Dustbowl Is A Mystery To Me

Any good guides already written for this map?   Really, I'm totally clueless sometimes on Dustbowl and have found that the most useful thing I can do is go Scout and jump on the point once my teammates have cleared the way for me. 

Just play it more. If you really dont know what class to be, be Medic on offense or defence and that way you can watch what others do.

Yeah, I don't have a lot of time in on Dustbowl so that's what I need to do. 

Dustbowl is primarily about cracking sentry defense.

I almost always play soldiers and engineers, so that tends to bias how I see maps. However, understanding sentries and thier abilities and limitations is the key to understanding dustbowl (probably other maps as well). Engineers will be a part of 99% of any dustbowl defense team. If you understand the best locations for sentries you learn not only where to place them but also where to anticipate them.

For example, on Dustbowl stage one, you can pretty much count on a sentry occupying the shed with the first capture point. When playing a solder on offense, this means I know my easiest route is usually going hard right out of the 3rd exit and pushing up the right side of the map. Often I will be able to target a sentry through the windows in the shed as well as take out a sentry positioned behind the shed. Additionally, this "hard right" firing position allows you to fire on enemy players who are moving to the capture point. If you cut off the CP it will go down. It often does take a spy or heavy/medic combo to take down sentry on the shed, but, hey, thats TF2. BTW, I end up scoring a bunch of captures from the "backdoor" of the shed. It is possible to trigger the CP without exposing yourself to sentries on the stairs above you. You are very exposed in this position,but hopefully you will have a good idea about whether you should be worried about enemies coming in from behind you or dropping down from above.

On the second part of the 1st stage you have 3 upper platforms, all of which provide different firing angles for probable sentry placements. Sentries will almost always be placed in the CP shed  as well as along the curved wall in between the CP and the defenders spawn point. As a soldier or a demo you are excellent at taking out these positions and opening up the CP for capture.

One bit of advice that is especially true for dustbowl is to keep moving. You start to learn where snipers positon themselves so that you can scan them instantly when you "expose" yourself to fire. You are also "on a timer"n that if you are firing from an upper platform you can expect a soldier or demo to return fire on the positon within the next 5 seconds. You also can anticipate pyros attempting to get behind you.

Do not be in a rush to move to the CP. You will generally be more successful by "supporting" a push on a CP. Defenses tend to collapse on the CP as soon as the CP meter starts to creep, providing you with a number of targets who aren't thinking about you. That said, if you think a CP has an actual chance of falling, you often still have time to "get in on it."

1st stage offense: Medic/Pyro combo rushing straight for the shack to take out whoever/whatever is in there. Other attacks from the side as Delillo said to take out reinforcements. The critical part in this stage is speed. If you can rush the first point and cap it immediately the other team has hardly any time to protect the second cap. The longer you wait, the harder it gets. In this phase single runs on the CP are fine. Later, if the enemy is prepared for an attack you will probably need multiple uebers to clean the point and get rid of any excess stickies.

1st stage defense: ALWAYS have some defense on the second cap point (see above).
For the first cap point a sentry up near the top of the right shack is pretty good along with a demoman. Because the entrance to the shack as well as the spawn exits are very narrow you can actually block an advancing ueber by placing a heavy and medic next to each other. If you pop the ueber early this will buy your engineers more time to build up their stuff. A sentry and pyro on the far left behind the shack can guard against people approaching from that direction. Snipers have a short lifespan here (countersnipe & spy) but can cause some damage. Eventually move a heavy plus medic and sentry off to the side of the second cap point (on top of the crates). Some sentries covering the open area near cap point 2 are useful for collateral damage and pushback but should not be the only defense. One sniper up near the tower should guard the entrances.

2nd stage offense: Expect sentries in up to four locations. On the shack to the right. On the capture point. Inside the attic next to the capture point. Next to the curved wall hidden from view, but facing the first CP. There will also be plenty of demomen, and maybe a sniper or two. The approach really depends on which of these spots are occupied. The sentry on CP can be taken out by a spy backstabbing the attending engineer and/or by a demoman shooting stickies from the far left. For opponents on the cap and sentries in the attic the fastest way again is a pyro/medic combo hopping up on the far left crates and flaming out the room. Sentries on the right roof will eventually fall to heavy/demoman/soldier fire. I would send a spy up there to temporarily sap the sentries at the same time. Speaking of which: if you can spare a spy, have him take out the teleporter ENTRANCES at the enemy base.
For the second cap point I do not have a reliable strategy. Lots of demomen and soldiers seem to do the trick. Expect heavy sentry fire (making pyros mostly useless here). Two engineers maintaining teleporters to the far right tunnel are a good idea.

2nd stage defense:
For the first cap, pretty much the same things I mentioned above apply. Put a sentry on/near the cap and a few more sprinkled across the map. Lots of demomen and medics ! Leave somebody at the second cap point just in case.
If it wasn't for stickies, the second cap point could almost be held by an entire team of engineers- just make sure that the sentries are not all lumped together and at least one is actually covering the entire cap point area.


3rd stage map: If you are new to dustbowl, there are two peculiar things about this map. It has a tunnel leading from the middle of the map (small alley) right up to bridge at the final cap point. This makes for great ambushes on both teams. Secondly there are two spawn rooms for defense. The right spawn room has one exit leading to cap point 1 and the other exit leading to cap point 2. Once the first point has been captured that secondary exit will be locked down.

3rd stage offense: Expect sentries behind the shack on the left, on the stairs to the right and in that narrow ledge to the right. The left one can be taken out by a demoman shooting stickies blindly throught the left windows. Having a spy sapping the sentries at that time is helpful. Use 2 uebers (any class) to clear out most of the s

I have now come to LOVE Dustbowl.  I mostly play Pyro on defense and sometimes on offense, too.  On 2nd stage defense, I like to hang around the CP and do a circle eight... up the stairs to the gate, jump off to the left, back in below the stairs, over the cp, back to the stairs, etc.  It's great when there's an engie or two there with dispensers near by as it's pretty much just FLAME ON all the time.  If a medic is willing to uber me then I will charge into the gate given the chance and take out whatever engy stuff has been built up in there. 

GOOD TIMES!

if you really wanna know the secret to the perfect dustbowl offense. its all about disruption, and as a demoman you will learn why. if you take out the teleporters the team is force to come to you so lay down some stickies and at least 4 or  of them will become attracted to you and will try to take you out instead of protecting the first point. having said that you will have to be really careful not die and have to be skillful and crafty at the same time. you dont have to kill any enemies just keep them from protecting capture point A stage 1.

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Two ueber-pyros and that's it for point A on that stage. After that it gets more interesting for demoman.

I've finally learned most of the layout of Dustbowl and it's become one of my favorite maps. Like Delillo above I mostly use soldiers and engineers on that map. I actually enjoy playing defense on this map the most,

If you're sneaky, you can setup a sentry in the canyon on Stage 1, just around the first bend, so they can't see it when they exit their middle door. You'll cherry pick a few kills that way before they wise up. Teleporter placement is key so your teammates can get back to the CP quickly after they are killed.

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Wait, wait, wait. I don't play Dustbowl very often, but 3rd exit? There's the one directly in front of the CP shed and there's the one in the valley. Where's the other one?