Bush Sentries: When Man & Machine team up with Nature to ruin your day

Being one of the elders of tf2 at nearly the age of thirty, I’ve been around since the release of the Orange Box, before the game was stuffed to the gills with trickle content and inevitably released for free to the public as a means to extend it’s life, Before the Beggar’s Bazooka and it’s inevitable sky flying nerf; Before the Axtinguisher’s reign on close quarter encounters and it’s inevitable demoknight contenders and even before before The Mini Sentry and it’s widespread loathing and unavoidable slandering towards one’s sexual preference for choosing to use it liberally on King of the Hill maps.

I would have to agree with the majority of the community that the Mini Sentry is an easy button for kills- Especially if you have a key bound to build_3 like I do. It’s efficiency to obtain kills so easily really turns me off from using it. I decided in the end to opt out of using the gunslinger most of the time when I went offensive engineer, dismissing even the attractive +25 hp to use the Jag. Why the Jag? Well not only is my particular Jag strange quality, but also with a bush somewhere in a high traffic area, Level One Sentries happen to be one of the most underestimated forces in the game.

Why? Watch this. I made this video four years ago, (when I went by the alias k-lash)

Most of the comments below are inquires like “Reima, why don’t you use the mini sentry?” or “Why don’t you upgrade or turn the sentry around?” or “Whatever happened to 2fort2furious?” Well for one, the mini sentry has a spinning, visually loud siren on top of it, which would defeat the purpose of an INCOGNITO SENTRY.

Number two, it deploys fast. Almost…. too fast for the concept of a bush sentry. Think of your Bush Sentry as a timebomb. A.. delayed, secretive bomb. The more distance you can put yourself between you and the sentry, the better. It’s meant to be a throwaway just like the mini, so you’ll rack up kills before you move to another bush. (if that map has a bush.) It’s also the same reason why I highly recommend facing the sentries away just for the extra delay it gives a level one to turn around-

Which means the enemy will be closer to the sentry, and WILL take more damage before he notices and tries to run away as the sentry shoots at your enemy’s back, increasing the likeliness of a kill. The difference between a mini sentry and a level one is that a mini sentry will target you faster, you will notice right away and you retreat, right? With a bush sentry, you’ll wander out a little further before you notice where the bullets are coming from. Without the trails of a level 3, the bulkiness of a level 2 and up or a siren on top which helps you identify the source of bullets, you’ll be taking more of them in the end.

I’ve gotten on average 3 to 4 kills per sentry, and I’m sure if you kept at the right distance, you can feed it health with the rescue ranger. I don’t recommend trying these tactics if a veteran spy is on the other team, as they’ll catch onto your bush sentry shenanigans, which will result in a diminishing strategic effect.