Who you gonna call?
Sentry buster busters!

Hello and welcome to our guide.

We want to make an end to the sentry buster threat and in fact the biggest threat isn't the sentry buster itself, but lack of knowledge. Sentry busters are very easily countered and can even be used in your advantage. If you know what to do, sentry busters are no threat.

In this guide, we will teach you what Sentry Busters can do, and how to counter them easily.

Once a sentry of the RED team has killed 15 robots or dealt 3000 damage, whichever comes first, a sentry buster will spawn. Deployable sentries will never cause it to spawn but contrary to popular belief it does spawn to mini-sentries, but they are very unlikely to meet the requirements.

Once a sentry buster is spawned it will take the shortest road to the sentry that causes it to spawn in the first place and perform a short animation in which it stands still, crouches, the bomb spins around its own axis and it explodes, devastating anything unfortunate to be close enough, including other buildings, other players and robots.

Sentry busters have 2500 health(a bit more than 8 full-health heavies) and run at a whopping 187% speed. For comparison, scouts run at 133% by default. Sentry busters do not drop money.

Sentry busters use the same hitbox as giant demos, see the picture below.

So a Sentry Buster is coming in and about to bust your sentry. What do you do?

Counter-Busting

The announcer starts yeling at you that a sentry buster was sent in to wreck your buildings. Stay calm and pick up your sentry once the sentry buster has come into range(don't pick it up immediately when you were pushed back and you're defending at the bomb hole and the sentry buster is announced) and run into the sentry buster. A big reason many people don't know how to counter a sentry buster is because it seems so illogical to run into it, aren't you supposed to run away from it? Yes you are, but that comes after. Once you bump into the sentry buster while hauling your sentry it will get set off and initiate detonation. The sentry buster will stand still and spin around on its own axis. The moment you bump into it you turn around and just run away. If done right, you will eliminate the sentry buster without taking any damage.

Note: the reason you have to bump into the sentry buster yourself instead of letting it come is because you can decide where it detonates, so it won't blow up your other buildings and teammates.

Using the Sentry Buster to your advantage

Since the September 16, 2013 patch, the Sentry Busters can also kill robots! Combining this with the fact that Sentry Busters will follow you when you carry a sentry until they get close enough to boom, this can be used to counter large hordes of robots or even giants.

Rescue Ranger

The rescue ranger's alt-fire is very useful for when you're away from your sentry for whatever reasons(seeking out spies, fleeing for a giant etc).

Eureka Effect

This one's simple. Don't use the eureka effect. The small upside is not worth having to rebuild your sentry multiple times per wave. Without being able to carry your buildings you can't save your buildings from sentry busters or the advancing robot horde. And no, the rescue ranger's alt-fire doesn't work with the eureka effect. Better luck next time.

Edit: the eureka's effect downside of being inable to haul has been replaced with a severe repair and upgrade penalty. You can actually now teleport to your exit quickly if you're too far away but it's still not worth the penalty.

But what if you're not an engineer? Can you still help your team's engineer handle the sentry buster?


In most cases you will want your Engineer to handle with it, but there are occasions where it is simply not possible and the rest of the team has to take it out. Besides that, weapons that give a bonus on hit can also be used on sentry busters.

Scout:

• Damage: In general, you'll want to keep collecting cash and such but throw in some primary blasts if needed.
  
• Utility: You can use your milk to let your team fill up on health, but chances are they have a dispenser/medic/nearby health kit for them. The slowdown can also provide utility, letting teammates charge their bars more easily and kill it if needed. You can also mark the sentry buster for death using the fan-o-war or an upgraded sandman, making it easier for your teammates to deal damage or charge meters. Only do so when there aren't any giants that you would be better off marking.

Soldier:

• Damage: Just shoot rockets, it shouldn't be too hard.
  
• Utility: You can charge your buff banner or gain health with the black box by shooting at the sentry buster. Rocket specialist allows you to slow the sentry buster down.

Pyro:

• Damage: Flame it.
  
• Utility: If you're using the phlogistonator you can charge up the 'mmmph' meter. If you're not using the phlog and your team needs some time you can airblast it.

Demoman:

• Damage: The demo has a lot of damage output. If a sentry buster needs to be wiped out you're the one who should do the most.
  
• Utility: Absolutely none.

Heavy:

• Damage: Shoot it.
  
• Utility: Charge up your rage meter. Be careful with how much you're damaging it as it might detonate where you don't want it to. You can use your rage to push it back but there are more valuable things to do with it.
  
• Fun: Holiday punch will cause the sentry buster to stop and taunt. Since its taunt is the detonation sequence, it will actually initiate it and explode after a few seconds. © Elite Washing Machine

Medic:

• Damage: You're a medic. Pull away that syringe gun and keep healing teammates.
  
• Utility: You can easily charge some uber using the ubersaw, because sentry busters can't fight back. This is where slowdown like mad milk comes in handy.

Sniper:

• Damage: The sentry buster can actually be headshotted, since it uses the giant demo's hitbox. However there isn't much incentive to do so, since it is fairly hard. Best thing is to leave it alone.
  
• Utility: You can slow it down with jarate if needed and that's it. Usually a waste.

Spy:

• Damage: Backstabbing is impossible, don't even try. Leave it alone.
  
• Utility: Sap it if it's really needed, but it's usually a waste of a sapper and doesn't provide much of a bonus.

In most cases however, slowing down/stalling the sentry buster with mad milk, jarate, sappers and airblast is only a waste of time and ammo. Try to keep it to charging up meters.

There are three sentry buster-related achievements. Here is how to achieve them.

Real Steal

As an Engineer, escape with your sentry as a sentry buster is about to detonate.

This one's fairly simple. Just refer to 'basic countering' in this guide.

Ctrl+Assault+Delete

Destroy a sentry buster before it reaches its target.

This actually requires you to kill the sentry buster without tricking it into self-detonating. Just have your team focus fire and the achievement will come.

Bot-Buster

Kill 5 robots in a single explosion from detonating a sentry buster.

This one can be tricky. You need to meet the sentry buster at a crowd of robots, which could potentially get you killed(and your teammates could kill the robots). The best thing is to have it detonate it where robots are coming. If you see a sentry buster ahead and a crowd of robots behind it, you could time it well so that the sentry buster detonates when the robots are coming through. If you're nested up near spawn you can just get it to detonate at the robot spawn.

So that concludes our guide, it might not have been our best or most interesting but it's definitely a subject worth tackling. See you on the next one!


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