This guide is being made in the context of Mann Up mode of Mann vs Machine. However, I will preface this by saying I only have experience with Operations Mecha Engine, 2 Cities and Gear Grinder. Sorry to the weirdos who came here for an Operation Oil Spill guide for you will be sorely disappointed.


This also means that some things you may have thought about Mann vs Machine may be usurped because of differences in Tours (common example being Medic's effectiveness.)


Lastly, bugs and exploits will be left in a separate segment, however any overpowered strategies won't necessarily be denounced (e.g. Explosive Headshot, Gas Passer, Ubersaw)


With that said, enjoy the guide.

Roles: Money Collection, Robot distraction, Support

Viability: Very High
General overview: Scout in Mann vs Machine is very much a far cry from his normal role in game. Scout in Mann vs Machine can certainly be a damage dealer under the right circumstances, don't get me wrong, but Scout's most effective strategy is to deal damage as well as put focus into helping your team with the Robots. This is due to the Scout's mobility and special attributes in Mann vs Machine.

• All Scouts in Mann vs Machine gain health (overheal included) from collecting money, and can collect money from a distance with a magnetic cash collection radius.

• In addition, if a Scout does die, its no sweat as all Scouts have instant respawn.

Scout's weapons, such as the Mad Milk, Fan o'War or the Sandman* help cement Scout as more utility than power.
With these, Scout can allow his team to stay in the fight and do more damage than they could with the power of Mark for Death + Milk.

That doesn't mean that more offensive options like the Crit-a-Cola or Bonk! Atomic Punch are off the table, however, they're just more circumstantial.

Below is a tier list of Scout's weapons in MvM:

Upgrades for Scout can go one of two ways, you can play hyper support and only invest in resistances and Milk recharge, or you can invest in your primary weapon, in order to deal damage as well. Both are completely valid ways of playing Scout, since regardless, you will be contributing greatly to the team by collecting money

SIDE NOTE: Scout is not useless on last wave, but switching class last wave also isn't necessarily a bad idea.

*The Sandman can only serve this role if upgraded.

Roles: Generalist

Viability: Mixed
General overview: Soldier is both a really, really good class, but also a bad class, somehow at the same time. This is mainly due to Soldier's potential is potentially among the higher in the game, however, Soldier is one of the most expensive classes to upgrade in the game. The Rocket Launcher's upgrades are fairly pricey and there's a lot of them. Despite this, Soldier can very well excel if picked up correctly, as Soldier will power creep his way to the top in due time, since eventually Soldier will be able to do almost every role in the game save for perhaps Medic killing, though even that isn't 100% off the table. (also he is no doubt Meta on Bavarian Botbash)

Soldier probably varies the most in viability in Mann Up. Soldier generally isn't needed or wanted in Operation Gear Grinder, but is very, very good on Operation 2 Cities. Mecha Engine too but everything works on that Tour.

Upgrades for Soldier are hard to define, but generally as a Soldier, resistance upgrades can wait. And please note, that Rocket Specialist Is not worth buying after the first upgrade, only bother with the first upgrade, which should be the first thing upgraded.

Below is a tier list of Soldier's weapons:
Note also: The Air Strike is a decent option but is more often than not a gimmick that is outclassed by the Beggar's Bazooka, which same goes for the B.A.S.E. Jumper but it's outclassed by banners. Don't use any secondary that isn't a banner. Seriously, don't.

Roles: Generalist, Tank Destroyer

Viability: High*
General Overview: Welp, I guess better get the elephant out of the room that you have to acknowledge with Pyro. Yes, the Gas Passer in Mann vs Machine is insanely overpowered and breaks the game in half. However, I'm not here to tell you what's moral or about Mann vs Machine morality, no, I'm only here to tell you how to play the class. Though, that being said, I could advise that if you want to learn how to play Pyro the right way in Mann vs Machine, try playing Pyro with no Gas Passer , no I don't say this because I'm a tacobot, I hate them as much as you, no, but because Gasless Pyro will help you to develop better habits as Pyro. Though, if you don't really care about that, so be it, and feel free to run Gas Passer all you want, I use it myself, after all.

Another thing I need to get out of the way, DO NOT, and I mean it when I say, DO NOT SPAM AIRBLAST OR SCORCH SHOT. This goes for basically any form of knockback in Mann vs Machine but spamming airblast is rarely, if ever going to help you or your team defeat the robots. Believe me when I say, Airblasting constantly does a lot more harm than good. It messes up your Sniper and Soldier's aim, screws up a Demoman's insta killing sticky trap, and make your Heavy do less damage by sending the robots away from him. Only use airblast for pitting a Giant when the situation calls for it, or when you are literally about to lose (but in that case you were pushed back all they way to the bomb site.) As for Scorch Shot, don't bother, at all, no literally like, never, ever, not even once. Words cannot describe how bad the Scorch Shot is in Mann vs Machine (weird, I know)

Pyro's (usually with the Phlogistinator) are tasked with soloing the Tanks that appear on most missions. Pyro's Phlogistinator is often cited as the most effective and efficient way of taking down a tank. Remember, aim at an upward angle at the tank, some Source weirdness happens and when you do that, the tank takes a lot more damage, you're welcome.

Upgrades for Pyro are mostly about what to avoid as opposed to what to get. Pyro is blessed in Mann vs Machine for his primary is possibly the cheapest in the game to reach its maximum power, which allows Pyro to invest in canteens and resistances earlier than any other class. Just take it from me, for the primaries, do not, and I mean, do NOT upgrade Burn Time, Burn Damage or Airblast Force, they're all colossal wastes of money.

Below is a tier list of Pyro's weapons:

Roles: Uber Medic killer, Giant destroyer, Crowd Control

Viability: Semi-High
General Overview: What is there to say about Demoman that hasn't been said? He's the class you usually seen run by Mr. High Tour Harry over there and for good reason. Demoman does a lot of damage... BUT that damage is slow, very slow (relatively), which means he isn't necessarily perfect. Demoman can struggle to justify himself on waves with no Uber Medics and REALLY struggles when Medic isn't present, but we'll get to that. In any case, As a Demoman, your job is to make sure that Uber Medics never, ever bother your team. And if fueled by Kritz, Demo can even one shot giant robots! How bout dem apples?

Demo does have another means of playing, and thats to focus on your Grenade Launcher instead of the Stickies. This means of playing Demo is often considered sub optimal, but not bad (and if you ask me pretty fun), The Grenade Launcher and Stickybomb Launcher's upgrades are very, very pricey and theres a lot of them, however that doesn't mean Pipe or Sticky Demo is bad or not worth it. Think of him like a more specialized Soldier.

OKAY, fine, there's Demoknight too. Demoknight does have some tools at its disposal like Crits on Kill upgrades and Melee damage upgrades, but generally speaking, if you want to fill the role a Demoknight would, just play Pyro or Spy, you'd do much better.

Isn't much to say on upgrades, you just have to pick which weapon to specialize in, Pipes or Sticks.

Below is the Tier list of weapons (Demoknight sorta ranked separate for its weapons but also kinda not):

Roles: Giant Destroyer, Wall

Viability: Very High
General Overview: Heavy is a pretty simple class all things considered. That may lead you to think Heavy can't do much, which might be true depending on who you ask, but Heavy also possesses the single highest, non crit boosted damage output of any class in the game. Due to it being really easy to get max ramp up in Mann vs Machine, Heavy's damage output becomes absolutely ludicrous. Heavy's only real drawbacks are that he can be pretty vulnerable on early waves if not played properly, and that if robots get past (e.g. Super Scouts, Engineer Bots) Heavy can't really stop them, in addition to Heavy being possibly only 2nd to Spy as the worst class for taking down a Tank, as every single Minigun the Heavy has possesses a 75% damage penalty vs. Tanks, so don't focus the Tank as a Heavy, your talent is appreciated elsewhere.

With this, we can see there isn't a whole lot too Heavy, but there doesn't really NEED to be. Heavy is commonly the class you'll see top damage the most often.

Upgrades come into the mix and to every Mann vs Machine player who has been had by Big Joey before, DO NOT BUY KNOCKBACK RAGE, this may come as a bit of a shock, since on the surface Knockback Rage seems like a pretty innocent upgrade, but the Devil's in the Details, Knockback rage causes the Heavy's gun to fire 50% slower, effectively HALVING your damage output. If that wasn't bad enough, remember how I said Heavy does so much damage cause you can get max ramp up easier? Yeah, knockback rage sorta throws that out the window, making your damage start to fall off instead of ramp up, effectively cutting your damage in half 2 MORE TIMES. It's hard to say whether Knockback rage or Airblast is the bigger Noob Trap, quite frankly.

Below is a tier list for Heavy's weapons:
The steak and Spirit being anywhere but dead last is probably a shock to you, but they actually allow the Heavy to deal good Tank Damage if need be. Not enough for the Heavy to want to focus it, but enough to where its worth bearing in mind. The Huo Long on Paper sounds pretty mediocre, but the Huo Long has the potential to provide increased damage while bodyblocking a robot, while simultaneously letting the Heavy keep a fast spinning Minigun, unlike Brass Beast.

Roles: Crowd Control, Support

Viability: Essential
General Overview: Engineer is a little hard to describe because, it's Engineer, what is there to say that isn't already obvious. What there is is that, if your team does not have an Engineer, you are very, very unlikely to be able to win the wave without ammo refill. The Dispenser is the single most important building that the Engineer needs to build, its ammo refill ability is simply too valuable to give up. The Teleporter and Sentry Gun sing a similar story as well, the support robots become trivial when an Engineer is on the team.

Upgrades? Get Dispenser Range, ASAP, then just avoid Disposable Minis and focus primarily on Building Upgrades. Also, Building Upgrade Canteens are invaluable for an Engineer.


Not much else to say, here's a tier list:
The Widowmaker makes for quite the force against a Tank or even a Giant, otherwise, Engineer should only focus on his Sentry and being able to keep it up.

Roles: Support

Viability: Mixed
General Overview: Seeing Medic as "Mixed" may come as a shock to a lot of you, but the truth of the matter is, 2 Cities is the only mission where Medic is one of the premier choices, and even then he's pretty replaceable. That's not to say Medic is bad, far from it, but Medic is not nearly as vital to the success of a team as many people like to make him out to be.



You likely know which upgrades to get for Medic, get shield first, focus on healing or canteen specialist for good support, but also consider running a Syringe Gun with Mad Milk Syringes, it can make your job a lot easier.


Here's the tier list:
The Quick Fix may come as a shock but the Quick Fix's increased healing allows for the Medic to be able to employ a powerful strategy: Shieldbash, that is, spamming shields in MvM as much as possible and using them offensively instead of defensively, effectively playing Battle Medic but also not.

Roles: Crowd Control

Viability: Very High
General Overview: While possibly having the largest barrier of entry out of any class barring one, Sniper also possesses what might be the most powerful ability in Mann vs Machine along with Explode on Ignite: Explosive Headshot. Explosive Headshot on Sniper makes him a forced to be reckoned with, with each headshot dealing an AOE damage of up to 190 damage, A good Sniper can easily make crowds of dangerous robots completely trivial, and this goes tenfold on Operation Mecha Engine.


We already discussed upgrades, Explosive headshot and reload are your top priorities, and damage upgrades often arent needed on Sniper.
Apart from that, generally youre playing how you'd normally play Sniper, just remember if you cant hit headshots, Sniper won't get you very far.


Tier list for Sniper's weapons:
Despite its stats, the Sydney Sleeper actually CAN deal explosive headshots.

Roles: Giant killer

Viability: Low
General Overview: Okay, so perhaps the "Low" may lead you into thinking Spy is a bad class or something but just wait. Spy has a genuine niche that can be used very well, his giant damage is second only to Heavy, and can easily do a lot of damage, easily taking down Giant Medics which most teams struggle with, and can still backstab pseudo giant's like Steel Gauntlets. That's where the positives end, however, as Spy otherwise can't really do... anything. He can't crowd control efficiently, he can't deal with multiple giants at once, support bots give him a hard time. Spy, just like in base tf2, is a class that is constantly walking on eggshells. Besides, remember how I said he's second only to Heavy? Yeah, Heavy outclasses him.


If you fancy Spy a go, it's imperative you learn how to navigate a Robot's aggro and circle strafe for more backstabs, maximizing damage, and most important upgrades are armor penetration, movement speed and swing speed. Use the Dead Ringer, always. Don't focus on the Sapper, the sapper is not worth your money.

Here's the tier list, but just dont use the reg invis watches or the YER and you'll be fine.

Here's where you can find some bugs with some of the Upgrades/Weapons in MvM

Soda Popper Firing Speed Exploit: Demonstrated in this video:
The Soda Popper is able to get a tick of firing speed that it shouldn't turning it into the Scout's most useful utility AND his most powerful damage dealing primary. It's super easy to pull off and lets you run an effective Damage Scout.





Buff Duration: Buff Duration isn't a bad upgrade, necessarily, but its worth noting that it does also increase how much damage is needed to charge a banner, along with its duration.

Burn Time: Why you would even want to get this upgrade is beyond me, but even if you did, tough luck, because the Burn Time upgrade does literally nothing, it doesn't work. Seriously, after Jungle Inferno changed Afterburn its been broken for a while now.

The Half Zatoichi: By upgrading damage and Crit on Kill on specifically the Half Zatoichi on specifically Demoman, you can allow yourself to get both upgrades if used by the Soldier as well. Who knows, maybe it could be useful.
A tutorial on how to pull off the bug is explained by me here:










+10% faster firing speed(Miniguns): Due to a tick/rounding error, the 2nd upgrade of firing speed on the Minigun doesn't work. (ONLY the 2nd one, the 3rd and 4th work as intended, save for the Tomislav, in which the 1st upgrade is broken)

Sentry Firing Speed: This upgrade is just weird, the 1st tick gives WAY more than is advertised, the 2nd upgrade only sometimes works and only when the Sentry is wrangled, and the 3rd one only makes the Sentry lose ammo faster. Stick to only 1 upgrade of Sentry Firing Speed.

+25% damage(Huntsman): As if the Huntsman needed an even rougher lot in life, the Huntsman's damage upgrade is a lie. It advertises +25% damage, but running the math, and its actually more like a +15% damage upgrade, since a Huntsman bodyshot deals 120 damage at base, and max damage Huntsman bodyshot deals 190 damage, when it should do 240.

The Sydney Sleeper: When using the Sydney Sleeper, you will be able to trigger the effects of explosive headshot by headshotting an Ubercharged robot. This will not damage the Ubered Robots but it can be something to remember if you elect to use the Sydney Sleeper.

The Spy-Cicle: The Spy-Cicle is bugged since you can get all the benefits of the Spy-Cicle after being hit by Fire but not have the Spy-Cicle go on cooldown under one condition: If your Sapper is currently on recharge, meaning you get the afterburn immunity (very useful since Robots will see through disguises when a Spy is on fire) and can still use the knife at the same time.