Contract strategy
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This article is about contracts strategy for completing Primary and Bonus Objectives of Contracts using the ConTracker.
Contents
General Strategy (All Contracts)
- Be sure to consider the objectives when selecting one of three alternate contracts (e.g., the choice of Alternative Mode) as there are significant differences in difficulty between alternate contracts, and your favorite weapon, mode, or class might not have the "easy" objectives.
- It is possible to turn in any contract by completing only one objective, primary or bonus; but once your last star has been used to activate a contract, at least one objective must be completed and turned in on that contract before you can activate any other. Turning in a few extra bonus objectives gives you more flexibility in queuing up for maps as well as the ability to change the active contract.
- Usually, the action of at least one of the two bonus objectives is relatively easier to perform, and often enables you to earn contract points and complete the primary objective at an accelerated rate. Contract points earned from bonus objectives before the primary objective is completed are counted as double, sometimes a few CP more than double. Focusing on particular ponus objectives can speed you through the contract.
- Remember that contracts should not be a detriment to your team. Leaving immediately after completing a contract, ignoring the objective to complete your contract, or not doing helping out your team (such as not healing certain targets as Medic or not destroying Engineer buildings as Spy) leaves your team at a disadvantage. Remember, your team can kick you out of the server, and if you get kicked out you lose all your contract progress.
- Friendly-Fire
Main article: Friendly-Fire
- Friendly-Fire can greatly accelerate the completion of Objectives. A friend who is an expert at a weapon or class can use Friendly-Fire to help you with contracts you are struggling with.
- Map choice
- Maps with which you are more familiar also mean an easier time to complete non-map contracts. Some maps also provide easy ways of gathering contract points.
- Pushing the Payload Cart is a quick way to rack up the points for many of the "Score points" primary objectives.
- The cycling between attacking and defending rounds on Payload maps and Attack/Defend maps suit objectives with offense and defense restrictions.
- Maps such as Standin and DeGroot Keep have control points which can be captured multiple times in a single round.
- Payload Race and Capture the Flag maps can present a problem with their potentially unlimited play time. However, the unlimited time can work as an advantage for objectives that take a long time.
Objectives
General objectives
- Be MVP as <Class>
- Spending a lot of time pushing the Payload can earn enough points for any "Be MVP as <Class>".
- Do not push the Payload cart too far ahead as it results in your team having a hard time reaching it.
- Medic is a good class for building high score, especially if you are good at staying alive, and building and popping effective ÜberCharges. You can also help push the cart or capture control points.
- Additionally, during Setup time, you can heal teammates and activate the ÜberCharge repeatedly. You can score 4-8 points during the setup time, and do this repeatedly on maps with several stages. This can easily add up for a large amount of points.
- Step away from the cart. When the cart is near the enemy, you should attempt to gain points by killing the enemies near the cart or healing your allies.
- Get a kill on offense / Get # kills in a single life ... / Dominate a player as <Class>
- The primary way to complete these objectives is to avoid getting killed while killing. Avoid being near places that are going to draw enemy fire, like an Engineer nest.
- Keep in mind that dominations are not reset when the final capture point of a map is captured, unless the map changes.
- Do not play in the front of the group. Avoid close contact with the enemy, if you can. Let your strongest allies, like Heavies, take and deal most of the damage while you finish the enemies off.
- Hang around a Medic that plays safe in the rear or, if your team does not have one, play as a Medic yourself.
- Keep the Medic safe from Spies, Scouts, and Pyros, and the Medic should keep you alive.
- Most of the enemies that make it back to rear with the Medics are easily killed Scouts and Spies. Sometimes, you can find injured Demomen and Soldiers. Try to look for such players that are repeatedly trying to penetrate your team to kill and destroy Medics or Engineers and their nests, and learn the flank routes they usually take.
- Take the ÜberCharge if offered. If it can help you complete your kills, and help the team, it is probably worth using the ÜberCharge.
- Learn to recognize pushes and stay out of their way. Especially, give ground to ÜberCharge pushes, but look for an opportunity to get in on the kill when the ÜberCharge wears off with the Medic and pocket in a bad position.
- Learn the Sniper's positions and avoid their lines. Try to always be on the move.
- Even when hanging out in back, avoid playing where you can get flanked or ambushed.
- Equip with items that help you get Crit boosts (e.g., Crit-a-Cola or Phlogistinator) or help you get kill assists (e.g., Buff Banner or Battalion's Backup).
- Capture/Pillage a Control Point / Capture an objective
- Hang back from the front of your team, but be supportive. You can do more than just capping a point, such as killing enemies or defending. Watch the HUD for your team's progress on the capture point and help to capture when it seems imminent.
- As a Demoman or Soldier, carry the Pain Train. The increased capture rate helps capture the points faster.
- Maps such as Standin and DeGroot Keep have control points which can be captured multiple times in a single round.
- Defend/Safeguard a Control Point / Defend an objective
- To score the points for defending the point, the HUD must show that the enemy is capping, as well as you have to complete the kill while the enemy you are killing is still in the capture zone.
- Hang back around the point out of sight as a Pyro, Soldier, Demoknight, Back Scatter Scout, or Spy. Ambush the capturing players.
- Often, capturing players can get out of the capture zone if they see you coming, preventing you from getting the kill to count as a defense. Also, running headlong into a capturing player is highly unlikely to succeed.
- If you can, look for quick kills. Try to sneak up behind enemies for surprise kills.
- Timing a Phlogistinator or other Crit boost effects can help with completing the kill while the target is on the point.
- Set up traps with the Stickybomb Launcher around a capture point or under a Payload cart, and detonate them for quick kills the moment the HUD displays a capture attempt.
- If the capping force is stronger than you, wait for help.a
Game mode objectives
Capture the Flag contract objectives
- If you get stuck on a CTF with a lot of pending progress on your Contract and the nests are not falling, switch to Medic, find a reliable pocket, and start breaking down the nests.
- This usually requires repeated ÜberCharges, so become good at building ÜberCharges.
- It is possible that you will get help from others that want opportunities to capture the Intelligence for their Contracts.
PASS Time contract objectives
- Make an interception in PASS Time
- Where most of the players in a cluster fight over the JACK are going to be Scouts, a Pyro has a particular advantage.
- Hide near enemy players as a Scout and run in as soon as they pass.
Payload Race contract objectives / Payload contract objectives
- Push the Payload Cart
- Contract points for pushing the cart are awarded every so often, avoid pushing the cart in small increments as it does not award any contract points.
- Kill an enemy pushing the cart
- Maps with confined spaces along the track, like Upward, can bunch the enemy up close to the Cart for Phlogistinator or Backburner ambushes.
- Maps with long straight sections, like Hoodoo or Gold Rush, might be preferred by Soldiers and Snipers.
Class objectives
- Kill while blast jumping as Soldier
- The Market Gardener and Air Strike are great weapons to use for fulfilling this objective.
- Deploying the B.A.S.E. Jumper makes you airborne for an extended time, lengthening the duration of your blast jumps.
- Environment kill as Pyro
- Maps such as Upward, Thunder Mountain, or Hightower offer pitfalls close to either the cart's route or flank paths. Airblasting players into these are easy environmental kills.
- Weapons with increased airblast cost, such as the Degreaser or Backburner, are ill-suited for this objective.
- Get an assist with an Ubered teammate / Assist in destroying a sentry while Ubered
- Only the stock Medi Gun's ÜberCharge counts towards progress for this Objective.
- Dominate a player as Engineer
- A potential technique for this is nesting on the Deck of Banana Bay, outside of each spawn room.
- Partner with another Engineer and keep two Sentry Guns on the left ledge. You may have to replace a Sentry from time to time, but the idea is to use the security of the Deck to stay alive long enough to get a domination.
- Using the Frontier Justice together with the Gunslinger allows for quicker single-target elimination.
Weapon Objectives
Pyroland:
Mercenary Park:
- The Amputator
- The heal rate increases the longer the targets have gone without taking damage, up to 72 health per second after 15 seconds. At the highest crit heal rate, at least three heavily-injured teammates are needed to achieve 250 health per second.
- Though it may seem like a good idea to work on this contract on DeGroot Keep, be advised that there are very few places to taunt safely.
- Standing near a corner that teammates retreat to when injured can help towards healing 250 health in one second.
- You do not need the Amputator to get points for the "Heal 3000 health in a single life" objective, but it is not as straight forward as it may seem. Overheal does not count towards this objective.
- Focus on staying alive for as long as possible and healing teammates that are not already at full health. The Crusader's Crossbow can be very useful for this with very large burst healing.
- The Direct Hit
- Consider equipping the Buff Banner, its on-demand Mini-Crits allow you to quickly obtain Mini-Crit kills (rather than solely relying on airshots from the Direct Hit).
- The Flare Gun
- Burn enemies with your Flame Thrower for 1-2 seconds, then quickly switch to the Flare Gun (default key: Q) and use it to score a Crit. This usually kills most classes, provided you deal enough damage with the Flame Thrower. The Degreaser's increased switch speed allows you to hit the flare earlier.
- Jarate
- Throw Jarate on enemies that are already fighting your teammates for easy assists.
- Avoid throwing Jarate on enemies that are in a position to easily retreat or near water to wash it off.
- The Bushwacka pairs particularly well with the Jarate due to its guaranteed Critical hits.
- Loose Cannon
- On defense on Payload maps, stand off at an ideal range from a blind turn or doorway where players are channeled into a narrower path straight towards you, like a chokepoint for easy Double Donks.
- The Phlogistinator
- Focusing on completing the objective of 5 kills while Mmmph'd in a single life also completes the other two objectives.
- Getting five kills off a single Mmmph is unlikely, it is best to get one or two kills before retreating to avoid dying.
- Time your Mmmph to go in with another player who can draw fire off of you.
- Taunt with your back to the wall and while hidden to avoid backstabs and headshots.
- Build your Mmmphs carefully, work towards the back of your team, and follow behind others making attacks or defending.
- Rely on your various flare secondary weapons for building Mmmph, firing on clusters of players at longer ranges. A great weapon to use for this is the Scorch Shot or Detonator because of the ability to hit multiple enemies at once with their explosions.
- Ambushing many enemies on an objective such as a Payload cart or a control point.
- Hoodoo is an example of a map that clusters players together at predictable chokepoints, both for the purposes of building Mmmphs and getting multiple kills while using the Mmmph.
- Consider working together with a Medic to give you an ÜberCharge while using Mmmph. The Powerjack can be useful for running faster towards retreating enemy players.
- The Thermal Thruster allows you to safely taunt in your own territory, then jump onto unsuspecting enemies.