what the ♥♥♥♥ is pyro's role

[meep :3]

we talk about balancing him blah blah blah but we don't know what to balance him around, is he a dps? is he a support clas?? is he a defense class??? we must answer these before we truly balance him

[Ding]

He's doing all "jobs"

[CHIKEN JOCKY :D]

He just sucks

[mongi]

Nobody knows pyros role

That’s fitting considering he is pyro

[twunny phaiv]

Originally posted by Br0k3n:

He just sucks

if a Pyro main is saying this you know the class is in a bad spot

[Moss Weeds]

pyro's role is to be annoying

[Lemon]

Anything Pyro is capable of. People like to put the classes in a weird Specialist-Generalist binary, but I feel like that overlooks too much of what classes offer. I like to think of Pyro of the team's Great In-Between.

While mostly everyone else has high damage burst primaries, Pyro has a lower-damaging but constant and reliable stream of damage output with their primaries (and is thus granted the advantage of not needing to aim entirely perfectly). The other classes count on dismissing enemies ASAP, but Pyro has the potential to slow roast, if the player can outlast the ones they're combating.

Offensively (defensively as well), Pyro can flank, as many usually say, but they often leave it at that. What I don't see talked about often is that Pyro can also help hold points and being out in the open, since people are often hesitant to approach a Pyro's effective range. Afterburn allows you to keep tabs on pests and corral those you're chasing into certain areas (health packs in a zone secluded from others, running back to spawn, or back to their defenses, and thus effectively out of the fight for some time). Pyro can hold corners and angles by burning the air and baiting reflects until backup is strong enough to push back, since the risk of being on fire is enough to keep some players away and punishing choke spam is a great deterrent.

Supportively, Pyro can effectively escort Medics from place to place since the flamethrowers are ready to fire right away, and can chase away aggressive targets with either the superior speed or higher health that a Pyro has over each class. Also, Pybros come in handy for the Engineers that need the help or are being targeted often. Spychecking is easy and second nature with Pyro, with the instant output that flamethrowers offer, the marking that afterburn provides, the lack of a need to reload (which is why it's sometimes bothersome for lower-ammo'd classes to waste their shots on someone who ends up not being a Spy), and the auditory cues that enemies on fire give off.

Pyro's offensive advantage over others isn't in burst damage, but rather in permeating damage. Yeah, you won't kill most people with two rockets, but any encounter with Pyro has the potential to extend beyond the time enemies spend in direct combat with them (Which is where most people find Pyro annoying). Other classes have either a health or speed or functional advantage over Pyro, and being on fire forces you to use that advantage in a fight or flight situation (the same situation in encounters with all classes, but demands a more immediate reaction). Pyro's role is to call upon a lucky chosen player to put everything they've learned to the test (combat, map knowledge, evasiveness capabilities, teamwork, everything). Kill or be killed. Live or die, make your choice.

So is it proper to call Pyro a generalist or a specialist? Probably not. Pyro is versatile in almost anything, and can be described as the most specialized generalist or the most general specialist, but I would say Pyro is just Pyro.

[Hell-met]

to feel great about killing better classes than you

[GhastlyGhostJr]

To allow people with Parkinson’s to play the game

[rad_knight]

A jack of all trades. He’s not the best at anything (except maybe spy checking) but he can do most things and is a very versatile class. The thing a lot of people like about him is that he’s able to fill any role and potentially switch between different things on the drop of a hat depending on what the team needs and what the pyro’s weapons are.

[rad_knight]

Originally posted by twunny phaiv:

Originally posted by Br0k3n:

He just sucks

if a Pyro main is saying this you know the class is in a bad spot

A pyro main who is better at demo than pyro.

Edit:okay I said this and went to check my stats out of curiosity and thought about deleting the post after I saw them but thought the situation was kinda funny so I’m gonna leave it.

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)󠀰 󠀰]

To burn things

[siivooja]

pyro "fires" people

[Okrutnik]

pyro w+m1 all ppl

[Tramuntana]

To provide hot Spies for Strong Bad.

[yeast splurgyman]

to help incompetent players get free kills instead of teaching them how to actually get kills