Pyro is by far the most hated class in all of Team Fortress 2. He’s one of the games three offensive classes (with the others being scout and soldier), and can inflict some serious damage in just a few seconds.
No one really knows where the pyro comes from, as he covers his face with a mask and always mumbles – making it impossible to distinguish an accent or any ethnicity. Although we refer to the pyro as “he” there is much debate about the true sex of the pyro. All you really need to know is that he’s/she’s utterly crazy, equipped with a flamethrower that could burn you to ashes in a matter of seconds.
Oddly enough, he also carries around a fire axe. Yes, the same kind that firemen uses – you know, the people who try to fight fires, unlike the pyro who is all about setting them. On long-distance he makes use of an old fashion shotgun. Even though some might say that pyro is the simplest class in Team Fortress 2, he’s not all about running and shooting relentlessly. You know the drill by now: below are some of the bare basics of playing a pyro, which will hopefully help you in toasting the enemy:
-Only use your flamethrower in close range. Not only will you actually hit the target, but the closer you are, the more damage you’ll do.
-Be sneaky. I know it’s hard to actually disguise a screaming maniac who insists on torching everything, but your most effective weapon is the element of surprise. If you manage to flank the opponent and get close to him, you’ll easily out-maneuver both him and his teammates.
-Friendly fire is normally off, so don’t be afraid to waste some smoke on your friends. If you see someone who’s suspiciously sneaky, flame him. If he’s a spy he’ll start to burn – even though he’s wearing a disguise. The same goes for invisible spies.
-Don’t always chase your enemy. If your enemy is caught on fire, he’ll receive damage over time – meaning you might get kills several seconds after your attack.
If you’re looking to do more than just second degree burning, you’ll need – as with everything in life – a lot of practice. To make things easier for the more experienced players, here is some advice below:
-One of your main objectives as a pyro is to wreak as much havoc as possible. If you manage to ambush the opposing team, try to hit multiple targets and then pull back. If done properly, you’ll be able to burn several opponents – who will keep burning after your attack – and still be alive.
-Your flamethrower is big. A great tactic is to hide behind corners and ambush the opponents, but remember that your weapon is quite massive in size – and might give away your position. Simply don’t point it in the wrong direction.
-In most situations you will be hunting the opponent, not the other way around. Remember that when running forward, your flamethrower won’t have a very long range. If you stop you’ll have a greater range and if you run backwards you’ll have the biggest range possible with the flamethrower. So if you know that someone is lurking around the corner – perhaps a pack of enemies – remember to halt before facing the enemies.
-If the scout is wielding a sandman, he has the ability to stun his opponents by hitting them with baseballs. If you use your second ability with the flamethrower – which is air blast – you can actually stop the baseball mid-air, making the sandman useless. The same thing can be done if you’re facing a sniper with a bow – simply air blast his arrows and you’ll never have to worry about any virtual Robin Hoods making your life miserable.
The pyro is a critical defender when protecting the point against Uber charged enemies. Using the air blast will knock the ubers back and if done properly can render their uber useless.
Weapon Tactics
The pyro is primarily a close range fighter however the shotgun and the flare gun give him err her the ability to do damage from afar. With that said don’t sit back and defend your point with a flare gun as it will only take out an enemy who has already sustained a fair amount of damage. The shotgun is not accurate enough to do much damage from far away either.
The Backburner – I play the pyro A LOT and 85% of the time I use the standard flamethrower simply because of the compression blast which is extremely handy especially on point capture blocks. With that said there is a place and time for the backburner.
The backburner does more damage than the standard flamethrower and does critical damage from behind. If you are more of a stealth player than this will be your better load out choice.
Shotgun vs. Flare Gun – This is more of a personal preference load out selection. Both are primarily used when you are out of range with the flamethrower/back burner. The flare gun does a small amount of damage and the shotgun, when relatively close to a target does a little more than the flare gun.
Regardless of which you have equipped you can unleash a “Hadouken” on your enemies which is one of the better attack taunts in the game.
Fire Axe vs. Axstinguisher vs. Homewrecker – If you like axes the Axstinguisher is a great choice! It does critical damage on a burning opponent. This is a great feature when you are behind a heavy. Quickly light him up then switch to the Axstinguisher and finish him off!If your opponent is not already on fire the Axstinguisher does 505 of the damage of the fire axe.
With that said I am still a big fan of the Homewrecker. I like destroying buildings and the homewrecker is the perfect tool for just that. Another benefit is it’s ability to destroy enemy sappers in one hit. It deals 25% less damage to an enemy than the fire axe.
