Part 3: Pyro is out now



The Ultimate Guide: Part 0

The Ultimate Guide aims to go over every single class, giving players of all skill to learn more. Every nook and cranny of each class will be explored, allowing everyone to become the best they can be. From the guy who got the game yesterday to a master with +1000 hours, I guarantee you will learn something. In part 0 we will be going over a lot off things that apply for every single class, commom mistakes and other things.

This deserves a section of its own. Class Balance is incredibly important. You can't win with 10 snipers. You can't win with 10 scouts. You probably won't win with 10 heavies. Here is a basic guideline of the number of classes per team with 12 players. If you have too many of one class, then change class because nobody will be happy when you all lose. And you won't recieve the blame when somebody realizes you have 3 snipers and 2 spies. Please note that these are basic guidelines and you may have more of a certain class depending on your situation


How not to have a balanced team

• Low tier(no more than 3 in total, 0-2 each): Snipers and/or Spies.
  The main support classes have no role outside of supporting the team. The more support there is, the less team there is to support.
  
• Mid tier(no more than 8 in total, 1-3 each): Engineers, Medics, Scouts, Pyros
  These classes are all required to help the team function, or help it greatly by being there. However, an excess is just going to clutter things up. Engineers and Medics lack damage output and Scouts and Pyros can't do much unless they're at a pretty close range.
  
• High Tier(no more than 8 total, 2-4 each) Soldiers, Demomen, Heavies
  These are the pure combat classes. The ones that stand out there, kicking ass on the front lines and coming back with 5 HP while screaming MEDIC! only to walk back in and fight again. With great close to mid-range power and bulk ranging from above-average to insanely good, these classes should be the very base of the team. However, they do need some support and shouldn't be played without the other classes.

In summary, some classes may be needed less than others, but in the end you always want a balance of all roles. You need to be helpful and a credit to team. If your team is having trouble holding a point, it could be for various reasons. It could be because they lack transport, offensive pressure, assasination classes, healing... In the end it's up to you to decide how to help the team out.

Just don't be the fifth sniper...

In this section I will mention a lot of mistakes I see every time I go onto a server. Some are common, some are rare and some aren't even considered mistakes by some.

• Going solo is never an option
  This is Team Fortress. No matter what class, you cannot storm the opponent's base/point and expect to win by yourself. The minimum for any direct action is 2 people. An exception is being Spy, but even he does better with team support.
  
  
• Using support classes over offense/defense classes, AKA ruining class balance.
  A support class does what it says: They support Offense and Defense from behind, on or in front of your lines. One of each support per team is more than enough. No matter how well you could support your team as Spy or Sniper, you'd be better of fighting with them if you have more than 3 support already.
  
  
• Don't take engineer's ammo unless you ABSOLUTELY need it.
  If you used 5 rockets to jump to the point, please do not take the ammo pack. The sooner you have buildings up, the sooner you can retreat to a safe area when you get hurt. Buildings define your territory. You have a source of ammo and health(dispenser), an incredibly powerful weapon(sentry) and a steady flow of players(teleporter), which separates you from your opponents.
  If nothing else, let the Engineer build a Dispenser - even if it's level 1, it'll replenish a small ammo pack's worth every second, and staying at the dispenser for a bit to top off your health beats taking that full healthpack that Medic or Heavy needs urgently.
  In summary, Engie priorities > yours.
  
  
• Don't take a medic's health unless you really, really need it.
  He can heal you. You can't heal him. Geddit?
  
  
• Don't hang back.
  Let's say this happens. You're playing Upward on teams of 9. You have 2 engineers and 1 sniper. The cart gets to the second point. The engineers fortify the last point and the sniper secures that area. The 6 players doing something get demolished by their 9 and the cart reaches the last point. With 9 players on their side, they easily kill the snipers, engineers and sentries.
  The engineers should've held the third point with the rest of the team, providing adequate cover to build their stuff, allowing them to support the team and defend the point.
  In a nutshell, be moderately close to the front lines at all times.
  
  
• Wild goose chases.
  Don't waste time chasing down that one spy or that one scout if you can't catch them. Just ignore them and head onto the front lines and deal with them later. It's possible to send 4-5 people after you just because you're running around their base, sending bullets in random directions and being more obvious than a neon sign saying HIT ME!
  
  
  That scout is trolling you. Leave him alone and get back to pushing the cart...until he's within killing range.
  
  
• Stick to your role.
  Whatever you're doing, always prioritize your objectives. Don't push the cart unless nobody else is as Spy. Don't destroy sentries as scout unless one is getting on your nerves or you have no demomen. Don't try and kill snipers as Heavy(unless you sneak up on them). Don't go murdering people as medic if you have hurt allies. A heavy can push the cart better than a spy, a spy can destroy sentries better than a scout, a scout can kill snipers better than the heavy and the medic heals people. Remember "Ze healing leaves little time for ze hurting".
  
  
• Almost all unlockables are sidegrades.
  With the exception of the Amputator, Solemn Vow and the Third Degree, there are no direct upgrades to the stock weapons. Instead, they provide an alternative to gameplay. One of the most annoying things I hear are people begging for weapons. The stock weapons are usually the most reliable, the easiest to use and the most forgiving. The default Scattergun is the only one with six shots (Except the Baby Faces Blaster, but it has a huge damage penalty). The Force-a-Nature and Soda Popper have two and the Shortstop has four. The Frontier Justice gives Revenge Crits but it has a tiny clip which may leave you needing to reload in the middle of a firefight.
  A lot of classes (Scout, Engineer, Soldier, Pyro) have very good default secondaries that people overlook. The Pistol gives the Scout and Engineer much needed range (and the ability to destroy sentries from a distance) while the Shotgun gives the Soldier a reserve weapon when he's out of rockets and the Pyro some extra mid-range force.
  
  The Huo Long Heater may SEEM like a direct upgrade but it chews through ammo faster than a Kritz Heavy can clear a room full of snipers. Don't use it unless you're pushing the cart or you really need those Spies off your back.
  
  
• If somebody knows what they're doing then let them be.
  This is more ettiquete than common sense, but if there's a good spy and a bad spy, then the bad spy could seriously distrupt the good spy by revealing positions, alerting pyros, failing stabs... If somebody does something better than you and you can't do anything then change class. If you can't do anything then you're a waste of a slot. Usually Medic is the class to be if you can't do much. Otherwise, go a class your team doesn't have. Chances are, you'll benefit everybody and have more fun in the long run.
  
  
• Spy is not the only way to take down a sentry.
  This is a VERY common mistake. Snipers, Demomen, Heavies, Pyros and Soldiers can all take out sentries with relative ease. A Sniper can damage it from a distance, Demomen have stickes and grenades, Heavies have the sheer health to tank a sentry if overhealed, pyros can W+M1 walk at a sentry and burn it to the ground while running around it and soldiers have rockets. Even Scouts and Medics can take out sentries(needle/pistol spam deals more damage than you'd expect).
  Also, Sentries don't take damage ramp-up or dropoff. This makes shooting a Sentry from far off a good tactic whenever you can pull it off.

These aren't mistakes, but rather things you should do at all times.

• Check the Options and Advanced Options
  It's always a good idea to check the options before you start playing.
  Always have "Display damage done as text over targets head" enabled. You can estimate how much more damage you need to kill him, disable Mouse Acceleration, tweak the sensitivity etc
  
  
• Always follow suspicions.
  Why is a scout running so slowly? He doesnt have the BFB. Why isn't that Medic healing me? He has his Syringe Gun out. Oh well, it's probably nothing.
  NO, ITS A SPY, GOD-DARNIT! If you see something suspicious, then something suspicious is going on. And your team won't solve it for you. Use your mic or voice commands to alert them of a spy or a hidden teleporter or some other thing that is sneaking around doing sneaky stuff while being sneaky. One of the best ways to kill a Spy is to let your team know he's a Spy.
  
  
• Stay calm.
  There will probably be a lot of chaos in TF2. Like both teams duking it out 12v12 while your teleporter constantly brings more allies to the battlefield, your dispenser healing everybody and your sentry blowing stuff up. Then you get one... two... four sapper warnings. I've panicked so many times when this happens. I could see the Spy but he kept on shuffling between my team so I couldn't catch him. He was even disguised as me... I lost all my buildings and they capped the point. The best thing to do in a chaotic moment and something goes wrong is to not panic. Then, if possible, deal with the cause of the problem, or at least delay it. Finally, solve the problem.
  Another example would be if you're about to make an Uber push when your patient gets backstabbed/headshot. First of all, get to a safer area (popping your Uber if you have to). Second, kill the Spy or get out of the range of the Sniper. Finally, find another patient or wait for him to respawn and make the push.
  
  
• Don't let anyone die
  You're building uber, you're at 100%! A burning Scout runs towards you. Heal the Scout BEFORE you continue to heal your patient. Give him a quick fill-up (at least to about half-health), your patient will just have a bit of overheal decay until you get back to him.. The same applies for taking health packs: if you need to top off and somebody else is bleeding to death, be a mantlegen and let him take it. While overhealed, a heavy or soldier can easily be a meatshield for his medic and the rest of the team, attracting fire away from Spies, Scouts and Snipers so they can do their job. To a lesser extent, Demomen and Pyros can also do this, especially while Ubered. Engineer's dispensers can heal you, so try and keep one near the front lines. The Airblast can extinguish burning teammates, allowing Pyros to save the Medic a lot of work and possibly a few lives.
  
  
• Help with the objective
  Bodyblock the cart, jump on a point to buy some time, distract them by going for another point... whatever you do to help with the objective, no matter how small, will benefit the team. Push the cart an inch to reset the 20 second timer, stop them from capping by running around the point, distract opponents by going for an alternate point... All these things help your team and can even decide if you win or lose.
  
  
• Use your common sense when deciding what to do
  Don't cap the point as Sniper unless you have nothing better to do. Don't run into a sentry nest without uber or Bonk! Atomic Punch. Don't build sentries if they get destroyed instantly. All of these things make sense, and you have to think with your head if you actually want to win.
  
  In the end, common sense and practise as all classes are the only ways you can improve at TF2. With practise and time you will become better. It takes time to learn every nook and cranny of this game, and only then can you truly master it. This has been the prelude to The Ultimate Guide. Good luck and goodbye.

Version history

• V 0.9
  
  • Made the guide
• V 1.0
  
  • Fixed typos and slightly expanded it
    
  • Published the guide

Instacakes for helping me out with this guide
AaronProdcutions of DA for the logo. Link: http://www.deviantart.com/#/art/Revamped-TF2-Logo-257142254?hf=1