The pyro is my most-played class. I’ve logged almost twice as many hours with the flame-wielding maniac than my next favorite class. Why? Because he (or is it she?) is a surprisingly versatile character, featuring a good short-range attack weapon that functions as an excellent support tool. As a pyro you help protect your teammates while holding back the enemy. A skilled pyro can take on any other class (though some with difficulty and a low-success rate), and the sizzling flames you spout tends to send your foes scampering. It’s good to play with fire, and here’s how to do it well.
* Pyros exist for two reasons: pushing back the enemy at the front lines, and making everyone feel safe and protected from spies.
* I like to burn things. A lot. For this reason, I will charge flame-first into a pack of heavies just to set them on fire. Why? Because burning characters often have this reflex to retreat and heal. If I can buy my team a few seconds safety, that’s worth risking my life. Note that this doesn’t mean “hold W and the left mouse button!!!”, it’s a tactical charge, and I rarely die because of it.
* Corners are your friend. Fire can kind of clip through corners to hit hidden sentries and camping enemies. Stay in safety while you burn.
* Flames aren’t always an attack, they can serve as a deterrent as well. Spouting a blast of fire across a hallway discourages foes from running through. Running around burning the air also keeps watchful spies at a distance. Prevention can be the best medicine.
* The compressed air blast: use it. Don’t switch to the backburner, it’s useless by comparison. The ability to knock back an opponent is a priceless boon for your team. If an uber comes in, its your job to hold them off or, at the very least, disorient them with constant shoves.
* It takes a pyro’s flames some time to kill an opponent. For this reason, he usually functions better as a fire-and-forget class. One strategy I employ is to run to the front lines, set a bunch of people on fire, knock them back with a blast of air, then step back and let the heavier artillery in for a hit or two.
* Pyros are the only class that can really detect spies. For this reason, you should always spy check. everything and everyone. Tap the fire button when you pass any teammate, just in case. Take the road less traveled and burn thin air just in case a spy is lurking around. And don’t be afraid to burn seemingly empty corners, spies love to hide there.
* Pyros are an engineer’s best friend. Hover around them whenever possible, they feel warm and comfy because of this.
* Shotgun versus flare gun is a difficult choice. I find myself sticking with the latter for one key reason: fire is scary. Setting someone on fire who is camping a tunnel exit is a good way to encourage them to move on.
* Pyros are terrible in wide open spaces. Keep that in mind.
* Most of your pyro points will come from assists. Don’t expect to be vaulted to the top of the scoreboard when you play a pyro, but do expect to keep your team safe. Karmic bonus points are awesome.
As my third played class being pyro, this was a great guide. One thing you should mention is the axtinguisher vs axe. It is such a great feeling to burn someone, airblast them into a wall or into the air, and axtinguish their face.
One more thing. As a spy main, I would be grateful if you disregard the 7th point ;)
Most of my TF2 time is spent on a server where a tie game results in melee combat. For that reason, I keep the regular axe equipped, as the axtinguisher isn’t useful against non-burning opponents. Besides that, I never really use my melee weapon anyway, as the flames work so well in close-quarters.
Yes, but also in that server, aren’t you randomly reassigned to a *different* class for melee mode than the one you were just playing? (Or am I thinking of a different server than you?)
Also, one thing I’ve never really experimented with, let’s say I’m a Medic with Kritzkreig, and you’re my buddy Pyro… How does the burning work with a Kritz?
Things die. Fast.
Why not add me up on steam art. videogamefreak812. We can slay some things. I could kritz you so you can find out just how deadly the kritzed-flamethrower really is.
Yeah, it randomizes the melee class, but you can re-roll by pressing the , button and choosing a different class. Repeat until you’re a heavy. :-P
Kritz pyro would devastate a crowd of people. It’s usually not a good idea, though, as the pyro is still pretty vulnerable.
I’ve also wondered (this is going a hair off-topic now), what happens in say, a round of Warpath or Dustbowl or something non-Arena, what happens if one team somehow successfully kills off everybody on the other team (everyone’s dead at the same time), prior to any sort of sudden death situation? Does the one team just win? Or do they just have a few seconds to run around and capture everything before people start respawning as normal?
The latter. I don’t think I’ve seen that happen before (though a Kritz+Uber pyro would do the trick!!), but I’ve seen close to it, and I would imagine you just get a few seconds to run around and play.