Team Fortress 2/cp degrootkeep

DeGroot Keep
Developer	Valve Software
Type	Attack/Defend Capture Point (CP)

DeGroot Keep is a map designed for Medieval Mode, and the only map available in this mode. Only melee weapons and certain other weapons are allowed in this mode. Medium health packs look like chunks of meat. Killing enemies will let them drop small health packs instead of weapons.

The map works like cp_gravelpit, in which BLU team has to capture the first two points in order to capture the third. However, once the third control point hasn't been captured after a set period, access to the point will be blocked off and the attacking team has to recapture the first two points.

Strategies

Selecting your weapons

Scout

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: None
  • Secondary: Bonk! Atomic Punch, Crit-a-Cola, Mad Milk, Flying Guillotine
  • Melee: Bat and its reskins, Sandman, Holy Mackerel, Boston Basher and its reskin, Candy Cane, Sun-on-a-Stick, Fan O'War, Atomizer, Wrap Assasin

As a Scout, your weapons deal less damage, but you do hold the advantage in speed. Make full use of your fast swing speed and movement to perform hit-and-runs. Focus more on capturing points when attacking, and let your teammates deal with problematic foes.

For the choice of a secondary, Bonk! Atomic Punch is less useful, since there's no Sentry Guns or Heavies with Miniguns. It does provide you a chance of escape. The Crit-a-Cola is risky to drink, but makes up for your lack of power. Mad Milk makes you harder to kill, and can coat a lot of enemies bunched together. The Flying Guillotine will be your only ranged weapon that does decent damage, and you can still pair it with a Sandman to take advantage of the crits on stunned players.

For your melee weapon, the Bat has no drawbacks whatsoever, so it's a decent default weapon. The Sandman gives you a rare ranged attack, but makes you more fragile, but it synergizes well with The Flying Guillotine. Boston Basher is a risky but rewarding weapon to bring with you, and the self-damage can propel you over and into the keep's walls. The Candy Cane's explosive vulnerability is much less of a worry without rockets and grenades, and it drops 2 health kits on a kill, so it is a better choice than your Bat. The Sun-on-a-Stick is only useful with Sharpened Volcano Fragment wielding Pyros or Snipers who fire frequent ignited arrows. Fan O'War makes you a pure support class, hit-and-run, and don't get into a direct fight with an enemy. The Atomizer gives you more mobility but takes away your attack speed advantage, so don't try to fight to much and use your triple jumps to move around better. The Wrap Assasin is very weak, and the bleed damage from the bauble doesn't make up for it, so it's only good for weakening enemies from afar.

Soldier

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: None
  • Secondary: Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup, Concheror, Mantreads
  • Melee: Shovel and its reskins, Equalizer, Escape Plan, Pain Train, Half-Zatoichi, Disciplinary Action, Market Gardener

Losing your rocket launchers and shotguns reduces your combat ability and makes you more of a support class. With the right loadouts, the Soldier can become an effective teammate in this mode.

Your Mantreads are mostly useless due to the absence of rocket jumps, so you would want to bring a backpack buff item as a secondary. The Buff Banner is really helpful during pushes, such as on to the final point. The Battalion's Backup is better for defense, so your team survives longer during a coordinated attack. The Concheror works well for either side, letting your teammates heal themselves without a Medic.

For your melee weapon, the Shovel deals consistent damage, but you would want to switch to the Pain Train if on BLU. There's no bullets in this mode so the Pain Train is pretty much a direct upgrade. The Equalizer's speed and power buff is helpful when you stay in fights for a longer time. The Escape Plan works smilarly to the Equalizer, though it lets you escape when things get too hairy. Both allow you to use the Kamikaze taunt, which is helpful for clearing out Point C for your allies when attacking as BLU. The Half-Zatoichi is a good weapon since you can't use your rocket launchers anyway and rarely needs to use your secondaries. Watch out for other players wielding the Half-Zatoichi, as they can kill you in one hit and vice versa. The Disciplinary Action reduces your power but is a helpful support tool, letting you and teammates reach the battlefield faster. It also has more range than the Eyelander, so you might get a few hits in before your enemy can. Don't use the Market Gardener, as it is completely useless without rocket jumps.

Pyro

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: None
  • Secondary: None
  • Melee: Fire Axe and its reskins, Axtinguisher and its reskin, Homewrecker and its reskin, Powerjack, Back Scratcher, Sharpened Volcano Fragment, Third Degree, Neon Annihilator

Without your Flamethrower or your ranged weapons you're not as dangerous as before. You do have resistance to afterburn, higher health and access to a decent range of melee weapons.

Your Fire Axe is a pretty standard melee weapon, but your Back Scratcher is almost always better, since enemies will always drop health kits upon death, letting you restore lost health from a fight. The Third Degree is exactly the same as the Fire Axe without Medi Gun beams, so it's about as useful as the stock axe. The Sharpened Volcano Fragment let's you inflict afterburn like your flamethrower, letting you wear down enemies as well as spycheck, so it's a common weapon for Pyros in Medieval Mode. The Axtinguisher's use is diminished without your flamethrowers or flare gun, but if your team has Huntsman Snipers who frequently ignite arrows or other Pyros wielding the Sharpened Volcano Fragment you can quickly maim a burning enemy to death. The Powerjack heals you in addition to the dropped health packs, but it's increased melee vulnerability can give you a disadvantage in battles. The Homewrecker is useless without buildings or sappers to destroy. The Neon Annihilator is also useless since there are no bodies of water one the map, but you could work together with a Mad Milk Scout to force the crits, but its usually too much trouble to be worthwhile.

Demoman

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: Ali Baba's Wee Booties and its reskin
  • Secondary: Chargin' Targe, Splendid Screen
  • Melee: Bottle and its reskins, Eyelander and its reskins, Pain Train, Scotsman's Skullcutter, Ullapool Caber, Claidheamh Mor, Half-Zatoichi, Persian Persuader

With a wide range of melee weapons and his shields and booties, the Demoman is pretty much designed for this mode, and is a very common contender.

Equip your booties and shield if you have them. The boots will give you more freedom for maneuvering when shield charging. For the choice of a shield, the Chargin' Targe has better intrinsic resistances against fire and explosives, but since these damage sources are so rare in this mode, the Splendid Screen is often used instead for it's shield bash and instant criticals.

You do have more melee weapons than any class, so it's a good idea to try them all out to find what suits you best in this mode. The Bottle lacks any drawbacks, but the Pain Train is pretty much a direct upgrade to it, as it let's you capture points twice as fast on offense and there are no bullets in this mode. The Eyelander makes you weaker at the start of a match, but makes you a powerful threat after racking up a few heads. The Scotsman's Skullcutter is great on defense, and can clear out enemies on the control points. The Ullapool Caber is a rare source of explosive damage and can take out a lot of enemies with it's blast, propels you high in the air but leaves you with a weaker weapon and lower health afterwards. The Claidheamh Mor increases your charge distance, letting you charge at further opponents as well as move across larger distances, but watch out for your reduced health. The Half-Zatoichi is great since you can't switch weapons anyway and fully-heals you after every kill. Just watch out for enemies who are also carrying the Half-Zatoichi. The Persian Persuader's ammo-changing attribute is more useful as you don't need ammo, and it effectively gives you two health packs per kill.

Heavy

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: None
  • Secondary: Sandvich, Dalokohs Bar and its reskin, Buffalo Steak Sandvich,
  • Melee: Fists and its reskins, Killing Gloves of Boxing, Gloves of Running Urgently, Warrior's Spirit, Fists of Steel, Eviction Notice, Holiday Punch

Without your Minigun, you're not as terrifying and deadly as normally. With your high-health, lunchbox items and good melee weapons, you can still be a challenging opponent on the field of battle.

On choosing your lunchbox item, the Sandvich let's you heal yourself or drop it for your teammates when lacking a Medic. The Dalokohs Bar increases your maximum health and is one of the only ways of getting overhealed. The Buffalo Steak Sandvich is gives you a faster move speed and mini-crits with your melee weapons, making you a fearable opponent, but be careful of the mini-crits you will also take.

As for melee weapons, your Fists are pretty standard and has no drawbacks. Your K.G.B can become deadly once you get a kill, because you will be getting more kills with the crit-boosts it gives. The Warrior's Spirit deals higher damage with less health, so kill enemies before they land too much hits on you. The Eviction Notice let's you attack faster than a Scout at the cost of damage, but you can use the Buffalo Steak Sandvich to compensate for this. The Holiday Punch is pretty similar to the Fists but can't crit unless done from behind, but if you do crit they usually won't survive. Beware other Heavies also using the Holiday Punch though. Avoid the G.R.U and Fists of Steel. The G.R.U. deals less damage, and it's constant mini-crits can be problematic. The Fists of Steel are even worse, as you take more damage for nothing in return.

Engineer

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: None
  • Secondary: None
  • Melee: Wrench and its reskins, Gunslinger, Southern Hospitality, Jag, Eureka Effect
  • PDA: None

Without any ranged weapon or the ability to construct buildings, the Engineer is left with only a narrow range of weapons noteven normally designed for combat. Therefore, Engies are among the rarest class on this map.

Your wrench does standard melee damage, but you have the lowest health of all classes with the same weapon stats like the Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy and even the Medic, tied with the Sniper, so you live shorter even with an equally powerful weapon. The Gunslinger's health increase and guaranteed critical hits system is useful when your attacks are entirely melee. The Southern Hospitality is also a good weapon even without random crits as it's bleed effect can force enemies to retreat and fire damage is quite rare on this map. Just watch out for fire arrows and Pyros with the Sharpened Volcano Fragment. The Jag is useless, inflicting less damage without any benefits. The Eureka Effect is a straight upgrade without buildings, serving as an escape tool, though not much more useful than the Wrench.

Medic

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: Crusader's Crossbow
  • Secondary: None
  • Melee: Bonesaw and its reskins, Ubersaw, Vita-Saw, Amputator, Solemn Vow

Having lost the Medigun, the way the Medic plays is changed drastically to one more similiar to the Sniper, though more durable, having health and health regeneration, but less powerful.

Being one of the two classes given access to ranged primaries, the Crusader's Crossbow is essential if you have access to it. It fires projectiles which both heals allies and harms enemies. Firing into a huge brawl will almost ensure a useful effect, though if in a shootout with enemy Snipers, you will have to watch out for your allies as they will block your attacks. As the weapon is slow to fire and reload, you may consider switching to your melee weapon if your enemies are in close range.

Your Bonesaw is your standard melee weapon, but the Amputator and Solemn Vow are direct upgrades, so you want to always equip them if you have them. The Amputator also deals standard damage, but lets you heal all surrounding allies upon taunting, which is easier than using your crossbow to heal them one by one, at the cost of leaving yourself vulnerable to attack so use it during lulls in fighting. In the middle of a huge brawl, using the Taunt is risky, but could save your entire team from death and give them a huge edge over your enemies. Equipping it along with the Crusader's Crossbow will improve your natural health regeneration slightly. The Solemn Vow deals standard damage as well, but allows you to see the health of the enemy team letting you and your team mates fight more intelligently. Having lost the ability to use Ubercharges, the Ubersaw and Vita-saw no longer offer any benefits to the Medic so they are to be avoided if possible as the Ubersaw slows your attack speed while the Vita-saw diminishes your health.

Sniper

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: Huntsman
  • Secondary: Razorback, Darwin's Danger Shield, Cozy Camper
  • Melee: Kukri and its reskins, Tribalman's Shiv, Bushwacka, Shahanshah

As a Sniper, your role is no different than standard play, as you possess the most powerful ranged attack in this mode: the Huntsman's arrows. Fight at a distance from the frontlines, and eliminate any threats with a well-aimed arrow. You can ignite your arrows without a Pyro with the various torches on the map, letting yur arrows inflict more damage and set enemies on fire from a distance.

Without your SMG or Jarate available, your secondary should be one of either shields. The Razorback is ,uch more useful for protecting against Spies, since they have no alternative weapon and thus are limited to backstabs as a reliable attack. The Darwin's Danger Shield gives you an additional 25 health, which would be preferable if you often get into direct confrontations, as it let's you survive longer in large fights. The Cozy Camper isn't useful at all, since you don't need its bonuses when using the Huntsman.

For the choice of your melee weapon, your Kukri deals standard melee damage and has no drawbacks, but you might want to consider taking the Bushwacka. It forces crits when under the influence of the Buff Banner or against Crit-a-Cola Scouts or Buffalo Steak Sandvich Heavies, can still randomly crit and the rareness of fire sources in this mode, so it's almost a straight upgrade of the Kukri. The Tribalman's Shiv deals less damage, but it's bleed effect can force enemies to retreat or let your teammates finish them off easily. The Shahanshah is a good weapon to bring if you only switch to melee as a desperation measure. It's increased damage as your health goes down makes you more deadly, and can be a good self-defense tool until you find some health.

Spy

• Allowed weapons
  • Primary: None
  • Secondary: None
  • Melee: Knife and its reskins, Your Eternal Reward and its reskin, Conniver's Kunai, Big Earner, Spy-cicle
  • PDA: Disguise Kit, Invisibility Watch and its reskins, Cloak and Dagger, Dead Ringer

Keeping your ability to backstab and being able to use your disguises and cloak lets you remain a deadly stealth class in medieval mode. Your melee weapons deal the least damage in this mode, so don't directly confront enemies. You must also alter your behavior when disguised, as enemy behavior on this map will change radically. Make sure your disguise doesn't have an unavailable weapon out, like a Sniper Rifle when disguised as a Sniper. Press "b" to change it to your melee weapon.

As for your melee choice, since you already rely on it as your primary form of attack normally, explaining it here would be pretty redundant, so pick whatever you're comfortable with in normal play and you won't feel much of a difference. Something to note here is that the Spy-cicle becomes a straight upgrade to your Knife as it regenerates instantly, making you effectively immune to fire.

BLU

Scout

Because of your reduced firepower, your role is pretty much only for capturing points and not engaging enemies. Use your speed to get to the points and initiate capture. Throw in some bat swings to weaken enemies for your teammates. Because the points on this map captures faster than other maps, having your increased capture rate can be very useful, capturing a point before the enemy even respawns.

Pyro

Take your SVF and light as much enemies on fire as you can. Don't try to kill enemies unless you have to, as your team will deal with them. You should also help your team capture points.

Engineer

As an Engineer, the best you can do is to weaken enemies and help capture points, which can be done much better by other classes. Do your team a favor and just switch classes.

Sniper

As soon as the gates open, get closer to the keep until you can see the RED battlements. Enemies are likely still on the battlements before jumping down, as well as enemy Snipers who will take aim at your teammates and yourself. As you reach the stone wall, you should have a good view of the entire map, as well as several torches to light your arrows. At this point you can choose to take down enemies on the battlements or help your teammates capturing a point. Enemies will usually be clumped around the point along with your teammates, so firing arrows at the point should net you a few lucky kills.

After both points are captured your job is made slightly easier. Enemies defending the point will be grouped together on the point and the corridor before it right up to the gate, which means sending an arrow into the keep through the gate will very likely be a successful hit. If you're not confident in your aiming skills, light your arrows from the nearby torches to increase your damage output. Watch out for enemies jumping down from above and take care of them quickly.

RED

Scout

On RED, the most you can do is distract the enemy. Use your speed to get on a contested point and block capture. Run circles around them and deliver some bat swings. There really isn't much you can do, so it might be better to switch to a different class.

Pyro

Take you SVF and light as much enemies on fire as you can, killing if necessary. Enemies are usually grouped aroung a control point, so you can set a bunch of them alight jumping straight onto on.

Engineer

As an Engineer, the best you can do is to weaken and distract enemies, which can be done much better by other classes. Do your team a favor and just switch classes.

Sniper

As a RED Sniper, you should be on the battlements most of the time. As the match begins, get to the keep's battlements and have an arrow lit. Simply take aim at whoever you wish, and be prepared to deal with the occasional targe-jumper.

If both points are captured and the gate has opened, drop right down to the corridor leading to the point and snipe from there. It's the only way through for everyone except the Demo and is a major chokepoint, so firing off a few arrows will guarantee you hit someone.