Team Fortress 2 – Comprehensive Scout Mann vs. Machine Guide

Introduction & Role

Scout serves as an offensive support class in Mann vs. Machine. The other Offense classes, Soldier and Pyro. also bring some team support to the table, but not as much as Scout. First off, Scout is bar none the best money collector of the nine classes. Pyro, Spy, and Demoknight are probably the next-best, since they’ll be close to the robots anyway, but none of them compare to Scout. Spy and Demoknight are also sub-optimal choices most of the time. Scout has an extended pickup range that “magnetically” pulls in nearby money without having to touch it. He also gets healed and overhealed by collecting money, up to about 700-750 HP max, giving the Fast Boston Boy incentive to grab as much as possible. Scout’s naturally high speed and ability to double jump also help him with this task. Money collection is very important for the whole team and can determine how well the mission goes, or even if it goes successfully at all, as it is needed to buy upgrades and canteens.
Besides collecting money, Scout can provide valuable team support with Mad Milk and his ability to give robots the Marked for Death status with either the Fan o’ War or an upgraded Sandman. This makes the affected robots a lot more manageable for both the Scout and his teammates. Apart from his support capabilities, Scout’s primaries can put out good damage at close range.
Scout also respawns near-instantly, with no respawn timer to wait through, though Medics can still revive him on the spot of death like any other class if they reach his Reanimator in time. This and his fast speed let him get back in the fight sooner than the other classes.
Because his job of collecting money and weakening robots will always be useful, Scout will work on any MvM team. However, having more than one Scout per team is usually a bad idea. It forces them to compete over money for overheal. Also, while a good Scout’s damage output is respectable, it will most likely be inferior to any of the power classes (Soldier, Pyro, Heavy, Demoman) or Engineer.

I want to credit the Official TF2 Wiki for a lot of information on Scout and Mann vs. Machine mechanics they provide. Without it, I couldn’t have made this guide.

Primary Weapons

Scout’s primaries fall into roughly three tiers in MvM:

Good: Scattergun, Soda Popper
Usable: Force-a-Nature, Shortstop (barely)
Bad/Inferior: Baby Face’s Blaster, Back Scatter

Normally, I start out with the Soda Popper and switch to the Scattergun once I have enough credits to start investing in it, starting with Reload Speed. The Soda Popper only has a magazine of two shells, but it fires and reloads faster to make up for this. Also, it reloads its whole magazine at once and if you have an unused shell still in there, it’s wasted; it shares this drawback with the Force-a-Nature. It does a little more DPS than the Scattergun before upgrades are taken into account. The Soda Popper sports a unique “Hype” mechanic. Upon pressing secondary fire (MOUSE2) after charging the Hype meter by dealing about 350 damage, Scout’s weapon will glow purple and he gains five extra midair jumps for 10 seconds, effectively letting him septuple jump. Hype mode can be used for a few different things. You can reach higher areas faster with it, such as a rooftop or the cliffside on Rottenburg, you can avoid the splash from explosive attacks more easily, and if boxed in by a large swarm of robots, it allows you to jump free.
The Force-a-Nature is similar to the Soda Popper in that it has two shells per clip and a faster firing speed. Its shots deal respectable knockback to enemies, and if fired in the air, the recoil knocks Scout back in the opposite direction, letting him do a limited triple jump of sorts. There’s a 1.5 second cooldown for the knockback effect, so if you shoot your second shell right after the first, it won’t have knockback. The FaN also does slightly more damage at point-blank than Scout’s other primaries, but in practice the second shot will likely deal less because of the knockback of the first. The knockback can be used to hold Ubered robots at bay or push back bomb carriers. However, it can be annoying to your teammates trying to target the same robots, especially Snipers. If your team has a Sniper, refrain from using the FaN or you’ll make life unpleasant for him.
The Shortstop is a sort of hybrid between the Scattergun and Pistol, but sadly not a particularly good one at that. It has a clip of four shells, reloads them all at once (like the Pistol), shoots faster than the Scattergun, and has reduced bullet spread. At close range, it deals less damage than Scout’s other primaries, but it is a tad more accurate at medium ranges, though still not worthwhile in my opinion. Its secondary fire lets Scout do a shove that only deals 1 damage but pushes enemies back, not unlike Pyro’s airblast or the Force-a-Nature’s knockback, and can be used to forcibly reposition robots. Speaking of knockback, using the Shortstop makes the Scout himself take 20% more knockback. Knockback can already be a ♥♥♥♥♥ to deal with, especially from Soldier bots, so that’s an annoying drawback. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend the Shortstop.
Avoid using either the Baby Face’s Blaster or the Back Scatter. The Baby Face’s Blaster’s speed boost does not stack with Movement Speed upgrades, and it doesn’t take that much damage received to lose it, especially given the sheer quantity of enemies in MvM. Boost is also lost if you jump in the air, so it effectively prohibits you from double jumping unless you’re OK with losing the boost. A BFB Scout’s unboosted speed is also reduced by 13%, and it only has a magazine size of 4 shells.
The Back Scatter mini-crits enemies when shot at their backs up to a distance of about 30 feet, but only has a clip size of 4, can’t randomly crit, and has worse bullet spread. Avoiding aggro as a Scout is not easy because of your proximity to the robots; in fact, you want to be drawing aggro a lot of the time because your agility and overheal make you uniquely suited for taking the heat away from your teammates. Your melee weapons also lets you mini-crit one robot at a time on demand, so the Back Scatter is rather redundant for its drawbacks.

Secondary Weapons

For your secondary, you have the choice of the Mad Milk, Crit-a-Cola, or Bonk! Atomic Punch. Scout’s pistols and Flying Guillotine are weak and not worth using over any of the beverages. I always use Mad Milk, since it’s the most useful of the three by far. Mad Milk causes Scout and any of his teammates to be healed by 60% of the damage they do to afflicted targets. The status lasts 10 seconds and the Milk’s cooldown is 20 seconds by default. Note that it will not last as long on robots being healed by a Medic bot. Mad Milk can also be used to extinguish both yourself and/or teammates when on fire. Extinguishing teammates reduces the recharge time by 20%. Mad Milk has an extremely useful upgrade that causes it to slow affected robots in addition to letting players heal off them. Both effects are helpful; the healing makes your teammates less likely to die, especially when facing off against dangerous robots. The slowdown makes robots easier targets and delays their march to the bomb hatch. It’s a lifesaver against giant Scouts, as they are the most dangerous bomb carriers due to their speed and the fact that giants do not have a speed penalty from carrying the bomb. I think it also stops those annoying Samurai Demos from being able to jump, and by extension, charge. Spy bots soaked by Mad Milk drip even if cloaked or disguised, so it can be used to identify them as well as kill them easily due to the slowing effect.
While not as good, Crit-a-Cola and Bonk have their uses. They take effect after a brief drinking animation, last 8 seconds, and take 22 seconds by default to recharge. Crit-a-Cola makes all the Scout’s attacks mini-crits for its duration, but attacking gives the Scout the Marked for Death status for five seconds, refreshing with each attack. Basically, you give but also take more damage, a bit like a glass-cannon buff. Crit Resistance upgrades help reduce the damage vulnerability. Crit-a-Cola’s effect is redundant with the Soldier’s Buff Banner and the Fan o’ War. However, it lets Scout efficiently deal mini-crits to multiple targets, unlike the Fan, and without needing the Soldier nearby. If you want to focus exclusively on damage and your team can do without Mad Milk support, the Crit-a-Cola is a viable choice.
Bonk! Atomic Punch makes Scout immune to damage (but not knockback) for its duration, but also unable to attack and forces him into third-person view. When it wears off, it also gives Scout a slowdown penalty for 5 seconds based on how much damage he absorbed while invincible. Bonk has a couple of different uses. You can use it to safely collect money without fear of dying or losing all your overheal to robot attacks, especially early on when you lack the credits for resistance upgrades or Uber canteens. It can also be used to distract robots without taking heavy damage, especially dangerous ones like giant Heavies. The third use is to destroy an Engineer bot’s Sentry with the help of at least one other teammate. Because Sentries attack whatever target is closest to them, a Bonked Scout can distract it while someone else destroys it and the Engineer without worrying about being attacked themselves. Sentries deal massive damage and knockback; because you’re still vulnerable to the latter, don’t jump or otherwise get airborne while drawing a Sentry’s fire, or it may send you flying away. I should mention that Uber canteens can be used to do basically all of things Bonk can while not taking away your ability to attack, but Uber canteens cost credits, have a slightly shorter duration, and you can only hold three at a time. Still, the canteens are for the most part the superior option, and you can still run Milk or Cola with them.

Melee Weapons

There are exactly two melee weapons worth considering 95% percent of the time in MvM: the Fan o’ War or the Sandman. Both have the ability to mark one robot at a time for death, making them take 1.33x damage for the status’s duration. Crit boosts, such as from Crit canteens or Medic’s Kritzkreig, overrule mini-crits. The other melee weapons aren’t worthwhile over the ability to inflict the Marked for Death status; all of Scout’s primaries are close-range weapons anyway.
The Fan o’ War should be your melee of choice in all but a few situations. All you have to do to mark a robot is hit it once with the Fan. Enemies with the Marked for Death status have a white skull & crossbones icon above their head. Assuming it lasts as long for robots as it does for players, the condition persists for 15 seconds (about half as long for giants), so when fighting a giant, make sure to periodically refresh it. The mini-crit effect from the Fan is redundant with Soldier’s Buff Banner and Sniper’s Jarate, and cannot affect multiple robots at a time, but it does have the advantage of not having a charge/recharge time like those two. A Fan crit does less damage than a normal melee hit from the stock Bat, so don’t bother trying to use the Fan itself as an actual weapon.
The Sandman can be used as an alternative way to mark robots, but it has a couple of drawbacks. To mark targets, an upgraded is needed for the ball, which is launched by the secondary fire button. It gives both the ball and the Sandman itself the ability to mark one robot at a time, like the Fan. However, at $500, the upgrade needed to do this is expensive. It also lowers Scout’s HP by 15, from 125 to 110, reducing the amount of overheal you can get by extension. Targets hit by Sandman balls are also slowed for a few seconds, with the duration being longest if the ball was launched from a greater distance. The ball recharges after 10 seconds, or immediately if you can find and pick up the ball you just launched. You can also buy extra ball capacity at $100 per ball. Try to get somewhat close to your target to ensure you hit your mark. Between the high cost of the upgrade, the health reduction, and the risk of missing, why ever use the Sandman over the Fan? Well, there a few types of giant robots–especially giant Heavies and Captain Punch (the final boss of Bone Shaker)–that are very dangerous to get close to, even for an overhealed Scout. The baseball lets you mark them from a safer distance than melee range.

Upgrades

The first upgrade I always get is the slowing effect for the Mad Milk. After that, I prioritize as much in relevant damage resistance upgrades as possible. For example, in a wave with lots of Heavies and Soldiers, but no Pyros, I would get Blast and Bullet Resistance, but no Fire Resistance. Pay attention to which kinds and how many of each robot will appear in the upcoming wave, shown in the HUD bar at the top of the screen. It’s especially important to get Crit Resistance for crit-boosted robots, as without it, they will tear you apart with little effort. Crit-boosted robots are indicated by a flashing blue border around their icons, and their weapons and attacks glow electric blue. Crit Resistance also reduces damage taken from mini-crits, such as from Buff Banner-boosted robots
(Buff Banner Soldier icon to the left) or when Marked for Death by using the Crit-a-Cola. However, if there are few-to-none crit-boosted robots or Buff Banner Soldiers, and you’re not using the Cola or aren’t worried about its damage penalty, there is no reason to have Crit Resistance; the robots never get random critical hits.
Movement Speed and Jump Height can help intercept robots, dodge attacks, or reach money more easily. Some guides give these high priority, but personally, I never get Jump Height, and don’t give particularly high priority to Movement Speed or get more than a point or two. Having at least one point will make you faster than Scout bots, with the exception of Super Scouts, which are an extra-fast version of giant Scouts. Milk Recharge Speed can be handy, especially in waves with multiple giant Scouts. Don’t bother with Health Regeneration.
For weapon upgrades, a point or two in Ammo Capacity or an Ammo canteen or two can make you less likely to run out of ammo, but if you have a good Engineer on the team, it’s not really necessary. For the Soda Popper and Force-a-Nature, pick between Damage or Clip Size. For the Scattergun, I prioritize Reload Speed, a point in Ammo Capacity, Firing Speed, and Damage. Firing Speed works best for Tanks and if you have confidence in your aim. Projectile Penetration slightly increases the damage you’ll do to dense groups of robots, but it’s expensive and not necessary. I also don’t bother with Clip Size. Unlike all the power classes, Scout doesn’t need Health-on-Kill that much unless you’re worried about not getting enough money or help from a Medic to sustain you. If you switch weapons (or classes), remember to refund so as to not waste credits that you have.
If you’re using the Sandman, get the Ball Marks Target upgrade, and maybe an extra Misc Ammo or two if you’re that worried about missing. Otherwise, don’t bother with any other melee upgrades. For canteens, if you have a small amount of money left, you can get an Ammo canteen or two to avoid running out in combat. Crit canteens boost boost your damage output, and Uber canteens give you an Ubercharge effect for 5 seconds each. Unlike all other upgrades, canteens cannot be refunded once bought, and you can only have one type of canteen at a time.

During a Wave

Collecting money should be your main focus. Money is dropped by robots upon death, and it lingers for slightly under 30 seconds before it disappears. It flashes for the last few seconds as a warning. Support robots may or may not drop money. Robots killed by a Sniper’s primary drop money with red particle effects instead of the usual green, and it is automatically counted as collected without needing to be picked up. However, it still gives you healing/overhealing, so you should still grab it if you can. The money in robots pushed into death pits is automatically collected as well. Dropped credits are counted as missed until they are actually picked up, so you can check the counter in the corner of the screen or the scores menu (indicated by the orange circles above) to see if there’s any that hasn’t been picked up yet or was missed. When a wave is completed, check the area to see if you can find any cash dropped by the last few robots. At the end of a wave, the team receives a letter grade based on how many of the wave’s credits they collected. All credits collected gives a perfect A+ score. The Administrator gives a $50 bonus if at least 90% of the credits were grabbed, and $100 for an A+. You should try to aim for at least an A and the $50, though a perfect score is even better. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to get every last credit, especially if your attention is constantly divided between fighting, collecting money, watching the bomb, and supporting your team, and if you get killed. A word of warning: some players are very an*l about Scouts missing money, especially in Mann Up. However, as long as you get a majority of the credits, preferably an A, your team should do fine if they’re all competent. Collecting money is not as important on the final wave.
You can let your teammates get the initial kills of a wave so you can swoop in and get the money to have overheal right off the bat. If you ever need healing but don’t have money to grab, run to your Medic and use the call Medic (don’t spam it) voice command so he gives you some. Otherwise, go the Dispenser or a health pack. It’s important to watch the bomb; if the robots reach the hatch with it, you lose. The less progress they make with the bomb, the better. You are in a better position than your teammates to chase down bomb carriers and stragglers that would otherwise reach the bomb due to Scout’s speed and skill at pick kills. You can also go and kill Sniper bots, but watch out when you get close to them, as they may pull out their Kukris and try to attack you with it, strafing wildly in the process.
Use your Mad Milk on groups of robots and giants. Giants should be Milked and Marked for Death whenever possible, especially giant Scouts. The Milk totally neuters giant Scouts’ dangerous speed, and you should save it for them if you know they’re coming. Refresh the statuses periodically on giants as needed, and don’t forget to shoot at them yourself. Marking normal-sized robots is generally a waste of time compared with simply shooting them, with the possible exception of buffed bomb carriers. Mad Milk can alternatively be used to put out yourself and teammates if on fire, preferably after the Pyro bots are dead so you’re not immediately re-ignited. If the Medic is burning, prioritize extinguishing him first. Your overheal (preferably combined with resistance upgrades) can give you a massive survival buffer, often more than any of your teammates, but the robots will still chew through it if you’re not careful. Use your speed and jumping to strafe attacks and avoid explosions. Giant Heavies and Pyros are especially dangerous to be close to because of the massive damage they do at that range. If you ever get send flying away from knockback, you can use your midair jump to negate your momentum.
Whenever Engineer bots appear, they should be prioritized before they can get up Sentries (which are already level 3 upon construction) or Teleporters. Engineer bots in Mannhattan do not build Teleporters. If they do get a Sentry up, it basically turns the area in its range into a death zone. Sentries do not miss, so your speed will not help you there. It will probably take teamwork or a Spy, Sniper, or Wrangler Engineer of your own to destroy it. The Engineer should be killed at least at the same time, as they have unlimited metal and will simply repair their Sentry or build another one if not dealt with.
If you and a teammate ever die and respawn at the Upgrade Station around the same time, let them take the Teleporter first, and wait your turn or simply run back into battle without it. This is also true of any game mode, not just MvM. Medics currently healing you have their speed increased to match yours, so you can ferry them from point A to point B faster, such as back to the Upgrade Station between waves, or if the Teleporter Exit gets destroyed. If you respawn at the Upgrade Station without being revived by a Medic, you can buy more upgrades with the credits you’ve already collected before going back into action.
Mad Milk and the Fan o’ War make it much easier for your team to destroy Sentry Busters before they can reach the Sentry. However, if the Buster is not stopped in time, slowing it only prolong the time an Engineer has to wait for it to show up, so he can make his escape as it detonates. Most of the time, overheal and Blast Resistance will not save you from a Buster’s explosion, so get away if you hear them about to blow. Try to make them not blow up near the Dispenser or a teammate.
Medic bots wield either a heavily buffed Quick-Fix or a stock Medi Gun that starts off with full ÜberCharge. Uber Medics have a “Ü” on their icons. Giant Medics carry also Quick-Fixes, and some of them are capable of using its Ubercharge, Mega-Heal. Quick-Fix Medics should be prioritized, and giant Medics should always be prioritized over their patients. Their giant Quick-Fixes outheal any damage and effectively make their patients invincible until they are dealt with first. Try to kill the giant Medics before they can get off Mega-Heal. If they do, it fully heals them, plus effectively makes them invincible and knockback/slowdown-immune for its duration.
Uber Medics should preferably be handled differently. Like giant Medics, it’s best to kill them without them being able to get off an ÜberCharge, which they will activate if their health gets below 50 HP (out of 150) or their patient gets below half. If you can control your damage output precisely enough, you can kill them in one or two hits without them popping their Ubers. Certain classes–Spy, Sniper, Demoman, and Gas Passer Pyros–are capable of one-shotting these Medics. Don’t forget that their patient will likely be attacking you during this time. If the Medics do get off their Ubers, they should be killed as soon as they wear off. Ubered robots can still carry and deliver the bomb, so they shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Scout is fairly good at damaging Tanks. To maximize damage, get right up to the Tank when shooting it. Tanks don’t attack but can crush and kill players against walls and corners as they make turns, so watch yourself. You can even jump on top of the Tank while attacking it, which has the added benefit giving you a better view and protecting you from melee robots, including Spies. Tanks carry their own bomb each and must be destroyed before they can drop it in the hatch. They are unaffected by any status conditions, so don’t bother trying to use Mad Milk or the Fan on them. Tanks usually drop a ton of credits upon destruction, which gives you bunch of overheal. Try to be there when it gets destroyed both for this and so than none of the credits it drops are missed by the other players.

Truncated Version

• Scout serves as an offensive support class; he is the best for collecting money. He has an extended money pickup range, and money heals and overheals him. His Mad Milk and Fan o’ War are great for making robots easier to deal with. Scout will work on any MvM team because of the importance of collecting money, but there shouldn’t really be multiple Scouts on a team.
• Your best options for your primary are the default Scattergun or the Soda Popper. Personally, I start off with the Soda Popper, then switch to the Scattergun once I have enough credits to invest in it. The Force-a-Nature is usable too, but don’t use it with a Sniper on your team or the knockback will make it harder for him to aim. The Shortstop and Back Scatter aren’t very good at all, and the Baby Face’s Blaster just sucks.
• Don’t bother using any pistols or the Flying Guillotine; they are weak and simply not helpful compared to the beverages. Mad Milk is easily the best Scout secondary. It lets you and you teammates heal off of attacking affected robots, and can be thrown at burning players to put them out. The Milk also has an upgrade that slows robots, which is great against Scouts, especially the giant ones. Crit-a-Cola makes you deal and receive mini-crits, but is redundant with Soldier’s Buff Banner, and to a lesser extent, the Fan o’ War. Bonk! Atomic Punch lets you collect money or distract robots or Sentries without taking damage, but you can’t attack while under its effect. Uber canteens can be used for the same things without removing your ability to attack.
• You should use the Fan o’ War as your melee weapon because of its ability to give robots the Marked for Death status. The Sandman can be used as an alternative that can also mark robots from a distance, but it reduces your max health and takes an expensive upgrade to have the ability to mark at all. Both weapons can only mark one robot at a time. Your melee weapons shouldn’t be used to actually fight; Scout’s primaries are already close-range weapons and work better.
• The first upgrade I always get is the slowing effect for the Mad Milk. After that, I try to max out relevant resistances. After that I focus on Reload Speed, Firing Speed, and Damage Up for my primary, and Faster Recharge Rate for the Mad Milk. Faster recharge speed is especially helpful for waves with multiple giant Scouts. If you’re worried about running out of ammo, you can get a point or two in Ammo Capacity or Ammo Canteens with leftover credits. Crit Resistance will reduce the severity of the Crit-a-Cola’s self-mark penalty. Movement Speed and Jump height will help you collect credits, catch up to robots, and dodge attacks. Uber and Crit canteens are also good to have, and typically more worthwhile than Ammo canteens.
• Focus on grabbing as much money as possible. If possible, try to not to miss any credits for an A+ rating, but in practice this can be very difficult to attain, so aim for at least an A. You can check the money icon in the lower left corner or the multiplayer scores menu to see if there’s currently any money that’s on the field or has been missed. You don’t have to pick up credits from robots killed by Sniper’s rifles, but you should if possible since it still gives you overheal. Throw Mad Milk at groups of robots and giants. Giants should also be Marked for Death. It’s extremely important to hit giant Scouts with milk, especially if they have the bomb. Your weapons do the most damage at close range, but take care not to get hit too much, or you can lose all your overheal and die. It’s important to keep the robots from carrying the bomb; if it makes it past your lines, chase the bomb carrier down and kill them; do not let any stragglers get past either. Quick-Fix Medics and giant Medics should be taken care of before their patients (required for the latter), but don’t attack Uber Medics unless you can kill them without triggering their UberCharge, which they activate when their HP gets below 50 or their patient’s below half. Attack Tanks whenever there’s not too many robots and credits to deal with, or if the Tank is getting close to the hatch. Tanks cannot attack, but they are immune to status conditions and can crush careless players against walls while turning. They drop lots of credits upon destruction. If Engineer bots appear, prioritize them and their Sentries before they’re fully built, but if they succeed, stay away unless you can coordinate an assault with your team.

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