Editing Engineer (Highlander)

Spychecking is a team's job and responsibility, but at the same time, an engineer is one of the worst enemies of the spies. Other classes may be too busy / too many things on their plate to keep a constant vigilance for spies. For example, a medic has to keep track of Uber advantage and positioning, a heavy has to call, etc. However, an engineer is not burdened with so many responsibilities such that he can still look out for spies while doing his job as described above. An engineer's shotgun and sentries are potent weapons, with the ability to decimate spies within a few seconds. Often, a few rounds from one's shotgun and / or wrangled sentry are enough to kill the spy, or at least reveal him for your teammates to kill. In lower levels of competitive play, spies will often sap your buildings before going for picks, that can alert you and your team to him before he goes for a damaging pick. In higher levels of competitive play, spies will not give themselves away by doing that, and hence, spychecking is the only way to go.

While on defense, however, you are the prime target for spies. As the only person who can keep your sentry up, spies will be gunning for you. However, unlike on offense, you will have a lot of things to worry about, such as enemy ubers, spam, snipers, whether it is time to fall back, etc. Spies' saps can be deadly especially when coordinated with an uber or constant spam, as it is a guarantee that your sentry will go down. Often, good spies will communicate with their team to distract you for that one moment during which you turn your back and present an easy target. The most prudent way to counter this is to constantly communicate with your teammates, about the whereabouts of the enemy spies, etc. Moreover, it is imperative that as the engineer, you check your back / other hiding spots often whenever you can. One major mistake a lot of lower level engineers do is to sit still and hit one's sentry in order to upgrade/ repair it without moving. This opens the engineer up to attacks by spies. The way to counter this is to constantly move. The engineer's melee weapons do not register their hits instantaneously like a histcan weapon; there is a slight delay. Hence, if the engineer times it right, he can move about or quickly turn around to check if there is a spy before turning back to hit his sentry.

There are few better defensive powerhouses than a Level 3 sentry in a strong position.  Positioning, timing, and build order are important concepts for an engineer to understand on defense.  Building too far forward or waiting too long can cost the team the relevant control point or even the whole round.  It is the Engineer's job to tank damage from ubered [[Heavies]] and [[Demos]] so that his [[Medic]] doesn't need to pop early or fall under the pressure of nine attacking players.  Kills are less important to an Engineer than merely surviving because most of the other team can't come within range of his sentry as long as it is active, and going down with his sentry can be costly if a domino effect leads to multiple captures before he can build again.  The team leans on its Engineer to provide a safe fallback zone when they get lit and the other team is pushing forward. Engineer has a diverse array of tools available to him allowing for many different playstyles. The Eureka Effect and Rescue Ranger both give Engineer new advantages and playstyles but can also hinder his core mechanics (such as being able to move his sentry or defend himself with a shotgun). Therefore in the true spirit of the class, experimentation and innovation can sometimes reap his team huge benefits and throw the enemy team off their gameplan. Deathmatch-proficient engineers are sometimes known for running Gunslinger minisentries on Defense. This is something an Engineer should practice and discuss with his team before implementing in a match, as many teams depend on a larger sentry to tank ubers, and using the Gunslinger pushes the Engineer away from the combo towards the flank where he can't help against an Uber. However it is a noteworthy option on last ditch defenses when there is no time to build up another level 2/3 sentry. However, in changing melee weapons, all buildings are destroyed, so it is sometimes better to stick with the wrench to keep up a vital teleporter or dispenser. At the end of the day, the main objective for a engineer is to keep himself and his sentry gun alive, this once again requires good communication with your team and survivability on the engineer's part to know when to fall back and when to hold your ground.  

* [[Highlander]]