Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2

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Mann vs Error: How NOT to make MvM guides
By carrie alyssa and 1 collaborators
Bad MvM guides. Very common types of guides, and newbie's worst enemy. This guide will tell you how not to make guides, or when not a guide creator, which sentences you have to avoid when reading such guides.
   
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Introduction
Welcome to our guide. Well, I dont think this can even be called a guide, because it's purpose is not teaching newbies how to play (here are better guides out there but who cares, newbies dont read guides).

In Steam, or even in YouTube and big websites like IGN, there are a lot of bad guides which simply lie to your face. Stuff like "d0nd plai snoipa he sukz" or "♥♥♥ monei, go demege scaud" appear just constantly.

This guide is here so you can know which tips to avoid, and so guidemakers can write guides with more caution in the future.

Also check out our other guide while you are here:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=165146481

PS: If you see a bad guide, please post a link to this guide in that guide's comments. Danke. Now enjoy the guide.
Some general tips
Before we go into the most common errors, you need to learn to write the guide correctly (even if you already know it)

Use the correct thumbnail and title
[/previewicon]
It's rather stupid to put something like this in a guide for fighting against tanks. If you are going to do something like that, put something relevent to the tank, or better yet, put the tank in the picture so it fits!

To make your thumbnail better, customize it a bit. Place little images around it with stuff relevent to the thing you are making a guide about. Text can help as well.

A good example is this one:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=179921425
By A SPAN!

Also make sure that your title is relevent to the guide. If I see a guide with an image of a giant, only to see the title saying "How to get a good team in MvM", we would be confused as you would be.

Yes, we know our thumbnail is average. Deal with it, and stop whining

Know your stuff + research
It's always a good idea to play x class, play x map, do this and that for a bit and then write a guide about it. With experience and knowledge you can know the ins and outs of it and can then share what you found out with everyone else.

If you don't know this or that, having trouble with something, don't know what upgrades, canteens and all that stuff to get, never feel afraid to get some help.

Look on TF wiki, ask a friend with a lot of mvm experience, get better! With more knowledge and understanding of something, the more helpful your guide will get.

Make your grammar and punction good
Absolute self explainatory. Bad grammar and punction can make your guide unproffesionally looking, and sometimes even hard to read. bEKUZ zINTINCIS lIEK, dIS r wERI bAT

Do i need to say anything else?

Be clear and undestandable
Try to make sense to the thing or topic you are currently writing about. Explain them a bit so people understand what you are talking about. Spelling and grammer can also apply here.

Give reasons why not to build at spawn, tell us why it's a bad idea to have a team full of 1 class. Explain your reasoning behind the message you are trying to tell.

Tidy up your sections and make them clean
Try not to
make your sections something like
this. It gets very annoying to see pictures or words spread everywhere across the section.
It makes you
look like
a complete itdiot, so try not
to do
it.
General Errors
And here we go. Time to move on to the actual errors people make in their mvm guides. Lets start off with general errors.

"omk supord calsses suk aws" Support classes suck
Hands down, one of the most common errors people make in their guides. Support classes can be really helpful and reliable to your team, not 1 of them is useless.

Medic can keep the team alive which in return can make holding the line easier. His kritzkrieg can cause loads of damage which is helpful for dealing with pests like giants and tanks. Now in the recent update that came out for mvm, he can now revive dead players so they don't have to waste money buying back in and his shield can stop damage from hurting his team.

Sniper can use explosive headshots to crowd control effectively and kill Medics hiding behind their patients, replacing Demoman at the same time. He can also do insane damage very quickly if paired with damage, reload speed and charge rate upgrades. When robots die by his headshots, red money will appear, which will automatically count towards the money you have collected, so there is no need to pick them up. He can also come equipped with jarate which can cover robots and force them to take mini-crits and can slow them down if he has the slowdown upgrade with it. This can make pests like giant scouts more comfortable to deal with.

Spies can replace scouts when it comes to money collecting and replace Demoman when it comes to killing Medics. His sapper can stun robots and cover a large group of if he has upgrades for it which can make them easy kills for him and his team. His knife can be upgraded to cause lots of damage which can make dealing with giants much smoother. Speaking of giants, his sapper slows them down just like a upgraded mad milk and jarate.

Not one support class in tf2 is "Useless", get over it.

"u muzt haf a kantin" You must have a canteen
A good player can make through the waves without the help of a canteen (Some will argue that this is not the same for engineer, and I can understand where they are coming from) if they are skilled enough. By doing this they will have more money to spend on upgrades and when they are on the harder waves of a mission, buy-back.

Also, stuff like recomending crit canteens on cow mangler soldier or ammo canteens on engineer. Please don't recommend bad canteens.

"OMK WI WIL LUS IF WE HAV 2 SUPORT CALLSES!" We will lose if we have 2 support classes
Ok lets make a pretty picture here. You have the following on your team:

Soldier
Pyro
Heavy
Engineer
Sniper
Spy

From the team:

Spy can replace the Scout (As mentioned in "support classes suck") and get the money and Sniper can replace the Demoman and kill the medics when they show up.

me laodaut is alwaiz best lol other laodauts suk My loadout is the best, other loadouts suck
There ISN'T only one good loadout for each class. There are many more!

As ripped off without copyright said by Dave:
People completely throwing away varying builds, and generally just pouring their own 'my build is always the best' into a guide, without consideration for other builds/weps.
I can't describe HOW MUCH I hate it when people think 'hurr hurr since i did gud on easy mod i cen put dis wepon as a PRO LODOUT', and just explain that one weapon, especially if it's actually useless/not suited for MVM, or it loses value as the game progresses.
The full post and thread where it's coming from can be found here
Scout
"damag scoot iz pr0" Damage scout is good
Let's get this straight - there are 2 types of damage scout, the scout which buys upgrades for scatter AND resistances, and tries to collect money along with killing, and the scout which buys only scatter upgrades, and completely ♥♥♥♥♥ money. There we will talk about the latter type.

While this type can increase firepower for some time, you will soon get lower and lower firepower due to lack of a money collector (unless you have a money Spy in your team, but even then you shouldn't go scout). The Scout sucks at dealing damage actually (without resists), and even when he fully upgrades his scattergun, he will still get outdamaged by a Heavy or even a Spy.

"boink" Use bonk
You say Bonk.
I say Uber Canteens.
I won.
Mad?


There are sometimes to use bonk such as in normal and intermidiate missions, however we would not recommend to use the Bonk for higher levels, for at least 3 reasons:
1. Uber Canteens can work better
2. Money gives you infinite overheal, which is something like uber if used well
3. Bonk doesn't allow you to use the scattergun and fan o war, which you need sometimes

The Mad Milk is a way better choice for a secondary, because it gives you and teammates' health if they hit a robot soaked in it, and ALSO slows down these robots. While bonk gives you 8 second godmode without weapon firing and that's it.

"aneh mele is mlg" Any melee is good
Sandman and the Fan of war both outbeat any other melee the scout can have. Both can mark robots which can really help when dealing with giants, other bats don't have this/have upgrades for this. As a result it is needed for expert due to the usefulness of the mini-crits.
Soldier
"direkt hid iz pr0" Direct Hit is good
I would have to disagree with this. The reduced splash damage removes your abillity to effectivly crowd control, and to do any sort of damage you will have to score direct hits. The faster rockets is pointless because the rockets will hit your target eventually.

While this problem can be solved with the new Rocket Specialist upgrade, it's still outclassed by other launchers which are not Liberty Launcher or Rocket Jumper.

"Librity Launcha is GUD" Liberty Launcher is good
Projectile speed is useless. yes i am serious
-25% self damage is useless because blast resistance does the same thing and it's even better.
And -25% damage.

Need i say more?

"buf buf buf buf buf buf buf buf buf buf buf buf buf" Use buff every time you have it ready
While i agree you need to use the Buff Banner, you dont need to use it every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time you have it ready.

Let's say you are away from your teammates because they are dead. You have no ammo, but you have the buff banner ready. Are you going to use it, or wait till you have ammo/you are nearby teammates? Using the melee doesn't count
Pyro
"flog suks" The Phlogistinator sucks
While it has that lower damage and lack of airblast, it can do wonders on a team which knows what it is doing. The "mmph" bar is epic on tanks and even some giants.

If done well, you can outdamage everyone (except critsticky maxed out Demo) on a tank.

"kritz" Use Crit Canteens
You should use crits only when a tank is in the area. If there is no tank, uber is a better choice.

No need for further explaination.

"AEROBLAZT" W+M2
Much like going W+M1, going W+M2 is also a bad idea. Airblast spam on a robot (if there is no hole nearby) does nothing but make the robot harder to kill (due to lack of aim).

Please, if you really need to M2 spam the robot, at least TRY to M1 it.
Demoman
"pipeknite iz shiz" Grenadeknight sucks
Ok let me clear this up for the 2-3 people who have no idea what a pipeknite grenadeknight is. A grenadeknight is a demoman who uses his grenade launcher for his main method of attack and damage. His secondary is the chargin' targe which helps him remain alive against pyros, demomen and soldiers. He is spending is upgrades on the nade launcher, which is why he has a shield in the first place. Grenadeknights are fantastic tank wreckers and can mop up groups easily if used right. I know, I know, he lacks the abillity to kill medics, but his main purpose is to get rid of tanks and mop up large chuncks of robots. He can replace pyro and soldier and you can have another demoman/sniper/spy to take care of the medics.

Actually, Grenadeknight isn't always good, which leads to...

"pipeknite iz pr0 yoloswag" Grenadeknight is good
Sometimes a grenadeknight can't get on the level of the sticky demoman, especially on large groups and medics. Grenadeknight can do good at single targets or even giants (but sticky demo is better anyway), but sticky demo is more reccommended.

Grenadeknight can shine sometimes, but Sticky Demo is a better choice in harder difficulties and Mann Up.

"NO DONT LAND ON AN EYE" Don't use Eyelander
Eyelander can increase your health permenantly and having booties/bootlegger will remove it's downside if you are using the stickybomb launcher as your main weapon. Because hey, why would you want to upgrade your grenade launcher when you are already using the stickybomb launcher as your main method of killing (unless you are a pipeknite grenadeknight, but that is a different story)
Heavy
"HEAVY IS ALWAYS NIDED!!1one1!!eleven!1" Heavy is always needed
No he isn't. Heavy is strong in the crowd controlling department but can also be replaced by Soldier, Pyro, Demoman and Sniper (Explosive headshots if anyone asks).

hue hue tommy/huo long/natasha is gud Tomislav/Natasha/Huo Long Heater are good miniguns
Tomislav has no useful advantages - robots don't hear you anyway, and 10% spin up is barely even needed since you need to always stay spinned up. And dat fire rate.

Huo Long is a ammo eater and has a useless ring of fire. Why it's useless? Spies will go backstab you anyway, and it doesn't do much damage.

Natasha is only good when there are Super Scouts. But even then you should have a milk scout/jarate snoipa/anything which stuns the poor scout.

hoovy is 1337 pro 360noscope tank kiler Heavy is a good tank killer (Killing tanks, what?)
While some say this can be possible if the heavy is paired with crit canteens, Soldier, Pyro and Demoman do a better job. Pyros with the phlog will melt tanks with ease, Soldiers with the beggers paired with crit canteens + Kritkrieg medic can cause much more damage and the buff banner can boost their damage to make their rockets mini-crit for a limited amount of time. Demoman's crit sticky traps can cause loads of pain (especially if the stickybomb launcher is the SR) and grenade knights can make short work of them, quicker if armed with crits.

Not to mention that tanks have 75% damage resistance againist miniguns, which make the Heavy even more useless.
Engineer
"spawn gud frontz nu" Build at spawn
You won't be able to help your team out front when they need it the most. They need the sentry to hold the line, dispenser so they can refill ammo and health and the teleporter to get to the front lines quickly.

The frontlines are a way better choice, since these make you actually useful (obviously)

"SHORT CIRCUIT SUCKS DONT USE IT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Not exactly. It's rather good for preventing spam and makes it easier for your team to take out the slower firing giants. However you are going to need the extra firing speed and health for your sentry on higher tours, so grab a wrangler.

And its even more useful since it got a buff.

"gunsliger r pr0 1337 mlg 360noscope wrenches" Eureka Effect and Gunslinger are good wrenches
It is not! The gunslinger can only make a mini-sentry, which has very low health and cause very little damage.

"hue poot buildings wer i tel u dunt lisden tu oddes" My building placement locations are the best
Since it's almost inpossible to explain this in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of sentences, i am just going to give you one, short sentence:

There are also other good building locations.

There.
Medic
"al medigunz OP volvo pls nerf" All mediguns are good
They are totally not "useless", but none of them compare to the Kritzkrieg. You have to do more than just heal, you have to do damage as well! The kritzkrieg grants free crits for a few seconds (even more seconds if the Medic upgrades it) and can help massively with giants and tanks. The other 3 just isn't on its league.

"Trust me, i am a Platinum UGC medic (even though i dont have medal in inventory because i am THAT pro), and you have to pocket the soldier/heavy/spy (wat) to win every comp match"
While the soldier and heavy are good when pocketed, you need to heal other classes too! M1ing only that pyro may increase the DPS of team, but it can be increased EVEN MORE if you go and hold that M1 on other players for a sec or two, REGARDLESS if he is a noob or not.

But please, avoid healing spies (both friendly and enemy) unless they really need it. Even though robots wont detect the spy even if cloaked, they may get caught in crossfire when shooting at you, which immediately activates their aimbot.exe.
Sniper
"sleep in sydney and be pr0" Sydney Sleeper is good
Sydney Sleeper is a nice weapon, i have to admit. It's piss shots are really good support ♥♥♥♥, but the weapon itself has 2 flaws:
  • No headshots. While Explosive Headshots still work, shooting in head just doesn't give additional damage.
  • Jarate doesn't slow down robots.
"NU SNOIPA IN MANFORKS/ROTTENBURGERS Don't play Sniper in mannworks/rottenburg
People think these maps suck for Sniper due to lack of good sniper positions.
Not true.
Just a small wander around the map, and you will find a great position.

"snoipa + demonstration man = nu" Don't play Sniper if a Demoman is already there, and vice versa
Contrary to popular belief, Sniper and Demoman are good teammates. The Demo can take out tanks and deal some damage to robots, while the Sniper can finish them off. If both classes are used by pros, then you don't even need to try (actually you need), you will win anyway.

"Do 1337 mlg pr0 360quickscopes with a bow #swag #yolo #jesus The Huntsman is a good sniper rifle (wat)
Bow is useless because you cant do a 360 quickscope with it it can't aim, giving you a better view, and it doesn't have explosive headshots! Instead, you have some useless bleed which deals...hang on...10 damage per second! yay isn't it 2pro4u?
Spy
"DIAMONDZ" Diamondback is a good mvm weapon
The Diamondback sucks ass in mvm it actually sucks in pvp too, because robots aren't buildings, and sapping them won't give you crits. Even if they did, the crits would be useless since you aren't going to kill robots with revolver, yeah?
Now, since it got buffed, its ok to use it.

"all watchez pr0" All watches are good
Heck no.

Robots will still see you for 1 sec after cloaking, if using either Invis or Cloak and Dagger. That means, even if going cloaked, robots will still aimbot you like crazy VAC SHOULD BAN THEM ALREADY, and you die.

Howewer, if you had to choose between Invis and C&D, then Invis is a way better choice. The Cloak and Dagger has shorter cloak time, and when it runs out, robots will see you, and activate their vac-proof aimbot. Also, to recover the C&D, you need to stand like afk or run around uncloaked, making you more useless to team.

"kunia adn yer r gdu" Conniver's Kunai and Your Eternal Reward are good knifes
The Kunai can be good sometimes (if you manage to backstab), but in other cases, you will die by one shot. You know, 60 hp. This makes you more ineffective againist giants, since you wont get more health by backstabbing that giant (unless the backstab kills that giant)

The YER is utter crap on the other hand, as it removes your disguise kit, and after you manage to backstab (shouldn't you be dead already?), you will disguise after 2 seconds, that means the robots will aimbot you if you backstab, and will aimbot you even if you finally get that disguise, if you didn't get out from their line of sight.
Ending
As you can see, there are not much lots of errors people make in their guides. And there can be more! If you saw an error on someone's guide which ruined that guide, let us know in the comments. One of us can add this to the guide.

Also, some of the error descriptions were too short. It's because there isn't much to write there.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and please, write guides with mind.

-Interruptor, The Killer Duck and NORTH KOREA IS BEST KOREA
96 Comments
Dr. Dispenser 30 Jun, 2019 @ 5:56am 
If properly used, the Quick-Fix can charge the shield much faster than the others, thus providing a source of damage greater than many crit boosted targets while also providing protection for everyone who stands behind the shield.
DuffT 14 Jul, 2018 @ 7:54am 
Error for Soldier:
"DONT UZ RIGTIS BZN111111111" (dont use righteous bison)
While it isnt good for single targets,its a fucking instakiller against tanks.
The wep is only good against massive groups + crits or tanks,and even better is tanks+crits.
i vibecode 3 Jun, 2017 @ 9:53am 
Hello
Akira Sweets | Dog Mom 8 Mar, 2016 @ 4:53pm 
Please friend me, I really want to show you how much grammar and punctuation errors there are (even when you're not trying to make an example of how dumb people talk).
Mrvecz 27 Sep, 2015 @ 10:09am 
LOL, good guide
Triste 23 Aug, 2015 @ 6:18pm 
This is funny. I love it. +1. +rep. +blowjob.
15 Cans of Assorted Beans 3 Aug, 2015 @ 9:25am 
I'm glad the community is trying everything in their power to help others play MvM to the best of their ability. But there's one thing that few people seem to be able to learn, and it drives me crazy.

Why do people keep readying up before the Engineer?
i vibecode 16 Feb, 2015 @ 12:25pm 
As a huge fan of the pipeknight playstyle in mvm, i would have some stuff to add.

Pipeknight can get critical hits at will, due to the demoman having a 4 seconds crit buff on kill upgrade on each one of his melee weapons. Meaning that he can kill one robot, and melt the other ones with the crits he earned, and repeat the process. Even though it is not recommanded to do so in expert mann up, it works amazingly well on lower difficulties, like advanced tours. Also, there is an (expensive) upgrade to get your pipes to deal 100% more damage to robots, which means you can melt medics without crits. This should definitively be considered as a legit playstyle (not in expert), as a pipeknight can have a ton more crits than a stickybomb demoman.

Oh, a last thing : this is for accurate demomen, those who can aim with pipes.
Ampharos 3 Feb, 2015 @ 3:00pm 
I do prefer the stock medigun for one reason. I buy the ''Canteen Specialist'' upgrade so I can have three small krit charges and one long uber charge.