Hello, hopefully decent MvM player! This is MannsOverMeta (name may vary) with my second guide. You may have seen me before, not like it matters. My intent is to hopefully make you a better Soldier in MvM. That's it, really. Lets just get on with this.

Note: I feel that this guide needs some changes, but so don't have the time or motivation to do so as of now. It will be improved later on.

Soldier has a rocket launcher. It has base damage of 90. It has a good splash radius. And unlike other explosive weapons, such as the gernade launcher and stickybomb launcher, it's the easiest to use. If you miss, it will explode right away. And you don't have to wait for it to arm. It also doesn't shoot it's rockets in an arc.

Because your secondary weapons are ♥♥♥♥♥♥ compared to the almighty rocket lawnchair, you are better off using a banner. All other non weapon secondaries are too weak to consider using. They provide buffs for you and your team alike for as little as 600 and even 480 damage, which can be racked up easily. Melee doesn't matter, as long as you don't select something stupid like the pain train. Seriously though, it's bad. Why do people use it?

I'm just going to state the facts. Most MvM Soldiers are stupid and contribute less than they should. And there is a reason as to why this is.

Don't snipe the bots. Don't mindlessly run into your death. I know these points contradict each other, but you need to find a balance if you want to stay alive and do a healthy chunk of damage.

I really don't know what Soldiers do wrong that makes them terrible, except for the ones above. There are more reasons, but they are so hard to pinpoint. It's like they suck without a reason. It makes this part of the guide very frusturating to write.

Because of this, I'm going to end this off with what I think is what prevents many Soldiers from growing some balls and being good.
Heavy is going to do most of the damage: this isn't official, but I am pretty sure many MvM Soldiers use this mentality as an excuse for themselves to stand behind a wall with his banner up so the Heavy can do all the work. You would help the Heavy more if you went up there and dealt with the cluster of Soilder bot's hammering the Heavy's face in. Plus, the more players the buff helps, the better. This includes yourself.
And by the way, Heavy isn't going to do the most damage. It is just the easiest class to get the most damage as. You get alot of damage by attacking giants (and sentry busters for you people that think you are helping. You aren't). You also have the most healing attention and most of the support revolves around you.

Stock: The Rocket Launcher that everyone knows about. Why am I even describing this. Good damage, good crowd control, reliable. A good choice.

Black Box: Like the Stock, but with health on hit and decreased clip. Would reccomend more than stock.

Direct (S)Hit: Improved damage, but awful crowd control, which automatically makes this weapon horrible.

Cow Mangler: Infinite Ammo and a charge shot that isn't even worth mentioning. Trade that for a situational disadvantage agianst sentries. Great if your Engie is ♥♥♥♥/you don't have an Engie. Bad if there are lots of Engie bots in the mission.

Air Strike: Trade off some health to go into the air and make yourself harder to hit. It also makes it harder to hit enemies and only lasts if you trade off your useful secondary for one that isn't useful. On the ground, it is Stock with a better clip and everything else slightly worse. I do not reccomend.

Beggar's Bazooka: The best launcher in MvM. Unless used by a Mann with no brains. If upgraded and used correctly, it basicly fires rockets the fastest without the need to reload. The secret is to spam M1 instead of filling you clip. This allows for the highest DPS of any launcher, even greater than the Direct (S)Hit's. Although filling your clip is situational, it is still more useful than the Cow Mangler's charge shot. It allows you to store up a burst when going around corners and preparing a burst behind cover. The only downside to this launcher is that it takes a while to get used to, but the payoff for mastering the weapon is worth it. It has it's own upgrade path, but that will be talked about later. I highly reccomend this weapon.

I already covers secondaries and melee weapons in the basics, but I want to get more in depth with the banners.

Buff Banner: A banner that has no passive attributes. Provides mini crits to you and everyone around you apon activation. It takes 600 damage to active.
This is a very good banner for killing bots more easily. It is also the most requested of the banner's. I personally find it the weakest of the banners, but that doesn't mean it isn't good.

Battalion's Backup: A banner that provides +20 HP when equiped. Provides damage resistance and crit immunity to you and everyone around you apon activation. Damage resistance is greater agianst sentries. It takes 600 damage to activate.
Although it doesn't help you kill things faster, it is still very good for not dieing instantly when you step out of your hiding place. Also, it doesn't make you immune to crit holiday punches, so get your lungs ready. Still a good banner that I reccomend.

Concherer: A banner that provides a +4 HP regen when equiped. Provides health on hit and a speed boost apon activation. It takes 480 damage to activate.
Not only does it have the greatest passive boost, but it also has 2 powerful buffs instead of one, with less damage needing to be done as well. In my opinion, the most powerful banner.

Get crit resistance when the first threatening crit bots show up (the ones that aren't melee or Giant Pyro bots). If there is a boss in the round, max the resistance according to the boss's damage type. Rocket speciallist is useful for when your team is unreliable and can't deal with Giant Scouts, but otherwise the non-passive slowdown makes it harder to predict their movements. I find it a waste of $300. When none of these things appear in the wave, follow this upgrade path.

Normal Rocket Launchers

• 1 tick Health on Kill
  
• Reload Speed
  
• Firing Speed
  
• Damage
  
• Clip Size
  
• Ammo
  
• Max Health on Kill
  
• Body Upgrades

Beggar's Bazooka

• 1 tick Health on Kill
  
• Reload Speed
  
• Ammo
  
• Damage
  
• Max Health on Kill
  
• Body Upgrades

Regular Rocket Launchers
Shoot the bots when they come. When you empty your clip, run to cover and completely fill it up. Rinse and Repeat. When you have your banner ready, activate it when you run out of ammo. I shouldn't have to say this, but when you run out of ammo, which you will frequently, run to your dispencer or find the nearest ammo pack.
When the giants come, activate your banner as soon as you have it. Try not to be targeted. Focus on the bots surrounding the giant, not the giant itself. You will do better agianst the other bots, and will help your team focus the the giants with less worry.
When the Tanks come, only focus on it if your team isn't, or if it is a high health Tank that not even a pyro can solo. Or if you have the Buff Banner.

Beggar's Bazooka
Just get close to the bots and spam M1. Get ammo when you run out. Activate your banner when you run out of ammo. When a giant comes, activate your banner as soon as you can. Remember, you deal more damage and hit more bots when you are close. The only time you shouldn't get close is if it is a giant or a crowd of dangerous bots. If this is the case, take cover, prepare a burst, and unleash it agianst the crowd. You are still better of shooting hoards than giants.
You should always focus on the tank as you deal lots of damage. Just don't get too close or you'll blow yourself up. Dummy.

Banners
If you have the Buff Banner, always focus on the tank and activate it as soon as you have it. That way, you and your teammates take the tank down faster.
If you have the Battalions Backup, always activate it if there are threatening crit bots, as it will negate the crits.
If you have the conch, feel free to be aggresive while it is activated. Speed allows you to dodge better, and health on hit is invaluable for staying alive. Especially with the Beggar's Bazooka.

Beggar's + Conch is pretty much the most effective loadout on Soldier, as it allows you to run into hoards and destroy them all without worry when the conch is active. It is also the one that I and many other MvM players use.

Soldier is pretty much the least kicked class in MvM. Unless you're in expert, where Soldiers are hated due to being weak on the first couple of waves. As long as you have a banner (particularly the Buff Banner) and are keeping it activated, people won't care about anything else. If you are being kicked as Soldier, you ethier don't have a Buff Banner, are in expert, or are doing something horribly wrong. Or you are just a good MvM player. Lots of people like to kick good players.

Anyways, if you are being kicked, it's ethier you are incredibly bad and should go back to intermidate, or you are good and your teammates are ♥♥♥♥♥ that you shouldn't deal with. Now stop being salty when your kick is justified.

Now you have the knowledge of MvM Soldier to hard carry even the most horrible teams. If you Git Gud, that is.
Sadly, reading a guide won't make you good at MvM. Just like reading a book won't make you eligable for the Tour de France (it's going on at the time that I am writing the guide so I thought it was fitting). You have to play if you want to get good. As you put more time into MvM, you may notice that you are getting better at surviving and clearing out the robot hoard. This is natural, and this shows signs that you are becoming a better MvM player.

I would appretiate if this guide gets an actual rating. Upvote it if you think it's good, Downvote if you think otherwise.

Links to my MvM guides.
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=720660457
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725764994
MvM Demo guide coming 2017. Unless I decide to work on it early.

Other Non-MvM guides.
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=749116967

I would appretiate if this guide gets an actual rating. Upvote it if you think it's good, Downvote if you think otherwise.

Feedback is appretiated.