Written by Chipbuster, Editing by Zenophobia, Mudkip![TSnake], and Pie21
So, you just got your hands on Team Fortress 2. You install it, boot it up… and realize that the so-called “instruction manual” is just a 10 page colouring book on the sentry gun. Now what?
We here at TF2S know how frustrating it can be to try to play a game from scratch, especially a game where there are nine different classes, each with its unique abilities and weaknesses, so we decided to distil our in-depth class guides into this more concise guide, which will cover the basics of playing TF2.
Role: Harassment and Reconnaissance
Strengths: Fastest class in the game, Can double jump, High damage output
Weaknesses: Fragile
Have you ever been bothered by a fly that just won’t go away? Well the Scout is that fly. Because he runs 33% faster than most other classes, he can simply run away and come back later if he doesn’t want to fight. Furthermore, when the time to fight comes, his double jump makes him very difficult to hit. However, his low health means that he pretty much drops dead if you can hit him with a sneeze.
His Scattergun does massive damage point blank, but its damage falls off quickly with range. The pistol is used to pick off wounded enemies, and is significantly more effective than the Scattergun at medium-long ranges. He carries a baseball bat as a melee weapon, and while it swings faster than other weapons, it doesn’t deliver as much damage per hit, so make sure that the hits connect.
Role: All-Rounder
Strengths: High damage output, Can rocket jump
Weaknesses: Small ammo capacity, Slow
If you were good at Quake or Doom, try your hand at the soldier. He is the bread-and-butter assault unit, but he’s no cannon fodder. As a matter of fact, he can be one of the most dangerous classes if played skilfully. His primary Rocket Launcher carries four rockets that have a rather long travel time (but travel in a perfectly straight line), so you’ll need to lead your targets. Also, aim at or near the enemy’s feet since rockets can still cause splash damage, even if they do not directly hit the target. As nophysicalbody said in The Soldier, Versus, “Soldiers should be shooting at the walls and ground near their enemies, not at their enemies.” The Soldier has a secondary shotgun in case he runs out of rockets, and a shovel to defend himself at point blank. The Soldier isn’t really weak in any one area, but since his rocket only has 4 rounds, you should try to keep it loaded as much as possible.
Soldiers also have the ability to rocket jump (see Soldier Videos for some examples). Simply fire a rocket at the ground immediately after jumping fly upwards, or jump and shoot the ground behind you to travel forward rapidly. Rocket jumping tends to take a chunk out of your health, so be careful when and where you use it.
Role: Flank and Ambush.
Strengths: Moderate speed, Afterburn, Spy detection
Weaknesses: Being seen
The Pyro is the ambush class of TF2. His average health and speed may seem innocuous enough, but the flamethrower can deal out massive damage close range. Since the flamethrower is a powerful close quarters but useless outside of that range, the Pyro will spend a lot of time stalking and ambushing his prey. The Pyro’s main weapon is not his flamethrower, but the element of surprise, and if you can sneak up on people without them noticing, you will be rewarded. Once he’s lit someone on fire, they will lose health steadily for 10 seconds unless they find water or a health source to extinguish themself. The Pyro’s shotgun can be handy at medium range to finish off burning victims.
The Pyro’s flamethrower comes with a “compression blast” for its secondary fire. Right click, and for a cost of 25 ammo, the Pyro can reflect incoming objects, including rockets, pipe bombs, sticky bombs, arrows, and even enemy players. Experiment with it in-game; it’s truly one of the most entertaining and useful weapons. For more information, check out the Compression Blast guide.
As a final note, if you’re spotted, it’s usually better to beat a hasty retreat; Pyros that charge blindly and fire (W+M1 Pyros) usually end up dead.
Role: Area control, Spam, Building destruction
Strengths: Highest Damage output in the game
Weaknesses: Close combat, Somewhat slow
Gifted with average health and below average speed, the Demoman doesn’t seem to be too much of a threat. His weapons are where he shines however, giving him the highest potential damage of any class in TF2. His primary weapon is a pipe bomb (or ‘grenade’) launcher that carries four pipe bombs. The pipes travel rather slowly in an arc that makes it difficult to hit enemies directly. Fortunately, the pipes explode a few seconds later if they don’t make direct contact, so you can still deal plenty of damage this way.
The sticky bomb launcher is technically the Demoman’s secondary, but it’s really a second primary. It’s also probably the most versatile weapon in the game. Left click to place bombs, and right click to detonate them at any time. You can place them down around a corner and wait for someone to run through, then blow them up. It can also be used to sticky bomb jump, by planting a sticky, jumping over it, and detonating. It’s also probably one of the best weapons against sentry guns; place 3 stickies down by a sentry and right click. KA-BOOM!
Lastly, the Demoman’s melee weapon is a whiskey bottle, and it’s the only one that won’t cause self-inflicted damage at close range, so if you’re low on health, you may want to pull it out and hope for the best. His less-than-average speed makes using the bottle difficult however, so try to avoid close-quarters combat if you want to survive for long.
Role: Damage sponge and Mobile bullet hose
Strengths: Massive damage at close range, Highest health in the game
Weaknesses: Painfully slow.
The Heavy’s slow speed and high health conjure images of a tank, and that is exactly what he is. His minigun can kill even the toughest enemies at point blank in less than half a second, but it takes a second to spin up, and its damage falls off quickly at longer range. To avoid having to spin up all the time, you can hold down the right mouse button, which will spin the gun without firing.
However, the Heavy is a slow as a snail while spinning, so you should only be spinning when you’re expecting a fight. His secondary shotgun can be used once his minigun runs out, which happens surprisingly often. To avoid this, remember to pick up ammo from the weapons of your fallen enemies. The Heavy’s slow speed and high threat makes him a primary target for just about every other class, so try and keep a Medic with you, and be on constant alert for Snipers and Spies.
Role: Area denial
Strengths: Can construct buildings (sentry gun, dispenser teleporter)
Weaknesses: Is virtually useless without buildings, Low health
The Engineer is a special class. His main weapon is not his shotgun or pistol; it is his deployable Sentry Gun. It automatically targets and shoots enemies once set up, and is not easy to take down when looked after. He can also construct dispensers to help heal and supply his team, and teleporters to get his team can get to the front lines faster. His wrench can be used to upgrade and repair all his buildings by smacking them with it. In addition, two hits from a wrench will knock off an enemy Spy’s sapper.
The sentry deserves a special mention because of its key role in defensive play. The sentry will automatically target the closest enemy and blast them with a hail of bullets and/or rockets. However, the sentry has a fairly slow rotation speed, and will usually fall to enemy übercharges. In addition, Demoman popping in and out of cover while planting and detonating sticky bombs nearby will usually kill both the sentry and the Engineer behind it. A Spy’s sapper will disable a building and slowly destroy it, but an alert Engineer will have time to deal with the Spy before returning to save his machines.
Hint: When placing a building, right click to rotate it so that you can build in corners and along walls.
Role: Healing
Strengths: Can heal injured teammates, Can ‘overheal’ healthy teammates
Weaknesses: Weak in direct combat
The Medic is very ineffective on his own. His Syringe gun doesn’t really do enough damage to take down any of the heavier classes, and the bonesaw is just a regular melee weapon. However, the Medic’s has a few advantages to make up for his poor damage output. Firstly, he is the second fastest class (107%) making it easier to dodge enemy projectiles and get to injured teammates faster. Secondly, he has passive health regeneration that will slowly restore his health at a rate that increases over time if you don’t take get shot. Finally and most importantly, he has the Medigun.
Ah yes, the Medigun. Point it at an enemy and he’ll laugh at you. However, point it at a teammate and he will begin to gain health at a fairly rapid clip. In addition, it can buff teammates to 150% of their base health, so a Heavy can reach 450 HP (FYI, that takes a lot of punishment to undo). And if all that weren’t enough, healing teammates will slowly charge his übercharge. Once the übercharge meter (located on the lower right of the screen) is full, you can right click to make you and your Medigun target invincible for 8 seconds. Make sure that you keep the Medigun beam locked on your target the whole time or he will lose his über. This ability, combined with a Demoman or Pyro, is perfect for breaking otherwise impenetrable enemy defences.
Role: Precision elimination (long range)
Strengths: Longest range of any class
Weaknesses: Low health, Poor short range combat
The “precision death” class of TF2, the Sniper delivers death to whoever needs it the most. Just like in any good FPS, the Sniper carries a scoped sniper rifle. However, this one is slightly different to your standard sniper rifle, because it charges as you keep the scope up and shows a team-colourede dot on the surface it’s aimed at. When uncharged, the shots do minimal damage, but fully charged they do 150 (enough to kill all light classes). In addition, headshots do triple damage, so that an uncharged headshot does the same damage as a fully charged bodyshot, and a fully charged headshot does enough damage to kill any class.
While it’s nice to be able to kill people from where they can’t hurt you, Snipers have a limited damage output under pressure (since the rifle only charges so fast) and the secondary weapon, the SMG, has a measly damage output. Still, if you enjoy whoring the AWP in Counter-Strike, the Sniper may be a class for you to try.
Role: Precision elimination (up close)
Strengths: Can cloak, Can kill any class in one hit
Weaknesses: Low health, Cloak is not foolproof, Virtually defenceless if exposed
The Spy is a class for players who enjoy outwitting their opponents, instead of out-aiming them. He has the ability to cloak, allowing him to turn invisible for a period of time, and a knife that can score one-hit kills from behind. He also carries sappers that disable and slowly destroy enemy buildings, and a revolver that is not to be underestimated (at close range, it can drop most classes in three shots).
In addition, he has a disguise kit to fool the other team (at least on first sight) into thinking that he is one of them. As long as the Spy remains undiscovered, he can wreak havoc on the enemy, but there are quite a few tricks that an aware enemy can use to reveal him as a Spy (see the Spy Detection guide). For example, when cloaked, if the spy bumps into an enemy or is shot, he will show up briefly as a team coloured silhouette. In addition, the Spy’s suit appears to be made of polyester, as he will burst into flame at the slightest provocation from an enemy Pyro, revealing him as an enemy. Despite the various methods of Spy detection, there are just as many advanced tactics a skilled Spy can employ, making him the most feared player in the game (see Spy Strategy).
posted on September 28th, 2009 at 7:26 am