad Milk/Mutated Milk of the Scout.

Bushwacka
Wouldn't you want to do critical hits on enemies that are Jarated? Well the Bushwacka is the definite solution. Enough said.

Overall Loadout
The Hitman's Heatmaker will help the team very well with the 'Focus' Mode and Explosive Headshot etc. The Jarate/Self Aware Beauty Mask can allow the team to eliminate certain targets quicker such as Giants and the Bushwacka is suitable for use when you want to tear down enemies that you soaked.

Spy

The Spy is the master of disguises and stealth in Team Fortress 2. This is advantageous in MVM. The Spy is able to kill Giant Robots very quickly, taking out enemy Robot Engineers and disabling multiple robots at once.


Ambassador
The Spy would be using his other weapons very frequently in MVM but not the primary weapon. The Primary Weapon for usage for the Spy in MVM is only meant for Support or self-defense. The Ambassador is a good choice out of all of the revolvers. The Ambassador is able to do a critical hit on a headshot but the let down side is that it does 15% less damage comparing to the Stock Revolver and 20% slower firing speed. With the Ambassador, you are able to take down Razorback Robot Snipers without having to waste your time breaking the shield.

Knife
The Knife is the stock melee weapon for the Spy. With the usage of the other knifes, you would be certainly at risk in a view. Even though the Spy-cicle can save you in situations when you are being burned by Pyros, the Spy-cicle would melt and you would have to wait 15 seconds which is a waste of valuable time of helping your teammates. Why would you even use 'Your Eternal Reward'? You can't disguise as the robots from backstabbing with the YER. The Conniver's Kunai will make you a Spy that would die frequently due to having ONLY 60 health. That's even less than half of the Spy's default health. The BIg Earner could be a suitable knife to use for more cloak, but the 25 health reduction could be a concern. But to me, the Spy's Stock Knife would be the best to go with, due to the balance.

Dead Ringer
We're not playing normal TF2 muliplayer here. We are versing a horde of robots, for goodness sake. What is the damn point of equipping a 'cloaking' watch and I'm talking about the Stock Invis Watch and Cloak and Dagger. There is no need of cloaking and being stealthy, like in casual TF2. The Dead Ringer allows you to 'fake' your own death and leave a fake corpse. It also gives you a 90% damage reduction in the first activating hit and to all incoming damages while being cloaked. With this, the Spy is able to survive for a much longer time in the battle comparing to equipping the 'cloaking' watches. The Dead Ringer combined with the Spy-cicle will be the perfect getaway from enemy Robot Pyros as you can become fireproof for 2 seconds and faking your own death at the same time.

Red Tape Recorder
The Red Tape Recorder is a sapper that allows you to reverse the construction of enemy buildings. If the Red Tape Recorder is used on teleporters, you can prevent enemy Robots from using the sapped teleporter and therefore, puts less overall pressure on the team. Just like the Stock Sapper, you can disable multiple robots at once.

Overall Loadout
This Spy Loadout lets the Spy have plenty of cloak while also being able to survive for a long time without dying. The Ambassador can help you deal with enemy Robot Snipers with no problem. The Knife can help you take out Giants quickly. The Dead Ringer can fake your own death, reduce damage from enemies and it is just a perfect combo with the Spy-cicle. The Red Tape Recorder can reverse construction, disable robots and allows your team to drive the robots away more easily without the threat of enemy Robot Engineers.

[Pete the Father]

I immediately scrolled down to complain about choosing flare gun over gas passer. However, I didn’t check the time

[Rust]

some of these people act like this wasnt last uptaded in 2015 lol

[assbutt420]

you guys realize this guide is *over* 9 years old, right? the gas passer didnt even exist when this was last updated, and mvm itself had only been out for 2 years when this was first published. of course things are gonna be wrong lmfao

[Geo #Fixtf2]

Pyro needs gas passer a lot more then flare gun its very useful plus it can help your team kill giant rapid heavy or some other robot

[Keleru]

I like how much info you put into this, but I think some of these entrees are just wrong. I have never played mann up, but from my experience with boot camp, and based of what I have seen on youtube. The majority of these weapons are in the wrong place. For example, gas passer has crowd control, and higher single target damage than the flare gun. It doesnt effect tanks yes, but you wont be using the flare gun for tank dps, will you? Also for the pyro, I believe the phlog to be far better. Air blast is super helpful and all, but the added damage of the phlog is insane. I can mow down entire waves with a phlog mmph charge and a few uber tonics. Mercs like soldier also seem to have incorrect entrees. Beggars bazooka, and air strike have far superior damage. Also I think most people prefer soda popper for scout, maybe some forc a nature. So yeah, bad guide in my opinion.

[Seal]

this guide sucks

[Cute Dandere Boy]

i like how you just chosed the flare gun to be the best mvm pyro secondary over the gas passer bc you really hate the gas passer

[GLOVES OF ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ URGENTLY]

The sniper is arguably the best class for taking out uber medics and large packs of trash mobs, and I routinely lead the team in damage as a result. They're also very strong against giants that move slowly. (Not great against giant scouts.)

The problem is that if you have bad aim or tactics as sniper, you're essentially worthless. Meanwhile, anyone can play heavy, soldier or demo because you're basically spamming DPS. Not to say those classes don't need skill, but it's they have a higher skill floor.

[PoliaAnielski_11]

Isn't the Diamondback more useful since it gives you free crits on backstab?

[Bob.tf2]

1.scout,heavy are good 2.soldier should use the base jummper the airstike and katana or the escape plan if you have a air stike soldier already use the begger and eny buff banner 3.pyro should use phlog or dragon fhuray and the gas passer or scorch shot mele should be home wrecker or powerjack 4.demo should use cannon for trowing robots in the pits 5.engineer should use widow maker or rescue but widow is better on tank or big robot waves sec should be the wrangler or short cicrut mele jag or e.efect 6.medic should use crusader cross bow or bultsager 7.sniper should use the hunstan but best is the hitman sec is jarate but best is carbine for tanks and big robots and mele bushawka 8.spy should use diamond back the stak or big erner so he can be faster on robots and use the stak or dead ringer sapper stak or red tape.