FAQ / Introduction to Mann vs. Machine

For those uninitiated, MvM is a wave defense horde shooter which utilizes the mechanics, classes and weapons of Team Fortress 2. Though it is presented as a gamemode for TF2, both the general style of play and metagame is so drastically different that MvM might as well be considered a separate game. This article is intended to answer some common questions a newcomer might have, and to explain how the gamemode works to both players coming from regular TF2 and ones who don't play PvP anyway.

How does MvM work?

In MvM, you join a team of up to six human players, and have to fight back against a number of fixed waves of robots who each have your default health and damage, as well as giant robots with massively increased health, and occasionally tanks which pose no immediate threat but must be destroyed before they reach their destination. Robots, both small and giant, are seen carrying a big bomb with them-- this bomb is the primary threat of the game. If a robot is allowed to bring this bomb to a hatch close to your spawn point, it will detonate and you will fail the mission. Thus, the primary objective is to keep the bomb away from the hatch until all the robots in a wave are killed.

Each wave has a pre-determined amount of robots, and you can see which robots will spawn in a given wave by looking at the small icons on the top of the screen, as well as their corresponding numbers which show how many of them will appear. In addition to the ones listed, a wave may have "support" robots which may spawn indefinitely until the non-support robots are all killed.

When robots are killed, they drop bundles of credits, an important currency to be spent at an Upgrade Station which appears at your spawn point. Upgrades purchased at this station are crucial for fighting the robots; they provide enhancements to your weapons making them more suitable for killing robots, resistances against incoming damage, and other tools for survivability. Because of the importance of purchasing upgrades, collecting credits dropped form destroyed robots is a necessity. The role of collecting them is usually delegated to the Scout, who is capable of collecting them from a short distance and gains extra health by picking up the bundles.

In addition to upgrades, the upgrade station offers you a selection of "power up canteens", which give you an immediate boost in a pinch. The roster includes a crit canteen which gives you triple damage for five seconds, an uber canteen gives you invulnerability for five seconds, an ammo refill canteen reloads your weapons and completely restores your ammo reserve, and a recall canteen immediately returns you to your spawn point, in case a robot slips by and comes near the hatch with the bomb. The Engineer uniquely has access to a canteen which will instantly upgrade all of his buildings to level 3 with full health. Note that credits spent on power up canteens are spent permanently, and cannot be refunded after you've used them.

Because ammunition is constantly being spent on mowing down the robot horde, it is obligatory that it is constantly available. To this end, the Engineer's dispenser plays a vital role in keeping the team on the front lines, and will also place a teleporter allowing their teammates to quickly reach them again after dying.

Besides shooting robots both big and small, there are two particular threats which require special measures-- uber Medics and tanks.

Uber Medics are often connected to giant robots, and will pop an "ubercharge" giving their patient eight seconds of invulnerability should the patient be brought down to 50% health or if the uber Medic is brought down to 50 HP. In order to combat uber Medics, one must hit them with an attack strong enough to kill them instead of letting them survive with 50 or less HP. This is typically done with a Demoman's trap of sticky bombs, but can be achieved with other area of effect attacks such as the Sniper's explosive headshot or the Pyro's Gas Passer with the Explode on Ignite upgrade. Giant Medics exist as well, but they work on the same principle-- they will only trigger their invulnerability if brought down to 50 or less HP, or if their patient reaches below 50% of their HP.

Tanks are slow moving cubes which cannot be slowed down or blocked by any means-- if a player stands in its way, it will simply push the player, and it will run over an Engineer's buildings, destroying them. The only way to deal with a tank is to simply damage it until its health bar runs out, which is made easier by the fact that it cannot fight back. The role of destroying it can be entrusted to various classes (often a Pyro with the Phlogistinator), however Heavy should avoid it as his minigun will do reduced damage against the tank. Though usually harmless, the tank shouldn't be taken lightly and must be destroyed before it reaches the hatch.

What does each class do?

Here is a short description of each class's assigned roles and their specialities:

  • Scout is trusted to collect a majority of the credits, and is also expected to throw Mad Milk onto robots to allow his teammates to leech their health. His scattergun is good for picking off stragglers and for combatting the tank and giant robots.
  • Soldier is the jack of all trades, capable of tearing up groups of small robots, doing solid damage against giant robots, and is also capable of taking on the tank by himself. Crucially, he is capable of supporting the team using banners - by doing damage, he rapidly fills up a rage meter which, when full, allows him to sound a horn and give a short but significant buff to himself and his nearby teammates, and is capable of doing this frequently over the course of a wave.
  • Pyro is capable of doing good damage against groups of small robots and against giants, but must flank them and take them by surprise in order to avoid being killed. Armed with a Phlogistinator, the Pyro is the most popular candidate for destroying the tank.
  • Demoman is depended upon to place a sticky trap with his secondary to kill groups of uber Medics. Beyond that, he is capable of killing most giants with a single pile of critical stickies, and can provide decent supporting DPS against both small and giant robots with either his primary or secondary weapon.
  • Heavy is the team's dedicated tank and single-target DPS. With the right upgrades and enough support from his team, Heavy can absorb a ridiculous amount of damage and put out an equally ridiculous amount of damage against small and giant robots alike. The easiest and cheapest class to play.
  • Engineer is the backbone of the team, providing important support with his dispenser and teleporter, and can use his trusty sentry gun to do a variety of tasks: cleaning up small robots, tanking damage from a giant robot with the help of the Wrangler, blocking robots from going through a tight corridor or around a corner, and, most importantly, keeping the bomb safe from any stragglers sneaking by. Can destroy the tank if equipped with a Widowmaker.
  • Medic's usefulness comes not from his great healing abilities, but from his abilities to deploy a shield which can block all incoming damage, to revive recently dead teammates, and to deploy ubercharges and shared canteens to his patients.
  • Sniper excels at area of effect damage thanks to his shockingly powerful Explosive Headshot upgrade, causing any robot hit with a headshot to spread massive amounts of damage to all nearby robots, in many cases wiping out all small robots in just one or two headshots. What's more, he is capable of throwing Jarate onto giants to debuff them, and can help destroy the tank if armed with a Cleaner's Carbine and Bushwacka.
  • Spy is primarily dedicated to killing giant robots and Steel Gauntlets, able to kill the latter without any upgrades using backstabs, and can purchase the Armor Penetration upgrade to increase the damage of his backstabs against giant robots. He is also capable of stunning a small group of robots with his sapper, but this is a secondary role at best.

    • What class should I play as a new player?

    If it's your first time ever playing MvM, your best choice is likely Heavy. He is incredibly easy to play and can net you great results even if you're inexperienced. Just remember to take relevant resistances and to upgrade Health on Kill and firing speed on your minigun!

    Following that, the best way to learn how to play other classes is to observe what other players are doing. After enough games, you'll learn what are the best spots for placing the Engineer's buildings, what routes to take with Scout, and what weapons work best on other classes. Sooner or later, you'll be able to stretch your legs and learn to play other classes yourself!

    When will I get an Australium?!

    Chances are, you won't.

    Yes, it is possible that you can get a valuable item from playing Mann Up, but your chances of ever making a profit are incredibly slim. It is very likely that you'll end up wasting a lot of money on Tour of Duty Tickets before you get anything shiny, and your rare item usually won't cover the costs you've sunk into grinding tours. Remember that Mann Up is ultimately a slot machine with gameplay attached, and you should really only spend money on playing it if you do, in fact, enjoy the gameplay. Otherwise, you'll be making yourself miserable by spending money on something that's tough to play and even tougher to get good rewards from. Gambling can be a dangerous addiction, and please seek help if you compulsively gamble despite mounting losses.

    If you do not care about getting loot and if you cannot afford to buy Tour of Duty Tickets, remember that you can always play Boot Camp or on community MvM servers, ideally with a friend in tow.

    Why should I play Mann Up when Boot Camp is free?

    Well, the obvious answer is that you can get external rewards for playing Mann Up. You usually won't, but you sometimes can.

    The less obvious answer is that people don't usually play Boot Camp to win. It's possible to find a team that will play together and do their best to beat the mission, but you'll just as likely find a team that will abandon ship as soon as something goes wrong, since they haven't sunk any cost into the sinking boat and get no benefit from winning.

    Should I buy a Squad Surplus Voucher?

    No!

    It can be argued that playing Mann Up at all is a waste of money, but buying a Squad Surplus Voucher is objectively a waste of money. The voucher does not increase your chances of getting an Australium or any rare items. The item you and your team will get from the voucher draws from the same pool of items you randomly get for free while playing the game. In other words, you will most likely get a craftable weapon, which is worth less than a cent.

    Why am I expected to use certain weapons? Couldn't I ignore the meta and use my personal loadout?

    While the common consensus for what the "best way" to play MvM is isn't perfect, it's still better than picking out random weapons. The big issue is that MvM is not properly balanced to be played with all weapons, and isn't even balanced to play with full-stock loadouts. You have to remember that the game's items were designed with PvP in mind and not PvE, and very few weapons have had specific changes made for MvM. If every item in the game was tweaked and rebalanced in such a way that they all have a general or niche use in MvM, then yes, you could play whatever you like, but the reality is that certain items and weapons are simply better than most of the other options. Your preference for using the Direct Hit or the Gunslinger sadly isn't going to cut it in this gamemode, so leave your PvP loadouts at the door.