Let's Give These Soup Cans Hell!: Soldier's Guide for MvM

In PvP the soldier is a high damage high health heavy assault class with some great supporting options, and he keeps that role in MvM just as well. The thing I like most about the soldier is how well balanced all his weapons actually are once you analyze them, and luckily that's exactly what this guide is going to do. The soldier has a ton of great options, and all of his primary weapons are well balanced enough that there really are no bad primary choices. That might sound a little controversial, so let's just dive in here and I'll show you what I mean. Remember, you are not trapped in a facility full of robots, they are all trapped in there with you!

Primary Weapons

A basic strategy I always use with any launcher is to upgrade reload speed first, then firing speed and projectile speed as necessary after reload speed is maxed out. A common blunder is to upgrade damage first or increase the clip size, which I just don't think is a good game plan. In the early waves you're going to be able to kill off most bots with one or two well placed rockets, and don't forget you have (or at least should have) five other team members killing bots, so upgrading damage first is just kind of a waste when those credits could be better spent elsewhere. I usually start upgrading my damage at wave 3 or so, after two or three points in firing speed, or whenever giants or tanks start appearing, whichever comes first.

As for clip size, having extra rockets on paper sounds great, but in practice it's really just delaying and extending the inevitable long reload time that all launchers have and if you max out your reload speed first anyway you won't even have to worry about extended clip sizes. Remember that speed is key for this kind of class, you can maximize your damage output by focusing on speed first, damage later.

Rocket Launcher (Stock)

Being the stock weapon, the Rocket Launcher is a well rounded choice for any map and difficulty. With four rockets that do high damage and have a large blast radius, the ever-upgradeable Stock Launcher is always a good choice. If you're first starting out sticking with the Stock is a good plan until you get used to how the variants will effect your gameplay, but since the Stock Launcher has no downsides a lot of players stick with it for every game, and that's perfectly fine.

If you don't feel easy about stepping out of your comfort zone then the Stock is still a great weapon to use, but if you do feel like branching out...

Black Box

The Black Box is a little more situational than the stock launcher, but it's a well balanced enough weapon to be useful for any match up. The only downside to the Black Box is it's clip size of 3 instead of 4, but this really isn't as big of a punishment as it is in PvP. If you've been maxing out your reload speed first you're not even going miss the fourth rocket, and in my experience whenever I put a single point in clip size to balance it out, I end up forgetting about it and always feel those credits could have been better spent.

Using this weapon is usually dependent on your team compilation, if you have a medic on your team or a well placed dispenser you probably won't need the 15 HP gain and you might want to go with a different launcher. On the flipside though, if you can think of a better way to completely recover your health than launching a health siphoning rocking into a crowded mall sized group of scouts...

One thing worth noting when using this weapon is that you only have to hit an enemy to get the health bonus, so upgrading reload and firing speeds first are key for this weapon.

Liberty Launcher

Ever since the recent nerf the Liberty Launcher has been severely underpowered and is not worth using in MvM and barely worth using in PvP. Because you can upgrade weapons in MvM you can upgrade projectile speed for every other launcher, and since you can only put two points into project speed for the Liberty Launcher a fully upgraded Liberty will always do 25% less damage and have a 10% slower projectile speed than a fully upgraded stock Rocket Launcher. For these reasons you shouldn't bother using the Liberty in MvM and only use it sparingly in PvP.

Beggar's Bazooka

Now this weapon has a reputation of being the best MvM soldier weapon, and while I still think it's a good weapon, it is a lot more situational and harder to use than the other launchers. The projectile deviation you're not going to notice unless you're far away, and if you're using the Beggar's Bazooka in the first place you're going to want to be up close, but the actual downside to this weapon is a fairly big one.

Not being able to refuel ammo from a dispenser is a huge punishment if you're not on a map with a lot of ammo boxes nearby, and it's very important to communicate to your teammates that you'll be needing the ammo boxes if you want to be any kind of use to the battle. Another thing to watch out for is grabbing up ammo if an engie needs it more, if you snag an ammo box that an engie was going after, you might get a bit of flack for it. This also means dropping points in raising the ammo cap is necessary, so it's important to calculate and prioritize your upgrades based on the situation, and you'll want to buy at least a couple ammo refills for your canteen.

But if you can get around the downside for the Bazooka, you can do a ton of damage in a short amount of time, especially if used in tandem with the Buff Banner, which we'll get into later.

Cow Mangler

Since the update the Mangler has overall been buffed. It's still a little different than the other launchers that I'll go over it's key differences and some strategies for it, but it won't be nearly as big as it was before.

No random critical hits -- This isn't that big of a deal since you really shouldn't be relying on random crits anyway, but it is still something worth noting.

Does not require ammo -- This is probably the biggest upside of the Mangler, not having to rely on dispensers or ammo boxes means this weapon is significantly more versatile than any of the soldier's other launchers. You can position yourself anywhere on any map, pitch a tent, cook up some canned beans and camp all day long, or you can be extremely mobile, blinking from position to position without having to fallback to restock on supplies. If this weapon is used in conjuncture with the Conch, you don't have to rely on any outside help and are completely self-sustaining.

Alt-Fire: A charged shot that mini-crits players and disables buildings for 4 sec -- This ability has been significantly buffed since it's update and it's quite useful now. Because of the removal of the addition rocket and the reload speed penalties you can fire the charged shot way more often than you could before, and the removal of the 10% damage penalty makes it stronger than ever. The blast radius is about 50% larger than a normal rocket, will minicrit, and sets all enemies it hits on fire. This ability is best used on large groups or slow moving targets, such as groups of large scouts, small-to-medium groups of heavies, giants with quick-fix medic support, etc. And of course you can use it to disable sentries for a couple seconds, buying enough time for your teammates to take it and the engie out.

Deals only 20% damage to buildings -- This isn't too big of a deal since you should have competent teammates who can deal with sentries better, but it is worth remembering. In general you shouldn't be trying to tackle an engie nest with this weapon, but as stated above you can provide support with your alt-fire charge shot to disable it.

Cannot be crit boosted -- This is only a downside if you have a kritz medic in your team, or if you're used to using the crits canteen power-up. While it's true that the Mangler can't be crit boosted, it can be minicrit boosted, so the Mangler will get the benefits from the Buff Banner, Jarate, Fan o' War, Heavy's that are using the GRU, etc.

Cannot upgrade projectile speed -- This is another thing worth noting if you're going to be camping far away. Luckily the bots movements are pretty predictable, and if you're good at leading rockets into a moving target you're going to be fine.

Direct Hit

Okay, maybe not all of the soldier's weapons are well balanced and useful. A blast radius the size of a teleporter is way too big of a downside to use this weapon for serious play. Remember that you can upgrade damage and projectile speed on every other launcher, but you can't upgrade the splash radius, and there will be so many bots at any given time you're not going to want to bother with trying to score a mini-crit by launching a bot in the air, plus you can't do that against giants anyway. A fully upgraded Direct Hit will do the same amount of damage and have the same projectile speed as a fully upgraded stock launcher, but will always have a small splash radius.

Rocket Jumper

Hands down best soldier weapon in the game. Remember to max out damage first so you can be a useful member of your team. /sarcasm

Secondary Weapons

The soldier has both weapons and supporting buffs as his secondary options, but most of the time you should stick with the Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup or Conch if you have them.

Shotgun (Stock)

The stock shotgun can be a nice backup weapon if you're in a rough spot, but if you've been upgrading your reload speed (NOTICE HOW I KEEP MENTIONING THIS?) you probably won't be needing it, and you'd be better off sticking with one of the buff items instead if you have one.

The only real reason to use this weapon is if you don't have an engie on your team and find yourself running out of rockets quickly, but be warned that the shotgun is going to feel significantly weaker than your launcher if you haven't upgraded it, and it's usually better to upgrade your primary as much as you can instead of trying to upgrade two weapons simultaneously.

Reserve Shooter

Again, this is a nice weapon in PvP, but you won't be needing it that much in MvM because of how good your primary launcher is and how much better the buff items are. Plus bots don't generally jump, and just like with the Direct Hit you're not going to want to bother trying to launch bots up in the air to mini-crit them.

Righteous Bison

Another fairly decent weapon, but once again you probably won't be using it all that much if you have any of the buff items for the same reason as the shotgun, any investments into it will take away credits that could have been spent on your primary launcher.

There are builds based around the Bison as a primary weapon, and that works alright for Decoy and Coal Town because of the small funnel the bots will spawn into. On these two maps you can actually use the Bison to do a bit of overall damage, since the projectile will travel through all enemies until it hits a wall, and will do continous damage to slower enemies who stand in the beam's path because of the damage stacking. On wider more chaotic maps like Mannworks and Big Rock however it's near useless since you're likely not hit more than one or two enemies in a single shot. In general I can't really recommend using the Bison as a primary weapon unless you're either comfortable with playing soldier or are just playing around to have fun, but if you do want to use it use it one either Decoy or Coal Town.

Buff Banner

Easily the most useful secondary item for the soldier and gives your soldier a versatile support role option. While it might be harder to charge in PvP, there are weeeeeeeeell enough bots for you to shoot at to reach that 600 damage charge to buff you and your allies, and against giants or tanks you're going to reach full charge before you finish off the clip.

Just remember that the Buff Banner does have a limited radius, so try to hang around your teammates to get the most of the buff. If you can, try to prioritize being next to Heavies, Demomen, Engies (the Engie's sentry gun will do minicrit damage if the Engie is in range of the buff), and other Soldiers during the duration to get the maximum effectiveness. I usually upgrade this after I upgrade reload speed (THERE IT IS AGAIN!) or if it's not necessary for the current wave, after a point or two in firing speed.

Battalion's Backup

Since the update that significantly buffed the Backup it's actually useful in both MvM and PvP. Of course most of the time you'll still want to stick with the Buff Banner, but if your team has a way to generate minicrits, such as the Scout's Sandman/Fan or the Sniper's Jarate/Sydney, you might not need the additional minicrit support and are free to use the Backup. If you do use the Backup it's best saved for giants and medium to large groups of soldiers, heavies and demos. It's also invaluable against engie nests, the Backup soaking up a half of that sentry damage. It requires 600 damage to fully charge the Backup, and as with the Banner it'll charge pretty quickly because of all the bots you'll be blowing up.

Concheror

This is another situational support secondary, but if you don't have a medic or an easily reachable dispenser it can be a lifesaver in almost every match up. While the Mad Milk can heal up to 60% of damage per shot, the 35% health steal the Conch provides can sometimes be preferred because of the aura effect of the Conch instead of set target, and using both in tandem will keep your team nice and healthy throughout each wave.

Just like with the Backup if your team is using Jarate/Sydney and the Fan/Sandman to generate minicrits using the Conch is a very viable option, and it only requires 450 damage to reach full charge. If you're using the Black Box as your primary weapon you might not need the benefit of the Conch, but you should always study your team compilation before deciding right away which secondary item to pick, and there will be certain situations where having the Black Box and the Conch is a useful combination. Remember to pick what's best for the team, not necessarily what's best for you.

Since the update that buffed the Conch giving you and your allies a speed boost in addition to the life steal effect it has become a much stronger defensive supporting option, allowing you and your teammates to zip around the battlefield. This really help against giant Scouts, being able to catch up to and surround them easily.

Gunboats and Mantreads

There's no real reason to use these unless you either want a challenge, just want to mess around for fun, or are griefing.

Melee Weapons

You probably aren't going to be focusing too much on melee weapons, but I'll do a quick run-down anyway.

Shovel (Stock)

The basic stock shovel can be a useful tool if you've run out of ammo and are up close and personal to a Heavy or a giant, but unless they're nearly dead retreating is probably the better option. The 15% chance for a crit can be pretty handy though.

Escape Plan

Because of the nerf the Escape Plan is a lot more riskier to use, it really only takes one stray bullet or being a little too close to an enemy rocket to get killed while retreating. It's still a good way of getting yourself out of trouble and behind cover or to a friendly engie nest, but overall the nerf has made it a little too dangerous to use.

Equalizer

If you've run out of rockets or are too close to an enemy, the Equalizer can do some pretty good damage but only if you're low on health, making this weapon a bit too situational for practical use. Use it if you dare, but as a soldier you probably shouldn't be relying on your melee weapon as much as your launchers.

Disciplinary Action

Since most of the time you won't be using your melee weapon as an actual weapon the damage penalty isn't that big of a downside, and you'll mostly be using this as a supporting tool to speed yourself and your allies up. While under the effects of the speed up you can rocket jump a lot further and easier than ever, and obviously it'll make it easier to get out of the way of incoming projectiles. Use it whenever you have some downtime before another group of bots spawn or whenever you need to get somewhere fast, such as back to the front lines or when chasing down giant scouts. In general I use the Disciplinary Action about 95% of the time in both PvP and MvM.

Pain Train, Half-Zatoichi, Market Gardener

Nope. Come on, just... Unless you're looking to make things harder for yourself, just don't, there's no real reason to use any of these.

Closing

The soldier is a very versatile and powerful class in both terms of damage output and support, and he's fairly easy to get used to. If it's your first time playing soldier in MvM, I would say use the Stock Launcher, Buff Banner and Escape Plan as a default loadout until you get used to his playstyle, but after a few rounds you should be able to play around with your loadout until you find a loadout you're most comfortable with. Personally, I like to use a different primary every game just to make playing the soldier that much more fun and interesting, but if you have a preferred loadout feel free to use it. This is just a guide after all, and nothing in it is set in stone. Anyway, I hope this guide helped! I know there are a lot of soldier guides already, but I just wanted to put my two cents in, and who knows, maybe it'll help someone achieve that perfect game. But the most important thing to remember is to have fun, if you're not having fun then you're missing the point of the game. Well, that and hats. Good luck!

Avatar Source

Because I've been getting a lot of people asking about the image used in the avatar, I'm just gonna link the source of it here. For those wondering the about character, it's Komachi Onozuka from Touhou wearing Bill's Hat. http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/987093

[Dank Bum.]

Cute lil soldier gal. Not sure about the guide though, didn't read it.

[fű]

thank you mister you make me cum :]

[abelicio]

Slightly different now for any newcomers, one or two points into rocket specalist allows you to stop bots movement which is very helpful, and the blast radius increase allows you to perfectly hit groups of bots.

[Scariest thing ever]

My SAO username is SAO username

[Dandy]

My Deviant Art OC iz base Deviant Art OC.

[Kwynn]

I approve.

[Heistenberg]

I'm offended by this title. What do you have against my people, eh?

[Funne Monke #SaveTF2]

Good guide, but why is there a kawaii anime soldier as the image?

[Figora]

Great guide, thank you. Complete and clean

[Desmond]

I feel I should mention that the Beggar's Bazooka only blocks dispencers while active - so if you're near the dispenser (and therefore, likely both the engie and the heavy) when you activate your Buff Banner, you'll restock your ammo as you do. Also that holding down M1 when activating the Buff Banner delays it's activation until you release it, allowing you to spend more time resupplying from the dispenser, only to immediately switch back to your Beggar's when you release. Also minimizes the time spent switching weapons after activating the banner!