The standard 6v6 team is a mix of four classes. the normal setup contains two scouts, two soldiers, a medic, and a demoman. Each player in this team has a specific role to fill. Some important characteristics shared by all are protecting the medic, making useful calls, and aiding other team members. Then there are things that are the same for each class, for example: the scouts are the team's quick damage, and they're usually found as a pair, the soldiers are the heavy hitters of the team and they have the important job of spearing pushes, the demo has area denial in his domain of duty, and the medic, of course, heals. Each player will be further explained in this guide.

The scout is the fastest running class in the game, and with high damage but low health, it quickly becomes the nature of a scout player to run in, get off some shots, and retreat without dying. This role doesn't change that much in 6v6, but you have an extra job: you act as the first lookout for your team, calling enemy positions and finding flanking paths, you are literally scouting out the area. The reason I put this as the first scout's job is because a scout has two jobs, and while they are interchangeable between players, it's useful to put them on seperate entries for explaining. Like I said, this role is easily switched with the second scout, and often both scouts go in as a pair for lookout duty. Another thing you must remember is that as scout you are fast and high damaging, so don't be afraid to rush in. This is especially useful with help from your other scout, go in, and be a meatshield for the medic and low health teammates. You are the fastest and can run off for health much easier than a soldier or demo. Despite this, a dead teammate is a useless teammate, remember that.

As a scout, Your scattergun can kill half the players on their team with one well placed shot each, the other three will take two. As such, your job is to be a team player and help with clean up duty. Your speed combined with your powerful scattergun can track down and finish enemy players that have been damaged by your teammates. Don't stray too far, though, because your doubled cap time is also needed to help your team; you also have to be there to help keep the medic's "bubble" of defence tag any unwanted company the pocket or demo miss. This is the second role of the Scout, and it's a simple one. Once again, this can be switched off to be lookout and vice versa, and both scouts can do this at the same time, this is not recommended though because it will leave your team blind to flanking attacks and oncoming waves of respawned enemies.

The first soldier is the roamer of the team, his job is similar to the scouts in which he calls positions and checks out areas first. However, his role is to "roam" through the teams territory and act as a sort of hero to the other players, the roamer is the one to dive in and rescue teammates, and help with pushes, he also should be highly mobile, being the one to take highgrounds and forward positions for the medic and the rest of his team to move up to. Even though it's natural instinct as soldier, you are NOT THE PRIMARY HEAL TARGET. Your main source of healing should be the medic, but it should be well supplimented with healthpacks unless another player has low health. You have the highest health in the standard setup, so leave the packs for teammates if they need it. Though I've called this the lone wolf, you want to stay close to your team so you can keep them safe. Your position is nearer the scouts, but close enough to the medic to help the other soldier and demo. Remember, you're the savior of the team, swooping in to save your teammates (but don't think of it that way or else you'll play badly.) Possibly the most important job of the roaming soldier is to try to get medic picks and pop enemy ubers. As the roamer, you're not attached to anything or anyone specifically, so you're free (and obligated) to do the dirty work of hunting down and messing with those pesky enemy medics.

The other soldier should be the pocket soldier, and with a 300 health overheal, he is the tank of damage, the defender of injured and the medic, and the spearpoint of most pushes. The pocket has two jobs: protect the medic, and lead pushes. The pocket soldier has the highest health of the entire team for the longest time, he's supposed to be a meatshield for the medic, and he's the primary target for healing and ubercharges. It is vital that if only two people have direct communication, it's the medic and pocket soldier. Staying close to the medic is, of course, the spot to be, and if the medic leaves, the soldier should back off with him. This is where one of my pet peeves comes in. If you're the pocket soldier, PROTECT YOUR MEDIC! if you can't keep track of the medic, then you're probably better suited for another slot. Make sure that as the pocket, you know what to do when an uber is unexpectedly popped on you, and don't be stingey with the heals, your teammates need the medic too.

The demoman is the heavy hitter and area denier of the team. The demo deals the most damage of all the players on the team and it's his job to make sure that the enemy is slowed down and cannot get to the point or the medic. Another job of theirs is to get a sneak peek of where the enemy is coming from, this is because on rollouts, demomen tend to be the fastest class getting to points.
The final purpose (in my opinion) of the demoman is to take Kritz Ubercharges (eugh, Kritzkrieg.) The demoman already does the most damage for the team in one go, tripling that damage makes him a one (technically two) man army. The demoman should be the second most healed player on the team, only beaten by the pocket. The demo's area denial puts him in the perfect position to act as the first wall of defence for his team's medic. Be wary, though, a demoman by himself does have the firepower to take out player after player, but the delivery method is slow; a good demo can be the star of the team, getting top DPM and being second on the scoreboard (healing awards more points per second than kills, so medic is first) despite the power, he needs the help of his pocket and a scout to fill out the medic's bubble. Not much else can be said about demoman, other than this: though simple on paper, the responsibilities and mechanics of the demoman is quite difficult in practice.

The medic is the VIP of the team, with low damage output, but high importance. the medic's job is to lead the team in what strategies to use. The medic is the leader because he has the easiest job: lock on to a target, look around, heal. of course, his job is more than just that, he should also act as a lookout for flanking enemies and targets for his pocket, but he doesn't really have to worry about aiming while healing, so he has the extra mental space for planning pushes and where to go. Not to mention the fact that the entire team should be guarding him. The medic should have the lowest deaths, and the highest assist/death ratio. This doesn't mean he should completely hide away and just heal people when they come to him. On the contrary, this means he should be slightly aggressive and get close to the action so the rest of the team has heals close by. As such, it's best if the medic knows how to defend himself with a good saw hit or a needle gun. priority one: HEAL, without health, your team loses. priority two: look for flankers and other enemies for teammates. priority 3: distract the other team, they're all going for the medic, so he may as well give them a target. If one team's medic is down, the other medic is free to advance a bit to distract enemies as his team caps or flanks. JUST DON'T DIE. a dead medic can't heal, an unhealed team can't fight. that simple. As a medic myself, I can personally say that the biggest problem a team can have is when the medic lays down for the "main caller" or team captain, if you're not ready to push, then the team isn't ready to push.

Picking your class can be more difficult than playing it. However, I've listed some guidelines you might want to consider when choosing which class to play.

Medic:
must be able to dodge enemy fire and see the tide of battle, must be patient and know when to push and when to retreat

scout:
must be fairly accurate with his scattergun, must also be able to dodge enemy fire, needs to be able to function at high speeds and know where the main highways of map traffic are (and how to avoid them)

Roaming Soldier:
Must be able to Rocket Jump consistently, needs to know where the highground is and how to get to it, needs to know where the main map traffic is and how to intercept it

Pocket Soldier:
Must be able to rocket jump with moderate consistancy, must know all the ground routes to health packs and ammo, must be able to protect the medic, needs to be patient and know how to deal with an unexpected ubercharge

Demoman:
Needs to be patient, must have map knowledge of where traffic is and how to effectively trap those areas.

You may fall under more than one of these categories, or none at all. If you have all the attributes of multiple classes, then great! you can sub for someone if needed. If you don't have the attributes of any of these, then remember that these are only guidelines and not rules. However, if you have trouble fitting with one of these slots, try Highlander instead.