How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Reserve Shooter

The Reserve Shooter: the gun; the damage; and the fear. A guide to utilizing the Pyro Reserve Shooter.

An Introduction

Who am I?

I am Sous Chef. I have been playing Team Fortress 2 since its release and have seen the ups and downs of the Pyro class. I avoided the 225 HP Backburner Pyro, I was at the advent of the compression blast, the forefront of the Puff-n-Sting Chain Sawing, the beginnings of Flare Shot combos, and I laughed at Valve devs when they released the Degreaser.

A Bit of History

I have about 2,000 hours played and six years of TF2 experience at time of writing. Just about a thousand hours went into pub play and I have learned a lot since the beginning. The rest of my play time comes from competitive TF2 Highlander.

About this Guide

The viewpoints in this guide will be looking at the Reserve Shooter in a more competitive environment[www.ugcleague.com]. Many things in this guide are not required to keep in mind if one is playing in pubs. In pubs the RS is stupid.

Abstract

The Reserve Shooter mathematically has the same DPS as the stock Shotgun given that they both have the same attributes, assuming full reload and full unload. The benefit of the Reserve Shooter lies in the estimated 35 additional damage that minicrits give when a target is airborne. The additional damage done is enough to insta-gib most classes, if not severely damage them. The overall utilization of the Reserve Shooter lies in a crux, a mix between the Flare Gun and the Shotgun. The increased clip size relieves a lot of pressure in usage but the gun still finds itself to be the down-syndrome cousin of the Shotgun and the disowned sister of the Flare Gun. The buff given to the gun in the February patch of TF2 added an additional shot to the clip, from three to four shots. Ultimately, this did not change the balance of the gun overall as the amount of aggression needed to utilize it still proves fatal.

Updated on 02/07/14, planning to rewrite abstract to reflect changes

The Reserve Shooter theoretically has the same throughput in terms of DPS as the stock shotgun but offers a larger burst damage capability. At optimal use, the Reserve Shooter out damages the shotgun due to minicrits. Minicrits enable faster burst damage than either the Shotgun or Flare Gun can muster. Due to the nature of the weapon combo, the Reserve Shooter requires a sometimes fatal amount of aggression. The small clip of the Reserve Shooter also forces rigorous ammo counting and intelligent use of limited shots. The Reserve Shooter also carries a fair amount of resentment and fear. As such, it rustles the hell out of people's jimmies when fighting against it. It is, functionally a hitscan Flare Gun, i.e. Pyro burst damage, but as such the Reserve Shooter's effectiveness quickly falls off at any range beyond close. Given the nature of competitive Highlander Pyro, this gun is geared towards players more apt at roaming and flanking. Though functional in pocket, the rigorous ammo counting is a liability when the Highlander Combo is always on the move.

Jargon

A small dictionary of some terms and phrases that are used.

Chainsaw:

A technique some people like to call "Puff-n-sting (combo)" which I think is stupid.

Fall Off:

Damage in TF2 is calculated using distance between players as a variable; there are close, medium, and long ranges to account for. The shotgun, for example, does 90 at close range, 60 at medium range, and 15 at long ranges - assuming all pellets hit. The Sniper Rifle, on the other hand, does 50 damage at all ranges.

Highlander:

Competitive 9 v 9 game format that utilizes all classes.

Hitscan:

Weapons that fire white lines in-game. Seriously. Minigun, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Scatter Gun, Sentry Bullets; all of the previously mentioned are examples of hitscan weapons. What makes them special is there is no leading, it turns FPSes into point and click adventure slaughterfests.

Jimmies:

Internet.[knowyourmeme.com]

Meatshot:

When all pellets from a shotgun-type weapon, such as the Reserve Shooter or Scout Scatter Gun, hit your target. There are 10 pellets on standard shotgun-type weapons.

Mini-Crits:

ValvE implemented game mechanic that amplifies weapon base damage by 35% totaling weapon damage to 135%. A 90 damage meatshot becomes a 121.5 meatshot. You can get a 125 damage meatshot but it's incredibly hard to replicate the situation and I still have no idea how to do it on purpose. Aim well.

Throughput:

Net output. Think margins.

UGC League:

Largest competitive TF2 Highlander league. Here you go.[ugcleague.com]

Reserve Shooter Run Down

Basics of the Gun

The Reserve Shooter is a secondary weapon replacement available for the Soldier and Pyro classes in TF2. The gun has two-thirds the maximum capacity as the stock Shotgun but otherwise has the same weapon stats: 90 damage meatshot, 12.5 damage/pellet, 10 pellets, one second first reload, 0.5 second consecutive reload. The benefit of the Reserve Shooter comes from guaranteed Mini-Crits on airborne targets for five seconds after weapon deployment. Any target not touching the ground is considered Airborne. The other benefit of the Reserve Shooter is a 15% decrease in weapon switching time.

How to Use

• Walk up to enemy.
  
• Flame enemy.
  
• Compression Blast enemy.
  
• Switch to Reserve Shooter.
  
• Shoot at butt.
  
• Optional: Shoot at butt again.
  
• Optional: Axtinguish.

Unlike the other Pyro burst damage options, the Reserve Shooter requires a heavy amount of aggression and quick reflexes that most players are unaccustomed to. The benefit of the Reserve Shooter is reliant on TF2's ramp-up mechanic, requiring the user to be as close as possible to the target before firing.

That said, it is strongly advised to use the Degreaser when using the Reserve Shooter but it is not required to do so. Minimizing the time between compression blasting and firing the Reserve Shooter will maximize the ramp up damage when not in an enclosed area. Not using the Degreaser also results in losing the ability to shoot the target twice before they touch down.

Maximizing ramp-up requires walking towards the target after airblasting like no man's business. Without minimizing the distance before firing, the damage the Reserve Shooter does quickly falls off - effectively making the weapon choice a tad more useless. That's not to say, when using the Reserve Shooter, to exclusively save your shots for HXC 420 #yolo 125 damage minicrit meatshots. Treating the Reserve Shooter as a shotgun is just as effective but requires good aim and patience with the limited shots. Having four shots isn't the greatest thing to work with but it does round out the gun. This allows you to combo twice comfortably if you don't blow all your shots on your first target.

What to use it for

This weapon heavily favors one-on-one combat and ambushes. The Reserve Shooter excels at quick target elimination and gives an upper hand in Pyro vs Pyro situations. Though mainly a preference, use the Reserve Shooter in situations where quick elimination is vital.

Being on the flank with the Reserve Shooter allows your flank to test the waters with you going in face first. Anything unfortunate enough to get caught near you will be eliminated by the initial burst damage and residual clean up from other team mates.

The Mini-crits part of the Reserve Shooter also allows an extreme form of Crowd Control for the Pyro. Although the Airblast is useful for pushing back players and/or the combo, it can only push so far. Provided that what you are shooting at is not ubered and you are in a relatively open area, you can use the Reserve Shooter to fling enemies backwards probably ~230% farther than a normal Airblast would.

The knockback on the Reserve Shooter is also useful in dealing with Bomb-Ins. Firing on any Bomb-Ins will reduce their horizontal distance and effectively make it harder to get at your combo. I do not know any hard numbers or formulae to calculate how much damage is needed to stop horizontal distance traveled. After some science, it takes about 40 Mini-crit damage to stop a standard Rocket Jump and about 60 Mini-crit damage to stop a one-sticky jump.

What it does

One of the previously listed benefits of the Reserve Shooter is its ability to rustle the hell out of the enemy's jimmies. It is probably one of the most aggravating weapons to play against. It pressures the enemy Pyro to run either the Shotgun or use the Reserve Shooter themselves. If they are not too familiar with using hitscan weapons then their effectiveness falls off very quickly. This also frees up pressure on your Sniper, Scout, Spy, and Soldier - not having to deal with an experienced flare-shot Pyro.

Sometimes, though, that may not be the case. Instead, it paints a giant target on your face for focus fire. Which may or may not be a bad thing depending on how well your team responds to an Aggressive Pyro playstyle.

An Update for the Masses (02/07/14)

As of February 7th, 2014, the Reserve Shooter got a buff and I don't know why.

The number of shots per clip has been upgraded from three shots to four shots and the time after deploy for the mini-crit buff on airborne targets has been increased from three seconds to five seconds.

It's understandable if you look at the weapon from the perspective of a Soldier, the increased time out gives you more time to line up a shot and the increased shot-count makes it a more viable option to have instead of just using a shotgun. But these same points, when applied to Pyro, make the Reserve Shooter a much better option than before.

Overall, I'm neutral about the buff. The extra shot is nice but the times where I had three shots and wanted a fourth shot I was already in deep enough crap that the fourth shot wouldn't have mattered that much. It does, however, allow the Pyro to combo twice more comfortably by expending two shots per combo as opposed to blowing it all on one target.

The extra time for minicrits isn't too breaking, I feel. It does allow a Reserve Shooter Pyro to be a bigger threat to bomb-ins, being able to have it out and be aiming as soon as they jump as opposed to whipping it out when they're mid-jump.

What I'm really worried about is the gun becoming more common-place in public play and competitive play. The gun was a strong option in some cases to begin with but its ubiquity will be its downfall. I don't want a mass of angry players getting gibbed by a larger population of Reserve Shooter users complaining about something whose job hasn't changed in the slightest.

Someone is going to complain and the gun is probably going to get an unneeded nerf to something worse than it was before.

Data For You, Sir

UPDATE:

As of 02/07/14, the Reserve Shooter has been given an extra shot in its clip, totalling a 4-clip shot. The data in this section is not up to date and may or may not completely reflect the mathematical truth.

NOTE: This is a lot of math stuff that some people may not find interesting. Skip to the section summary if you're not interested in my bad math and science.

Short Damage Comparison

The chart to the right graphs the optimal damage output of the Shotgun, the Reserve Shooter, and the Flare Gun (No Crits). The Shotgun and Reserve Shooter are required to fire six shots and fully reload. Second 0 represents the instant where the target first takes damage from the weapon. Over a course of 5.125 seconds both the Shotgun and the Reserve Shooter do the same damage. However, at 5.125 seconds the Shotgun has three shells loaded and the Reserve Shooter is empty. Over the course of 6.125 seconds, both the Shotgun and Reserve Shooter will have done the same damage and both be fully loaded.

Linear Trendlines: Short Damage

Shotgun:	y = 45x + 147.27
Reserve Shooter:	y = 45x + 73.636
Flare Gun:	y = 9x + 8.7273

Extended Damage Comparison, staggered Shotgun reload

Extrapolating on the three shots loaded in the Shotgun, we notice that the Shotgun can out DPS the Reserve Shooter if it reloads only three shots before firing again. Notice, however, that over an extended period of time, the initial extra three shots the Shotgun received becomes negligible.

Linear Trendlines: Extended Damage

Shotgun:	y = 46.002x + 173.81
Reserve Shooter:	y = 46.385x + 76.154

Analysis I

The Reserve Shooter has the same DPS as the Shotgun over an extended period of time unless the Shotgun limits to a half-capacity reload, giving it an additional ~97 damage over an extended period of time. Assuming full empty, full reload; both guns are equal in DPS over an extended period of time. We can see the linear formulae of each weapon over ~25 s. The slope indicates the average DPS of the weapon over an infinite period of time meaning both shotguns have the same throughput.

Short Burst Comparison

The chart to the left assumes full damage at every shot without outside interference. The Shotgun is limited to only normal damage, the Reserve Shooter assumes the target is Airborne at all times, and the Flare Gun assumes burning at 0s and accounts for burn ticks at each hit. The Flare Gun is assumed to crit at second 0.

Linear Trendlines: Short Burst Comparison

Shotgun:	y = 45x + 147.27
Reserve Shooter:	y = 60.75x + 99.409
Flare Gun:	y = 30.6x + 17.673

Analysis II

Very broad assumptions were made in saying the Reserve Shooter was always firing at Airborne Targets in this data. However, the graph displays, in essence, the one-on-one capabilities of a Pyro with the given secondary.

After having looked at all the trend lines, both shotguns carry the same DPS. The only difference is a margin offset by the additional three shots the Shotgun carries over the Reserve Shooter.

Section Analysis

Training Day

You can pick up the Reserve Shooter and still be okay at it. The same thing applies to both the Flare Gun and Shotgun. However, all of them do require a certain mindset as well as constant training and retraining. A huge part of the Reserve Shooter is being as fast as possible. By the time your opponent is reaching the apex of the airblast, you should already have lined up your shot and already have fired.

Precision, Consistency, and Speed are all keys to being successful with the Reserve Shooter.

Aiming

Use this[www.notalent.org] to calculate your (in/cm)/360. Knowing how your game is responding to your inputs is key to aiming. There is no set perfect sensitivity out there that will make you great at aiming in FPS in general, you can only be great at aiming by being comfortable with what you think is the perfect sensitivity for you.

Dots Per Inch (DPI)

Dots per inch is the number of times a laser or optical mouse samples your movements. The higher DPI your mouse has, the more accurate it can read your movements. Now this does not mean that, the higher your DPI, the easier it is to aim; what it does mean is that your aiming will be more accurate. More accuracy does not mean it is easier to aim. More accuracy means that there are less degrees in turning per mouse sample. This means you are able to make pin-point movements a lot easier. Being both precise and consistent in your mouse movements will make your aim better.

That said.

Muscle Memory

Find a comfortable DPI and play muscle memory games. The more natural it is to move your mouse with precision the more natural it will be to aim.

Warming Up

Play:

• Osu!
  
• Quake Live!
  
• Warsow

Osu[osu.ppy.sh] is a rhythm game, so if you're not keen on that move along. If you are a fan of rhythm games, then this will help you with muscle memory as well as warming up. I have not personally used it but I do know other players in Platinum play.

Quake Live![www.quakelive.com] is to TF2 as hard drugs are to Primary school. There's a deep metagame in QL! that revolves around weapons, when to use them, and resource control. But you can largely ignore that if you play Clan Arena. The game is incredibly fast paced and is the Granddaddy FPS that will strain your abilities and mind.

Warsow[www.warsow.net] is basically dead. But: Warsow is to Quake Live! as an atom bomb is to Pop Rocks. The devs that worked on Warsow decided to take the buggy movement system in Quake 3 Arena and make it a core part of gameplay. What does that result in? Players moving anywhere between three to six times the normal run speed flying around a tiny map and making accurate as hell shots. It's really fun.

Acknowledgements

Thank you and shoutouts to:

Cygnus for using the RS sometimes maybe in UGC Plat.

FuRy // Hng_ for forcing me to learn to spy check better.

Huey Lewis for inspiring me to play competitively.

Juvenal for proof reading and giving opinions.

KaiThePhaux // Polk for getting me into S9 UGC Gold Div and taking the chance with a complete HL newbie.

Katsy // Kurbz // TheMelonLord for being pybros. Also one of the first couple of pyros to have the displeasure of playing against some idiot with the RS in http://webchat.gamesurge.net/?channels=tf2.pug.nahl.

oxjoe for being my first fan.

mustardoverlord for being a hilarious drama starter and being actually good at the game.



Let's Play Some Highlanda'! for dealing with my stupid RS crap.

Tangerine for being my favorite UGC Highlander team ever.

*qt* and AT because they cool.

WNx for my first tryout ever for Highlander.


Everyone I've met in the UGC League. I can't make this list too big!

And the person kind of enough to read. Thanks !

[head chef]

V informative-good job!

[KETAMINE LEGO YODA]

do you know why is reserve banned in some lobbyes ?

[[ λ³ ] nob]

What's your opinion on the recent reserve shooter buff?

[76561198090126974]

What about reserve soldier? And I like reserve shooter too haha it's fun.

[yeeehaw cowboy yeedoggy]

So agree with this, I love the Reserve Shooter and am considering scrapping my Detonator. =3

[efci]

I have 13 minutes on pyro so I am a fire expert, uh you click the guys with the fast 2 gun you get the burst dps

[Comanglia]

@Whyamibzsdmh you also have less than 50hrs on pyro, and have like 1 hour on tf2 in the last 2 weeks. The odds of you knowing what you're talking about are dreadfully low.

[Ocean Machine]

I find it to be pretty useless in practical/general useage. And I have 1000+ hours registered.

[efci]

Sousjeff you owe me ten