The Gibus Guide (Advice from a TF2 player.)

This guide contains sound advice to help you understand, and enhance your TF2 experience.

Welcome

Everyday I see more and more people try TF2 for the first time. While some players can grasp the general mechanics, and even be a decent shot. Few really know the things that are wholly unique about TF2 that can greatly enhance your time in this class based hat simulator.

Chapter 1: The Tools and the Trade. (The TF2 economy and Getting your Gear.)

In the world of TF2, weapons are the primary way of interacting with world. Weapon Loadouts help define your prefered playstyle and can open up brand new ways to play a class. But to avoid overwhelming new players with choices and to keep players playing for new stuff, TF2 has you start with the Stock weapons. Now you can get a few Achievement items that can be earned by completing class based milestones, but if you think you’re ready you can get all 132 (as of September 9th 2017) unique weapons in the game and more by purchasing only one item from the mann co store. The item in question, is a mann up ticket

When the store has class starter packs that includes all the statistically unique weapons for one class at a discount and give you a name tag as a bonus. Well that’s because unless you’re buying a mann up ticket for MVM or trading, any of the keys, or something special The Mann co store is a total rip off! let me explain why.



Metal is a common trade currency in the TF2 trade community.



With this pseudo currency, and Steam’s trading service people can exchange their items for items they want. There are entire servers dedicated to trading (as well as general goofing off), and some traders make actual money trading items in TF2. Now you don’t need to invest a lot of time trading if you don’t want to. But you can greatly enhance your TF2 experience. With just a little trading to get the stuff you need and a few other things.

But first you’ll want to get the Steam mobile app in your mobile phone for the following reasons.

• The Steam mobile app Allows you to Trade much faster, as any Trade done with an account without authentication will have an up to 15 day trade hold on it before both parties get the items they traded for.
  
• The Steam mobile App allows you to secure your Steam Account with Two step authentication.
  
• You can use the majority of steam on your phone, even if it's a bit clumsy.

Now that you have the app setup. we’ll need to talk about two websites called Backpack.TF and Scrap.Tf.

Backpack.tf is the hub of TF2 trading, and is the place to go to find the value of every item in the game. Scrap.TF is an automated trading store that uses bots for fast and easy trading. There are many third party trading sites to use for TF2 trading, but we’ll start with just using Backpack TF and Scrap TF. So here’s how to use these services to get the items you need.

Step 1: Buy a Mann up Ticket off the Mann Co store This will also make your TF2 account premium giving you the backpack space, full trading abilities, and the option to send a friend the Professor Speks, an all class pair of sunglasses. Be advised, you’ll need to wait a few days to trade your Ticket.

Step 2: Go on https://backpack.tf , and https://scrap.tf/ and sign in to your steam account
Step 3: Sell your Ticket for Metal. On Scrap.tf or Backpack.tf.
Step 4: Go to Scrap.tf weapons catalog and you buy the weapons you want.. 1 Refined Metal = 18 weapons So you’ll more than enough metal to get the weapons you’ll need for the battlefield.
It’s recommended you look at the TF2 Wiki to see if you have all of the non reskin weapons before you use the leftover metal to buy other things. (Hats, Tools, reskins, ect).
(Reminder) While you should always remember to look at Backpack.tf if you are not sure of price of an item. The Backpack.tf Value are not solid number, so you will find trades from traders at a little under/over backpack value.

Comparing the Two options
Now that you have this information, let’s compare the price you pay in Trading for your items and using the Mann Co store.

(This is for all the weapons and the 9 name tags)



As you can see, The price difference is greatly noticeable. (Note: This graph was made when keys were a tradeable item, consider using Mann up tickets rather than keys)

Closing tips:

After buying your first item From the Mann.Co Store, you can get cheaper tickets from Marketplace TF or The Steam Market. This helps both you and the overall Trading community.

There are many sites that can help you trade for items beyond simple weapons, like Bazzar.tf Outpost.Tf. for you to use.

If you want an augmented item (Painted Hats, Killstreak Guns, Stranges with parts) Look for trades for one before looking to craft the item yourself to get some savings.

SteamRep/Rep TF is a almost required for more high end trading. To detect if a person will attempt to scam you. Just copy/paste their Profile URL link in the search bar, and see if something bad pops up before trading with them.

Avoid clicking on links from a random trader! They may contain sites that inject your computer with a virus or worse.

SCAMMERS WILL TRY TO IMPERSONATE STEAM STAFF OR STEAM SUPPORT WITH FALSE NAMES, ICONS, AND GUIDES! STEAM SUPPORT OR STAFF WILL NEVER ASK YOU FOR YOUR ITEMS OR PASSWORD. IF THEY DO THEY ARE A SCAMMER AND YOU MUST BLOCK AND REPORT THEM IMMEDIATLY!

More info on Scamming can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmqD9k9oO-I&list=PLAFz19Of_2mx8fXffra-3qTIgz1jBscEy&index=13

Don’t get big into unboxing. The amount of value loss unboxing is both large and often, With the chance of an unusual being 2/3 of 1%.

Gambling with TF2’s currency (Unboxing items, Spycrab Wagers, In Game Wagers, and Third Party Services) isn’t advised for people under the age of 18. If you feel you are experiencing any signs of an addiction to gambling, Talk to someone, and/or contact your nearest gambling rehab service.

If you suddenly acquire a Very high value item (Unusuals, Australium weapons, ect.) do be careful, as some will try to shark you for a small fraction of it's worth.

Stock weapons are very much useful in almost any situation. Don't forget them just because you have new weapons.

You can learn more about TF2 Trading from Youtube channels

Now that we have your gear (or waiting for your ticket to become tradable). We can talk a bit about other things in and around TF2!

Chapter 2: Game, Set(tings), and Match (Tools)! (Utility settings to help you in TF2)

Team Fortress 2 is a game that has many variables in it, and it can be hard to collect all the information to make good choices. Lucky for you There’s a few options to help Improve, and personalize your TF2 gameplay. In this chapter we will be talking about settings you can use to help your game. Also we’ll be talking about tools you can use in a match to help improve your experience.

First off, click the Gear in the main menu for the Options. In there you can edit video settings, key binds, mouse sensitivity, voice chat options, crosshairs, and sprays. These are more standard options in Shooters, with the exception of Sprays which allows you to spray pictures on the walls. In addition, you can click on the Advanced options tab to enable fast weapons switching and the dev console. (We’ll talk about this more at the end of the chapter, For now enable it and set it to a prefered key).




Going to Additional Options (The gear with the + on it) there are tons of options to help you. Here’s a few select options to look for.

Hitsound/Killsounds: If you’re applying a Hitsound/Killsound to your effect, reduce the volume to improve awareness, and general ear health because classes like Pyro, Heavy, and Demo can trigger the hitsounds/killsounds very rapidly, and the stacking sound will get very loud if you are not careful. There are also many sound mods on places like Gamebanana, and Hit.tf That allow you to customize what your Hit/Killsound is. Just keep the sound option to “Default” if you want to have a modded hit/killsound.

Class options: this is mostly medic options, but supports like Sniper, and Spy have a few options that are helpful, but more subjective.

Hud options: This is mostly to edit the hud a bit, but there’s one specific Option you need to select. So much so I’m putting a picture of it in the guide.



This option allows you to while holding tab, click on the player icons on the scoreboard, and do very useful actions like.

Report a player For:

• Cheating: We will go over the ways to deal with cheaters in a bit. But for now, make sure you’re not using this one without at least some evidence.
  
• Griefing: This is for players being actively unhelpful and/or annoying in a game. (Example an engineer putting a teleporter on the edge of a cliff. or someone being excecivly anoying).
  
• Harassment: This is for players that are “super toxic” Players excessive cussing out teammates, attacking people personally, and/or actively seeking to offend people, being racist, sexist, etc can all be easily put here.
  
• AFK/Idle: AFK, isn’t to useful of a report as Kicking AFK players fixes the problem, and being AFK is a very minor “crime” that players most likely will do for a few moments.

Mute a player: This action is very useful, yet many players never seem to use this. This will block both voice chat, and text chats from that player. And can be used for blocking the annoying chat binds, from an enemy sniper, to muting a teammate who is only using voice chat to play music.
(Optional: For an automatic Mute All function Go into voice settings and turn the voice receiving volume all the way to the left.)

Open a trade: It’s a little faster then using the Trade option in your backpack.

Send a Steam friend request: You’ll use this depending on what you define what a “Friend” is on the internet. But if you have a good time with someone, use this.

View a player’s Steam Profile: you can use this for many things from looking at a profile before friending them, to getting their Steam URL to check in Backpack/SteamRep..



Make sure the player you selected is highlighted red on the scoreboard.
While using the scoreboard is much faster it’s also good to know where they are in the esc menu as MVM’s Scoreboard can’t be interacted with.



Console Commands: Unless you have server admin powers, you won’t need to open the developer console in a match. The main use of the dev console is to create binds to help you before you enter battle.

For starters, let’s make a simple kill bind. open up the dev console, and type in the following

Bind p Explode

If you did this right, you will now explode violently every time you press the P key. It isn’t the most useful command. Now if you wish to use P for something else. you can "unbind p" in console, and replace it with commands like.

• Team chat binds to Inform your team when something is ready (Banner, Uber, Phlog, and Teleporter).
  
• Destroy and Build your engi buildings faster.
  
• Kill binds (in case exploding isn't your thing)
  
• Toggle auto run and auto fire.
  
• Switch loadouts faster.
  
  
• And others.

Closing tips:

Mouse sensitivity is a big part of your gameplay. Many suggest to keep a low mouse sensitivity when focusing on aim, but Some classes benefit from higher sensitivities.Try loading up a bot match and mess with the mouse until you feel comfortable with your sensitivity.

If you have a select mouse sensitivity and want to find the exact counterpart in TF2 consult an online mouse sensitivity calculator/converter.

You can find many tutorials on how to make sprays on Steam, or GameBanana

If you want to learn more about console commands. Do consult the TF2 wiki/steam guides for more advanced binds. https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Scripting#Echo

cl_mute_all_comms 0 is useful if you are unable to see your own text messages in game.

sv_cheats 1 is useful for any offline tinkering.

Chapter 2.1: Fluent, Firing, and Fully Engaged (Gameplay Tips)

Now that we have optimized your settings (or just skipped to this segment) we can work on some quick tips to improve gameplay in general combat. From communication, to class tips here are some tips to help improve your gameplay,

Merc’s Mumbling: A guide to TF2 language.

TF2 Players have developed phrases and abbreviations to describe gameplay styles tactics, and important information to reduce time in text chat.

This is a compilation of a few useful terms to know about.

General use:
“Bait”: Baiting is when you lure an enemy into a trap or unfavorable position. By sticky trap, sentry gun, or your entire team any baited enemy will most likely die before they have a chance to escape.

“Spy Me”: If you see this in your team chat look at the players name who sent it, as this player is trying to warn you that anyone looking like them is an enemy spy. Other spy claims include the class the spy was last seen as (Spy Engi, Spy Demo, ect).

“DR”: Standing for “Dead Ringer” this is used to inform the team that an enemy spy has a dead ringer so you can stay on your guard when an enemy spy “Dies” suddenly. Or they can also be talking about the Deathrun gamemode but that’s usually not what it’s about.

“GG, GL, HF”: Good Game, Good Luck, Have Fun. GG is the most commonly used and Implies the player and question thinks of their teams Win (GG) or Loss (gg) is certain. GL and HF are rarer, but are usually seen as a pair (GLHF). This player is commonly a good sport when it comes to playing the game even if they have it on a key bind.

“Toxic”: Being toxic is very simple. If you are using voice or text chat to actively disgust, put down, enrage, or bully people on the server that’s being toxic. Toxic is more than getting mad or irritated, toxic describes a rancid, ugly anger that actively ruins the fun for the entire game, and can infect others to be toxic in their next games. If find someone on the server or even yourself it’s good to identify the problem, take a few deep breaths after your game before pushing and report any truly toxic players.

“Pop” If a player wants a medic to ubercharge them they will commonly ask the medic to “pop” them. This is also used in a common phrase “pop it, don’t drop it” where it’s better to use a suboptimal ubercharge than lose it entirely by getting killed by a sudden, unexpected attack. This can also apply to abilities like Soldier’s banners and the Pyro’s Phlog, and other charged abilities.

“Feeding”: Feeding is when a player is constantly getting killed while providing little value to their team. This is usually because a player is pushing too fast, or massively overextending in a fight. If you find yourself dying a ton on your own, take a step back and try and push with your team in front of you.

“Spam”: A term to describe an area that is being focused with a high concentration of sustained fire. Spamming is both a general term and a commonly complained about attribute to some people’s gameplay.

“DPS, Burst DPS”: DPS stands for Damage Per Second and is used in other games to indicate the average damage a weapon can do in a second. In TF2 it’s used to describe classes that are specialized in killing the enemy usually in direct combat (Scout, Soldier, Heavy).

Burst DPS are classes or weapons that deal massive damage in one strike (Sniper, Spy, Demo traps).

“Tank”: Tanking is a general term for taking large of damage without dying, either by having a large HP pool (Heavy, or overhealed Medium classes) or having tools that resist some damage types (Shields, Battalion’s Backup, Bonk, Uber)

“Engi and Solly”: Engi is a quick way to say Engineer, while Solly is a faster, and less accurate way of saying Soldier.

Player Specific

“Gibus”: A commonly derogatory term for players that wear the Gibus cosmetic. Due to it being both fully free and unfashionable in most loadouts. These people are looked down on in most cases. Some real good players wear this cosmetic to fake out veteran players, but mostly it’s just newer people. We all had to start out somewhere.

“Pocket”: A pocket is a player (almost always Medic) that puts their primary focus on keeping one specific teammate alive. Medics are the most capable to pocket, but any class with any kind of supportive ability can pocket. While pocketing one player is useful, keeping tabs on the team is a good skill to learn.

“Main”: a main is a class or weapon a player puts primary focus in compared to other classes and weapons. Most TF2 Player will pick one class as their main, but this doesn't mean you neglect the other classes you don’t play as to be more flexible when the situation doesn't call for your main.

“Spycheck”: Spychecking is when you shoot a teammate who you think may be an enemy spy. While Pyro is the most capable class for this, any class can do it.

“Flank”: Flanking is when a player takes a path less traveled to surprise the enemy with an attack from an unexpected location. If someone says there’s an enemy flanking turn around to check for any surprise combatant.

“Camper”: Camping is the process of staying in one location and attacking enemies as they come into your line of sight. This is generally a negative term as camping is commonly done buy burst damage classes (Spies, Snipers, Demo) and avoiding them usually involves taking a longer route to the main action.

“Fill”: Filling is when you pick a class that the team needs or has a absence or lack of. Players who fill are usually trying to win the game.

“Spycrab”: Now more synonymous with it’s gambling game, spycrabbing is where as a spy you hold out your disguise kit, look up into the sky, and crouch walk your way to an early grave. Spycrabbing (Or anyone using a taunt that allows for movement) is done by people who just want to mess around.

Trade Specific Slang

“S and B”: Selling and Buying boiled down to a single letter for max speed. Many traders will use other one letter indicators like W (Want) and H (Have).

“Scrapbank”: Scrapbanking is when someone is offering 1 scrap for any two weapons. Considering that scrapbanking is usually faster and less limited to crafting metal with 2 same class weapons. So if you find yourself in the need of some scrap and you have a few duplicates of weapons or vise versa, consider scrapbanking on a trade server. (Preferably if you don’t have the 15 day waiting period)

“BP”: BP is short for Backpack, and your backpack is your item inventory. Most experienced traders will be looking at your inventory with Backpack.tf if it’s a high value trade or if you have a large quantity of stuff for trade.

Chapter 2.2: Mind over Matter (Gameplay Tips Part 2)

Gameplay tips: Questions

In TF2 you don’t win with just your aim. The way you position yourself and your priorities will help win a fight just as much as your aim can. Here are a few places and questions to help you make the smartest choices.

Questions to think about at spawn:

Am I getting mad?: While some can take their anger and ”fire bend” it into an improved performance, getting angry is generally a hindrance to your gameplay. If you are mad, take a moment try and calm down and remove negative sources (Muting toxic teammates, ect) before you spawn in.

Do I want to change class or loadout?: Having the ability to change your playstyle to solve problems is a big part of TF2. Swapping to a class your team needs or changing your classe’s weapons to take advantage of the area where the main fight is can help you alot.

Is there a spawn camper?: There will be times where one or two enemies will try to kill you at spawn where you least expect it. If you’re engineer and a building you know is at spawn has been destroyed or sapped, inform your team as to help avoid them getting ambushed.

Questions to think about in your backline.

Are there any teammates around?: Never underestimate the numbers advantage. Flying into the entire enemy team solo will usually have you remains buried in a soup can. Make sure you have a team backing you up if you want to take an area.

Where is and what is in the main fight?: Think about what’s in the main point of conflict. Sentries, enemies, snipers, HP and ammo packs. Use this information to your advantage when engaging.

Is there an enemy Flanker/Spy around?: Before you jump into the fight make sure that the back of your team is clear of enemy spies and other highly mobile DPS to avoid getting squeezed on all sides.

Questions to think about in battle.

Where do I go?: Where you put yourself in a battle will have a very big effect on if you win or not. Being on the high ground will make you a harder target to hit in many situations, and knowing when you have overextended into a favorable position for the enemy will save your life more times than you’d think.

What do I target?: You will be pick your targets as appropriate to your tools and your status. Do you attack the scout that’s shooting at you far away or the heavy that’s closer?, Do you shoot the soldier targeting yourself or your Medic?, Do you backstab the overhealed Heavy, or sap the Engineer’s buildings? Most of this will be based of your class, weapons, awareness and experience, but it’s good to have a general idea in place before you jump in.

When do I fall back?: Learning when you’re probably going to lose a fight and retreating can help you and your team from feeding into the enemy. Do you have a medic healing you that’s in danger?, Is the enemy you’re facing have an ubercharge or a numbers advantage?, Do you have low HP or ammo? all good times to start moving back into the safety of the sentries, cover, teammates, healing sources and possible enemy spies. that is your back line.

Chapter 2.3 Class Clarity: Offencive (Gameplay Tips Part 3)

Scout:

• When aiming as scout, use your movement to help guide your aim more than your mouse. This makes moving and shooting far more effective than primarily using the mouse to aim at targets.
  
• The Boston Basher can help build Ubercharge for your medics in safe situations. Be aware that the bat will be able to kill you even when a medic is healing you.
  
• For a more supportive scout, Mad Milk can be used to heal the team and stop fires while Bonk Atomic Punch allows you to tank damage, trigger bomb traps and distract sentry guns for your team.
  
• Your double jump as scout can go in any direction you want, use this to be a harder target in combat or when escaping.
  
• Scouts die from overextending more due to their low HP and high speed, Be very aware when to retreat to a health pack to ensure survivability.

Soldier:

• As soldier, your rocket launcher is both your weapon and mobility tool. Use it to reach high ground or health packs.
  
• Rocket jumping upwards before attacking a target can help aim your rockets to hit more enemies.
  
• The Direct Hit is most useful for sentry guns, heavies, and snipers.
  
• Firing your weapon at your target’s feet provides a better chance to hit the target, and the enemies around the target.
  
• Avoid using your movement keys while rocket jumping. Strafing or moving your character with you mouse to change directions allows you to keep the momentum of the jump with practice.

Pyro:

• A Pyro’s airblast (Right Mouse button) can deflect projectiles, push back enemies, and extinguish allys. Use it wisely as it costs a portion of ammo.
  
• Don’t be afraid to spray randomly in a calm moment. Spychecking is a constant job. and you can most likely afford the ammo.
  
• The Homewrecker, and Neon Annihilator have the ability to destroy sappers on friendly engi buildings. While it’s useful on its own, it’s more effective to kill the spy in question before removing the sapper.
  
• Pyro’s great for taking weaker classes and protecting a backline.
  
• Pyro’s doesn't do as well in direct mid/long range combat. Avoid making yourself the main target in a fight and get in close.

Chapter 2.4: Class Clarity: Defence (Gameplay Tips Part 4)

Demoman:

• Full demoknights sacrifice ranged damage and the ability to take out sentry guns for a more tanky, and mobile playstyle where you can kill most classes with a shield combo.
  
• Putting sticky bombs around friendly engi buildings allow alert demos to kill spies when, or before they sap.
  
• The Demoman has two capable weapons with the sticky launcher and the grenade launcher. Swapping one of them out for some boots or a shield will still have you pretty capable at mid range.
  
• Much like rocket jumping, sticky jumping and in a lesser way grenade jumping can be used to gain extra mobility at the cost of health.
  
• A Demo’s weapon loadout will vastly change the way demo is played more so than any other class. Consider this when picking a loadout.

Heavy:

• Heavies work wonders on high ground and can clear common flank routes with ease. When engaging in a team fight, try and keep a distance from your team as to reduce the effect of AoE attacks as well as distract the enemy team.
  
• If you are at full HP, walking into a health pack will immediately recharge your sandvich if it’s charging. With this you can “upgrade” a small health pack to a medium one by throwing the sandvich out and taking the small health kit. You can only deploy one sandvich at a time.
  
• Be sure to check behind you as to avoid a spy stabbing you or your teammates. Heavy is one of the prime targets of a spy, and even in combat you’re a very easy target if you don’t look behind you from time to time.
  
• You can rev your minigun up while jumping to provide a boost of movement before unleashing fire.
  
• Heavy can die very easy with bad positioning. His slow speed and massive size make him the easiest to hit and particularly vulnerable to shotgun fire. When engaging as Heavy, it will be very hard to disengage mid fight so you need to fully commit or back off.

Engineer:

• The ideal place to put your sentry gun is in the backline so that it will fire on pushing or overextending targets. While not being vulnerable to long range fire. Sentry guns are rarely a good offencive tool unless they are put in a highly unexpected spot, or supported by a full team.
  
• Don’t neglect your other buildings, dispensers can provide much needed healing and ammo close to the battle, while teleporters keep the pressure by helping medics, soldier’s and heavies return to the frontlines faster.
  
• Keep buildings away from other buildings to ensure that two buildings are not destroyed with half the enemy's ammo.
  
• A lvl 1 sentry can kill faster than a mini sentry and a level 2 sentry will do as much immediate damage as a level 3, you don’t need a fully leveled sentry before putting it in a good position.
  
• Your life is far more important than the life of your buildings, keep yourself safe and don’t be afraid to leave your high end buildings to die if you can’t win the fight.

Chapter 2.5: Class Clarity: Support (Gameplay Tips Part 5)

Medic:

• Medics use their mobility tactics to keep them alive. Using enemy rockets and bullets to launch you places (Damage Surfing) as well as strafing can be practiced to make a perfect getaway if things get to hot.
  
• Healing priority is key to being a good medic. While healing is a case by case basis, a general rule of healing priority is to heal the person currently taking the most damage currently, Then the people who are at lowest HP, and then overhealing.
  
• Overhealing light classes like Scout, Sniper, Engi, and other medics can be game changing before engaging in a battle.
  
• Always turn around from time to time to see if there’s an enemy spy. Medic can heal his patients without, looking at them so checking for spies for you and your patient is a very useful practice even in battle.
  
• Medic is a prime target for almost every class. “Pop it don’t drop it” is a fast way of saying a subpar uber is better than no uber because you died waiting for the right time. Also if you have an over eager patient who’s overextending and pulling you into a clear deathtrap it’s perfectly fine to back off without them.

Sniper:

• Snipers focusing on what’s in their scope can become blind to closer enemies. Unscope occasionally and look around your post.
  
• Don’t be afraid to bodyshot a fast or weal target. Most enemies who are moving fast have low HP so shooting centre mass can do the trick.
  
• Snipers can become a kind of mid range debuffer with Jarate and a Huntsman. While useful understand that you’re low HP and medium speed make you more vulnerable to surprise attacks.
  
• When scoping you rifle, your sniper’s laser dot is visible to enemy, making them aware of where you are aiming. Hiding this dot by looking at an object near the area you’re scoping down.
  
• Avoid growing an ego when playing as Sniper. Being a class that is made with a high skill ceiling commonly makes people look down on everyone else in the server. Remember the Sniper’s code! “Be polite, be efficient, and always have a plan for everyone you meet.”

Spy:

• Your revolver can take on light classes with ease. Use it to weaken the enemy before you engage, or when a sneak attempt goes bad.
  
• Your disguise kit can only truly fool senties. Tricks like pressing your last disguise button by default) to swap your disguises weapons and walking backwards away from your team can help fool the enemy.
  
• Move unpredictable when escaping. If you’re moving one way while cloaking and than move another way when fully cloaked can lead some players off your trail.
  
• Sapping a sentry when your team is pushing can greatly help your team’s ability to take out the gun.
  
• Playing Spy well will sometimes not be shown in your stats. The terror you strike in enemies, as well as the distractions you pull can help win the just as much as a backstab, even if you’re not specifically credited with something.

Closing Tips:

Community maps like tr_Walkway can be very useful when practicing aiming and advanced movement abilities.

Additional gameplay tips can be found in many places Like Youtube, and other Steam guides.

Always try and learn something from each death in TF2 it helps you develop counters and wisdom much faster.

If you see a level 1 teleporter at spawn consider swapping to Engi for a bit to upgrade it and swapping back upgrading a lvl 1 tele to level 2 will cut the charge time in half making even a small upgrade worth the time for your team.

Class combos don’t stop at Medic. Many classes can work together as a pair to be very effective with their weapons.

Don’t limit your class picks to the Offence and Defence only. Any DPS classes will do in both attack and defence modes just fine.

Chapter 3: VACuming (Dealing with Cheaters.)

Like many other shooters, Team Fortress 2 has its share of cheaters. This can manifest in things like Aimbot, Wallhacks, insta point captures, Krit hacks, Hack Bots, and even total server manipulation. Most "Hackers" people spot are just Cheaters who bought cheats form a third party for a multitude of reasions. Some cheaters are very loud about their cheats, while some only cheat apon getting mad, or in very stressful moments. This chapter will help you learn some ways to spot a cheater on both teams, and what to do if there is a cheater in the server.

How to spot Cheaters:
The first step to stopping cheaters, is detecting cheaters. You should only go actively looking for cheats if you find someone suspicious. Maybe a sniper is getting perfect headshot any time your team peeks any sight, or a scout that can’t stop dealing Krits with his weapons, or an engi who is tracking a fully cloaked spy without missing a shot. If you do find a player like this there is a few things you can do to test if they’re cheating.

(Enemy Cheater) The Spy Test:
Many cheats give information to the cheater, and that included cloaked, and disguised spies. Lucky for you, this can be used to identify a cheater.

To do the Spy Test

• Step 1: Go spy, and equip the Cloak and Dagger (or the basic invis watch if you don’t have it).
  
• The CaD is a watch that gives infinite cloak, so you can sit around fully invisible for as long as you feel the Spy test is needed
  
• Step 2: Fully cloak and find the cheater.
  
• If the cheater is careless, or the Cheats they are using are lower tech they will shoot you. You may use this a few more times to confirm depending on the suspect's class, your positioning and the situation. Be sure to report them when you have some decent evidence.

(Ally Cheaters) Dead Mann Watching:
There will be times where you may have a cheater on your team. Maybe the enemy wants you to kick someone for possibly cheating, and unless they are spinbotting, or have superhuman reactions, It’s hard to find proof. If you want to watch the suspect more effectively, you can die in battle and use your team spectator mode to see what the suspect is doing in first person. I suggest picking engi when you want to do this, so your buildings can still help the team while you’re dead. Check for things like very fast flicks, kills were the crosshair is not on the target, and shooting cloaked spies. If you have good evidence, report them for cheating first, then initiate a vote kick on the cheater.

(Very Optional) Steam Profile Reporting:
If you want to go the extra mile, use the interactive scoreboard to report on their Steam Profiles. This not only helps if the cheater leaves the match as you can still report their Steam Profiles if you have them, some cheaters may also have steam groups that flaunt the fact that they cheat, and/or are abusive to people. (Warning!) Some cheater may have profiles containing racist, harmful, epilepsy inducing, and genuinely disturbing content on their profile!.

Closing tips:

Cheaters may come into a game as a group, or with bots to try and gain majority of the Vote kick system, and may kick anyone who tries to kick them be sure to report all the profiles before anything.

Cheaters may use scripts/binds to wipe the text chat, making accusations harder to spot. If you see flashing in the text chat, try and scroll up to see the name of the person spamming blank space and report the person.

Cheaters may also change their names to other people on their team to confuse their team into kicking the wrong person.

Cheaters will tend to be VERY rude when someone calls them out for cheating and some may even cheat in a louder fashion.

If the enemy team is unwilling/unable to kick a cheater, there are some weapons that can help reduce the cheater influence as well as make the cheating more apparent. Weapons like the Vaccinator, Battalion's Backup, Fist of Steel, Medigun, Bonk Punch, along with tactics like Sticky traps, Sentries, and even some Counter Sniping can help when fighting some cheaters.

Do try to be polite to the cheater’s team, and thank them when they kick the cheater.

On another note, if you feel like you’ve been proven wrong about an accusation say sorry.

Consider your mood/tone when claiming someone is cheating. Try to stay calm, as your anger can be used to invalidate your argument.

For more tips on how to spot cheaters, youtuber Max Box made a good series on the quirks and scope of cheats in his “TF2 Spot the Hacker” episodes.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQkJGc7APA&list=PLAkcUzU3CnqS2HgYdm4YM7ya8ZaGDZrQ6&index=17)

If the cheating is insurmountable or particularly ridiculous, (Example about 2-6 cheaters on a team. It’s okay for you to leave the match, but be sure to report them before you do so.

Cheaters, and some exhausted players may say that "anti-cheat mesures, reporting, and/or VAC don't work". The truth is that anti-cheat measures requires your reports to keep running at maximum effect and this attitude only lets more cheaters ruin games uncontested. Even if you don't see many results, keep reporting when it's justified to reduce the effects of cheating in TF2.

Chapter 4: Maps, Modes, and Manners. (The Different Ecosystems of TF2) Part 1

Maps are a key part of TF2, and have engendered different mindsets from more experienced players. This is a loose guide of what you’ll tend to see in casual matchmaking.

*Disclaimer*

Most maps in Team Fortress 2 try to stand out from one another, and thus this is more of a personal guideline from my experience and the experiance you may find on selected maps. This isn’t a deep review of the maps themselves.

Deathmatch Dustups (2Fort, Turbine, Hightower)

If you ever get into a match, and the maps above are what you’re playing on, do your best to not cap the objective if no one is doing so. These maps have basically been used as Deathmatch/chill servers for the longest time by the community, and thus you’ll find them being played 24/7 on community servers and voted for in Casual Mode. So if you happen to be sent to the maps above, use the time to practice or fool around on while you wait to queue up with your friends. Usually you can leave games in progress on said maps without feeling bad about it, as attempting to complete the match requires you to take a lot of time, effort, and ocasional scorn from the other players.

All Around Arena’s (Payload, Payload Race, Koth, some Attack/Defend, and Control Point maps, cp_probed)

You’ll see plenty of playstyles here, as people consider this map category standard TF2 play.
Thus it’s a mixed bag. A big melting pot of maps where your team will try to take the point, but it may not be their first priority.

Competitive Colosseums (Control point maps in Competitive mode map queue cp_dustbowl)

These Maps are the ones people practice for the 6V6 Competitive mode, so you will see more people that really want to win the game. As a side effect the maps will require a bit more coordination to win on. Dustbowl is here due to it not aging as well, it’s tight paths and Uber relent pushes requires you to focus more than most maps.

Strange Stack Ups (almost all Alternative game mode/maps, Community Mods)

TF2 has some odd game modes/maps, with communities to spare. Due to how unique or restrictive the maps/modes can be, most people will attempt to win the game for their team if they aren’t getting a hang of the map/gamemode in question.

Mind your Manners:

In TF2, players have developed manners that can create a more interesting environment consider practicing these manners over time.

Thank your teammates:
There’s a voice command that makes your character say thanks. By default it’s done by pressing Z and then pressing 2. Consider using this in the following situations

• When receiving healing/UberCharge from another player.
  
• When Killing a player that participated in a Melee duel with you.
  
• Whenever you feel a player has saved your life in some way.
  
• Other, usually comical moments.

Mediquet:

• Do try and take care of your medics if they decide to pocket you.
  
• Mediguns heal you faster the longer it has been since you’ve taken any damage. This is called "Crit Heals"
  
• Try and read what your medic wants from you by the way they're acting and their Ubercharge.
  
• If your medic is low on health, try and back out and lead them to a health pack.
  
• When it's safe, damage yourself with your own weapons so that medics get better Ubercharge rates.
  
• Consider swapping to medic in some situations, where there are no Medics around.

Taunting Killers:

If you find an enemy trying to attempt a taunt kill on a teammate, it’s polite to let them finish the taunt itself before attempting to kill them. This also includes players using the Rock Paper Scissors taunt on a teammate.

Friendlies:

You will find some players that minimize their threat level, and will refrain from using their weapons. This can include dancing/crouching players, Spycrabs, Box Trot Spies, among other things. Do note that a friendly enemy player can always turn on you at any moment, so refrain from firing, but keep your arms ready.

The Hoovy:



The most recognizable friendly. A Hoovy is a heavy who will throw their secondary healing item at people when they come into contact with them. Hoovies normally look out of place on the battlefield, and will crouch walk most places. Keep a calm trigger and you may get a healing item. Be sure to thank them by pressing Z+2

Chapter 4.1: MVM (The Different Ecosystems of TF2) Part 2

Mann VS Machine: The Co-op experience

Mann Vs Machine is a 6 Player co-op gamemode that requires you to protect a point from being destroyed by premade waves of robots.

The game modes in TF2 explain themselves Here is a few facts/tips about gamemode that will help you.

General tips:

Money is universal. All money grabbed by the mercs (Ideally Scouts) is given to all players.

All money you that you have spent can be refunded fully without penalty. If you are having trouble or find the upgrades/loadout you currently have isn’t useful for the wave ahead.

You will receive a free Power Up Canteen after completing a game of MVM. the canteen give activatable abilities that can be very useful to support classes (Engi and Medic).

The amount of money that has not been taken by players yet will appear in the yellow bar below your collected money.

The bots use weapons similar to the weapons that can be acquired in game. Consider this when preparing for the next wave.

Medic can get a shield power that charges and activates separate from ubercharge. By default it’s Middle Mouse button (Mouse 3).

When buying the cantine sharing powerup as medic, make sure to leave to buy menu before buying cantines to get the discount to show.

You can find more in depth guides for classes in the TF2 community guide hub.

Chapter 4.2: Mods (The Different Ecosystems of TF2) Part 3

Community game modes:

The TF2 community has developed plenty of gamemodes that expands on the base game in odd and wacky ways. To find Community servers, click on the community browser option in the Play section.



Here is a list of gammodes you’ll find on the community browser.

Trade Servers:

Trade servers are for people who want to trade items, and/or Deathmatch in interesting, explorative, or simple map. Do some deathmatch, grab a few trades, explore the map, and see what the conversation is like in all chat. While trading can be done in almost any server, Trade servers are the more appropriate places to trade.

Jump maps/servers:

The community has made maps the help improve a person's ability to explosive jump. You will find maps of varied difficulty. Including Jump Academy, a good place to start learning or master the complexities of explosive jumping.

Surf maps/Servers:

Surfing is done by a leaning on a slope and using your mouse movement to control your speed on the ramp. This is a bit hard to do at first, just crouch, strafe towards the slope, and don’t use your Forward key when you’re on the slope. Map difficulty ranges very wildly. Some maps that aren't surf maps may also include surfing slopes on them as extras.

Freak Fortress 2/VS Saxton Hale (FF2/VSH):

This game mode is a 1 VS Everyone else boss fight gamemode where one player is selected to be a random Boss, each with different abilities that the rest of the players must defeat in order to win. Many weapons are altered, or removed in this gamemode, with a handy pop up telling you what changes have been placed. This game mode can be a bit hard to grasp, and may not be for everyone. If you’re into triumphing over a great foe, then you may like this.

(Warning): some community made Bosses may contain flashing images that can induce epilepsy

Deathrun:

You can find Deathrun in a multitude of games with community servers. It’s another few VS many mode where the runners have to get to the end of a trap filled course that is triggered by the the 1-4 “Deaths” who activate said traps There are a bunch of maps of varying quality and styles and is more about faking out the Traps with movement tricks, social feigns, or sometimes sacrificing yourself.

Dodgeball:

Dodgeball is a Team PVP gamemode based around the Pyro’s airblast. It’s played on custom maps where everyone is pyro with infinite ammo. homing rockets will spawn around the map requiring pyros to use movement and airblast to reflect it back to the enemy team. Rockets will become faster and more abundant as the round goes on, along with super bombs that cause huge AOE damage. The goal is to be the last team standing. This is a fun way to train your use of the pyro’s airblast, and is recommended if you want to learn more about pyro gameplay.

X10 servers:

X10 servers Multiply a weapon's stats by X10 what they normally are, with some exceptions like Stock weapons. A fun mod that can magnify the playstyle of a weapon, or just to mess about in.

Randomizer:

Each life you are given a class and loadout at complete random! With the weapons you get independent from your class. So you can see scouts with mediguns, or a spies with miniguns. Along with custom weapons exclusive to randomizer! This game mode requires you to think on your feet and play the best you can with weapons you may not be familiar with.


X10 Randomizer:

Chaos...

Stop that Tank!:

Stop that tank is a PVP version Of MVM played on Payload maps, the objective of the humans is to first kill a tank that is being protected b the Robot Players as it follows the payload track. After that, the humans need to then kill a robot boss that is randomly selected, and controlled by a player on the Robot team. This gamemode is a good mix of MVM mechanics with PVP gameplay, and serves as a “Why not both” approach on what gamemode to play.


Prop Hunt:

A classic gamemode for source games. Prop Hunt is a hide and seek gamemode, with the twist that the people hiding are turned into a random prop from the map pool. Seekers must find the Prop team before the timer runs out. The seekers weapons will drain their HP if they fail to hit a Prop and will kill them if they spray for to long. Prop maps usually have a control point that will refresh the HP for any player standing on it, the point will than require a refresh before they can heal a player again. Props have the movement ability of scouts and have abilities like Prop lock to have a free look while staying still. The last Prop alive will gain access to their weapons, and are able to kill seekers. Props win if the timer runs out, or all the seekers die. Seekers must kill all the Props before the timer runs out.

TFWare:

TFWare is a gamemode inspired by the Warioware brand of games. The main goal of the game is to acquire points by doing mini challenges that will progressively get faster as the game goes on making for a frantic gamemode. Most games will end in a Boss mode of a more complex and longer lasting minigame.Worth 5 points compared to the regular 1 point gain of a basic minigame. The winner is the person with the most amount of points.

Parkour Fortress:

Parkour Fortress is a first person platforming game inspired by Mirror's Edge. Each class has enhanced movement along with their default movement ability and while scout is the best options most maps will even allow Heavies to parkour their way to the exit of a map. Most maps have a minimal design to them, and can be a challenging experience unique to most players.

Slender Fortress:
A gamemode inspired by Slender and SCP. Slender Fortress is a first person horror game where one team is tasked to finding a number of items and escape while being stalked by a random monster that may be controlled by a player. Each player gets a Flashlight, Sprint ability, and a blinking mechanic that must be managed in order to survive. A gamemode for fans of horror and good with friends.

(Warning): some community made monsters may contain flashing images that can induce epilepsy

And many more!:

This is a small list of the plenty of other game modes From custom weapons, zombie horde survival, and even Bumper kart races All of which can be found in the Community Browser.

Closing tips:

When playing a map for the first time, Observe the important items. Flank routes, Health/Ammo pickups, and respawn areas are good things to keep track of.

To favorite a community server, right click on the server in the browser, and select “Add to Favorites” The servers will appear in the favorites tab until you take it off.

For a tour to find your favorite official maps, consider playing Uncle Dane's “Story mode” Challenge

Conclusion

Now you should be at least more prepared when it comes to traversing the World of TF2, and it’s wacky inhabitants. Additional chapters on gameplay or other things may Be added depending on the comments on the guide.

Untill then, the TF2 Wiki can help you with any other questions you may have.

Consider upvoting and sharing this guide to anyone new players you come across.

Until then, I wish you all the best of luck in game. Welcome to TF2 people, Enjoy your stay!

[jfk]

nice

[BananaMan]

Omg thank you so much!!! It took a while, but it was worth it! I am going to show this to all my middle school gibbus friends!

[Mr.Dave747]

A well-detailed TF2 guide that I'm sure will help a lot of players who have started playing the game. Nice job man.

[8=Spicy=Painis=>]

You forgot to write that pyro can use m2 and to always read weapon's description, cuz every time I see someone trying to kill with jumpers .....

[Jaxi]

not bad man

[TacoLiberator210]

Great guide! Perfect for those new to the game!

[jimothy]

hoovy= VERY CUTE I LOVE IT
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[pnott]

Great guide, try adding info about ScrapTF auto-buy.

[DoctorDoggo]

pab bap

[Kris]

agree