Hello new players from TF2 and welcome to Fortress Forever!

FF is a unofficial sequel to Team Fortress Classic. It was developed by dedicated fans of TFC who got sick of waiting for valve to make a sequel during the 9 year gap when everyone thought that TF2 would never come out. Thus, they made a sequel of their own.



The goal of FF is to polish the open ended strats and fast paced fun of TFC, while making it more accessible than ever with QoL features like a ingame tutorial, hints, autobhop, grenade timers, flag waypoints, area callouts and autoreload to make it as streamlined as possible.
Yet despite all these efforts I still sadly see many new players give up after 2 minutes and miss out on one of the coolest source mods i ever played.


Recently TF2 has gotten less and less playable with bots, scammers and cheaters running rapid.
While hopefully just a temporary issue this don't have to mean you must live your life without the timeless PvP sandbox that is the TF franshise.

If you're looking for something else to play while waiting for Valve to do their job, or want to learn TFC gameplay from something free, more forgiving and less clunky FF is your best bet.
(Unlike FF, TFC still has a massive playerbase so even if you dont plan to stay, it can't hurt to prepare in what you can view as a TFC trial version).

Besides, with this being the offspring of TFC and the Source engine, i promise that in this playground of a game, you will find fast paced and whacky gameplay the likes of which you won't even find in any Mannpower, Halloween or x10 randomizer server.
This time with the bonus of more classes being viable at any time (albeit not always for the reasons you'd expect).


Even though this game has sadly always been a underappriciated niche due to TF2 players never knowing about it and most TFC players not wanting to (re)learn their tricks in a new engine with questionable addons, unlike what the average baiter & hater may say this game is NOT dead and still have a small loyal playerbase. (Bots and LAN support would still be nice tho)

To have the highest chance of running into other players i recommend playing on Friday afternoons & weekend evenings. Between 17-23 o'clock some servers can become surprisingly crowded.

This image was captured as late as 2025 and we still managed to get a full lobby.
Even more players eventually joined afterwards.

As they are a part of the same franshise, many TF2 players understandably make the mistake of comparing the older games to TF2, setting themselves up for disappointment and thinking the game automatically suck when they can't get a kill as a scout due to his pathetic damage, or on the other hand, can't get a kill or even land a hit on a scout due to his unreal mobility.

While TF2 improved many things, the older TF games aren't nessecairly worse rather than simply being different.
To me, comparing TF2 to TFC & FF is like comparing Chess to Skiing or dodgeball. Its a completely different type of game with completely different appeals.
TFC/FF is all about beauty in simplicity and embracing the speed & chaos, while TF2 is all about its tactical depth, unlocks and class synergies.
TFC/FF are arena shooters with class dynamics while TF2 is a class based tactical shooter with a comedic skin wrapped around it.


If you can appreciate the irony in that the games which has cartoony physics & offensive strategy of "dashing straight through a wall of explosions" having the realistic military theme while the sequel with a pixar artstyle has the more grounded & tactical gameplay, i think you can have equally if not more fun here as in TF2.



1. Respawn is instant so defending last point is too easy, while spawncamping the enemy base is practically suicide or asking for someone to slip by and backcap.
This has the upside of reducing the effectiveness of spawncamping and making the game less frustrating and unbalanced against weaker classes, but also have the downside of making support and elimination classes less valueable.

2. Grenades can be used independent of active weapon and deal heavy damage to light classes, but they are rare and quickly expire if you just spam them.
(They also don't auto refill after cooldowns like throwables in TF2)
Listen for the "click" to anticipate a primed grenade to bait your opponent and dodge his nades on long to medium range.
Grenades can sometimes be refilled with certain labelled backpacks that respawn slower than regular backpacks.
If you see a backpack with grenades you should leave them to Scouts/Medics so they can jump to the frontlines before the flag resets. (Like in TF2 when you let slower classes use teleporters first)
Unless you're defending in which case, feel free to grab some nades regardless of what class you are currently playing.

3. Instead of invisible walls, spawns are usually protected by team coloured energy fields that kill enemies/projectiles that enter or one way doors that only one team can open.
On most good maps spawns are also guarded by a indestructable turret that locks on faster than a sentry and can 2 shot any class that camps or enter your spawn. (So there is no reason building at spawn as engie)


(If you somehow enter the enemy spawn, take cover as these turrets will track you perfectly no matter if you're cloaked or disguised)

In general maps have less invisible walls excluding skyboxes meaning rocketjumping actually pays off. If you see a cool spot, chances are that you can reach & explore it!
Maps also have extra secrets like blowup spots and security systems that can open up oppurtunities...or just bizarre easter eggs. You never know what you'll find!

4. No randomness in combat like crits or random bullet patterns. What you see is what you get.
However the contains of pickups can be inconsistent & fully depend on the map maker. Sometimes they restore health, armour & grenades while other times they just refill one of those resources. Sometimes they only work for one team despite not being colour coded.
Generally dont expect pickups in the enemy base to help you.

5. Even attack defend uses flags and regular CTF is played like a bigger version of attack defend to avoid stalemates.
The game has a much faster pace than TF2 & also has a higher acceptance for community gamemodes leading to many fun things to try. (See misc gamemodes)

6. All damage sources cause knockback based on damage to teammates even if the damage itself is ignored. This is useful for helping slower classes move faster. All classes have armor that resist a portion of enemy damage and self damage (Scout -30% Medic -60% Heavy -80%)

7. There are no loadouts, and you can have more than 3 weapon slots at a time.
(However most of the extra weapons are useless downgrades like the single barrel shotgun)
There is also no store or cosmetics so disguises are not as glitchy but telling the difference between teammates of the same class is harder and you have sadly no way to customize and roleplay as your character without earned/bought taunts or hats.


1. All classes have a faster base run speed and jump slightly higher.

2. The UI is not as clunky. (Still better to just use quick binds rather than radial menus), you can hold down the call medic button (Z) to pick between requesting Ammo, Armour or Health.


(TFC interface to the left vs FF interface to the right)

3. Projectiles travel faster & explosion radius have generally been nerfed. Explosions and fire are also less visually noisy and don't obscure your vision as much as in TFC.
(TFC being Michael Bay's wet dream)

4. All classes have new abilities, (Heavy has airblast, Sniper has radiotagging, Engineer have spy detecting sonars & can regen metal, Spy has cloak & can turn Sentries against its user, Scout has jump pads, Pyro can fly etc) but all still fill the same role and have the same strengths and counters as before.
We talk more about it in their respective sections.

5. You can bunnyhop in order to get to places faster and no longer need a script or mousewheel to do that. You also have the option to "two tap prime" grenades which used to be a plugin for comp players in TFC.

6. You have a speedometer in the bottom right corner, showing your horisontal speed and (on maps that support it) you have area callouts in the bottom left corner like in CS:GO.

7. RAGDOLLS!

Spy doing Caramelldansen.


Sneaking, Boosting & Stomping

As any class, you can just like in CS:GO hold shift to walk silently at 50% speed.
(This does nothing on spy but making you slower unless disguised)
It's usually not worth the time cost, but its usefull when outnumbered or when trapped behind enemy lines.
Also like in CS:GO you can stand on the heads of teammates in order to boost to higher places.
If you instead land on the head of a enemy from a big height, you'll instead "Goomba stomp" them for a instant kill. (Similar to Soldiers manntreads in TF2)

Discarding ammo.

By pressing X you can drop ammo for your teammates (particularly, friendly Engineers so they can upgrade their sentry faster or have spare resources if their nest go down).
This also have the benefit of making you take less damage from enemy Engineers EMP grenade, so its a good idea to throw out ammo when you spawn.

Way too often I see TF2 players pick Scout expecting a balanced DM class, only to rage quit when they have a 12 dmg shotgun (before even counting enemy damage resistances) & are one shot by any explosion.

The scout is really weak just barely having more effective health than a Kunai Spy in TF2.
However unlike in TF2, your job as a Scout isnt to fight, but rather spam rushing the flag to refresh its respawn & cap it.
The only thing you can reliably kill are unattended sentryguns by sniping them from outside their range with your nailgun as otherwise you don't even have enough reserve ammo to kill a single enemy.

I can't stretch this enough, there is absoloutely NO reason to ever use him for combat.
Even if you have perfect aim & dodging, you'll be at a passive disadvantage & would be better off as Medic or even Spy. A person who dont like dying in games will not enjoy Scout very much even on high skill.
Unlike TF2 Scout isn't a generalist but a specialist. You do one thing & do it better than anyone else, but if the situation dont call for it then you're useless.



When you pick Scout you no longer play a shooter but rather a bullet hell racing game (Just like Spy is stealth or Engineer is tower defense).
Having 3 concs & the highest run speed, Scout is really good for players who just wanna avoid fights.
If rushing the enemy base at Sonic speed, yoinking the flag & barely surviving the home trip is your cup of tea, Scout is the class for you. Keep in mind this is Scout's ONLY role besides being target practice for the enemy
As a Scout, you will jump far as hell, but expect to also often die hard as hell as a tradeoff.
The fun of Scout dont come from a KD ratio but rather the thrilling speed of blast jumps & the dumb look on your enemies when they cant catch you like the slippery eel you are.



If you decide to main Scout you must be ready to die A LOT and i dont say that because i doubt your skill, but becase thats your job: Sacrificing yourself for the flag.
Never get tilted about dying but rather enjoy the simplicity of speeding, flying, dying & repeating untill you land a cap. There is no shame in dying, only in giving up.
As a Scout your only limit is your own endurance.


Every class have a special grenade or a regular frag grenade that more or less can be used for jumping, but Scout & Medic share the best grenade for jumping:
The Concussion grenade!


(A concussion grenade working like a TF2 sticky jumper but difference in downside is ammo scarcity over not being able to carry flag.)

The Concussion grenade or "Conc" for short, dont hurt players, but causes heavy knockback & cause a temporary aiming debuff to anyone in its blast radius.
The Conc is mainly used to boost yourself & travel far distances in short time.


By default you hold G to prime a conc & let go of G to throw it.
You nade jump by jumping as soon as your grenade of choice explode.



I would highly suggest instead binding "two tap secondary grenade" to Mouse3 (scroll wheel) since then you won't need move your fingers to hold down G which can detract from aiming & strafing.
This does mean you need to press the key again if you want to throw the grenade, but I personally find Hand Held Conc jumps (when you let the grenade explode in your hand) much easier to perform consistently since you always know where you are in relation to the grenade.
Then all you need to worry about is running forward & pressing space to the last beep.

(You can change the setting in "Options>Keyboard>Combat bindings")

If you bind Mouse5 to "two tap primary grenade" you can also do a handheld frag grenade jump as any other class.
Frag jumps work the same except they hurt you instead of messing up your aim.
In this game, Soldiers & Demos dont reign supreme as the only classes that can blast jump, giving you more options if you can't play or don't like them.
Once you get the hang of conc jumping you'll find it hard to hold yourself back & do it even when you dont need to.


(or Bhopping) is used to preserve speed from blast jumps or gain some speed while on foot.
Every class have a speed cap of 140% their base speed with Scout's being the highest & Heavy having the lowest.
Hitting the speed cap will reset your speed once you jump again.

In this game, bunnyhopping is as easy as holding down space, moving your mouse left & right & strafing in the direction you move it. The more you turn the faster you will gain speed.


Jumping up a slope (called upwards trimping) will slow you down, but grant you double height on your second jump.
Jumping down a slope (downwards trimping) will instead make you faster for each jump without the need of turning the mouse or strafing like when bunnyhopping. All you need to do is to hold down jump.


Now imagen that extra momentum stacked on top of a blast jump or airstrafing.
If you trimp & time the explosion to your second jump, you can reach insane heights/speeds & get to the other side of the map in a instant.
The more momentum you have going into a trimp, the more that momentum will be multiplied by it.

I recommend practicing on maps with ramps.
If the timing is hard, you can delay yourself by jumping in place or jumping in circles near the ramp until the nade goes of.
These tricks may look intimidating, but thanks to autobhop & two tap priming they're really not difficult as long as you can set up your rollout.
After just a little bit of practice you will quickly become a expert on the basic nade jumps.

(A basic highjump combining a conc with upwards trimp)

(A basic longjump combining a conc with downwards trimp)


Running parallel to a wall while holding strafe results in a in a doubled forward speed. This occurs because the strafe & forward velocities are combined & applied in a straight line.

If you dont feel comfortable bhopping, wallstrafing is the second best option as its one of the easiest & most consistent ways to double your base speed & can be preferable when sneaking or moving up a long ramp without momentum from a explosive. Simply hold forward & strafe into the wall.


Get in, grab the flag, get out. Your power comes from speed, jump range & numbers (if multiple scouts swarm the flag), not damage.
The only ammo type you should be using is your concs. 3 is more than enough to clear entire maps.
Unlike a Medic in TF2, as a Scout you're expendable.
If you get trapped instead of waiting or worrying about health, just accept that you're going to die & try to go out in the most epic crash.
As a Scout your life is quite literarly all about the journey rather than the outcome.


Hinder their movement by any means. A slow scout = a dead scout.

The most hated low risk high reward class in any game, but probably the most balanced here since he has slow damage charge and other classes having armour, super mobility and no damage falloff, the Sniper is the dedicated long range support for when getting close and personal is no longer a option.


His primary weapon is charged by holding down Mouse1 when standing still and letting go to shoot.
Keep in mind you can't shoot while mid air or underwater. If you use The Classic in TF2 you should know how it works, but it does have some extra perks.

You have 75 primary and secondary ammo as opposed to just 25.(Some servers nerf it to 50)
Unlike TFC, the sniper and autorifle dont share the same ammo pool, so ammo management shouldn't be a issue. (although the autorifle is no longer 100% accurate)
Be careul as the enemy may be able to trace your laser sight back to you.

(Engineer about to get sniped)

If you headshot an enemy you obviously do more damage.
If you legshot an enemy they will be crippled and move slower with time based on charge.
If you bodyshot an enemy, you plant a tracking device in them wich means you and your teammates can see them through walls for 10 seconds at up to 26 meters.
(A red Sniper seeing a tagged blue Soldiers (or disguised Spy's?) class emblem through the wall)


(When out of cover the class emblem will be invisible but the player gets highlighted)

(In the bottom left you can see the icons for Sniper induced debuffs. The upper icon tells you im crippled and move slower, while the icon below warns me that the Sniper has tagged me and can see me behind cover. Luckially there is no wallbanging in this game so if you find a safe space you can wait it out.)


Just like TF2 you can't damage teammates under any circumstance, however unlike TF2 you can still deal knockback to anyone regardless of what team they're on with the push force being proportional to the base damage of your weapon.
This means snipers and a cluster of pipe bombs are excellent for this.

If you snipe a teammate with fully charged shots you can launch them to places they couln't otherwise access.
This is called "Sniper boosting" and can be used to catapult teammates for free without them having to waste health or grenades.
(Even uncharged shots can fling a friendly heavy an impressive distance)
If you think its weird then remember this is pretty much the FF/TFC equivelent of using the Disiplinary Action in TF2 except on longer range and at the cost of ammo and charge time.


(Sniper boosting as seen in TFC & FF!)

If you see a friendly snipers laser ahead of you, jump in a straight line so he can boost you.
Being a human catapult for his team is practically Sniper's only role on offense besides taking out sentryguns placed with very little thought.

The sniper himself doesn't benefit from Sniper boosting, but he has just enough health and armour for a single frag grenade jump to use for himself. Usefull for gaining the high ground for clear sightlines to cover your team from. However you use them, dont forget the 3 rules of sniping:

If you act toxic dont be surprised if players mistake your skill for cheats. The last thing you want is your own team to ban you from the game.

If your aim isnt the best or if you cant stop the attackers (which isnt easy due to how stupidly fast they move) just swallow your pride & admit that Sniper isnt for you and pick another class you enjoy. Save him for when you mastered every other class as a bad Sniper is worse for your team than being AFK.


As a Sniper, look for a vantage spot above and far from the enemy or in dark corners.
Even if you don't hit all your shots, the mere threat of a Sniper can be enough to stress players out to the point they mess up basic jumps.
Dont give away your position by shooting too early with low powered shot, but rather wait until you are sure your shots will land.
Charge unscoped to scan your surroundings and dont zoom in untill you see a enemy. When charging aim at a wall in the foreground so your laser sight dont warn the enemy and save your grenades for close encounters.
Even though you're slowed down while charging, you unfortenly suffer no movement inaccuracy meaning there is no penalty for making yourself even harder to hit at distance.


It's also a good idea to hurry and change spot after each kill to surprise the enemy, as it won't take long until they respawn, thirsting for revenge & given the high movement and quick respawn you have even less time on your side than in TF2

Though as a upside during the couple first encounters you may be shielded by confusion with the enemy being unlikely to know your position due to the lack of killcams.


(Snipers work well in pairs, just remember to not stack him)


The best class (aside from Sniper himself) to act as a counter is Medic. He is fast, and so more difficult to hit and able to close distance more quickly.
His Super Shotgun can tear through the Sniper's weak armor, his Concussion Grenades are very effective against a class that relies on exact aim, and his Infection can prove very annoying.
His nailgun can slowly chip damage the sniper and force him to switch target.
However against a skilled Sniper a Medic may struggle to even get close, and often a Medic's time can be better spent working towards capturing the flag.
Soldiers can use splash damage to scare Snipers into cover for a short time.

As a spy your cloak is great for sneaking up on distracted Snipers and ambushing them as they respawn. (Your teammates will love you for keeping him busy and Spyranoid even if you dont get many kills) If you fail a backstab or get spotted, you can always escape and retry if his teammates dont cover him.

As on many maps the Sniper deck is close to the spawn room, killing a Sniper won't be of much use, as he will be back in a matter of seconds.
Distracting him might be a better idea.
Regardless of what class you are playing, if you spot a Sniper, make sure to immediately alert your team to their location. If the Sniper manages to take you out, at least the next guy coming along knows where he is and can use the small window of time to get past him or damage him.

As a pyro you can close the distance with your jetpack (if used with grenades as otherwise you're very easy to hit) but beware that the sniper has his autoriffle and grenades that also make him strong on short range.

Since all classes (except Pyro) have long range options due to the lack of range damage falloff, the game balances out as you dont need to switch to sniper if you are confident that you can hit him before he can react.
This however dont make the Sniper useless as he is still the only class with instant long range burst damage while Shotgun's/Miniguns have spread that makes fewer bullets hit, projectiles having slow travel time that is easy to dodge at distance and auto weapons having low base damage per shot.

Unlike TF2 where Soldier and Demo are good at everything, they are arguably the worst jumpers here due to Scout and Medic having concs and faster running speed.
He can be played offensively, but leans mostly to defending chokes.
Soldier is however still an insanely good class for attacking sentry nests as with your laser grenade and the direct hit damage of your rockets, you are THE sentry buster class in this game.



His RPG can of course be used to do the classic rocket jump. (Look down + jump + crouch + shoot)
If you do a handheld frag grenade jump mid air, you can essentially double jump after a rocket jump for more speed without needing a surface. (Similarly to overloadjumping in TF2 using the Beggars Bazooka or Loose canon)
Be careful as Rocket Jumps chew up a big portion of your health (about 1/5:th) so use it sparingly.
A rocket jump also dont take you as far as in TF2 unless you use grenades to "double jump" in the air.

However you'll mostly use the RPG to dish out damage.
The rockets also dont deal less damage over distance so sentry guns placed in the open are no problem. The splash damage can also be used to hit multiple enemies, behind cover or players around corners, albeit for a smaller reward than if you hit them directly.




Pressing Mouse2 will toggle between your RPG and your Shotgun.
Good for easy juggling and finishing off airborne targets and also effective for quickly dishing out damage when you expired your primary instead of waiting to reload and hitting low health enemies on mid to long ranges.

You also have the Scout's single barrel shotgun that shares the same ammo pool, but its damage is terrible and its only "slightly better" if you're trying to basically snipe with your shotgun due to its tighter spread.
(But even then the fewer bullets that hit from your super shotgun, deal more damage)
Dont waste your ammo on it.


Skilled TF2 players should already know that engineers should never *turtle (*build everything in close proximity) this is even more true in FF as buldings are not nearly as tanky and more classes having the tools to deal with them. (Grenades/Nailguns)

One of the main reasons Engineers shouldn't turtle is because of Soldiers laser grenade.
When deployed it will spin 360° and activate 3 lasers that will penetrate and completely melt fully upgraded sentryguns in mere seconds.
There is another reason why Engineers should spread out their buildings but we'll get to that later.

A Laser Grenade in action. While its low damage, slow spinning and limited range makes it very ineffective against players, if a sentry/dispenser is within its range then the nest is doomed to go down even if the Engineer keeps hitting it no matter of how much metal he has.
The lasers penetrate targets, can hit multiple targets at once and can damage each target multiple times per tick.
This grenade is the FF equivilent of a Übercharge + Heavy + Sapper combo so dont waste it!

Other than that Soldier works pretty much as in TF2. Sadly no banners, escape plan, diciplinary action or B.A.S.E. jumpers for extra playstyles, utility or accessibility.
Fortunately you can keep most of your speed from a single rocket jump by just bhopping afterwards for a while.


Camp tight chokepoints (such as entrance doors, corridors or stairs) and use your stopping power to stun fast classes.
Rocketjump to a high plattform and shoot down at the enemy for maximum effect.
If you play with the Direct Hit in TF2 you should have no problems and even if your ammo isnt infinite like the Cowmangler in TF2, you still have a massive amount of reserve ammo and should thus never need to worry about running out (especially on defense).
Even if you dont deal alot of damage and cant hit players directly, your knockback and stopping power makes you really hard to rush past.


Use your RPG and frag grenades to rocketjump to the front faster before the enemy rebuilds. Plan your rollout and pay attention to health/armour pickups.
Use your rockets to also boost teammates with their knockback by aiming at their feet as they bhop in a way similar to Sniper boosting.
Use your Laser grenade when the defenders stack Engineer to make it easier for your Scout/Medic to run in and grab the flag.
Waste uneeded explosives and discard ammo to take less damage from Engineers EMP grenades.


Soldiers excel in confined spaces with lots of cover, by contrast, their weapons are a lot less useful in large open areas.
The Soldier's main weakness is his long reload times. The best time to attack is when his Rocket Launcher needs reloading.
As Engineer your EMP grenade can usually two shot a soldier unless he wasted a signifficant amount of ammo, but its range is small so time it well. (It will also blow up half of all your own ammo if caught in the blast leaving you unable to build or reload your weapons in worst case)
If you're playing on defense you can expect it to one shot him if he had to rocketjump to you.
As a Medic, concjumping past a Soldier is a better idea than engaging him directly, unless he's considerably weakened. Scouts should never even think about engaging in combat.

Defense/offense hybrid. Like in TF2, you can place out up to 8 remote detonated pipebombs at any time to either jump far or defend the flag. Placing out additional pipes will detonate your oldest pipes in order of placement.


1. The pipe bombs do not stick to surfaces.

2. They explode and damage enemies like normal if you die instead of being harmlessly deleted.

3. They share ammo/clip with the main grenade launcher. You can load up to 6 bombs in a clip being 2 more than your primary launcher in TF2 and also 2 less than your sticky launcher in TF2.

4. The pipes have a limited lifespan and will automatically detonate on their own after 120 seconds. (Although that should never matter in a actual match)

5. The pipes have longer range than the main grenade launcher (without anything like a charge)

On the upside: They cant be destroyed by regular bullets. Only by a Engineers EMP.

Also beware that the pipes have a much smaller blast radius compared to TF2 and do less damage on their own against armoured enemies.
To maximize the damage and make the timing more forgiving you should spread your pipes across the floor so that each pipe can do some chip damage across a large unavoidable area.
Putting multiple pipes in one spot is only good for blast jumping very far and even then you barely have enough health to survive more than 3 pipes, less if you factor fall damage.


Just like on Scout it has the killing power of a dildo so dont use it unless you know the enemy is low or if you're completely out of ammo for all your actual weapons.


Your last weapon is the detpack. Similarly to the CS:GO C4 you are vulnerable while planting it.
You can pick the countdown time before it deal a massive 1270 points of damage in a huge radius.

Despite the massive damage and range, it's rare to see players die to the detpack due to how easy it is to outrun and take cover from. (Explosion damage is binary & based on line of sight)
Its main purpose is to blow up secret routes or seal already opened routes on some maps.
Shortcuts that can be opened/sealed are usually cracked and marked with this graffiti.


You get only one detpack per life and Scouts can instantly defuse it by touching it.
Rarely the detpack can also be used to blow up generators in order to permanently disable enemy security untill a Engineer repairs it by hitting it 5 times with his wrench.
Given its extreme power the detpack is also excellent for launching your teammates in case they need a boost.


Demoman's special grenade is the MIRV grenade that explodes into 4 smaller grenades that also explode. Its the most destructive grenade in the game and is good pick against sentry nests or to cover a retreat.
Just be sure to not get caught in the carnage.



Just like TF2 use your quick reflexes and place pipes strategically to put out deadly traps on the objective, base entrance or around corners near choke points.
Even if a speeding enemy is halted, watch out as they may try to bait you to detonate prematurely.

While not as good on your own as in TF2 on Offense with your shorter range primary and tumbling pipes with delayed detonation you are still a valueable mobility booster for teammates.
While you take damage from blast jumping, teammates only take the knockback meaning just like Sniper you can damage boost them really far with all your explosives.
Stacking all 8 pipes or building a detpack below the feet of your teammates will send them further than anything else in the game if they time the jump to the detonation.


He's only slightly better armoured than the Medic, and his pipe bombs explode when he dies.
Getting right up in his face may make him hesitate to hit you with his grenades, at risk of killing himself.
If you see an enemy Demoman about to drop a detpack, focusfire him. If its already been deployed, run away and take cover! (Unless you're Scout.)
As Engineer, use your EMP to disarm the Demomans pipebombs for your team and maybe to deal some extra damage to the demoman himself if close enough.
Since almost all his weapons use explosive ammo he will take the most EMP damage out of any class as long as he has any ammo left in any weapon beside the shotgun.

Also, im sorry to say that you cannot demoknight in this game by switching to melee. Your crowbar will not grant you extra speed, maxhealth, damage or overheal when killing a enemy.

"For players who don't like to move very much."
-John Bailey

The miniboss of FF and unlike TF2 is a actually a strong & independent mercenary who doesn't need no Medic to pocket him to be effective. (Which is good since the Medic is busy capping or fragging)

The Heavy is the perfect class for defensive players who just wanna play Rambo simulator and shoot anything that moves for 30 minutes.
While one of the easier classes to recommend new players, he is not without his uses, skills and counters.

You have the highest DPS, Health and damage resistance in the game by a longshot, with your only true downside being your speed. Just feed the enemies with bullets once you managed to pin them down and they will be the ones that die first.
In worst case scenario when you have no cover/chokepoints/healthkits or teammates to rely on expect to on your own be able to kill 5 - 8 enemies for every time they kill you. (Unless they're sniper)
Of course, you can go way beyond that in a single life, if you play clever and restock at any oppurtunity and take advantage of map geometry and distracting teammates.


While Heavy is generally much stronger than in TF2 (thank god!), he is far from unkillable.
Unlike TF2 the assault canon cant be pre spun in a "waiting mode".
While it takes much less time to spin than the TF2 tomislav, it still takes a couple of seconds which can be more than enough time for fast classes to get out of cover or jump past you.
When playing against a Heavy wait for him to expend all his ammo or listen for when he stops shooting or switch weapon as thats the perfect time to strike or make your move.

As a heavy while you cant truly spin your AC without firing, you can reduce the cooldown somewhat by constantly tapping primary fire. Beware that this can reveal your position and waste ammo if you miss the timing as everyone can hear you and see your bullet tracers.

You, having the most ammo of any class, are also extremely vulnerable to a Engineer's EMP grenades. If you try to spawncamp, don't be surprised if a group of angry hardhats send your butt back to respawn.
You can somewhat counter this by discarding ammo with X.
Being a hitscan class you dont need rockets on your person anyways.

The assault canon deal great damage even at far range, but due to bullet spread and low speed cap even when bhopping, you're better of at close to medium range. (Not to mention those evil Snipers, picking you off before you have a chance to get close)

You take no knockback from your own frag grenades as heavy, so forget about nade jumps. Teammates like friendly Soldiers, Demos and Snipers can still boost you though.



As a heavy you can press Mouse2 to create a small 360° airblast that can be used between cooldowns.
Use it in tight chokes to stop fast moving enemies in their tracks and make them easier to shoot, push them into hazards or to clear them off the objective.
Sadly it cant put out burning teammates or reflect projectiles like Pyro's airblast in TF2.

(A Heavy using his overpressure ability)

You also have a unique Slowfield grenade, but it's garbage.(Most new players mistake it for a shield, Soldier 76's healing field or a Area Of Effect damage booster which would be pretty cool and more useful). It's easy to dodge and may actually help your opponents bhop since it halves their gravity giving them more time to airstrafe. Still it can be a slight obstacle if stacked in a entrance but i dont recommend you to rely on it.

(A Heavy being under the effect of 2 slowfield grenades)


(Slowdown icon)


Your shotgun shares ammopool with your assault canon so Fat Scouting is still pointless even without a superior healing item like the sandwich.
Once you expired all ammo from your AC you're unable to reload your shotgun meaning you'll never use it since the AC deals better damage whenever you can use it.

Also a quick FYI to any CS player or Heavy main in TF2 using the Gloves of Running Urgently:
YOU DON'T RUN FASTER WITH YOUR CROWBAR OUT!!!

Thanks and have fun! ^-^


Just like in TF2 you are a engineers best friend as you can serve as a huge distraction/meatwall while he sets up his nest, as you function like a slightly more mobile and signifficantly more tanky sentry gun.
You are also a good heal target for medics/engineers on defence but dont expect to be pocketed unless you sit on the flags current position.
Being way more tanky than in TF2 you dont need a pocket anyways.
Being slow and big makes you a easy target, so be sure to put the limited movement you do have to good use by suprising enemies around corners, bhopping instead of running and crouching/jumping randomly to make you somewhat harder to snipe.
Once the enemy is dead/escaped, resupply and return to your post.


Not as bad as Scout on Defense as you can still deal damage and lead a push, but you are still the easiest to hit, flank and evade so you should really leave all the flag capturing to your faster teammates, as you have a low chance to even reach the flag room at all by the time it would take them to cap twice.
Instead focus on killing and distracting enemies on the frontlines so your teammates can move past them.
However if your teammates refuse to switch or if there are no fast cap classes on offense, be the better player and consider switching yourself.


Sit on the flag, relax and farm kills.
If you see a good oppurtunity try to block entrances with your grenades.
Be sure to regularly stock up on armour and especially ammo since your AC eats up $400 000 worth of boolets every 12 seconds.
Just like TF2 you can gain a slight speed boost by revving up while jumping when the situation demands it. I also recommend revving up while downtrimping if the flag is on a long ramp as its the only situation where the heavy can get some serious speed in a certain area.


Concussion grenades can severly hinder a Heavy's ability to track his target and EMP grenades can cause serious damage and deplete most of his armour.
A distracted HWGuy is a good target for backstabs, headshots and infections.
Listen for when a heavy stops reving his AC as that can give you the window of time to attack or run past.
As a Medic you can use your nailgun to pop in and out of cover or circle strafe around a heavy similarly to how you can fight a sentry gun.
Even though Pyro in this game dont out DPS the Heavy with long afterburn or crit gimmick weapons he is still way more mobile than him and can be really hard to hit when up close and personal.
If you can hit the Heavy but he can't hit you, then even with his incredible armour it wont take long to bring the giant down.

THIS is the class you really wanna play if you main Scout in TF2 as Medic is ironically considered the main combat class in FF while his support role is just a footnote.
When fully stocked the medic has a total of 3 concussion grenades and 4 frag grenades, meaning he can jump across the map up to 7 times! (Assuming he heals up between using the frag grenades) If you prime a spare grenade just before restocking with a cap you can get a free extra jump

Everything I said about movement in Scout's section applies here as well except now with better armour and weapons, you have the option to actually fight back.
The FF Medic is generally independent and dont require much protection from his team.
In fact, the TFC/FF Scout is pretty much just the tutorial class for the TFC/FF Medic, teaching you his mobility by forcing you to avoid combat.
Then once you mastered him you can have both firepower and mobility as Medic is the perfect combo of both playstyles: Speedrunning and Gunning.


Dont believe me? Just watch this video 45 seconds in, for accurate high level Medic gameplay and be sure to pick up your jaw from the floor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-V4u7LkP6Q&t=50s
(To reference Lazypurple: "This is how it FEELS to play medic in FF")


If you heard the song "Everything Spy can do Sniper does better", then the same applies to Medic relative to Scout except that here its not a oversight and is (for better and for worse) by design.
Remember, FF was made by fans of TFC and in TFC, Medic, not Scout, was the meta battle class due to his defensive weapons being too strong and his healing items not being neccesary.


Since you died and respawned pretty much instantly regardless of health and since more classes had proper tools against Sentryguns (grenades/nailguns) this meant no need for a Übercharge which in turn meant no actual reward for healing or surviving. (In TFC you didnt even get points for healing)

With high damage and mobility Medic is essentially a direct upgrade to Scout in every way except base run speed and airstrafe speed.
He can slowly regenerate health, have insane mobility with more potential jumps, hits risky but heavy meatshots with his shotgun, can obliterate sentry nests with Frag grenades and have practically infinite range with the nailgun. (Still not as good a sniper riffle as it lacks burst damage)

Only play Scout over Medic if you are either godlike at conc jumping already like in the video (and dont need to fight since the enemy have no chance of catching up) or have terrible aim (and thus dont intend to fight back anyways).



As Medic, your primary weapon is the Double Barrel shotgun. This is a great weapon against nearly every class. It does good damage and it's spread makes it viable up to medium distance, so you don't have to run up to your target point blank and open fire like the Shortstop in TF2.


Just like Scouts Mini Nail Gun, this weapon is mainly used against stationary targets like buildings.
The difference is that this one powerful enough to outdamage a sentry even if it's being repaired by a single Engineer.

It deals low damage and fires slow moving projectiles making it unreliable as a primary weapon, but it has a massive clip and the projectiles travel in a straight line & have no damage falloff meaning it has infinite range, so its excellent for sniping sentry nests.
As a Medic, fire the Nailgun at a Sentry while moving in and out of cover as the steady stream of nails will bring it down.
Don't use it against moving players unless at point blank range with no shotgun ammo loaded as the bullets are not hitscan like the Pistol in TF2.


If targets have too much health or are too fast to hit, you still have your Frag grenades to even out the odds with, though you should save them for jumping or taking out poorly placed sentry guns.
Combine the nailgun with frag grenades and circle strafe around it for maximum effect against sentries. (This strat is even more valid for Spy as he can get closer to the gun with his disguises.)


Considering Medics are busy killing the enemy and capping the flag and you have instant respawn in this game, Medics are generally not expected to actually heal. (Unless on defense on maps that allow defensive medic)

If you are hurt look for a nearby backpack or call a Engineer by holding Z and selecting armour, or just call directly for medic as TFC vets will most likely recognize it as a call for armour given the context.
(Yep, in this game and TFC you spam Z instead of E to sing the anthem of meme wars)


This will remove any debuff and instantly bring them up to full health. If you keep hitting them you'll gradually give them a temporary overheal that can bring them up to 150% their base health.



If you hit a non Medic enemy with the medkit, you'll infect them with a virus just like in TFC.
Medics are always immune to the debuff while recently cured teammates are temporairly immune. (You'll see white particle effects around them)
However unlike TFC its kinda pointless since it:

1. Is cured by any form of healing. (Not just enemy medics)
2. No longer spreads between enemies on contact.
3. Can't kill enemies. (Only harms them over time until their health reach 1 or the effect wears off)
At least it can along with the nailgun be useful for bringing down tanky targets like Heavies.


In short, Medic is the reason why its hard for me to return to TF2, even though i think they did the right thing by taking his firepower and giving it to the Scout and in turn making medic a healer, i still wish Scout at least kept his concs and nailgun. This is just too much fun of a playstyle in which i constantly discover more jumps and strats.
Even though his role can be summed up as "jumping & shooting" it feels like the skill expression never ends.


Team up with a Engineer to restore a strong defender.
Heal allies during moments of downtime.
Use your speed to chase enemies running away with the flag.


Medics don't have very strong armour. Two rockets in a row is enough to kill them.
Count how many times he has concussion/frag jumped.
After 7 jumps expect him to be almost as slow and vulnerable as a Spy but don't underestimate the Medic's Super Shotgun and Nailgun. It'll kill you very easily if you're wounded even at mid range if you move predictably and if he can hit shots consistently.

Listen for the "click" when he primes a grenade and use that to move out of range or to anticipate his jump and bodyblock him in chokes. Use knockback and slowdown effects to cripple the range of his jumps, make him waste his concs on failed jumps or deny him access to grenade bags.

"For players who don't like to aim."
-John Bailey

While not as controversial as in TF2 where he can melt entire teams with phlog at no cost of speed and not nearly as useless as in TFC where he was only used to blind enemies (which did nothing against bots), pyro is still somewhat of a divisive class even in FF.



The pyro has his flamethrower, Incendiary Canon, *Single barrel shotgun (*garbage Scout shotgun) and a molotov grenade.

The flamethrower has burn levels meaning it starts with low damage, but gradually increases over time or by using weapon combos.
Hit enemies with different weapons or ignited by another pyro to stack up the damage and increase burn level to a maximum of 3.
The flamethrower also inflicts a tiny amount of knockback/slowdown on hit, which can seriously screw up the jumps from Scouts/Medics and drastically affect their trajectory.

The Incendiary Canon while not having the best damage, is good for defending chokes like the RPG due to its knockback and stopping power. Unlike TFC it has to reload and travels in an arc and can be used for small rocketjumps and igniting players in its blast radius.
(like the Scorch Shot in TF2)



Instead of a skilled airblast or stupid crit damage you have the main reason Pyro is hated & loved: The jetpack.
Holding Mouse2 midair will start a jetpack that while being a good idea for not making the Pyro useless, is rather poorly balanced in its current state.
While not as effective as a conc, its really effective for how forgiving it is, leading it to be popular amongst lazy players who can't be bothered to learn movement.
(Or by players who just wanna ruin the game for everyone else)
Its really broken on the football gamemode where you can instantly fly into the goal for free while Scouts/Medics have to take a detour to grab grenades for jumps they could screw up.
Some servers even nerf its effectiveness because of this, by making the Pyro heavier.
(It don't even eat up your flamethrower ammo like it used to in previous versions of the game)
Remember the reason Scout's mobility is balanced because he only had max 3 concs and having the physical strength of a feather once you pinned him down. Medic also having limited grenades in addition to having to spend his own health/firepower between long intervalls for bonus jumping with frag grenades. Same for everyone else having to give up health or limited ammo in exchange for speed.
Meanwhile Pyro have regenerating jetpack fuel (practically infinite) while also having high tier damage and medium tier armour.

However if you want to use the jetpack in a more fun, effective and respectable way, you can combine it with a grenade jump. That way you still sacrifice health & firepower, but in return get almost noclip like speed.
(Which also completely bypasses the weight nerf)
It's more fun and practical than the TF2 Thermal Thruster since it recharges much faster and can be used at any amount of charge, rather than having to wait between long cooldowns for just 2 charges to completely fill in order to unlock a "automatic rocketjump".
You can see your availible charge and how fast it regenerate in the bottom left corner above your health.

3049 u/s or 58 meters per second is the fastest speed ive been able to achieve using jetpack with 2 handheld grenade jumps. Thats way faster than anyting else in the game and essentially lets you teleport across the maps instantly! (Beware of fall damage though!)

Unlike TF2 the Jetpack dont launch you in the direction you look, it rather lets you glide across the air or preserve momentum from trimpings/blast jumps or gain speed by airstrafing.
Keep that in mind when trying to reach high hidingspots, when falling or trying to clear large gaps.
You can't cancel your fall, but you can use the jetpack to reduce fall damage.
You can hold in right click to get one powerfull charge if you need height and speed, or you can repeatadly tap it to fly slower but further.


The molotov MIRV grenade is alright for sentry nests, but not nearly as effective as the Soldiers laser grenade. The fire also dont linger very long and is divided in chunks which means its not good for area denial unless the space is really tight. It can be effective as a way to delay enemies off slow cap points on 5CP maps.
(Fun fact: The projectiles are skulls.)


Without the ability to remove sappers, push back enemies, clear sticky traps, mess up snipers ability to aim, extinguish burning teammates, reflect projectiles, lighting arrows, shredding tanks or blinding enemies, you only have the same purpose as the Phlog in TF2:
Killing and weakening enemies to clear the way for your teammmates, but don't be afraid to take the enemy flag if the opportunity arises.
(But please dont play pyro as a alternative to learning rollouts for other cap classes as the jetpack is only meant to give him less of a disadvantage rather than a easy advantage. I promise that the other classes will reward you more if you take the time to practice them.)


Stay outside the flag room and try to land hits on passing attackers with both your Flamethrower and IC, to cause level 2 burn and make it easy for your teammates to finish them off.
You're most effective against slower classes such as Heavys, Soldiers and Demomen.
Consider switching to another class if the enemy has a lot of Scouts.
With your jetpack and IC it should be easy to reposition between waves of attackers and ambush from above.
Beware that afterburn runs out almost instantly so there is no point retreating once you ignited the enemy.
Remember to spycheck by flaming anyone suspicious. A teammate ignited by you is a giant glowing sign that says "Hello! I am a enemy!"


Playing against a Pyro is up to outrunning him or gunning him down outside his range.
Hitting a fully loaded Pyro with an Engineer EMP grenade will severely wound him if it don't instantly kill him.
If a jetpacking pyro is gaining on you, try suprising him by suddenly walking back beneath him and shoot him in the back before he can react and adjust his crosshair.

He is one of the worst classes against the Sentry Gun as the Pyro has no reliable anti-Sentry weapons. (Yes even worse than Scout who atleast can speed past it before it locks on, or snipe it with nails outside its range)
A well-placed Sentry in the flag room is a good defense against all classes, but especially Pyros.
If he can't get close enough to circle-strafe a Sentry with the Flamethrower, his only option is to use up his Frag/Molotov Grenades or trying to blindfire the sentry behind cover by shooting over walls with his IC. (If the map dont have a low ceiling that is)

As a Soldier or Demoman, try to knock him back with rockets or grenades.
Although being hard to hit, without any airblast you don't need to worry about him turning projectile spam against you.
As a Medic, hit him with your Super Shotgun while retreating. If he manages to close the distance, pull out your Medkit and try to infect him as he burns you with his Flamethrower.
The Pyro's flame weapons are totally useless in water (Go figure!) leaving him to use his terrible single barrel shotgun.
The Medic's Medkits will instantly extinguish burning teammates.

If everyone fears you, you're playing Spy correctly. He specializes in creating chaos, infiltrating the enemy and single target elimination.
He posseses a wide range of abilities ranging from useful to underpowered.




Not usefull by any means with low damage, clip and travel time though it does reduce enemy vision so they can't see their HUD.
(Heavy being sedated by a tranqulizer gun in First person POV)


(Same thing in thirdperson)



Shares ammo with drug gun but is much more usefull. Not as strong as the medic's nailgun but it gets the job done. Use it to snipe sentries or spray enemies as you retreat.



You can cloak by quickly tapping Mouse2 just like in TF2. (May be harder with higher ping)
If you do it while running you'll drop a corpse of whatever you were disguised as, like the Dead Ringer in TF2. The corpse will remain untill you uncloak but will not update if you change disguise unlike TFC.
Unlike TF2 however you can still stab while invisible and don't need to learn the skill of masking audio since decloak is silent and instant. (It's just as frustrating as it sounds)
Activating the cloak (between a hidden cooldown) is also instant meaning you can't create illusions by moving in one direction as you're cloaking and changing direction once fully cloaked.

The more balanced side of cloak however is that it reduces your speed and lasts forever, meaning you can wait for the perfect time to strike and don't need to hug dispensers or be lucky enough for enemy backpacks to work for your team.
So at the cost of mobility, you have all the time in the world to relay info to your team or attack a heavially guarded flag from a unexpected angle while everyone is busy with your medic/scout.
Spy is also really good for keeping the enemy security offline since you can still push buttons while cloaked.

The underpowered side of cloak is that you're actually not fully invisible while moving (similar to a TF2 Cloak & Dagger at 0%) and if that wasn't bad enough, Sentryguns also have sonars that warn Engineers of nearby cloaked spies. (The closer you get to a sentry while cloaked, the more it will beep with higher pitch/volume and at a faster rate)
This kinda defeats the purpose of cloak when you can't use it to infiltrate or escape and are already made more vulnerable with the slower speed.
You can only use it to ambush in chokes and spectate in the open. You are never truly safe unless you stand still since you are as visible to everyone else as your own hand is to you.
Keep that in mind before you accuse the enemy of cheating.

(A cloaked spy's outline being clearly visible even for enemies when moving around. Although it may be harder to notice in dark areas or from far distances)

The Spy runs silently, meaning you dont have to shiftwalk unless disguised as a non spy class.
You can also land silently with less falldamage by crouching.
If you touch a enemy spy as a spy, you'll both drop your cloak and/or disguises.
(A ability you share with Scout)




The knife can instantly kill any class on a backstab.
If you backstab someone while disguised, you will instantly copy their disguise similar to the "Your Eternal Reward" in TF2


Instead of sapping, Spy can hack enemy sentryguns to make them betray their team.
If you bind R to "sentrysabotage" in the console, and walk up to an enemy sentrygun while disguised, you'll see a little bar fill.
Once its full you have successfully planted a bug and can press R anytime to instantly & remotely make the enemy sentry your own without alerting the Engineer who originally built it.
Its one of the most fun and earned ways to get frags as the Spy, distract the enemy or turn the tide of a battle.
Its advised you save it for large crowds as a hacked sentry will eventually self destruct automatically if the enemy dont destroy it.
If the enemies refuse to leave their post, just get as close as you can and throw a grenade or two as that don't drop your disguise.
If you are unable to get close you can try sniping the sentry with your nailgun.


(Spy ready to manually activate a hacked sentry. Once i press R it will change team colour)


Spy can disguise as any class on any team by holding down Mouse2 and hovering over the desired option.
If there are two teams on the map, the disguises will be listed as either "Friendly" or "Enemy". If there are more teams on the map, the disguises will be listed by team colour.
You can only disguise as classes that the target team is able to pick on the current map. (So if the game disallow RED players to play as Medic then Spy won't be able to disguise as a RED Medic) It means your disguise wont be instantly blown by looking glitchy as you can't accidentally disguise as a class the enemy can't have like in TF2.



When disguised, you'll appear as your disguise for your own team as well (and yourself in 3:rd person) even if you disguise as a teammate.
This could be helpfull since your team shooting you could make the enemy buy your disguise.
Try disguising as the class the enemy has the most of, or disguise randomly each life to be harder to track.
Unlike TF2 disguises dont affect your Spy speed so while you dont gain run speed by disguising as Scout, you also dont lose speed by disguising as Soldier or Heavy. While disguised as a friendly Scout/Medic you can nade jump to appear as you're moving just as fast at the cost of health while as a Soldier Heavy you can either shiftwalk to appear as slow or bhop to excuse the fact you dont move slower.
Pay attention to where every enemy type is when choosing disguise. (Dont disguise as Sniper in the flag room or Engineer on the balcony.)


Disguises always mirror the active weapon you have equipped. (Unlike TF2 there is no way to lock the disguise weapon to be independent of your real weapon)
For example, if you hold your knife (ie melee) out, your disguise will also show their corresponding melee weapon.
When disguised as Engineer near a sentry, it will look like you have your wrench out to repair or upgrade.
Meanwhile a sniper running around with a crowbar is a dead giveaway.


Instead of always seeing you as a Spy wearing a paper mask of your target disguise, teammates will see you as a enemy with a Spy icon floating above you that tells that you're on the same team.
While not as comical as TF2, this is more useful as you'll be able to tell how allied spies tries to disguise to the enemy from any distance & angle, rather than having to get a close up on their face.


A Blue disguised spy in his spawn seen from blue players perspective


Help your team take out sentry guns & important enemies like Snipers/Heavies
Disable security for the medics and scouts
Backcap (on 5CP) when the coast is clear.
Cloak & uncloak around corners outside enemy sight.


Patrol your base and use your permanent cloak to ambush attackers or to warn your team.
Bodyblock scouts in corridors.


Use any knockback to instantly cancel his cloak
Dont approach from the same chokes
Spycheck often & communicate.

"For players who don't like to play"
-John Bailey

One of the more tactical & versatile classes, the Engineer can provide area denial, create ammo and repair armour on teammates.
He also passively regenerate his own armour similar to how Medic regenerate health.
Armed with his shotgun, railgun and buildings the Engineer is a force to reckoned with.

While deploying a building you are locked in place unable to move, shoot, reload and switch weapons for a short time. but you're still able to toss any grenade you primed prior to building & can still freely look around like normal & can cancel the build at any time by pressing Mouse1 if things get messy.
Be sure to do that as its better to relocate and build somewhere else than instantly dying.
This will also refund 100% of your cells unlike when you dismantle a already placed building.


Used to build, upgrade, repair and restock buildings. Hit teammates to replenish their armour.
You're argubly a more valueable pocket than Medic since armour can absorb more damage than health on heavy classes.


Your primary weapon is the same good ol' reliable shotgun as the Medic.
(Keep in mind that your own reserve shotgun ammo is also used when building dispensers or stocking up sentry guns similar to the Widowmaker in TF2.)


The railgun ignores armour, bounce around corners and overloading it regens you metal to build with.
Useful if there are no nearby teammates to drop you ammo or when behind enemy lines.
It can also be used to do a small rocket jump.



Dont expect your buildings to do all work for you, as you are still the primary damage dealer.
The sentry is merely a distraction and backup weapon that you should relocate (on offense) or maintain (on defense) as often as possible.
While it doesn't lock on as fast or have as much health as in TF2, they only cost 130 cells (metal) to Build & Upgrade (as opposed to 200 like in TF2). Upgrading is also instant upon hitting it with no need to fill a progress bar between build levels & no slow animation when transforming from one level to another. (Provided you have at least 130)
Think of it as a TF2 mini sentry that you can upgrade.
Its main purpose is to alert you to enemy presence & weaken & delay them before you finish them off.

In FF you can deploy & fully upgrade your sentry in 5 seconds & just 2 hits as long as you fill the 130 cells threshold.
In TF2 you need 20 seconds & 16 hits but can progress with any amount of metal.

By quickly tapping Mouse2 you can make the sentry aim where you look similarly to using The Wrangler. (Sadly it turns slower and have no shield)
You can also silently dismantle it at point blank range to get most of your resources back.


You can only build one sentry at a time, if you wanna relocate quickly or don't have time to prevent a Spy from reaching your gun, I recommend binding T to "detsentry".
Since you can't pick up buildings, restarting from level 1 is the better choice than letting your team getting fragged by a hacked sentry. Dont worry as rebuilding is much faster and cheaper than in TF2.
Remember to place your gun well; Scouts, Spies and Medics love to stay out of your sentry's range and nailgun it.
You cannot detonate buildings you're in the process of placing or while dead.




Dispensers can provide ammo and armour but not health.
However thats not their primary use.
Dispensers are mainly used as bombs. The more ammo they contain, the more damage they deal. (Please don't steal ammo from friendly dispensers unless you really have to with no pickups nearby)
Unlike TF2, enemies can use your dispenser as well. (Hoovies rejoice!)
When enemies touch your dispenser, you'll get notified so it can be used as a barrier or alarm system.
(Similar to the strat of teleporters in TF2 that are both placed on the friendly side on CTF maps)

If you open the console & bind CAPSLOCK to "detdispenser" you can place it in chokes, behind corners or on the flag to instantly blow it up when you get notified or when you see enemies get close. This will most of the time instakill light to medium classes if they previously fought you, your sentry or your team, and will be your biggest source of frags.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=923921151

This is the second reason why turtling is a bad idea in FF. It's missed potential.
If you spread out your sentry and dispenser you can essentially guard 2 areas at once or have a backup trap if your sentry gets destroyed.

Dispensers cannot be upgraded but can be filled with ammo by thowing ammo bags at them or by hitting them with your wrench, in addition they will very slowly regen ammo on their own.


The Engineer also has an EMP grenade that deals damage based on how much & what type of ammo the victim carries.
(So it deals critical damage against power classes but almost nothing on light classes like Scout.)
It can also be used to safely vaporize a Demoman's pipe bombs like the Short Circuit in TF2.
Good way to counter powerclasses and clear a way if your team is getting spawncamped.


(This is the engineer's EMP nade not to be confused with the spherical Conc. If classes like Heavy, Pyro, Demo & Soldier give you trouble, this baby is your best friend)



Play behind your team and stick close to the flag.
Always have a sentry up in your base, even if you're away, just having the sentry up can help your team drastically.
Like any responsable parent remember to not leave your Sentry Gun alone for too long, or else you're inviting a Spy to sabotage it.
If you hear someone fighting your sentry remember to shiftwalk to quietly sneak up right behind them to catch them with their pants down.
A dispenser placed on the flag or security button can be used in the same way as a Demoman's pipe trap: detonate it if enemies get too close. A well-stocked dispenser will instantly kill a Scout.


If there are more engineers on your team you can try to guard the security console or weaken the enemy on mid.
You can follow your team's powerclasses and hit them to replenish their armour as they're taking fire.(Beware of splash damage)
This role is of course situational, and if it's not working out, switch to a more suitable offense class.
You can build sentries near the enemy base to cause annoying distraction, but don't expect it to last long.


The Engineer has little armour and will die to two rockets, or a few Super Shotgun shots.
The Engineer is defenseless for the time it takes him to deploy his gun. Try to capitalise on this.
If an Engineer's gun is out in the open, a Sniper can easially destroy it with a fully charged shot along with a Medic, Scout, Spy or Soldier using a steady stream of nails or a couple of rockets since sentries can't dodge.
As Soldier, a well thrown Laser Grenade is a instant win against a turtling engineer.
Although Engie vs Engie encounters are rare, the Engineer's own EMP grenade is powerfull against him since he carries every ammo type in large amounts.

As a spy be sure to disguise as a engineer and sneak up on a sentry when noones looking.
The more enemies in the area, the more damage you can cause with the sentry.

"Be completely useless and try not to die"
-Open Fortress class description.

"Protect the VIP!"
-Some 1.6 Agent

"Good day my underpaid men! If i survive you all get a five cent raise!"
-TF2C Civillian.

The forgotten 10:th class and inspiration for TF2's payload mode.
The Civillian has the lowest health in the game and his only weapon is the umbrella.
(Useful if it rains)
Though some servers enable his Tommygun which has decent firepower and shoots straight like the negev in CSGO.
Just beware that you can't reload the Tommygun until you expended all ammo in its clip.
He only appears in the Hunted gamemode by default which is basically a source remake of the same mode from TFC (and the VIP escort/Assassination mode from CS 1.6)
Only one map of this mode is in the game by default: ff_hunted.



The Civillian class functions as a playable objective on escort maps, where the blue team consists of one civillian player, having to be escorted to a rescue zone by the red team of bodyguards, while the yellow team that consists of snipers and spies, have to assassinate him before he escapes.
(If you dont count truces during boss battles in TF2, this is the only instance in the TF series where red and blue are on the same side ingame)
The Civillian can't take self inflicted damage (fall/drown/crush damage) and is unable to killbind.
He can only be damaged by a hacked Sentrygun, knife or Sniper rifle.
(The Sniper's crowbar and the Spy's tranq/shotgun and both their nailguns deal zero damage to the VIP) If he dies the yellow team wins and the map resets.
It can be fun having your own personal army giving their all to protect you while you lay back and exciting to do daring escapes when everyone is hunting you & wants you dead.
It can make for interesting scenarios, however i advise that players take turns being the VIP since if someone new or inexperienced play as him, the entire map becomes unfun for everyone.
(Hunters if he never dares to leave spawn and bodyguards if he is careless & gets himself killed constantly)
This is what inspired Valve to replace him with the Payload in TF2.

As a civillian, keep your back against a wall, move unpredictably, and dont enter sightlines until your bodyguards give you the clear.
Always have a escape plan ready and dont be afraid to bail if your teammates are outnumbered.
If isolated hide & wait for your team to respawn and regroup with you as the red team can see you though walls and should arrive to aid you shortly.
(Basically play if you were Medic in TF2 except alot less usefull)
(A medic healing a Civillian)


Unlike TF2C the civillian only has one life per round and his death means instant win/loss instead of just removing multiple minutes from the round timer & rewarding the killer with quad damage.
However its not all bad as there is no time limit for the round allowing for more carefully planned strats and the escape door will remain open once opened untill you, a bodyguard or a enemy close it again.
(Be careful if it closes again as that may mean a Spy is waiting for you on the other side)
The buttons to activate the door is in the two towers and behind the door in the cave just before exiting the level.
You can see if the escape route is available by looking at the objective status at the top of your screen:


Escape door closed

Escape door open


The Civillian is also often used in alternative or cooperative PvE gamemodes or "Fun maps" (that are more focused on roleplaying or traversing obstacles rather than competitive combat) as he lacks weapons to grief other players. In these modes usually everyone is locked to playing as the Civillian to keep the playing field even.


In the Football gamemode, the Civillian fills the role of the goalie. His umbrella can instakill and he moves 10x faster.
He can reset the ball by pressing USE on it.
On the friendly side, the Civillian is invincible, while on mid he takes 3x as much damage from everything.
If he attempts to leave the field or enter the enemy side he will teleport back to his own goal.



Forget about the geneva convention. He is probably a corrupt politician/buissnessman who's evicting poor families, printing propaganda or hunting endangered species.
He probably deserved a bullet to the head.
That being said, if he isnt the map objective and someone willingly put themselves at a disadvantage by picking him, chances are that means they dont wanna fight you meaning you dont prove your skill by choosing a easy target who don't fight back. Be the bigger person and leave him be or switch target to someone who want to challenge you if you dont wanna join him.


If the server enables the Civillian outside special maps/modes and allow him in normal maps then he is basically replacing heavy as the friendly "pootis" class. Try him if you don't wanna play or just wanna explore the maps.
He is also technically the first class you canonically play as in FF if you enable thirdperson during the tutorial level.
If the map/server allows you to play as the civillian, the spy will also be able to disguise as him.

It's a shame that the FF mercs dont have distinct personalities as the extremely brittish voice of the TF2C Civillian would fit perfectly with the Civillian model in FF, it being based on Winston Churchill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twaesx5qv60

https://youtu.be/GP-vIk2_TPk?si=1vSsy-MqX4gebayp

Even if the main gamemode mechanically and conceptually may look identical to TF2, what seperates TF2 from the older TF games is how CTF is expected to be played by its players.
While Capture The Flag can of course still be played symetrically like in TF2 (with two teams of 8 players having 4 attackers and 4 defenders each), the TFC (and by extension FF) community have generally agreed that one team (usually red) should be fully dedicated to defending, while the other team (usually blue) is always expected to attack, even on CTF.
This essentially means the teams are split into The Rushers vs The Campers.



(It woulnt be a Fortress game without 2fort & Well)


While this unique way of playing can feel weird and random for new players, this gives CTF a competitive flow and avoids stalemates better than the defend vs defend style of TF2 CTF.
It can also give it more casual replay value as the Red team can chill in their base not having to worry about stressed movement or knowing where to go, while the Blue team can practice speedruns and rollouts, not having to worry about getting kills or having good aim.
The map posters and scoreboard may suggest that the team with most flags capped wins (as that was the original vision for CTF) but for the last 20 years, older TF players prefer to informally score it based on how often blue manages to cap vs red being able to prevent them as often as possible.
The blue team playing First Person Angry birds and constantly thowing themselves at the enemy trying to nuddge the flag into a vulnerable position while the red team sits back and play whack-a-mole with the incomming horde of blues.
You can see that this playstyle has since been adopted into the map design with many custom maps having open spaces to allow for high speed escapes for blue and tight flag rooms to give red a chance of defending.

This means that if Blue vs Red's score is 20 - 0 at the end, that means blue only managed to cap twice for a entire 20 minute round which means the defenders generally won.
(Remember, red have no intention to cap and instead get "hidden points" for each minute they prevent blue. It may not show in the scoreboard, but you can definetly feel when you're doing better than the other team.)
Meanwhile if the end score is something like 360 - 0 then the attackers have clearly won since their caps (36) outnumber the minutes per round.
So if you're on blue and barely manage to change the score from 0-0 to 10-0 when time runs out, dont brag to your enemies since Red had no problem stopping you from capping during the majority of the round, but if you manage to cap 2 or more flags each minute, you're winning.



Capturing a control point/flag will instantly resupply all your health, armour and ammo.
On some maps thats the only way (besides respawning) to also replenish grenades.
That means as a Scout or Medic who usually burn up most of their resources on a mission, you dont need to waste time heading back to spawn and can directly resume the race back to the enemy flag after a successful cap.

On CTF maps, the capture point is independent from your flag spawn and is usually placed on Sniper decks or in the main entrance of your base.

(A flag capture point on FF_aardvark.)

Unlike TF2 its not about capping a small, set amount of flags to end a neverending round but rather capping as many flags as you can before a long time limit ends. (Which can always be voted to be extended if players want more).
This means CTF has room for both competitive teamwork & casual dm unlike TF2.
In other words: As a friendly, there is no reason to get mad at someone who wanna speedrun and test how many caps they can get per minute.
If you don't wanna fight or just explore the maps, let them "do nothing but capture flags for three days". Them scoring rapidly cannot disrupt your ability to just mess around.



On some CTF maps like FF_shutdown2, FF_schtop or FF_openfire you're required to temporarly disable security to even be able to access the enemy flag.
(While on other maps like FF_dropdown & FF_aardvark turning off security only means its easier to get to or escape with the flag at the cost of warning the enemy)
Its very similar to in TF2 having to cap the points on Degroot Keep to open the gates to the main point except a bit easier since you only need to capture one point before unlocking your main goal.

This means that you have a second chance to relocate as a defender if you guard the security console first and that as a attacker you can work in pair with one group keeping security disabled while another rush for the flag.
Just be careful and hurry so you dont get trapped with the flag as security goes back online.
If that happens you can press C to toss the flag for your team through the insta killing lasers/forcefields that usually guard the flag.

(A typical security shutdown switch. Either touch it or press USE on it to disable security)



(Flag security measures on FF_shutdown2 and FF_openfire.)



Objective HUD. From left to right:

• Blue Team Score of 20
  
• Blue flags current position and how long untill it resets. (if dropped outside its spawn)
  
• Map name and its remaining time (Will be stuck at 0 if extended beyond default limit)
  
• Name of the player who carries the Red flag. (If any)
  
• The timer below the lighting icon shows how long until Red flag security is back online.
  (If disabled)
  
• Red team score of 0
  (Does not accuratly represent their morale score if they gave blue a hard time.)

The CTF maps of FF.

In FF, experienced players rarely ever play two way CTF unless the teams are big and evenly balanced or only to make it fair for newcomers.
If you wanna make up how you wanna play or is unsure of what your opponents intend, you can ask them: "OvD?"(Offense vs Defend) at the start of each round. If they agree/disagree they'll likely to respond while if they dont respond at all generally expect them to be newcomers also trying to play two way CTF.

(If the concept of One Way CTF still sounds confusing or if you still think im just making this up i recommend this video by Phillip Chute.
Skip to 6:38 for the OvD meta strats)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsL-xzc580o

An iconic gamemode in the TF series. Red have a setup time before round starts and the map changes if attackers gets to the end.
If blue captures a point the round ends and the next part of the level unlocks while the previous area gets blocked off.

In attack/defend capturing a control point is instant instead of gradual, but it can only be captured by the player holding the flag.
On some maps holding the flag slows you down and make you unable to drop the flag.
In that case you can killbind in order to drop it to a faster class/player more familiar with the map.
If the flag remains untouched by the attackers for too long it will teleport back to their spawn.

Blue scores 30 points by capping points with the flag while red team passively scores 5 points for each minute they prevent blue (except this time its actually programmed into the scoreboard) which is identical to how CTF is played as far as most players are concerned except that the timer is more strict, the maps aren't mirrored and the match ends if blue caps all points.

Depending on the teamsizes/player skills, some rounds can drag on for 30 minutes while other rounds can be over in less than 15 seconds. If you get rolled, look on the bright side as your reward for a hard game will be a teamswitch letting you get revenge by doing the same to the enemy, weither speedrunning them or camping them.

Unlike TF2 when the teams switches, their colours don't change meaning Blue will defend and Red will attack during the second round, and so on.
Also unlike TF2 there is only one cap point per section meaning Blue cant extend the round by capping and that Red only has one chance guarding last.

(Some classic A/D maps that players from TF2 and CS:GO should recognize.)


Defending plays like you'd expect with players typically having positions at key choke points in their base which they are expected to hold down, ambushing or head on stopping attackers from getting past by using firepower, splash damage, knockback & number advantage while relaying information on the flag and enemy positions to their teammates.

Attacking in Fortress Forever on the other hand, is based on the various movement abilities and persistance rather than combat or strategy.
In TF2 you group up with your team, maybe distract with some flankers, wait for a ubercharge, sap the building & push in while the enemy is dead.
In Fortress Forever, attackers are first and foremost more concerned with speedrunning and getting past their opponents, rather than wasting time on flatout killing them.
(Dont be suprised if you see a blue player completely ignore you as you shoot him)
Just like in One Way CTF, the attackers job isnt to break the defence but rather slipping through its cracks.
In the older TF games, the offensive strategies involve less shooting bullets at the enemy over being a human bullet that shoot their body past them trying to hit the objective, expecting to die & respawning to repeat the process as early as possible.
This is more evident by the balance of speed and killing power as offensive classes like Scout are lighting fast but can barely kill anything, meanwhile the defensive Heavy can barely move anywhere, but is great at quickly destroying whatever comes to him.

This leads to high replay value with different playstyles for both teams as defenders get to farm kills while attackers get to pull off impressive tricks at high speeds and altitudes.
Its like two games in one mode.
If you like fun, speed and freedom: Pick Blue.
If you prefer something more slow and tactical: Pick Red.

As a attacker: rush the flag and give your enemies no time to setup and rebuild.
Dont be discouraged if you die constantly as the expected average life of a attacker is 10-15 seconds when facing a good defense. (On the contrary, dying should be expected and recognized as benefitial as you instantly teleport and resupply rare grenades while also not losing any time or score.)
The name of the game is keeping the defenders busy and throwing your bodies at the objective.
Even if the powerclasses kills you 18 times in a row, for each second your team prevents them from retreating to health or you manage to refresh the flag and getting it even a inch closer to the goal, you've won.
(Similar to a TF2 spy dying to get a medic/sniper pick)

As a defender: always stick close to your Engineers, sit on the flag and replenish health and armour at the earliest oppurtunity. Dont chase your enemies as they will come back and being slow you can't afford to be out of position. Instead focus on rebuilding and prepare for their return.
You have better health and firepower than the attackers while also more likely to stand in a advantageous position so just sit back and enjoy the "whack-a-mole" bloodsport.

Pretty much the same mode but the rounds are longer, the maps are larger & fully explorable at any time (the game does not stop and start as points are captured & areas dont open and shut between rounds). Instead the spawns are moved as the game progress though you're still free to backtrack.




A hybrid mode mixing King Of The Hill with Attack/Defend.
The attackers rapidly score whenever at least one of them has been inside the enemy control point for a while.
The defenders slowly score whenever NO attackers are inside it.


It plays just as fast paced as regular Attack/Defend but may be preferable if you can't get used to rounds ending in a instant.

PS: Its a good idea to in advance download as many custom maps as you can from a empty server to reduce future loading times. Otherwise its possible for Blue to get a headstart & cap before the defenders even loaded in since there is no "waiting for players/warmup phase" in FF by default.

A symmetrical gamemode infamous for stalemates. Especially on Canalzone where you can use capped points to instantly teleport back to spawn and start capping a new point by the time the enemy has regained your point.
The rules may vary from map to map.



On Maps like FF_Warpath the rules are similar to TF2 where you must sequentially cap one point after another, except each team start with only their last respective points and must cap second before they can meet at mid. (Instead of only mid being neutral)



The growing team coloured icon above/below the point counter shows that a player stands on a capture with its size indicating their capture progress.
Just like TF2, cap progress is gradual & persist for a short time if players are forced off the point.
Capping can also be done without a flag by anyone.
The rate at which you capture the point is based on the amount of teammates & the speed of your class.
(Scout>Medic>Spy>Pyro>Sniper>Civillian>Demoman>Soldier>Heavy in order of cap rate.)
Once a point has been fully captured it becomes locked for the opposite team and cannot be retaken again for 5 seconds. (By that time you should already be capping/defending the next point.)


(RED has won!)

Your team recieve score instanly upon capture, but will also gain score over time based on the amount of owned capture points. (The exact amount varies by map)
One team wins when they own all capture points.


Another version of 5cp with different rules.

On ff_cz2 & FF_tiger all five points are neutral from the start and can be captured/recaptured at any time, by anyone in any order.
Capping all points also won't result in a team instantly winning. Just a healthy score boost.
Only the team with the most points when time is up is considered the winner.


Capturing the point furthest from your spawn grants the highest score for your team.



If you somehow manage to enter the enemy spawn you can as Demoman you can detpack the enemy computer to reset the enemy teams score to 0.
Good luck with that since the doors dont open for your team meaning you may have to rely on a enemy opening the door for you.

These are some popular maps & modes that can be downloaded and played from community servers.

Grab the ball at mid and run like hell. (Or hide somewhere secluded like the underground tunnels or on top of a tower) The longer you hold the ball, the more points your team gets. There is no upper win limit.

Unlike Hold, on this map the ball carrier may move more freely but is slowed down and have his general position displayed at all times for everyone to see.




Two teams trying to put the ball in the opponents goal using speed, damage and stopping power. Its basically DeathMatch with a objective...even more so than the regular game.

The Civillian can reset the ball and on the 2006 version of the Waterpolo map you can surf with the ball straight into the enemy goal and instantly win the round if you time it right. (But expect them to adapt & set up a heavy defense on the next round.)


The FF equivilent of King Of The Hill. You must grab the flag & remain on the cap point over time to score. On this map the flag carrier is buffed with quad damage and health/armour/ammo regen at the cost of being locked in a small area on mid. I like this more than TF2 koth since it encourages you to stay on the point with your team instead of leaving it in favour of spawncamping.

If you attempt to leave the mid point with the flag you will take damage over time and flag will reset when you die.



Yep you heard me right. Servers like MaxTF with custom maps feature their own version of TF2's payload on maps like Dustbowl and Ksour.
Just like TF2 the train regens you health and ammo (albeit faster in chunks of burst heal) and it moves faster the more players are nearby, but unlike TF2 there is no upper limit to how fast the cart can move with multiple players pushing it and there is no overtime if time runs out while the cart is being pushed.
On the upside: It will never roll back like in TF2's Hightower.


Just like TF2 you can see the cap rate with the "x3". Dont wander off from the cart though as the roundtimer is much more strict.


Similar to Open Fortress, Quake DM or TF2's Player Destruction except they forgot to program powerups, add kill related collectables, NPC bosses or make a action packed soundtrack. The maps are generally very poorly designed with tight single exit spawns in sniper sightlines, but can be fun in small 1v1's or 4v4's. Try it out with some friends.



On maps like dm_datacore you play as a Demoman who is able to pick up any weapon.
On other maps like ROOKIE_DM you instead hit switches to change the layout of the map to make it harder for the opponent to survive long enough to reach your flag.
On FF_crossfire you can between a 2 minute cooldown activate a nuke that kills everyone who can't reach the bunker in time. Unlike TFC you dont need to bring a keycard from your spawn in order to activate it.


Everyone is soldier, you have no health pickups, no objective and only one life per round. On the upside: You take no self damage from your rocket/grenade jumps so make yourself as hard to hit as possible. Similar to regular DM but everyone is on a even playing field and rounds are much shorter. Highly reccomend if you like Counter Strike.




Unlike One Way CTF which is just a competitive playstyle of the regular gamemode, reversed CTF is a different mode entirely.

The only maps are Rock2 and Epicenter.
In Rock2 the objective is to grab the enemy keycard in the enemy wardens office, and then insert it into the enemy gas chamber at the other side of their base.
This will grant your team 20 points and release nerve gas that insta kill every player on both teams except the ones in the gas chamber, underwater or who were quick enough to grab a hazmat suit.


In Epicenter however you simply grab the flag in your own spawn and bring it to a cap point in the enemy base.


My favorite map FF_flag4sky is a example of this. In this map you have the regular Red and Blue teams in addition to a Yellow and Green team.

The objective for everyone is to grab as many flags as you can. If fast enough, one player can grab up to 3 flags, (belonging to every team minus their own) and cap them all at once. If they die they will drop all flags in the same spot.

The map is great for practicing rollouts and weapons. Highly recommended.
Its not very good for engineer as its very open, (and can be hell if someone picks sniper) but its a blast when everyone on 4 teams all try to steal as many flags as they can.


It wouln't be a source game without surfing maps. They work exactly as you'd expect from CS Source and need no introduction. Strafe into the slope to not slide off and gain speed and try to navigate the entire track as fast as you can. Great for training airstrafing.

With FF's movement mechanics and grenades, you also have even more options for how to recover from falls, change direction or gain sudden speed mid air.
Surfing can be a great passtime while waiting for Momentum Mod to finally release on steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/669270/Momentum_Mod/
(Im not sponsored. I just recommend it since its also free and can be a fun way to help you learn FF movement. The makers of MM even cited FF as one of their sources of inspiration.)


The same as DeathRun in Gmod. One team plays as the activators who set off traps using timing and reflexes, while the other team plays as the runners who tries to get to the end of a rigged obstacle course using deception and psychology. Unlike other versions of DR you dont have a limited amount of lives, time limit or dont switch team if you die as the runner. However there is nothing stopping you from doing it if you prefer those rules.


A massive map where you cant give or take damage but have infinite grenades & ammo. A perfect place to practice movement as any class. In addition there are also boost pads to make things even crazier.

So thats it then. I hope this helped preparing you for the organized chaos that is Fortress Forever.

Thanks to Redplanet, yoyo, TFCwings and Tweety, for being awesome community figures who taught me everything I know and welcomed fresh meat like me.

Special thanks to Pinion for helping me demonstrate stuff and teaching me to make images.

I hope you'll have as fun playing this game as i had writing this guide.
If you still have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments and ill do my best to respond.

Most expressions are self explanatory and are not unique to this game.
Many should recognize most of them.
Please note that its not a requirement to know all these terms, though it can certainly help.

ADS:
Aim Down Sights. Using the scope of a weapon such as sniper riffles.

AFK:
Away From Keyboard. When a player dont move or contribute to the game because they had to leave their computer.

Ambush:
Strategy of using height or concealment to wait for unaware enemies and attack them before they can react.

Anchor: A bad player who's performance pulls down his team, like a actual anchor.


Bait:
(1) Providing a distraction for teammates by exposing yourself as a threat to the enemy.
(2) Fooling agressive enemies to follow you & move out of position by pretending to retreat with low health.

Backcap:
Sneaking behind the enemy and winning the game by capturing behind their back


Boosting:
Using knockback to launch your teammates to normally inaccessible spots without hurting them.
The sniper and pipe bombs are excellent for this.

Buildup:
A initially empty progress bar that must be filled by the player untill a weapon or power can be used. Used to prevent spam, reward good play or punnish bad play if lost on death.

Bunny hopping:
Strafe jumping constantly to get to your destination faster.

Buff:
A positive temporary status effect that increases your performance or makes things easier.


CP:
Short for Capture Point or Control Point, the objectives and areas of focus on most levels.

Callout:
Names of areas on the level.

Camping:
Staying in a advantageous position (that is either hard to notice, reach or attack) for a long time.

Cap:
Short for Capture the objective.

Carrying:
A good player who performs much better than the rest of his team or wins the game for them.


Clutch:
Winning against the odds.

Crutch:
Helps new players, hinders good players in the long run. Like when a real crutch aid disabled but cripple ones who no longer need it.

Collateral:
Killing or hurting multiple enemies with a single shot. Either due to splash damage or bullet penetration.

Comp:
Short for competitive.

Cooldown:
A initially full time countdown before a weapon or ability can be used again. Used to prevent spam and to make players value where and when they use it.

Crossfire:
When a Spy between two opposing players get damaged by one of them by a shot that was intended for someone else.

Crouch jump:
Holding CTRL mid jump lets players jump as high as their head in most source games.

CTF:
Capture The Flag

Debuff:
A negative or harmful status effect that decreases your performance or make things harder.

DPS:
Damage Per Second. A unit of a weapon's effective firepower.

Dropping:
Eliminating a important enemy like the VIP or in TF2: the Medic.

DM:
DeathMatch. A environment where players practice aim, weapons, movement and survival without having to worry about a objective.

Entry/Exitfrag.
The first/last kill of a round.

First:
The objective that is closest to your base or the first cap point the attackers must capture.

Flanking:
Using alternative less populated routes to get around the enemy to either attack them from behind or to reach the objective.

Frag:
Euphemism for kill.

Griefing:
Cyberbullying. A player using cheats, game exploits or verbal abuse to disrupt the game for everyone or to tilt a single player so they dont think clearly and become easier to play against.

Headshot:
Hitting a player in the head for increased damage or a instant kill.

HP:
Hit Points/Health Percentage. The unit of how much health a player has and how many hits they can take before dying.

Juke:
Moving unpredictably to dodge damage.

K/D:
Short for Kill/Death ratio which is a unit of your kills divided with how many times you died.
In most games used to measure player performance or survivability.

Kick:
Banning disruptive players from the game temporairly or permanently.

Last:
Usually means the last control point furthest from the attacker's start or as far into the backlines the defending players can be.

Mid:
Usually refers to the Middle area of the level or the central control point.

OOB:
Out Of Bounds. When a player has glitched out of the level.

OvD:
Offense vs Defence. The preferred way to play regular CTF

Pocket:
When a support class exclusively boost one target instead of aiding the entire team. Essentially living in their friends "backpocket".

Pushing:
Attacking together with your teammates in quick succession to gradually gain ground & overwhelm the defense rather than attacking one by one. Usually weapons with high DPS or tools that disrupt the enemy are used when pushing.

Retake:
A control point that was previously owned by one team then got captured by the other team has been recaptured by the initial team.

Rushing:
Moving as fast as possible to the front, the objective or your place of death to kill alone or wounded enemies or to grab the objective before it resets or before more enemies arrive/heal up to restore a heavy defense.

Self Damage:
Taking damage from your own weapon due to carelessness. Can along with scarce ammo and low ammo capacity be used as a downside for more powerful weapons.

SG:
Sentry Gun

Smurfing:
When experienced players purposely play against inexperienced players without sharing their experience.

Spamming:
Attacking randomly in quick succession in hope of getting a lucky kill possibly after your own death.

Split:
When one player plays more independently or when a team gets divided into multiple groups to either perform different tasks or to attack from more angles.

Stacking:
When many or all players on a team play the same class to increase effectiveness.
Depending on the class, team or gamemode stacking can cause imbalance and either make things impossible for the opponents or give your own team a disadvantage as they are missing out on important roles for any given situation.

Support:
Player who plays a passive role behind his teammates to heal them up while they play agressively.

Spawn:
The starting position of a team where players group up & come back to life

Spawncamping:
A controversial strategy of repeatedly killing the enemy in their start area before they have a chance to move or prepare for the situation, essentially not letting them play the game.

Spycheck:
Firing at teammate to see if he is a disguised enemy as real teammates take no friendly fire damage.

Tilted:
Losing concentration and performing badly due to frustration. Either due to being provoked by other players or by not understanding the game.

TK:
Team Kill. Hurting and killing your teammates either by accident or on purpose.
Not possible in TF games by default which has led to utility items and strategies involving hitting your teammates in order to boost them.

Tryhard:
By definition just someone always trying their hardest to win by doing their best and working as a team.
The word has gotten a negative reputation however and gotten synonymous with griefers due to certain players tending to harass their teammates, see themselves as the center or speciffically targeting inexperienced players and caring more about kills than the objective.
Despite this new meaning, being a tryhard on its own isnt automatically bad.

Turtling:
When engieneers build themselves in a nest between a dispenser and a sentry like a turtle shell.

Utility:
Equippable items that are designed around problem solving rather than for combat.

Wallbanging:
The act of shooting a bullet through multiple enemies or thin walls using powerful weapons.
Not possible in TF games by default increasing the value of cover.

W+M1:
Killing with minimum effort by running forward and holding in attack.

Zoned:
Being in a temporary state where you are in a balance of relax and stress, leading to good mood & game performance before eventually tiring out due to prolonged play. Usually the most enjoyed and effective period of a game. The length of this phase varies between every player.