Weapons
The two fire based weapons that the pyro carries are the flamethrower and the incendiary cannon. Both will set enemies on fire.
The pyro also carries the single-barrel shotgun.
As with all classes use the crowbar as a last resort.
Special Skills
Hitting the special skill key (right mouse button by default) will select the incendiary cannon.
Grenades
The pyro carries the standard fragmentation hand grenade and the napalm grenades. When they explode, the napalm grenades cover a medium size area with flames. These flames will burn for a few seconds and any enemies that contact them will be set on fire.
Strengths
So right off the top, I must say that if your goal is to kill lots of enemies, you shouldn't play the pyro. The pyro's role is that of a supporting player. You might help your other teammates get some great scores, but that's the fact you must understand. Instead, the pyro is able to cause confusion and panic over at the enemy's side of the map. He's also great as the first line of defense, to wear down incoming opponents. His flamethrower is able to send a considerable large volume of flames a good distance in front of him. The flames can block the vision of his enemies, thus causing the confusion. The flamethrower doesn't really do that much damage. A pyro will have to chase down an opponent and keep him in his flames for many seconds before he'll go down. However, all the pyro needs to do is set some enemies on fire and his job will be done. Players don't like to be set on fire, they lose their armour and health, and all they can see in front of them is flames. A good pyro will keep moving, trying to flame as many enemies as he can. He probably won't take anyone down, but he'll scatter the enemy, giving your other teammates a chance to accomplish the map objectives.
From afar, the pyro should use his incendiary cannon. Don't mistake this cannon for the bad boy the soldier carries. The pyro's cannon is much less powerful though he can carry more rockets in the launcher at one time. Also, the incendiary cannon has a larger blast radius than the soldier's rocket. Even an indirect hit from it will ensure that the target will be set on fire. The rocket is great for setting a large group of enemies on fire, especially snipers on a high-up deck somewhere. Most people don't know this, but the incendiary cannon can light enemies on fire through walls and roofs. So if you target ducks behind a wall, shoot for where you think he is behind the wall, he'll get toasted on the other side.
One last thing, the pyro is able to hold enemies at bay using his napalm grenades. Like all of his arsenal, the napalm grenades won't kill anyone, but they do act as a deterrent. No one likes running into an area thats covered with flames. For them, that means they'll be on fire, have their vision obscured, and they know someone is waiting for them on the other side. Use the napalm grenades in doorways, hallways, and narrow corridors
Weaknesses
The pyro's main weakness is that he lacks weapons that can be classified as "devastingly powerful". The flamethrower and cannon can take a fair chunk out of an ememy, but you really have to work at taking the enemy down. On most one-on-one fights, the pyro must be careful to keep moving and using his flames to confuse the enemy.
How To Defeat A Pyro
The pyro can be engaged at any distance. At closer distances just make sure you aren't standing in one place for too long. You can be sure the pyro will want to fry you with his flamethrower. It does take a few seconds of sustained contact, but a pyro can take you down. So keep moving, and just fire your weapon as many times as you can. Use a well-timed grenade. Or try the run-and-gun game. Shoot the pyro, run away for cover, then shoot again.
At longer distances, your safety becomes increased. He'll use the incendiary cannon, and to be frank, you can take two direct hits from it before you need to worry. Given that, get off the shots you need to take him down.
Weapons
The spy carries two weapons directly related to his profession: the tranquilizer gun and the knife.
The tranquilizer will slow any class down to a fraction of their max speed. I like to use this when I'm being chased or when I want to attack an enemy from behind. The spy's knife can kill an enemy instantly if you stab them in the back. This weapon works good with tranq.
The other weapon the spy carries is the nailgun and super shotgun which should be used if your cover is blown.
Special Skills
Hitting the special skill key (right mouse button by default) will bring up the disguise menu, allowing the spy to look like anyone he wants.
Grenades
Playing the spy does take a fair amount of skill and thinking, so if you suck at it first don't feel so bad. That said, the spy's biggest strength lies in his ability to don disguises and impersonate the enemy. To do so, hit the special skill key to bring up the disguise menu. Here you have several choices, you can either change your colours first or you can change your disguise. Pick what class you want to be disguised as. A good thing to keep in mind is not to pick a class that the enemy doesn't have. If you know the other side doesn't have a medic, don't be one. Also, the spy moves quite fast, almost as fast as the medic. Your disguise won't change that. So, if you go out there as a HWGuy, you'll look like one super fast HWGuy. Ok, once you've changed classes you can then change over to the enemy colour. Now there is some difference here at how people do this. Some spies will not change colours as they leave their base. This allows them to not raise the suspicions of the other side, who invariably will have their eyes trained on the spy's base. Once the spy leaves the base, they will find a hidden away spot to finish their disguise. Now if you do choose to do all your disguising at your base, the acting starts right away. Just don't waltz out of your base. The enemy will think it strange that one of their own just left the other base with nary a pursuer in sight. What you should do is run out of your base like you're an injured teammate. Run backwards and call for medic. Zig and zag as you run over to the other base. To the other side, it looks like you're a teammate who trying to escape out of the enemy base. If you can pull it off, get another teammate to chase you out of your base, firing wildly all that time. I've seen it done and it works really well.
Alright, so you're in disguise and you've made it out of your base... what's next? First, realize that while in disguise you cannot fire your weapons (including the knife). If you do, your disguise will disappear instantly. You may throw grenades and keep your disguise however. A good spy will also be a good actor. When you enter the enemy base, act as if you belong there. Don't run at the sight of the enemy. Remember, they think you're on their team. Also, don't make the mistake of getting close to things that can be triggered only by players on the other team, this includes doors and elevators. If an enemy sees that you're next to a door that normally should open for his teammates, he'll know something's wrong. The key is to act natural around the enemy. Turning away from an opponent while staying still is a good way of deflecting their curiosity. To them, you aren't looking at them (which means you don't consider them a target... yet) and also you aren't running for their flag.
So now you've gained the enemy's trust... what now? Well, the spy is great at infiltrating heavy defenses to take out specific targets. For example, does the enemy have a sniper that's taking out every one of your teammates as they leave the base? Sneak up to the sniper, select the knife, and stab him in the back of the head. One stab should do. Your disguise is now gone, so drop a gas grenade to discourage the use of this perch again, and high-tail it out of there.
Does the enemy have a sentry gun that's cutting down every teammate that tries to get past it? Well, lucky for you, your disguise can fool even a sentry. Taking out a sentry can be risky business. Most times, the engineer that built the sentry will be nearby to maintain it. While it maybe simple to toss two hand grenades at the sentry and run, I'm pretty sure that engineer won't simply let you run away. I play engineer quite a bit and nothing gets an engineer more mad than seeing his sentry go down to a spy's grenade. Don't get me wrong, the toss and run thing works, but now at least one player knows your secret. A better option is to wait for the engineer to leave to get more supplies. Then toss your grenades and run. The drawback is that a good engineer will be wary of anyone who seems to be interested in his defensive set-up. It is quite possible that he'll hit you with his wrench just to check that you're not a spy. What you should do is wait a fair distance from the sentry and act as if you're covering the way leading to the sentry. Keep your eye on the engineer. When he leaves, that's your cue.
The spy is also great at making a run at the enemy flag. He can penetrate all of the enemy's defenses, right to the flag. The drawback is that once a spy grabs a flag, his disguise disappears. This frees you to fire all your weapons, as you will need them since the enemy will be using theirs too. Remember too that any sentries that you passed safely on your way to the flag will now know who you are and will fire away. A common technique is to make the grenade tosses at the sentries and then immediately run for the flag.
One ability the spy has that I haven't mentioned is the ability to feign death. This allows the spy to act like he is dead and lie on the floor. Remember to use the 'j' to key to feign. If you don't use that key, your feign will not be silent and the enemy will know a spy has feigned. While down on the floor you can still look around, but not fire your weapons. When a spy looks around while feigning, his body will rotate around. This will give away the spy easily, so good spies will not look around when feigning. Feigning can be used to spy on the enemy, thus giving your team valuable intel. Feigning can also be used to take out single opponents. A common tactic is to wait for an enemy player to pass freely. Once the player passes, the spy will stop feigning and run up to player from behind. Then, the knife is usually used to take the player down.
The spy is also a middle-of-the-road fighter, good for classes with similar health and armour values. One on one, a spy should try to the following technique. First, shoot the opponent with the tranquilizer gun. This halves the player's foot speed so he can't run away from you. The tranq dart also impairs his ability to fire his weapons. Then, switch to the knife and run up to him and stab him until he goes down. Players hate this because they are powerless to run away. I know I don't like going down that way.
Weaknesses
The spy cannot fire while disguised and the opposition will use this fact. Many teams will require that teammates fire a round off when entering a critically defended area. This proves to the defenders that the entering player is not a spy. Spies will have to find a way around this test.
Also, in TFC, each player can be identified by pointing your cross-hairs at them. Try it yourself, point at each of your teammates. You'll see in the bottom left-hand corner the player's name and his vitals. A spy from the other team will take on the name and vitals of one of your teammates. This is to help the spy from being easily identified. However, it's quite possible that the player being impersonated will see his name on another player. This will instantly give away the spy's disguise.
A final weakness is that the enemy can see what a spy's next disguise will be. For example, say a spy dies in the enemy base. His body will lie there, at first looking like an enemy spy as he respawns. When he starts to disguise again, however, all his changes will be mirrored in the body he left behind at his last death. The opposition will be able to see instantly what disguise he has now chosen.
How To Defeat A Spy
The spy can wreak much havoc if a team does not become vigilant against his attacks. First, watch the exits of the enemy base, look for players that are the same colour as you are. Do you notice any players that are coming out that didn't go in? Most times, you won't be able to look at the enemy base for long periods of time because of sniper fire. Then, you should station yourself by your own base's entrances. Watch players coming in, and try to ID them with your crosshairs. Do any of them have your name? Also, if you are a scout or spy yourself, try touching all the players coming into your base. This will remove any disguises that a spy might have. If you are an engineer, build a dispenser at one of your main entrances or in a well-traveled narrow hallway. If a spy touches the dispenser as he passes, you will be notified that an enemy is using it. Detonate the dispenser immediately. Note, this works best if you have your eye on the dispenser all the time. If the dispenser explosion doesn't kill the spy, you still won't know what the disguise the spy has. A final, but crude way of checking for spies is to shoot any teammates entering your base. Any spies will exhibit blood when shot. Note that any teammates shot will lose some of their armour (depending on server settings). Some of your teammates won't like that, so apologize if you get the chance.
Other times, you will not be able to cover the entrance or there are too many entrances to cover. In this case, you will be resigned to the fact that spies will enter your base. Pull back your spy defense to critical areas or go on a roving spy hunt. In a roving hunt, watch for players that don't seem to be coming back to base to resupply. One thing to look for is a player who runs back, bypasses the respawn, and runs straight for the flag area. Shoot this teammate immediately to check for a spy. In a critical area defense, you stay in one spot to defend from spies. Watch for anyone entering the critical area. Try to watch from a spot where you can see all entries to the area. Get your teammates to fire off a round when entering this area. Anyone who doesn't do this, fire at them immediately.
Special mention about spies must be made to those playing engineers. A sentry, more often that not, will be destroyed by a spy. The spy is the mortal enemy to a sentry gun. Engineers must be especially paranoid about spies. The first tip is to be at your sentry's side at all times. Leaving it unattended with a spy loose means you will be re-building your gun shortly. As I mentioned before, build a dispenser if possible, in places leading your gun. Be wary of anyone that enters the area or room that your sentry is placed. Shoot them or hit them with your spanner immediately if you have to. Invariably a supposed teammate will get close to your sentry and you'll hear the familiar click of a priming grenade. This is your immediate cue that this is a spy. I know this sounds crazy, but your job is to get in between the spy and your sentry. Get as close to the spy as possible. Your body will block any tossed grenades and might even bounce them away from your sentry. You should also be firing at fast as possible at the spy at the same time. If the spy runs, chase after him, don't let him get away. Make him pay for what he tried to do. If you are lucky enough, you'll finish off the spy in the area where your sentry is. This means you'll be able to watch him re-disguise for the next respawn. Tell your teammates what to look for. Hopefully, they'll get him before he gets to your area again. If not, now you know instantly what class to shoot at.
A final clue to notice is when a spy feigns. Most spies do not use the silent feign (though you should). Look in the upper right corner of the screen to see if anyone died when you heard the cry. If no one did, then a spy has feigned close enough that you heard it. It maybe one of your teammates, but be careful if you're just inside the doors of your base. It is possible an enemy spy is waiting for your teammates to open the door. Cautiously open the door and look for bodies lying near by. Most feigning spies won't have ammo bags on them. Shoot these bodies for evidence of blood.
Weapons
The engineer carries the double-barrel shotgun, the railgun, and his trusty spanner.
The rail gun is good for long shots, but the shotgun is the most dangerous weapon the engineer carries. It should be used for close range battles. However, the engineer is also capable of building items, which makes him one of the more important classes.
Special Skills
Hitting the special skill key (right mouse button by default) will bring up the build menu. The engineer is capable of building sentry guns and ammo dispensers.
Grenades
The engineer carries the standard fragmentation hand grenade and the electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) grenade. The EMP grenade can be the most devastating or most useless grenade in TFC. It's up to the engineer how effective the EMP is. First, realize the EMP works but exploding other sources of ammunition around it. It doesn't actually explode for damage by itself. Throw an EMP into an empty corner and it'll do nothing. Throw an EMP next to some ammo bags and watch everything go boom.
When I say that an EMP will explode any ammunition around it, I must stress it explodes almost everything. This includes ammo bags, set pipebombs, and even detpacks. If a player is carrying explosive ammo like shells, rockets, or pipes, an EMP will even set that off too. This is why an EMP is so effective against heavier classes such as the soldier, demoman, and HWGuy. These classes are carrying so much ammo that if they are caught in an EMP blast, they'll be blown to bits. The problem, however, is when a player is not carrying a lot of explosive ammo, such as a scout. A scout can survive an EMP blast quite easily if they don't have any shotgun shells on them.
The EMP grenade blast radius extends in 3 dimensions. It goes out, up, and down. You must also realize that the EMP blast can go through walls, boxes, floors/ceilings, and water. These two facts must considered to make effective use of the EMP. For example, in the canalzone2 map, many teams will amass players just outside the enemy doors. They are waiting for the doors to open so they can rush into the enemy base. An EMP grenade, tossed to land just in front of the door can clear them out in one huge blast. No other grenade can make its effect be felt through solid objects... use this to your advantage.
A popular tactic with an emp for engineers is to discard any rockets/explosives that you have; prime the emp, and charge the enemy this is called the "suicide emp," but sometimes when you do it just right, it can result in dead enemies and you no worse for wear.
One final note about the EMP, make your toss count. Don't just throw the EMP away without priming it. A skilled player will know an EMP is serious news, and will run away from it. Prime the EMP so that it explodes just as it gets to its intended target.
Strengths
The coolest thing about the engineer is his ability to build automated sentry guns that track and fire at any
enemies that comes into its range. A skilled engineer is the backbone of almost every good defense.
Back in the day, sentry gun assembly and maitnence was a more complicated task. Now, all you have to
do is: start by finding a suitable area. Sentry placement is critical to defense. Finding a place too out in
the open means your sentry will be easily destroyed. Finding a place too well covered means it won't track
enough enemies. Each map has its own perfect places to put a sentry. Watch experienced engineers for clues.
Oh, and make sure you have enough metal to make the sentry. Switch to the wrench and look for the metal
counter on the bottom right, it should read 200. If it doesn't, pick up some more ammo bags.
When you've found your spot, bring up the build menu and pick the option that says "Build sentry gun."
If the spot is acceptable, you will see a tripod come down and you will hear some building sounds.
Note that your gun will be built facing the way your back is facing. You can change its orientation later,
but getting it right the first time can save valuable time. Now at this time you are extremely vulnerable, you
cannot move and you cannot fire or toss grenades. After a few seconds, the building will be complete and you
will be able to move again. A finishing sound will signal the end of building. Be careful when you start to
build. A spy loves catching an engineer in the act of building because you are so helpless. Also, realize that
everyone, even the other team, can hear these building sounds. Anything built for your team will be announced
team-wide with a message. If you hear something being built and no message acknowledges that, then the other
team built it.
Alright, so you've finished building, what do you have right now? You have a puny, level one sentry gun that
fires single shells at a slow rate. At this level, it is extremely vulnerable, and it won't take out many
opponents at all. Note also that your sentry's stats are listed on the bottom left of your screen. You can see
the health and ammo level. This helps you monitor sentry remotely. Now, your goal is to upgrade the sentry
from level one to level three as fast you can. High-tail it from your sentry and grab some ammo bags. Switch
to your wrench and make sure your metal counter is 130 or higher.
One hundred and thirty is the minimum metal count for upgrading your sentry. Now get back to your sentry and
hit it with your wrench. This will add both ammunition and upgrade your sentry level. You'll notice after doing
this a few times that it doesn't hurt to give the sentry two or three wacks to make sure you gave it all your
usable ammo and did upgrade it (if it's not working, you probably don't have enought ammo/metal, go to the respawn).
our sentry should now look much meaner and more powerful. At level two, the sentry now has a single rotating
barrel that fires shells at an amazing rate. The sentry is powerful now, but there is one more upgrade to go.
Grab some more metal (again 130 or more) and upgrade it again. Now it is at level three, the highest level.
Your sentry will now have dual rotating barrels and a rocket launcher. Make sure you ammo was added as well,
otherwise your senty won't have any rockets in it. Now sit back watch your kills climb!
Note: When your sentry has taken dammage, simply hitting it with your wrench will repair it (and add ammo, as
noted above), you need metal to do this, as well.
Ok, to be honest, after a few of the enemy gets cut down by your sentry, they won't like it and they will go
after your gun. In my opinion, a sentry gets built so that the other team can destroy it. Re-building sentries
is a fact of life, so don't get too attached to your gun. So before the enemy can destroy your gun,
disassemble your gun, and rebuild it in another location. This should raise your chances of stopping the
enemy.
The second thing an engineer can build is an ammo dispenser. A dispenser can allow your teammates to grab ammo
and replenish armour without having to go all the way back to a respawn area. Help a guy out who's guarding
the flag, build a dispenser for him. To build one, make sure you have enough metal and find a suitable spot.
Bring up the build menu and pick the "Build dispenser" option. The resulting dispenser will be empty at first,
and it will take a few seconds for it to produce some armour and ammo. Left alone, it will automatically keep
producing armour and ammo until it's capacity is reached. To take from the dispenser, just run up to it and a
menu will ask you what you want. You can also ferry armour and ammo to the dispenser if its not producing fast
enough for you. To do this, crouch and walk up to the dispenser without touching it, then hit it with your
wrench adding ammo works the same way here as the sentry gun.
Note that your dispenser can take damage, but you can also repair with a couple whacks.
The dispenser can also be used for defense as well (like a poor man's sentry). If any of the enemy players
touches your dispenser, you will get a message saying "Enemies are using your dispenser!". At this point, you
can blow up the dispenser by accessing the build menu and choosing the "Detonate dispenser" option. However,
this takes a lot of time, and the enemy player might be out of range by the time your dispenser blows. What
you should do is bind one specific key that blows your dispenser immediately. For example, I use the 'p' key
to blow up my dispensers. To do this, pull down the console and type:
bind p detdispenser
You can use any key you want, I just like using the 'p' key. For defensive purposes build the dispenser in narrow doorways or corridors, where you don't want the enemy to be going. The dispenser is able to detect spies even if they are in disguise. Many times I've seen someone with my team's colour touch my dispenser and I got the "Enemies are..." message. I immediately knew this was a spy and I blew my dispenser, taking the spy out as well. Note that the more ammo (especially rockets) that is in the dispenser, the larger the resulting explosion will be you detonate it. Thus, if time allows, ferry ammo to your dispenser using the method described in the previous section.
The engineer can also make ammunition. Pressing the drop ammo key ('x' by default) will cause the engineer make a quantity of ammo of all types.
The engineer is also a mobile armour repair station. If you see that a teammate is low on armour, switch to
the wrench and hit your friend with it a few times. If you have enough metal, his armour will increase back
up to 100%. Note that some idiots will not know what you are doing and they will switch to the crowbar and
smack you back. This of course, will take away your armour, when your intent was just to be nice and help a
guy out. This happens a lot, just tell him you were trying to help, explain what your doing and show him how
it works. We were all newbies once, and needed to learn this.
Finally, the effectiveness of the engineer class increases exponentially when there are two engineers on a
team. Why? First, two engineers can build a sentry from scratch to level three in less than 15 seconds. Other
engineers are free to upgrade any other teammate's sentry as they wish. Second, two engineers mean that two
sentries are available for use. By carefully placing the two sentries, their locations can support and
compliment each other. This can make it very difficult for the enemy to get both sentries. Third, having
another engineer means that another person can help maintain your sentry. If you are on the other side of the
map and your sentry gets damaged or needs ammo, you can shout for help. Your engineer teammate can then
repair and add ammo for your sentry.
Weaknesses
The engineer is only moderately effective when he doesn't have a sentry or a dispenser built (though the EMP still makes him someone to be cautious about). Keeping an engineer from building anything takes away all of his advantages. Also, an engineer's sentry cannot detect disguised spies. See the spy class info page to see how to keep spies away from your sentry.
How To Defeat An Engineer (or any of his blasted contraptions!)
When it comes to the engineer, it's more effective to destroy his sentries and dispensers than actually eliminating the player. The engineer's sentry will be your most important target. Realize that sentries cannot move and will not fire on you if it can't see you. Most sentry killing is done by bouncing grenades around corners and off walls to where the sentry is located. Some like the suicide route, where a player rushes a sentry all the while throwing his grenades at it. A more elegant solution, which infuriates other engineers, is to use a disguised spy. Sentries cannot detect disguised spies which means they are free to waltz up to enemy sentries and toss grenades at them. This method is nearly fool-proof for destroying sentries. Note also that sentries make sounds when they sweep through their covering arc. This unique sound can signal that an enemy sentry is nearby (careful around the next corner!).
Often on your way to an enemy objective, you'll see a dispenser placed in your way. An enemy engineer has done this so that he can detonate his dispenser when you touch it, thus hurting you with the resulting explosion. The simple way to get around the dispenser is to destroy it. Stand a fair distance from the dispenser and fire at until it explodes. Watch out for the resulting explosion, a dispenser with a full 300 rockets has a huge blast radius. I've taken out several opponents who didn't realize how stocked up my dispenser was. Note that even if you do take out the dispenser successfully, the engineer will know his dispenser was destroyed. Undoubtedly, he will be coming to investigate or call others to check for him.
One final note, it takes time for an engineer to set up his defenses like his sentry and dispenser. As a team, if you can harass the enemy engineer so that it's impossible for him to build anything, he might stop and just try to fight.
Strengths
Usually the civilian plays an important role in a map. There are maps where the civilian will be the president and guards will have to escort him to a given location. The civilian is only as smart as the person playing him. Biggest strength: Opponents will be laughed off the server if they are killed by the civilian.
Weaknesses
Well his isn't the fastest person in the game, nor is he the strongest, he doesn't have mid or a long range weapons so this class does not have much going for him.
How To Kill A Civilian
With only 50 health, you take him down with any weapon. I like to keep the battle fair, so sometimes, kill him with your crowbar.
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