Vorsprung's TITs: Episode 3

Health: 175 base, 260 overhealed
Speed: 100%
Special Ability: Immune to afterburn damage
Normal Melee Strength: 65 damage
Stock Primary Weapon: Flamethrower
Stock Secondary Weapon: Shotgun
Stock Melee Weapon: Fire Axe

The Pyro is a fairly agile class that dominates at close range. His Flamethrower is an incredibly versatile weapon with the ability to deal out massive amounts of damage – even after your death. Its airblast, also, can be used for a number of strategic purposes. He has a relatively large amount of health, and cannot be burned by other Pyros. With a number of devastating weapons at his disposal, he is an adept warrior on the battlefield.

The Pyro is a very useful mercenary, and is especially useful to the team. He’s marked by his ability to harass enemies and help teammates. His Flamethrower can inflict high amounts of damage instantly, and also leaves lasting afterburn damage, so he can still kill after he’s dead. His airblast can reflect enemy projectiles and push foes around. Conversely, he can use his flames to light friendly Sniper’s arrows on fire, making them twice as deadly, and he can extinguish burning teammates with his airblast. Among many other skills, he’s also the perfect friend to an Engineer, and the deadliest foe to an enemy Spy.
Although the Pyro has complete dominance at close range, he’s incredibly vulnerable at long or even medium range. All of his weapons suffer from either uselessness or extreme ineffectiveness at range, and he’s not quite quick or strong enough to absorb a massive amount of damage. Because of this, he can be easily dispatched by Snipers and Heavies. Although it doesn’t crop up often, Pyros are very weak in underwater situations (duh!) – his Flamethrower will only produce harmless bubbles. Finally, although afterburn can be devastating, it can also be quickly alleviated with medkits, Medic healing, pools of water or enemy Pyros.

Capture the Flag: Pyros do moderately well in CTF maps. Considering that most threats to an Intelligence carrier are close-range, the Pyro will be able to efficiently shrug off foes with his airblast. He’ll also be able to remove stickybomb carpets with ease. Pyros should watch out for Snipers and Engineers. Engy setups near the Intel Room may be hard to remove as a Pyro, but a skilled Pyro will reflect the rockets of a Level 3 Sentry back at it. Note that some CTF maps such as Well or 2Fort have areas of deep water where enemies can stop flames; try and avoid those.

Control Points: Likewise, Pyros can do moderately well on CP maps. A Pyro’s main advantage here is that he’ll be able to keep enemies off the point whilst he’s capturing, or preventing them from capturing. His reasonable speed and attack ability will serve him well.

Attack / Defend: It’s good to have Pyros on the team, if you’re attacking or defending. Attacking Pyros can remove projectile threats with their airblast and be able to capture points effectively. Defending Pyros will be able to push enemies away from points and force them to retreat with their flames, as well as be a very effective Engy buddy. Good defending Pyros should guard Engy nests well to maintain dominance.

Territorial Control: Hydro is a very large map, where it’s easy to spot and deal with incoming projectiles. Pyros will do reasonably well here, as the tight, winding gullies and small spaces that punctuate Hydro will suit them well. Mind you; as the name implies, there are areas where enemies can douse themselves. Be mindful of that.

Payload: Pyros can be at their most effective on Payload maps. Attacking Pyros will be able to clear the way using their airblast, and can use the endless ammo of the cart to provide a never-ending stream of protective fire around the cart. Defending Pyros will be able to poach clustered attackers around the cart, and push them away from the cart with their airblast.

Payload Race: Much like normal Payload, Pyros will do well here. They’ll be able to keep enemies off their cart and away from their own, using airblasts and flames. They’ll also be able to ‘spawn-camp’ and prevent their foes from pushing their cart.

Arena: Pyros can be a very deadly class in Arena mode. As Arena maps generally have very few health pickups and very few pools where enemies can douse themselves, Pyros become a lot more deadly. Many Arena maps also have pitfalls, which suits the Pyro, who can push foes off edges for an instant death. As long as Pyros stick to ambush tactics, they can proudly assume the role of ‘most deadly class in Arena mode’.

King of the Hill: Pyros also do excellently in KOTH maps. Their ability to dominate the point will work well in both attack and defence. It can be very hard to combat a good Pyro in KOTH. Keep struggling Engy setups well-maintained, and both protect your spawn from Spies, and harass the enemy spawn with your deadly flames.

Medieval Mode:There is no one game mode that Pyros are bad at, although they are significantly weaker in Medieval Mode. Without your Flamethrower, you lose a lot of your close-range dominance. Most Pyro melee weapons are also ill-suited to direct combat as well.

Pyro vs. Scout: Scouts don’t pose too much of threat to a Pyro. Both classes are only really effective at close range, and that’s how they’ll approach each other. (And as a Pyro, that’s what you want.) Let a Scout get close and toast him. His scant health will be easy to whittle away at with afterburn. Your airblast will also affect him more than most classes, so burn him, and push him around. It’s easy for you to land aerials on him with your Shotgun, too. Keep moving so you can avoid his deadly Scattergun pellets, and keep him in close proximity, lest he harasses you with his Pistol, Sandman or Wrap Assassin. Note that a savvy Scout will be carrying Mad Milk, which he can use to extinguish himself.

Pyros and Scouts are, arguably, the two most agile classes on the battlefield. (The Medic is faster that the Pyro, but he can’t really face anyone one-on-one.) Keep an eye out for your friendly Scouts. It’s important to extinguish them, due to their low health. Try and protect friendly Scouts with your flames when capturing points or pushing carts.

Pyro vs. Soldier: Although a Soldier is a deadly adversary no matter what class you are, you have the upper hand with him. Your airblast will be able to reflect his rockets back at him, meaning he can be the cause of his own death. On top of that, his sluggish speed will mean it’s easy for you to burn him to a crisp. Time your airblasts well, however, or you’ll waste ammo and health. If you need to, use your Shotgun or Flare Gun to pick him off at a safe distance, where you can better time your deflections.

Soldiers and Pyros can work together with a reasonable degree of effectiveness. Remember to extinguish fellow Soldiers. You can even play dodgeball with other Pyros by counter-deflecting rockets. A Soldier’s large health and destructive power will keep you reasonably safe, and his buffing secondaries can give you an added boost in battle. His effectiveness at long range will also be able to cover up your weakness at range. Stick together, you two!

Pyro vs. Pyro: It can be a little tricky if you come up against a fellow Pyro. As Pyros are naturally afterburn-resistant, your Flamethrower and other burning weapons will only do a fraction of the damage they normally can. That being said, don’t be afraid to burn another Pyro if you can, especially if you’re wielding a stronger Flamethrower than them (e.g. Backburner vs. Degreaser). Use your Shotgun to kill other Pyros, and use your airblast to discombobulate them.

Twice the Pyros, twice the fun! Although friendly Pyros can’t really help you in any direct way, they can still help you airblast projectiles away. A team of Pyros can be a real menace to the other team. Try and balance each other out by using different weapons. For example, one Pyro uses a Degreaser and a Detonator, and the other, a Backburner and a Reserve Shooter.

Pyro vs. Demoman: Once again, you’ll have a slight advantage against enemy Demomen. All of their primary and secondary weapon’s projectiles can be deflected by you, or at least pushed around. Use this to your advantage. Move placed stickybombs or primed grenades around with your airblast, and then come in for the kill with your flames. Also note that Shotgun pellets can destroy stickybombs. Be careful if the Demoman is wielding an Eyelander or similar melee setup, as his melee weapons generally have a large range and devastating effect.

Pyros can’t be of much help to friendly Demos, but they can nullify the meddling of enemy Pyros or Demomen with your friendly Demo’s explosives. As per normal, extinguish your Demomen buddies with your airblast.

Pyro vs. Heavy: Heavies pose a significant threat to you as a Pyro. Their Minigun will kill you in a matter of seconds, and if they face you at range, you’ll struggle to combat them. Their large health pool and healing secondaries will also mean that it’s hard to finish them off with afterburn. However, their large body size and cumbersome manner means it’s easy to ambush them. Try jumping on their heads and burning them. They’ll also be threatened by your airblast. A good tactic is to ambush a Heavy, burn him, and then continually airblast him around whilst he’s burning. Your Shotgun will also be able to get more pellets in, as his fat frame will just soak up those pellets.

Heavies can fall prey to afterburn, so extinguish your obese Russian friends as a priority. Hide behind him; he’s a great bodyshield. He’s also vulnerable to Demomen and Soldier projectiles, so airblast them away so he doesn’t get hurt. If you can do that, you’ll be able to make an effective assaulting team.

Pyro vs. Engineer: When you face an Engineer, it will either result in an outstanding decimation against him… Or against you. Because you’re only effective at close range, you really need to get close to a Sentry to kill it. However, you can be a scourge to the Engy himself, or to his unattended buildings. Mini-Sentries are easily dispatched with flame, as is his other gear. You can also wield the Homewrecker to kill his gear even quicker. If you’re quick and smart enough, you can even reflect the rockets of a Level 3 Sentry with your airblast. If so, take advantage of that.

Pyros and Engys are the perfect team. The Pyro is the perfect Spy-checker, and if he’s using a Homewrecker, he can even remove Sappers! As a Pyro, stick with your Engy and keep his gear safe until he returns. Take advantage of his Dispenser, and use your airblast to remove potentially devastating explosives from around Engineer buildings. Look after your Engys as a priority.

Pyro vs. Sniper: For all intents and purposes, the Sniper is the biggest threat to a Pyro. In a lot of ways, you’re polar opposites – he’s weak at close range, but powerful at long range, and you’re weak at long range, but powerful at close range. Keep moving so you don’t fall victim to headshots. His Jarate can pose a significant threat to your fiery mischief-making, as it can both extinguish the Sniper’s teammates and make it easier to kill you. You can reflect Jarate jars and Huntsman arrows, so take those opportunities where you can. Single out a Sniper and confront him at close range; he’ll be more-or-less defenceless.

Pyros can work very well with friendly Snipers. They can both compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Guard friendly Sniper’s backs from Spies or other threats, and let them remove pests to you. Note that you can set a friendly Sniper’s arrows on fire with your Flamethrower, garnering him more firepower (pun intended), and you assist-kills.

Pyro vs. Medic: You can be a real scourge to enemy Medics. Medic foes are a high-priority target for your team, and you can deal significant damage to them at close range. Although you can’t reflect his needles, you can reflect his arrows if he’s using a Crusader’s Crossbow, potentially sending them back at him, or back at your team to health them (yes, you can heal your own team)! Use your airblast to separate a Medic with his patient. This can be especially useful if the Medic has activated his Ubercharge. Note that the Medic’s natural health regeneration gives him slight immunity to afterburn damage, so finish him off in one go.

You can make a reasonably effective Medic buddy. Keep your Medic safe from close-range threats with your Flamethrower, and extinguish him if enemy Pyros try to ambush him. You can do a fair amount of damage whilst Ubercharged, especially against enemy Engy installations. Make sure that you keep an eye on your Medic at all times, and keep your ammo up so you can be more effective whilst Ubered. Here’s an obscure but useful tip: if you wield a Back Scratcher, you regain health at a slower rate if you’re being healed by a Medic. This can be detrimental; however, your Medic will build charge at the same rate, making this a really good way for a Medic to build up Ubercharge.

Pyro vs. Spy: In short, you are the Spy’s worst enemy. You are the perfect Spy-checker. Why? It’s simple. Your flames can not only hurt him, but reveal his position. Flames will reveal a cloaked Spy, and will also hurt a disguised Spy, making it far easier for him to be rounded up. Your airblast will also reveal and affect both cloaked and disguised Spies. Whenever you’re just walking about, be sure just to puff flames around here and there. Even one little puff will reveal a Spy, and once his cover is blown, it’s very easy to finish him off. Be warned, however – a smart Spy will use his Dead Ringer or Spy-cicle to negate some of the effects of your fire. As per always, just keep an eye on your back. Just in case.

When it comes to friendly Spies, it’s incredibly important for you to extinguish them if they’re on fire. Use your airblast to push away threats to your French friends. Be wary around friendly Spies, too. Sometimes, an enemy Spy will disguise himself as a Spy. If that’s the case, his disguise will appear to you as if he’s a Spy disguised as another class. This can be confusing. Spy-check everyone, especially Spies.

1: Advanced Airblast Tips
REQUIRES: any primary weapon except the Phlogistinator
The Flamethrower is one of the most useful weapons in the game, in my opinion. Not only does it deal massive damage near-instantly (the default Flamethrower deals whopping 139.5 damage per second!), it leaves a lasting afterburn, which can finish off enemies long after you’ve retreated or died. It’s also an invaluable tool for Spy-checking. However, its most valuable ability is its airblast.
An compression blast, or an airblast, is activated with the alt-fire (right mouse click) of a Flamethrower, and it costs 20 ammo, or 50 if you use the Backburner. (Note that the Phlogistinator cannot airblast.) It sends a ball-shaped blast of air down your sight. Its effects are numerous. It can physically push enemies away, it can extinguish burning teammates, and it can reflect or push projectiles, such as:

> Rockets - including Level 3 Sentry Gun rockets, the projectiles fired by the Cow Mangler 5000, and the eyeball missiles fired by the Halloween boss monster “MONOCULUS”!
> Arrows fired by the Sniper’s Huntsman or bolts fired by the Medic’s Crusader's Crossbow
> The Demoman’s grenades and stickybombs
> The Scout’s Sandman baseballs and Wrap Assassin baubles
> Enemy Pyro’s flares
> Sniper’s Jarate and Scout’s Mad Milk bottles

If you reflect a projectile back at its owner, you can kill them, depending on the circumstances. Many an unwitting Soldier have fallen victim to his own reflected rockets. Even further, a reflected projectile will always be a mini-crit (critical projectiles will stay critical). Basically, your enemies waste their ammo and time, and you kill them and gain points! One great advantage of reflected projectiles is that you’ll receive all their benefits. For example, if you reflect a Black Box rocket and it hits a target, he’ll get 15 health back, or if you reflect a Jarate, you’ll gain whatever kill assists or player extinguish bonuses that the Jarate helps out your team with.
You can get headshots with Huntsman arrows, kill Sentries with their own rockets, get health from reflected Mad Milk, stun people with baseballs, heal your teammates with bolts and splash people off edges! What more could you hope for?

More. That’s what. Not only can you mess around with projectiles like this, you can also utilise reflected rockets, grenades and stickybombs to jump around the map! Because the airblast will redirect projectiles any which way you want them to, a skilled Pyro can redirect rockets under his feet, and he too can rocket-jump!
Note this, however: you can’t reflect Syringe Gun needles, and grenades and stickybombs that aren’t mid-air (i.e. already on the ground) cannot be pushed upwards into the air. Rather, they can only be pushed around a bit. Grenades, when airblasted, will turn to the colour of your team, and hence deal damage to enemies and be harmless to your team. (However, reflected or non-reflected grenades will always do damage to you.) Also note that if a stickybomb is reflected, it does not swap hands like other projectiles. Enemy Demos can still detonate them at their will. Thus, be careful. (Also, an unusual side-effect of reflected stickybombs means that if you push some stickybombs, and an enemy Demo detonates them, and a teammate is killed by those stickybombs, you’ll get the kill points.)
Experiment and practice reflecting projectiles as a Pyro. You’ll be able to garner all sorts of benefits if they hit their target, and it’s a good way to defend your team.
Lastly, use your airblast to gain aerials on foes. You can use your airblast to toss enemies up into the air, where they’ll be vulnerable. Use their air-time to cover the distance between you and them (so you can finish them off with your Flamethrower), or use your secondary weapons to inflict more damage. (The Reserve Shooter, a craftable secondary shotgun for the Pyro and Soldier, bestows mini-crits upon aerial targets, making it a great combo sidearm.) You’ll also be able to effectively target enemies with reflected projectiles if they choose to spam you.

2: The Detonator Jump
REQUIRES: Detonator
The Detonator is a craftable secondary weapon for the Pyro. It functions similarly to the Flare Gun, in that it fires slow, arcing firework projectiles that do 30 damage and set enemies on fire, as well as garnering mini-crit damage on already-burning foes. However, unlike the Flare Gun, Pyros have the option to manually detonate the flare mid-air with their alt-fire. This makes a small explosion which deals knockback, damage and afterburn. This is a useful tool in combat; however, it can be better used by savvy Pyros to do an extended jump.
Pyros will suffer knockback and damage from their own flares with the Detonator. This knockback can be utilised to make a simulated jump that can get the Pyro into unique locations. It’s as simple as jumping, and quickly firing and detonating a flare at your feet. The explosion will knock you upwards, allowing you to breach obstacles. Note that you’ll take a fair amount of damage from this, as the Detonator has a +25% damage to user effect. Use it only when you can be sure you’ll be safe. Try and use the overheal from a Medic to do this jump.

3: Spy-Checking
REQUIRES: any weapon
It’s common knowledge that everyone hates the French. So, in the spirit of that, I’m going to tell you about Spy-checking. Spies are a nuisance to your team, especially to Engys and Heavies. Thus, it’s a good practice to take up as any class to Spy-check often. It’s as simple as blindly swinging your melee weapon around when you’re not fighting, or just having a few shots of your weapon here or there, especially in suspicious corners. And no class can Spy-check better than a Pyro. His flames both nullify a Spies’ cloak, but they do damage to him and reveal him to teammates. Thus, it’s a good gameplan to go around puffing short bursts of flame in suspicious areas or at suspicious teammates. A burning teammate is a great indication, especially if it’s a friendly Pyro on fire. Not only that, but airblasts will push disguised or cloaked Spies – another good indicator of treachery. As a Pyro, make it your duty to Spy-check.

> Whilst travelling, puff flames here or there, or swing your melee weapon around, on the off-chance you’ll hit a cloaked Spy.
> Make sure your teammates aren’t disguised Spies by puffing flames at them or airblasting them. Teammates won’t be hurt by flames or pushed by airblasts, but disguised Spies will.
> Burning Pyros are always an obvious indication of disguised Spies.
> When near the cart in Payload / Payload Race, lay down a constant barrier of flames to deter or reveal Spies. Your ammo will be continuously topped up, so you can safely spam your Flamethrower.
> When near a friendly Engy’s buildings, pay close attention to teammates.
> Utilise an Engy’s Dispenser’s regenerative health and ammo to lay down a constant barrier of flames, as if you were protecting a Payload cart.
> If you wield a Homewrecker, you can remove an enemy Spies’ sappers off your Engy’s gear, making you even greater help to an Engy.
> Watch out for the fake corpses dropped by Spies with Dead Ringers, and chase after the real Spy.
> Note that the Spy-Cicle can be employed by enemy Spies to lessen or stop burn damage – thus, it’s always good to keep your flames on a target for a number of seconds, ideally. Also, look out for the tell-tale frozen corpses that signal that there’s a Spy-Cicle-wielding Spy about.

Spy-checking is something all classes should do vigilantly. However, Pyros are by far the best at it, so make it your mission to hunt down Spies.

Without being biased, the Pyro is a great class. More often than not, you can never have too many Pyros (but remember to always go what class the team needs, and always give Vorsprung right of way as team Pyro). Remember to be vigilant in protecting your team, and heading assaults. A good Pyro is the be-all-and-end-all of a team, but a bad Pyro is a useless waste of space. Try to avoid wasting your airblast, and be quick to reflect projectiles, lest you be caught out. Spy-check and protect your fellow Engys, and be sure to extinguish teammates before they perish. More often than not, a Pyro will do well not only through kills, but assisting his friends. So get out there, and get Vorsprunggy!

Top Tip #1: Avoid confrontation at long range.

Top Tip #2: Avoid using your melee weapon where you can; you’re already at close range with your Flamethrower, and more often than not, it’s a more effective weapon than your melees.

Top Tip #3: Be attentive to your teammates in removing projectile threats, extinguishing them, and dealing with Spies.