The Soldier: Mann vs. Machine Tutorial

[@Diakyuto]

12:21 This statement right here has basically changed my entire experience with soldier in MVM. Especially with the color coded upgrade path, it pretty much unshackled me from any bad habits I had with my upgrading and I was enjoying soldier much more. Before then I felt like I was just holding the team back. Personally I do find 1 tick of clip size very good with stock because more often than not I find myself in situations where I needed 1 rocket yo finish something off but I had an empty clip by then. Your guides, especially spy and soldier have been so helpful yo me and I’ve recommended em to other friends getting into MVM. Thank you so much for your hard work.

[@matthewkenney9407]

This is a really good MvM tutorial for the soldier about how powerful he can be, how to play him properly, and could be named, “The true robot slayer”

[@quenquent95]

A new tutorial by Underscore ? It is a Smissmas miracle ! As someone that used the Air Strike for a bit in MvM, all I can add is that you don't need the Base Jumper. You will only use the increased firing speed on rocket jump against Giants and Tanks due to the lower blast radius (and the increased firing speed is only worth it there). Still, a Merry Christmas to you and a Happy new year !

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

You too, Quent! So, to clarify, you're saying to not even jump unless you're using burst damage on a tank or giant? I'll have to try that. I hope I communicated clearly that I thought that the Buff Banner was better than the B.A.S.E. Jumper for use with the Air Strike...

[@cheezbeargur]

So glad I caught this early. Your other videos are all fantastic, so getting a christmas present from this channel is especially delightful.

[@spacegirlvanish]

I remember, around half a year ago you said that me and you high fiving would be in the soldier tutorial. At 13:50 there I am, in all my glory.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Oops, I had completely forgotten about that exchange and if I actually did end up making that promise, I apparently lost the note reminding me to put the clip in the video. I'm glad you made it in, anyway!

[@space-eye7760]

Judging by this intro, it is clear that Tf2 should not die. EDIT: Dude you're so underrated >o

[@thedorklord1029]

Correction: *can* not die.

[@space-eye7760]

@@thedorklord1029 If you're working as a security guard in a Samaung Facility, does that mean you're guardian of the GALAXY? OR If you're buying a new charger for your iPhone 12, does that mean you're buying virtual apple juice?!

[@thedorklord1029]

@@space-eye7760 Stop it. *Your making me question reality!*

[@space-eye7760]

@@thedorklord1029 okay I'm sorry... *Btw, I'm commenting this on my brand new Apple car! No windows unfortunately...*

[@space-eye7760]

@@thedorklord1029 I was gonna buy Samsung Smart fridge instead...

[@davitdavid7165]

One important thing about the batalions is that it negates the knockback of crtis, unlike the upgrade resistances. This can be very usefull in certain situations

[@june9914]

Sometimes you do wanna get away from crit giants by surfing the damage but honestly saving your team a few hundred creds on crit rez does a lot

[@davitdavid7165]

@@june9914 in wave 666 the knock back from the crit bot spam at the end gets annoying and the battalions becomes the best banner. Don't know how it applies to any other wave

[@dashyz3293]

Small notes: 1.The Buff Banner, when alone, always makes you do less damage unless it is at max duration, where it breaks even, and that's with the Beggar's. It will always lose out on sustained dps with any other launcher due to the constant need to reload. 2. The Air Strike should usually be used as like a normal rocket launcher for small bots where you want to sustain damage, and only jump for giants or tanks. Also, When paired with a kritz and canteen medic with the (upgraded)Air Strike user on ammo canteens to instantly reload, that actually deals more dps than 2 Beggar's soldiers(which are the best tank busters when solo). I also advise an engineer with 2way nearby if you're jumping more than 3 times to restock on ammo canteens 3.I still buy firing because I see it as free dps.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Thanks for reminding me about #2. Someone already pointed that out to me, but I never got around to adding it to the Errata section, so that's fixed now. I try not to go too much into the weeds about strategies using canteens, though.

[@TheSpiritedFendron]

the intro is extremly wholesome and the guide is well-made, this is the best guide there is! :D

[@strutr1250]

Everything here is fantastic, and I love each and every one of your guides. A great go to for base information of classes, and this guide is no different. I think one important thing to mention would be crit boosting a fully upgraded air strike to annihilate tanks. Seriously, after just one full clip and a canteen, half of a tanks HP is gone. Try it out if you get the chance, you’ll love it.

[@strutr1250]

Note that this really only happens with clip bonus upgrades and damage upgrade are there, but for things like late game Gear Grinder and 666, this is fairly negligible.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Thanks! I never really know how to handle burst damage against tanks for comparison purposes... The Demoman can, of course, do a similar thing with Crit canteens. This tactic is objectively the fastest way to kill small tanks, but it becomes less useful against high-health tanks that can survive multiple bursts, so Crit Canteens can get rather expensive. I don't know offhand how many canteens they take to kill, but I believe the biggest tanks in official missions are the 60,000 HP tanks in Broken Parts and Caliginous Caper. For general consideration, I prefer to talk in terms of unboosted weapons.

[@strutr1250]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel I’ll run a gear grinder campaign on my own and give a number crunch on how a fully upgraded air strike with crits can do for tank busting I’ll tell you the upgrades for it if you would like, and you can replicate it if you want more concrete info. I’ll be doing this with Base Jumper and Airstrike so the time in the air would be highest

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Why Gear Grinder specifically?

[@strutr1250]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel Easiest place to measure high health tanks without having to deal with too much chaos, like in 666. Also can have more experienced players hold their damage so I can get the most accurate results. (Damage fall off isn’t a factor since Crits aren’t effected by fall off)

[@PsychoMonkeyxx]

I've only discovered your channel recently but I can tell its already one of the best channels for MvM As someone who plays an Unhealthy amount of MvM, The scout, spy and now this guide are easily the BEST guides I have ever seen, The amount of information you go into and the quality compared to the other guides plaguing the game mode with not enough information or straight up giving bad advice that creates bad habits and at times create a worse teammate (I'm looking at you Ricardo.Minecraft.2008 who caused our team to wipe by shooting a crocket at an expert pyro), the Side Information panels that pop up supplying further information on the subject and giving the viewer useful tips and tricks on how to play the class more effectively rather than like a bot is extremely useful as well, and going into every last weapon and upgrade into detail instead of giving the Generic "Upgrade these and use this weapon its meta" advice is amazing The only thing Id say I disagree with is your stance on the Battalions Backup, While it does fall off in usefulness near the end of matches I think it is very viable in much harder missions where you having a much harder time holding the front line and I consider it the strongest early game banner without question, Like you Mentioned yourself when talking about Battalions bots, Crits are even more nullified against it, since its more than 100% crit resistance, removing both lack of falloff and crit damage versues crit resistance removing only damage from crits, But the Conch and banner do much better once your upgrades have become strong enough and scales better with them. (GAH that took way too many edits to get right on my end) And sorry if this seemed almost obsessive but Keep it up Man, we need more extensive guides like this, No other guide I've seen even compares to the amount of advice and information you supply :D

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Thanks for the info on the particularities of the Backup! In hindsight, I might have been a little harsh in my word choice with it. I do technically still hold it up as the third-best choice and imply via the Tip bar that a truly optimal strategy would involve switching between banners based on the wave (e.g. Backup W1, Buff for tanks, Concheror other waves). It's kind of telling when I'm saying "this isn't the best choice" over a clip of me playing pretty well using the weapon. The utility of support weapons is always the hardest for me to gauge since I can't see their effects through my teammates' eyes.

[@PsychoMonkeyxx]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel Thats A very fair answer! All 3 banners have their own niche in the team composition and what works best for the team can very widely depending on what the team has, plus I just have a very soft spot for the Backup ehe, That thing to me is the conch to you I'm sure, but I think that goes to show how great each banner is that each persons opinion on "The best" can range wildly I know its my goto on Harder custom missions like the ones In Potato servers as trying to hold the frontline against the onslaught those waves can do is extremely tough at times, and its my personal favorite for Hamlet Hostility Wave 1 and 2, Almost the entire challenge of the ending sections is completely nullified with the Minicrits power nullified and the crit soldiers at the end of wave 2 Crying

[@aph391]

This guy deserves more subs. Really.

[@starblissed]

These guides continue to be extremely relevant and helpful, even and especially in custom missions. I popped this open in the middle of a ball-crushing mission (shoutout to Bayou, gotta be my least favorite map) and was able to almost completely 180 in my soldier performance thanks to the upgrade tips. I'm looking forward to seeing the series completed!

[@aetu35]

I will say, on certain missions like Broken Parts that are very generous with money, Direct Hit with maxed rocket specialist can be pretty fun as your splash damage will be equal to the regular rocket launchers (if not higher) if you actually hit a direct, meaning you regain the ability to control crowds. The super fast rockets and lack of falloff expedite this, meaning you can extend your range greatly. It is definitely impractical, but worth trying if you have money to spare or a team that can handle your underperformance.

[@dixiecrat97]

I don't know how you only have 800 subscribers with this amount of quality. Very good video.

[@PenolAkushari]

regarding robot pyros, it would appear like ones on Easy do not reflect at all, while Normal ones have a low chance to do so (like 10%?), which could be quite a nasty surprise at times, considering both of those guys have blue eye glow. also, pyros that always spam fires everywhere (alwaysfireweapon attribute, you can tell they use that if they start firing in their spawn zone) don't seem to bother with airblasting, so attacking those head on didn't result in any teamwipes. also i guess i must be quite fascinated with base jumpers, considering how i put those on every robot. there's just something magical about sentry buster slowly descending from the sky with the 'chute.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Yeah, I couldn't really get reliable numbers for those and didn't want to delve into bot attributes, so I kept it qualitative (i.e. "better chance"). I've seen claims that Normal bots have an airblast chance as high as 50%, but that seems wrong to me.

[@PenolAkushari]

yeah, sigsegv's guide to difference in bot skill levels does seem to mention that normal skill pyros have 50% airblast chance. i'd assume someone who can view game's code would be a credible info source, so yeah, appears like it would be better not to mess with pyrobots that aren't just flaming everywhere. not sure from where i took 10% chance though.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Sigsegv has constantly told us that the code is spaghetti. I am not a coder, but I can easily imagine some sort of weird modifier hidden in the code that makes the *practical* in-game number lower than 50%... perhaps some sort of "tunnel vision" attribute that lets Expert Pyros to reflect rockets behind their backs that real players wouldn't even be able to see, while Normal Pyros only go for head-on rockets. Or maybe Easy and AlwaysFireWeapon Pyros really are just a lot more common than Normal Pyros with airblast enabled.

[@PenolAkushari]

did a little test with 100 normal pyros with 1 of them spawning and persisting at a time, so i shot like 50 rockets at them and got like 27 of those back at me, although happened to shoot 2 of the rockets when they were doing their bomb upgrade taunt by accident. anyway, it does seem to be like chance is 50% or i'm just that lucky.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Good to know!

[@minomann9216]

I just found this, and this 3 mvm tutorial videos are great. Please do make more. You deserve a lot more subs than this.

[@crocket7659]

this is a really underrated youtuber Your vids are REALLY good

[@alnico137]

Another great video! I think I'd really like to see a tutorial for Demoman next myself.

[@LightningGunne]

WHOO! At last, a new tutorial! Merry Smissmas!

[@SamuelTrademarked]

addendum: if you blow a banner by accident but the trumpet is still going, you can hold left click to make sure the banner doesn't apply its effect until you want it to. this can be good for immediate damage boosting when giants drop from the spawnpoint, or saving a banner buff if you misclick but don't want to waste it.

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

Finally a New video it's bloody Christmas!

[@Paddy_The_Maddy]

I'm gonna be honest, you'd be surprised with what the direct hit can do. Earlier on today I was in a game of manhatton and maxed out dmg reload and firing speed, I was also using conch and equalizer, this helped when we were fighting a boss heavy who had just spawned, someone popped crits and I did an exact 540 dmg per rocket, there are 12 rockets in a maxed out clip, so that led up to insane amounts of dmg for bosses. It doesn't really matter for the splash dmg as there are usually choke points on near every map so I just spammed rockets down them and the wave is gone. But all in all good vid man, keep it up 👍

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

I didn't say that Direct Hit was unusable, just that it is weaker than the others. Stock also does 540 damage with crits. What benefit did the Direct Hit provide in this situation compared to other rocket launchers?

[@Dog-999i]

I’d say that the Airstrike would be better in that situation. You can even max out its damage so it can match the direct hit’s damage. For some reason Valve made it so that the Direct Hit can be out damaged by all of the other launchers (with upgrades).

[@thelordofdice3932]

this guy needs more subs

[@achillecruquenaire161]

What a Smissmass miracle! I really like your guides it makes me want to play mvm more and get better at the game. Just an offtopic question: will you talk about Demoknight in a future video whether its own or not?

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Probably not. Demoknight can be fun, but I think I'll have plenty of stuff to talk about in The Demoman video just from the tryhard loadouts. Maybe on the off chance I do a Medieval MvM video, but I can't make any promises

[@fang_5612]

This man is a saint.

[@demisync]

I'm sorry, but, 300-odd subscribers? What? What the fuck? I've seen people saying this on your videos, but I'll have to parrot them, I thought this was a fairly big channel, and here you are with 300? What? This content is fucking outstanding pal

[@epicsheep9004]

the bison having a niche as a fun alternative actually made me cry

[@99999bomb]

9:49 I don’t suggest to use the half zatoichi against samurai demos since their sword have a longer range than the solider’s when they are charging(in the games code, charging with demo light shields is supposed to grant your melee a far longer reach, however thanks to spaghetti code you don’t get the range buff normally because your charge ends once you swing the sword, but samuri demos can swing their melee without their charge ending)

[@Quickstein]

"Don't use the Rocket Jumper" *That sign can't stop me because I can't read!*

[@berkshire4607]

I find the airstrike and base jumper a great combo in MvM, especially if used against tanks with crits and full damage

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

ANYTHING is good with crits and full damage, though... I think I was a little hard on the Air Strike, but it seems like the consensus is still that Buff Banner, not B.A.S.E. Jumper, is the best secondary to pair with it.

[@berkshire4607]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel meh, I think otherwise. But I respect your opinion.

[@realchiknuggets]

@@berkshire4607 I think it depends on a lot of things, not the least of which could include whether there's another soldier, what the team is running, team experience/knowledge, the map, etc.

[@berkshire4607]

@@realchiknuggets Hmmmmm, you do have a good point

[@IGSA101]

Airstrike-base jumper is really good on wave 666 specifically. Since you get so high up that robots will ignore you in favor of your allies, and you have the inital money to maximize the air strike right away.

[@bernardo-x5n]

3:15 The cowmangler's biggest downside is NO RANDOM CRITS, which means you end up dealing less damage overall even without using canteens or kritzkriergs.

[@bernardo-x5n]

25:36 For a moment, I genuinely thought this was Doe's drill, since Doe's drill first wave only has scouts and pyros

[@mooderpcow8614]

I do know that the buff is better generally, the base jumper and air strike with crit/ammo refill canteens are amazing tank/giant shredders. It’s also incredibly fun

[@9ak07]

Such good mvm guides , thank you

[@LunasLostLove]

really appreciate these videos. i'm out of work for awhile and MvM is something nice to pass the time with since i never played much tf2 on pc (played a bunch on ps3) and other co op online fps i own just bore me.

[@nitefurie.]

I feel like the air strike with crit boost from a med and refill canteens at least should be mentioned in terms of tank busting, but you’re more likely to get an ausie than finding a team where it’s both necessary and possible to pull this off

[@puppyking233]

Another underrated tftuber

[@xwarockx3959]

The bakers bazooka. Imagine a rocket launcher that just shoots pies and bread loafs at the robots kek

[@TalakDroma]

Some custom mvm maps have hordes of crit bots like wave 666 that is when the battalion back up shines

[@stepver2273]

especially when using the airstrike, keep in mind that blast resistance also decreases rocket jump damage.

[@joshmayetballoon3103]

Yes the perfect guide for my boot camp shenanigans!

[@somegalnamedseelpit3713]

Pretty good guide - though, the transition music's volume is a bit loud relative to your commentary =w=" Additionally, I think move speed can also be a decent upgrade in the mid/lategame. also ayyy, Wringout, I made that one 8D

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

I really liked Waterway Wringout! Tough. The first time I played it, another player and I were both top of the Potato leaderboards for our respective classes at the time, but we were actually unable to win due to 3 or 4 of the other players being duds. It's arguably Expert difficulty, to be honest. And thanks for the volume feedback. It's hard for me to get a feel for the audio setups other people use when watching KZbin, so I only know if it sounds acceptable to me on my gear. I notice that even professional KZbinrs vary quite a bit in volume level when recording. Sometimes, I'm just lazy with normalizing, but the transition stings are separate audio files from the commentary and gameplay, so I pick those volumes manually. I agree on Movement Speed, by the way. It's just that mentioning it probably would have involved an entire 30-second tangent about when/why it's useful. Most weapons didn't even get that much attention.

[@ChristianRandorff]

I am definately a base jumper and airstrike fanboy. I just love jumping up and firing 16 rocket in a quick succesion. It is not the most effective strat but I find it very fun.

[@Richter451]

Airstrike with critz/refill is actually ok against tanks

[@agentapostle2998]

Cow Mangler when I use this weapon there are good things about this weapon in Mann Vs Machine. Pros: You are able to charge up the Cow Mangler meaning when you release this charged shot you do mini crits but set robots on fire. Does not require ammo. Cow Mangler works well with the Buff Banner allowing you to do more damage with the Mini Crits. Cons: Even when charging your Cow Mangler to do bonus mini crits and fire damage you use all your ammunition for a charge shot. You cannot crit will only mini crit.

[@Dog-999i]

It’s good if your Engineer is really bad.

[@longlivethesecondplaceice2736]

it's as great as a expected to be whats next heavy ?

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Probably The Engineer.

[@user-ow2cs7fb5l]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel nice

[@saulterwhiteman2545]

This guide is so good that it only has one dislike.

[@june9914]

Imo the base jumper is useless since an upgraded air strike magdumps so fast

[@LiamEffect]

Battalions backup is best for my opinion cause will make you team stay longer even with resistance upgrade cause can take more damage from crit robot in big Rock

[@scpguy3xlul746]

11:50 DUDE I JUST REALIZED YOU ARE PLAYING WITH STAR DASH

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

That makes two of us. Can you tell I don't watch other TF2bers much? The only two who are still active that I can name offhand are shounic and DeWill.

[@Treblaine]

The problem with upgrading reload speed to shoot faster to deal damage quicker is you just run out of ammo quicker. Upgrading damage increases damage at no cost.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

This is definitely true, and something to be considered for maps where ammo is scarce. These upgrade paths are guidelines, and I always advocate for using personal judgment and going off-script when the situation demands it. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that is optimal for every situation, and there is an exception to every rule. Another big asterisk on Reload Speed > Damage is killing Uber Medics in one shot.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

There are maps that force the team to split up, though, and no Engie can build 2 Dispensers.

[@Treblaine]

​@@M4x_P0w3r "Except that it comes at twice the price." Nope. 2 damage upgrades costs only 6.6% more than buying all 3 reload upgrades (800 credits vs 750 credits) but 2 damage upgrades deals 4.1% more damage per second (on average) than maxing out reload speed. Even with two damage upgrades, keep upgrading them to 4 upgrades, then rocket specialist... THEN reload speed. "if your engie knows what hes doing with his dispenser" And if he doesn't? Even when the dispenser is in the "perfect" position and always stays up it's no damn good because any game that is really challenging me requires me to be constantly moving. Especially rocket jumping. Against tanks who have a decent amount of health I'm having to follow the tank and leave dispensers behind. And I'm not the only one that needs ammo packs along the way I want to have Scout take those ammo packs as soda popper gets way higher DPS by increasing overall fire rate first (by increasing clip size) so he'll chew through more ammo. An average of 176dps to soldier's 125dps with the same 800 credit investment.

[@M4x_P0w3r]

@@Treblaine Its still much more cost effective to purchase reload upgrades than damage upgrades. 2 damage upgrades cost 800 credits, and with that money you could purchase 2 reload upgrades + a resistance (or 2 for crit resist) / 1 ammo upgrade /1 rocket specialist /1 health on kill, etc... If your engie doesnt know what he's doing with his dispenser then your team is gonna have a very bad time, since the dispenser is arguably the best building in the game. And you do have a point, in challenging games you cant stay next to your dispenser all round long. However, since the Beggar's cant reload ammo from dispensers while active, that is a non issue. You can use the time you're going back to reload to use a banner, so you would be accomplishing 3 things in this break from fighting robots: recovering health, recovering ammo, and applying a buff to yourself and the entire team. Also, you shouldnt be rocket jumping that much in mvm as maps aren't that big and fighting from the air is not really recommended unless you are using the Air Strike. You are not the only class that can tank bust, y'know. Both the Pyro and the Sniper are excellent tank busters, the Heavy and the Scout as well. So you shouldnt be emptying your entire ammo on a tank when it can be done by so many other people. Also, dps means little in mvm other than for tanks or giants. Both of which have other classes that are better at dealing too, as well. Still, dps wise, its better to go for the firing speed always.

[@Treblaine]

@@M4x_P0w3r That's bullshit and I can prove it mathematically. 30 rockets without damage upgrades does the exact same damage as 20 rockets with +50% damage but even with 2 reload upgrades it takes 33 seconds to shoot your 50% larger rocket capacity compared barely 28.7 sec to shoot 20 rockets, even without a single reload speed or fire rate upgrade. You're just dealing the same damage... but slower. The difference is just as great if you try to load up 3 rockets at a time or shoot them 1 by 1. Far more important than the raw damage is the damage threshold, with +50% damage you can 1-hit-kill medics! Without any damage upgrades you can't even 1-hit-kill a scout! All your other examples are pointless, if you have only 800 credits then you're in VERY early rounds where you don't need resistances... unless you forgot to upgrade damage and you're being ventilated by scouts that you should be 1-hit-killing. You're just gish-galloping other things you could buy which you shouldn't buy. Rocket specialist is also pointless as the stun is so weak the only value is to increase its damage but another straight 25% damage upgrade is way better than the small increase in damage ramp-up from close range to a theoretical max-ramp-up. "You can use the time you're going back to reload to use a banner" No, I'll use my banner when and where it suits me, not wherever the dispenser is which is placed where it suits the engie. A single medium ammo pack will keep me constantly supplied because when I choose damage upgrades I increase my damage-rate without increasing my ammo-consumption-rate. " Also, you shouldnt be rocket jumping that much in mvm" No you should be rocket jumping more in MVM because you don't understand what the "s" stands for in "dps". Even if you know that "s" stands for seconds do you know what that means? That means the sooner you're in position to attack the robots then you're dealing more damage. This is how soldier can out-damage heavy who has to wait for robots to get within range. "You are not the only class that can tank bust" Do not gaslight me, you know I told YOU that scout is better at busting tanks than Soldier and he has a faster drain on his ammo. And just because other classes do it better doesn't mean they do it alone. "Also, dps means little in mvm other than for tanks or giants." Only because damage thresholds matter far more and without damage upgrades your damage thresholds suck. Increasing rocket firing speed screws both "Still, dps wise, its better to go for the firing speed always." No it isn't. You're far short of damage thresholds and it's the fastest way to increase damage. Look if you were to say "I'm going to always increase firing speed" I won't disagree with you, you can do whatever the hell you like but you're not stating your preference nor intent, you're making a bogus claim of fact.

[@cuphead6618]

Soldier gaming

[@billyaepicgamer8642]

What class is next? I think Engineer is a good direction due to how important Engie is. But if you get to Pyro, will your guide assume it's Potato.tf Pyro or will you actually """"""recommend"""""" Gas Passer?

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

1. Yes. 2. Flamethrower Pyro. For the opening I'm thinking about constructing a situation where the Gas Passer is so OP that I can just casually solo an Expert-difficulty wave while explaining why Explode-on-Ignite should be heavily nerfed.

[@witepybro9443]

Why tf are there two extreme quality options

[@Shadow-sk1oj]

I would love to see one of these for the pyro

[@shumpiremadness2372]

My loadout: Primary: Beggar's Bazooka Original / Stock Air Strike Secondary: Concheror Buff Banner (usually this one since I prioritize damage and buffing my teammates damage whenever possible) Melee: Stock Disciplinary Action (When that one guy is too damn slow)

[@TERMINATOR3900]

Oh there's only the three videos on this topic on here. That's unfortunate.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Yeah, sorry... I don't do this full-time, but there will be another one soon!

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

Why is upgrading clip size on the beggers bazoka a bad thing?

[@PenolAkushari]

not that it's a bad thing, but due to the way you use it you won't really need it most of the time (considering that you're using the tap fire method). although it can be useful if you'd like to do the thing where you load up some rockets, pop a crit canteen and then unleash them all on a tank or something like that. didn't happen to do that myself, mostly observed someone else doing that, which resulted in quite nice damage.

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

Thanks for telling me i like all classes but mostly medic thats why i Like telling my friends to upgrade clip size so i can give him critz for som insane damage

[@GravitonArc]

With only three rockets max for your clip and max reload, you can quickly do the beggar's jump where you purposefully overload your bazooka and get blasted backwards thrice, which can literally send you from one side of a map to the other. It's an incredibly effective way to fast travel and catch Super Scouts, but the initial rocket load will take longer with a bigger clip, which doesn't help as three rockets is enough to get from one point to another.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

My answer would have just been "It's an expensive upgrade that's only useful in certain situations, so other stuff is higher priority," but GravitonArc brings up a good point about the upgrade messing with rocket jumping.

[@aetu35]

How did Wave 2 of Botbash get easier? That threw me off.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

For awhile at least, the Giant Soldiers at the end spawned much less aggressively than they were supposed to or blew their horns too early or something. This gave the players more breathing room to kill the tank, and the robots' banners wore out too quickly. It's been so many years that I forget what it originally felt like. I suppose it could be "back to normal", but I doubt it.

[@musakocak641]

Youre awsome!

[@darthyvardyreal]

Airstrike Chads assemble!

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

Who do you think is the weakest class in MVM? Personally I think it's the soldier not that he's bad its because he's extremely expensive he's only good in the late game and not that good in the early game. I don't know how soldier got in to the meta when sniper and pyro are a lot better. But in the late game he's very good but that's just my opinion and I wanna here your opinion about the weakest class in mvm

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

I don't think that's a question that can really be answered. MvM is not a single game. There are dozens of official missions and probably hundreds of community missions, each with their own balance and features. You can take any class and build a mission that either rewards (or punishes) that specific class and its strengths, making that class the best (or worst) for that particular mission. Traditionally, this was done by creating different types of robots, but now some of the custom missions are adding in rebalancing mods. The closest I can come up with are the that The Spy and The Medic are extremely *specialized*. The Spy is incredibly good at killing powerful giants, but he struggles when fighting small, fast robots that most other classes can handle with ease, so The Spy can't do very much to compensate when other classes aren't doing their "job". Meanwhile, The Medic is mostly a support class, and he's kind of useless if his pocket dies and there's nobody else around to heal. He's also basically useless in other situations, like fighting robots that are immune to crits and/or aren't offense-oriented, making his healing/shielding/reviving/kritzing/etc. abilities rather underwhelming.

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel I kindly disagree. Mostly about the medic stuff and the spy stuff but yeah there are a lot of missions that are different so I can see where you’re coming from.

[@M4x_P0w3r]

@@thomasthetankaccident6164 To be fair, Medic and Spy truly are specialized. They rely on his teammates far more than any other class, as far as I know.

[@Qwerty-zj3rk]

May I point out that you can upgrade the damage on a rocket jumper.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

You may, although it doesn't do anything. At least not normally. It's possible that some custom servers have mods that let the Rocket Jumper do damage.

[@SoldierGaming_]

That thumbnail doe

[@bobconer5240]

nice video

[@outspade]

i honestly expected the intro to be kids votekicking soldier claus for not f4ing in 0.1 microframes not at all disappointed

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Nah. Custom MvM is way more chill than Mann Up.

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

I really love your videos but i have one question what do you think about friendlys

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

You mean like in Casual? I don't usually mind them, as long as they don't stand right next to the objective and somehow expect not to get shot.

[@thomasthetankaccident6164]

Nice

[@hmmm2359]

12:20 “larger clips take longer to reload” ... you *do* realize that you can fire without a full clip, right?

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Of course. My point is that Clip Size is an expensive upgrade that barely even gets used on decently-paced waves. And I'm not even sure strategy matters on slow-paced waves... it seems like the the meta for that these days is "Krtiz + Demo make go boom."

[@skeleguns10oooooo10]

Soldier isn’t good on Expert in the early waves, but is excellent later on

[@mrrespected5948]

Nice

[@niceangrydad6554]

The air strike is fun in my opinion I kill robots quickly but I totally aggre with the disadvantages you said

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Oh, definitely. A lot of weapons are fun specifically because they're viable, but they make you work a bit harder. Dragon's Fury comes to mind. It's a big sacrifice for The Pyro to not be able to just spray death at robots in a horde invasion game, but it can be very satisfying when you have to aim and hit your targets.

[@bucketman319]

THERES A FL4EMISH MVM MAP???? z

[@jetevois1290]

How spy is better ?

[@agentdelta569]

i wasnt expecting a soldier vid spy and scout sure because those classes arent played properly, hell even a "no gas" pyro but soldier? hard to fuck up shoot robot and toot banner Edit: still learned a couple things

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Too many Soldiers with maximum Rocket Specialist and Clip Size but no Reload Speed or Crit Resistance.

[@fri5392]

I used to get like 17k dmg for a match since I'm new, and after watching this vid my first match dmg was 57k

[@fcomolineiro7596]

Waiting util you tell us about the pyro, and how fun is to trow the bomb into the OSHA approved bottomless pit

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Wait. Is one of the pits labeled OSHA-approved? Which one? I'm not logged in to Steam right now to check. Crap like this is what got me into TF2.

[@fcomolineiro7596]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel no, it was a reference to "half life but the AI is selft aware" is pretty funny

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

I see. So, you're saying that someone needs to put the reference into a custom map...

[@fcomolineiro7596]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel yes

[@pedrourbano501]

Medic next please

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Sorry. I do listen to feedback, so please continue to submit suggestions, but The Medic is going to have to be last. It is the class I have the least experience in, so I am not actually qualified to even write a guide for it yet. It's also arguably the least-important class (in MvM, not PvP, of course), and you need to understand all 8 other classes you're supporting in order to play it effectively, so it makes logical sense for it to be the final video in the series, anyway.

[@pedrourbano501]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel thank you for responding.

[@verywell290]

Btw a rocket specialist should be always the first buy

[@dispentryporter8621]

No???

[@verywell290]

@@dispentryporter8621 dude it's taking away tha damage falloff, this buff alone worth buying it at the start.

[@dispentryporter8621]

@@verywell290 I'm using Beggar's, I'm so close to everything that getting rid of fall-off doesn't do much, meanwhile my reload speed upgrades majorly increase my DPS

[@shadownexus293]

i don't know about if my loadout is good but i slay bots faster with airstrike and buff banner

[@bounter_]

I thought Soldier isn't that good because of money required to make him strong at some missions.

[@Dog-999i]

Soldier starts out weak but can become stronger with each wave. The Beggars isn’t that expensive to upgrade, so you can climb to the top quicker. Many times I see MVM Soldiers dealing the most damage on the team, often times around 100000 damage.

[@aturnedfirotent]

Step 1: use stock rocket launcher, buff banner if you can actually survive if not conch, and any melee, hell even use market gardener Step 2: important upgrades, reload, fire rate, and damage, Step 3: blow up some shit

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Close enough.

[@metalblizzard6024]

Need more new videos

[@jack6478]

16:38 i've met an engineer who did just that

[@r3io4mf]

Bison

[@hen0tic02]

i like using the base jumper and air strike im a fanboy

[@casperjensen9509]

whee!!

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Good eye!

[@crouton7070]

You sound burnt out, you good?

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Yeah. I was burnt out a couple months ago studying for my exam, but it shouldn't have affected recording this video. In fact, I thought I actually did a slightly better job than usual of emoting and emphasizing words in the last 2/3 of the video. First 1/3, though. Meh. I have to consciously try to not sound too much like a calculus professor when reading my scripts lol.

[@crouton7070]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel makes sense, but in the other tutorials you just made more jokes, maybe due to the stigmas about the classes being more extreme. Also I appreciated the freeflowing structure of the scripts in the old ones, instead of the refined and consise strips of this one. My "advice" would be to wing it with the script and voicing then touch up any major mistakes. Also make more funnies. These guides are really informative, but I don't want it to feel like a lecture. Keep it up, I really want to see your channel grow, with the scarcity of mvm content!

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Yes, I think there were more jokes in the Spy and Scout videos because of the "meta" baggage. Most of the jokes in this one were in the captions, outside of the Santa bit at the beginning. Part of the problem was also that this one was just so much longer than I expected it to be... Will try to be more funnier moving forward.

[@crouton7070]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel "sorry for not being funny" bro don't worry bout it too much.

[@GeorgiaSmalls3517]

are you aimbotting on MVM with soldier

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

No. Aimbot is bad, both in MvM in PvP. Also, trade secret: I only include clips of myself playing relatively well. I am worse on average than what you see on-screen.

[@ninowoo594]

That was amazing :) 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@The_spine_snatcher]

I have a little tip for the cow magler:if you get a ton of reload speed you can turn into a fire charging bitch if you only use M2 and turn into a for God and get damage and rocket specialist but don't get Clip if youre still using M2 and need it

[@the_engineer5757]

1:40 BAKERS BAZOOKA Bruh it's pronounced Beg-ers Ba-zook-a

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

My accent lol. Yeah, that's one of those things you just don't feel like fixing when the video's 99% done, but you cringe every time your hear the mistakes in the voiceover. I guess it's not as bad as when a KZbinr does it for an ad-read that gets copy-pasted into like 20 videos, though.

[@the_engineer5757]

I did a double take when i heard it (also Amazing vid)

[@kevinfelten9059]

TF2 V2 "5 2022)😀😀

[@Т1000-м1и]

142nd

[@Ryusuta]

Controversial opinion: People complain about how braindead and OP the Gas Passer is in MVM, but honestly, I think Beggar's Bazooka is even more of a braindead game winner.

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Any "good" weapon in MvM is kind of cheap. Lots of people think the Bazooka is a little OP. It does have trade-offs with other launchers and isn't universally the best in all situations, so I personally think it's fine after its blast radius nerf. Never seen anyone claim it rises to the level of Gas Passer, though. There are a lot of key differences, one being that the Gas Passer is only a secondary weapon. That fact that its defenders sometimes compare it to semi-OP *primaries* is rather telling. I think a more apt comparison would be if the Buff Banner just blew up most of the robots on the map when it was blown. And The Soldier could still equip the Beggar's Bazooka on top of that.

[@Ryusuta]

@@UnderscoreGamingChannel I suppose that's fair. Thanks for the reply. I admit I'm still fairly new to the MVM environment. I really have enjoyed these guides a lot, especially the Scout one. Thanks again!

[@tamo4586]

don't understand why people hate gas passer since it's arguably the best crowd control unlock. Who cares if they die 17 billion times in one wave and still tie your heavy, they're still doing something to not make your team lose lol

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Same reason people don't like aimbotters in MvM: They logged on to play a game, not sit and watch while somebody spams hacks or a broken weapon. If we wanted an easy win, we would have queued up for Intermediate Mode, not Expert.

[@ashleysony7943]

People actually LIKE to play the game sometimes Ever played with a godlike Sniper or a Scot Res Demo just add Medic buttplug? Those games are extremely unfun because there's nothing to shoot How's that any different to the Gas?

[@milk_yt]

Airstrike and Base Jumper femboy?

[@realchiknuggets]

jesus, loud-ass transitions

[@scantyer]

Are you making another guide? I love them

[@UnderscoreGamingChannel]

Hopefully. I'm in footage gathering mode right now thanks to the release of Digital Directive last month, more so than video editing mode. I've been getting some good clips for Engineer, Sniper, and other classes. Maintaining the same release schedule as the first 3 would mean that the next video's due in about a month. We'll see if I make that happen...