Welcome to my very first attempt at a guide but, it should contain all the information you need to start playing pyro effectively and to stop dying at situations where death is preventable

Assuming you haven't changed your settings, This is probably how you play the game.
W A S D: Your standard movement keys
Left click: the button you press to shoot your weapon
Space bar: The jump button

However this is where he differs from other classes.
Right click: Air blast, The most important part of Pyro, You will need to learn when to use and how to use this part if you want to reach the next step of Pyro.
However since you're just beginning, I won't really get into the complexity of the mechanic, Just the basic stuff

The most useful part of Pyro.
-Some Pyro main

The very basics of Airblast:
Airblast when used, Takes away 20 ammo from your Flamethrower and uses it on one blast of air that pushes enemies, Reflects projectiles (Which allows you to kill your enemy with their rockets!) , Extinguish teammates (Which gives you 25 health!)

Other Flamethrowers use a different amount of Airblast (Keep in mind that any other weapon other than the default flamethrower always uses more ammo when Airblasting, And one weapon doesn't even have Airblast!)

And that does it for the Airblast section, It's a versatile tool that takes some learning to use effectively.

Don't forget to extinguish your teammates!

A small yet important mechanic
-Gandhi the Pyro main

Afterburn is the status that the enemy receives after after being set on fire by you, Its damage is the same for all the different flamethrowers, 4 damage per second, Except for the Degreaser as it only does 1 damage per second.
The duration of Afterburn depends on on how long you kept spraying your flames on the enemy, The longer you kept burning your enemy with the Flamethrower the longer the afterburn is, Afterburns duration caps at 10 seconds, Which should be more than enough to kill your enemy if he's at low HP.
You as a Pyro don't need to worry about Afterburn as you have a little bit of fire resistance and full Afterburn resistance.
The only time where Afterburn can effect you is when you're doused with gas from the Gas passer, But you rarely see that weapon ever used so you don't really need to worry about it.

To keep it short and simple, Use the default loadout when starting out, As It's arguably the most reliable loadout for Pyro.

However there are a good amount of different playstyles to try out once you have collected a bunch of weapons for pyro. But for the sake of simplicity, I will only cover two weapons in the next section

When rolling out there are two real ways of doing a roll out.

1-Flamethrower

The most reliable way to roll out, Because you will always be ready to fire that beautiful flamethrower whenever an enemy appears

2-Powerjack

This roll out relies on the fact of you owning the powerjack and using its stats to your advantage, The powerjack allows you to move faster while taking more damage when its out

So you reached the frontlines but you're alone but, You're hyped up to get some kills however, When you reach the point two enemies already arrived and this is where you have to use your brain quickly in this scenario

Legend:
Dangerous option: Red
Risky option: Yellow
Safe option: Green

I'll go over two of the options as they're the most significant

So you probably chose the obvious answer, Retreat and re-group with your team.

And usually this is the smartest option as pyro isn't really good at 1v1 scenarios when you have to close the gap.
This is almost always the best option when you know your team is reliable

So you chose to charge forward at the enemy

I wouldn't consider this to be a good choice however, It still is possible to win this encounter if you have good aim and a bit of luck with the enemy missing you.

And if a soldier was present in the fight, It's possible to reflect his rocket and focus on the other enemy Look at the image below

If you find yourself in a situation where the enemy didn't spot you and you're hiding in a great spot

Example under this text

You can either hold your ground and wait for the enemy to come and ambush, Or you can try to go behind them, Or retreat into a close quarters area to gain the advantage, Or once again, Rely on your team and retreat into your base.
There is no real concrete answer to this scenario, But, You should almost always use the element of surprise as Pyro as it could be the thing that saves you from certain death

Lets say you somehow found yourself in a situation where your entire team is dead, Or just respawned and the entire enemy team is pushing, What's the best option?
Example under this text


Usually staying out of the enemy combatants sight and ambushing them is a really good reliable option, However in this scenario it's a death sentence to try and charge or to ambush the enemy, If you were really lucky you might kill one or two but, The best option is probably going to be: Going into a closed area where you can effectively dominate the area

Say, You've found yourself in a peculiar situation where there is only one enemy and it's a pyro, What can you do to get out of that engagement alive?



The best strategy against an enemy Pyro as Pyro is to flank them while burning them, Aka using your A & D keys



Never ever spray your flame wildly at them as it will only decrease your damage and make you lose the fight, Always keep your sight aimed at them to maximize your damage potential

This is the section where i put all the tips and other info that weren't too important to have their own section

1-Always keep your aim on the enemy, Never spray wildly as you will lose alot of damage with that technique

2-Never stay put while fighting, Always move like a rabid animal while burning your enemy alive, You never want to be easy to hit

3-If you have the Degreaser equiped you can try out a certain playstyle of Pyro called Combo, It heavily relies on you using your flamethrower and other weapons at the same time

4-Spy check your team, Spy checking is basically using your flamethrower for a second on your teammates to check if they're a spy. If they burn they're an enemy spy, If they don't, Leave them alone and don't waste ammo

5-Pyro isn't really useful in every situation so be aware of that fact and act accordingly

6-If a spy too close to your medic and you just realized that he's an enemy, Airblast him instead of trying to kill him, As your medic will have a much higher chance of survival if the enemy spy can't even get close to him because you airblasted him away

7-Sometimes it's better to leave an enemy than to over extend into enemy territory, As there's a chance that he'll die to afterburn

8-Timing is key to reflecting enemy projectiles, Reflect too late and you'll get hit, Too early and you'll get hit. You have to find the perfect time to airblast to get that reflect


9-Never spam airblast unless you have an ammo supply nearby (A dispenser), As you'll run out of ammo for your Flamethrower extremely quickly and you'll lose your main source of damage

10-Don't be afraid to use your enviroment to your advantage with Airblast. Example: The cliff on Hightower, You can use it to get free kills if you can push the enemy off of it, Keep in mind that 99% of people will hate you for it and will most likely target you

11-If a Demoman with a sword is charging at you, Use your Airblast to push them back and finish them off as their charge will be consumed when you Airblast them

I hope you now understand how to play Pyro well by the end of this guide.
Like i said before, This was my very first attempt at a solid guide so please, If you find any mistakes or bad grammar please point it out in the comments.

Again, Thank you for reading the entire thing